Terms of Service
These terms govern your use of Shig, the BBQ journal app and its related services. Short version: log real plates, rate them honestly, be a decent human, and we'll get along fine.
1. The service
Shig is a social BBQ journal: you check in plates at real joints, rate them, earn progression in a game layer, and discover new BBQ. Some features require an account; the core journal works without one.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old. If you're under the age where your country requires parental consent for services like this, get it.
3. Your account
One account per human. You're responsible for what happens under your account and for keeping your credentials to yourself. Usernames are public inside the app; pick one you're happy to wear on a leaderboard.
4. Your content
You own what you submit — reviews, ratings, notes, photos, and everything else remain yours. By submitting, you grant Ajitama, LLC a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, display, reproduce, adapt, aggregate, build derived data from, and commercialize your content — including commercial products and services built on aggregated or derived data, such as taste insights offered to restaurants. This is the license that lets community ratings, rankings, recommendations, and recipe inference exist and remain stable over time, and that lets the service earn its keep without ads. What this license never includes: selling your personal data, as defined and promised in the Privacy Policy.
Deleting your account removes your content from our servers as described in the Privacy Policy; already-computed anonymous aggregates may persist.
5. Honest data — the house rule
Ratings at Shig are computed from real check-ins only. You agree not to:
- submit fake, paid, traded, or manufactured check-ins or ratings;
- rate shops you own or work for (verified owners are excluded from their own shop's score automatically — that's a feature, not a punishment);
- manipulate GPS, timestamps, loyalty codes, or any verification system;
- farm, forge, duplicate, or resell loyalty slips or reward codes;
- use bots, scripts, or multiple accounts to gain XP, items, or influence.
Violations are grounds for permanent ban — account termination and removal of fraudulent data from all aggregates. We built this app because review data everywhere else is polluted; we will protect ours.
6. The game layer
XP, levels, ranks, badges, virtual items, and in-game currency are features of the service, not property. They have no monetary value, cannot be sold or exchanged for money, and may be adjusted, rebalanced, or reset as the game evolves. In-game advantages can never be purchased with real money — that's a design constitution, not just a term.
7. Shops and community data
Shop and dish listings are community records of real places. Adding or editing them grants the same license as §4. Shop owners may claim their listing through our verification process; claiming never changes a rating and confers no control over community content beyond labeled suggestions and the tools we explicitly provide.
8. Shop owner accounts
Claiming and verifying a shop unlocks owner tools — the shop portal, listing edits, loyalty programs, and uploads such as your logo. By submitting anything through those tools, you represent and warrant that:
- you are authorized to act on behalf of the business;
- you own, or hold the rights and licenses to use, everything you upload — a logo is a trademark, so make sure it's actually yours;
- business information you provide (hours, phone, website, offers, reward terms) is accurate, and you'll keep it current.
If your shop issues a reward, you are obligated to honor it for as long as it isn't expired — expiry is the only boundary. Issuing rewards you don't intend to honor is treated the same as the conduct in §5.
Content you submit through the portal carries the same license as §4, applied to displaying and operating your listing and our services. You are responsible for what you put into the system, and you agree to indemnify Ajitama, LLC — including reasonable attorneys' fees — against third-party claims arising from content you submitted or from a breach of the representations above. We may remove or refuse any shop content at our discretion, and misuse of owner tools is grounds for losing them — §5's permanent ban applies to shops too.
9. Acceptable use
No unlawful content, no harassment, no impersonation, no spam, no scraping, no reverse-engineering our services, no interfering with other users or our infrastructure. Photos and text you post must not infringe anyone's rights. We may remove content that violates these terms.
10. Copyright complaints (DMCA)
If you believe content on Shig infringes your copyright, send a notice to support@shigapp.com (subject: DMCA notice) including: identification of the copyrighted work; the URL or location of the infringing material; your contact information; a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner; and your physical or electronic signature. We will remove or disable access to material identified in a valid notice.
If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you may send a counter-notice with the elements described in 17 U.S.C. §512(g); we'll forward it to the complaining party and may restore the material as the statute provides.
Repeat infringers lose their accounts — the same permanence as §5's ban. Knowingly false notices carry liability under 17 U.S.C. §512(f); don't aim this at reviews you merely dislike.
11. Termination
You can delete your account any time in Settings. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms — including the permanent ban described in §5. Sections 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, and 14 survive termination.
12. Disclaimers
The service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We don't guarantee availability, accuracy of listings, or that any plate will change your life (though we hope).
13. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Ajitama, LLC's total liability arising from these terms or the service will not exceed the greater of US $50 or the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. We're not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.
14. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maine, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes belong to the state or federal courts located in Maine.
15. Changes
We may update these terms; material changes will be noted in the app with a fresh effective date. Continuing to use the service after changes take effect means you accept them.
16. Contact
Ajitama, LLC · Maine, USA
Email: support@shigapp.com