Rising Hat

Terms of Service

Effective 2 October 2026

These Terms govern your use of Rising Hat at risinghat.com (the “Service”), operated by Surabhi Gupta, an individual based in India (“Rising Hat”, “we”, “us”). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

1. Who can use Rising Hat

  • You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
  • If you are under 18 (or the age of majority where you live), you may use the Service only with the consent of your parent or legal guardian, who agrees to these Terms on your behalf and is responsible for your use.
  • You may not use the Service if we have previously removed you, or if the law prohibits you from doing so.

2. Your account

  • Give accurate information, keep your password secure and don't share your account.
  • You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us promptly at hello@risinghat.com if you suspect unauthorised use.
  • Usernames must not impersonate others or be offensive or misleading; we may reclaim or change usernames that are.
  • You can delete your account at any time from your profile.

3. Your content

“Your content” means anything you post or submit: reviews, ratings, comments, forum posts, profile details, book submissions and author claims.

  • You keep ownership of your content.
  • Licence to us: you grant Rising Hat a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, display, format and distribute your content for the purpose of operating, improving and promoting the Service (for example, showing a review on a book page or sharing a public quote from it). The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies in backups for a limited period or where others have already shared it.
  • Your responsibility: you confirm you have the rights to post your content, and that it is accurate where it states facts. For book submissions this includes cover images, descriptions and quotes: only submit material you own or are permitted to share.
  • Public by default: reviews, comments, forum posts and your profile are public. See the Privacy Policy for what is private.

4. Community rules

You agree not to post or do anything that:

  • is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, or invasive of another person's privacy;
  • harasses, bullies, threatens or promotes violence or hatred against any person or group, including on the basis of religion, caste, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or disability;
  • is harmful to children;
  • infringes any copyright, trademark or other rights (for example, posting large extracts of a book or pirated copies);
  • impersonates any person, falsely claims authorship of a book, or misrepresents your affiliation;
  • is spam, advertising unrelated to books, or manipulates ratings (for example fake accounts or paid reviews you don't disclose);
  • contains malware or links to harmful sites, or is knowingly false or misleading information;
  • threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order;
  • tries to access accounts or data that aren't yours, probe or overload the Service, scrape it at scale, or bypass rate limits or security measures.

Mark spoilers using the spoiler option. Authors are welcome to take part, but should disclose when they are discussing their own books.

5. Moderation and enforcement

We may review, hide, edit for formatting, or remove content, and suspend or terminate accounts, that we reasonably believe break these Terms or the law, or create risk for Rising Hat or others. We are not obliged to monitor all content, and we aren't responsible for content posted by users. You can report reviews using the report option, or email hello@risinghat.com.

If we remove your content or account, we will try to tell you why, and you can ask us to reconsider by writing to the Grievance Officer below.

6. Book listings and author claims

  • Book submissions are reviewed by us and may be accepted, edited or declined at our discretion.
  • Author claims must be genuine; we may ask for proof. Approval links your account to the author profile and can be revoked if it turns out to be inaccurate.
  • Book information, covers and “where to buy” links may come from third parties (such as Open Library and publishers). We don't guarantee their accuracy and aren't responsible for third-party sites or purchases you make there.

If you believe content on Rising Hat infringes your copyright, email hello@risinghat.com with: your contact details; the work you own; the URL of the content; a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised; and a statement that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for them. We will act on valid notices promptly, including under India's IT Rules and, where applicable, the US DMCA. Repeat infringers' accounts will be terminated.

8. Our content and the Service

The Rising Hat name, logo, design and software belong to us or our licensors. You may use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes; you may not copy, resell or create derivative services from it without our permission. We may change, suspend or discontinue any part of the Service at any time.

9. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we make no warranties of any kind, including that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, or that ratings, reviews or book information are accurate. Reviews and opinions are those of their authors, not of Rising Hat.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Rising Hat will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of data, profits or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to INR 5,000 (or the equivalent in your currency). Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, or your statutory rights as a consumer.

11. Indemnity

If you break these Terms or the law through your use of the Service or your content, you agree to compensate Rising Hat for reasonable losses and costs (including legal fees) arising from third-party claims as a result, to the extent permitted by law.

12. Ending these Terms

You can stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms or if we discontinue the Service. Sections that by their nature should continue (such as content licences for backups, disclaimers, limitation of liability and governing law) survive termination.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. The courts of India have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them. Before going to court, please contact us so we can try to resolve the issue informally. If you live in the EU, the UK or another country whose consumer laws give you the right to bring claims in your local courts, nothing here takes away that right.

14. Grievance Officer and contact

Under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, complaints about content or these Terms can be sent to our Grievance Officer: Surabhi Gupta, hello@risinghat.com. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and aim to resolve them within 15 days.

15. Changes

We may update these Terms. We'll change the effective date above and, for material changes, notify you by email or on the site in advance. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept them.

If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.