ELO
Draft, not yet in effect. 22 placeholders still need filling, and the text needs a lawyer's review before launch.

ELO Terms of Service

DRAFT: needs lawyer review. Written by the GTM lead from a read of the app code on 29 Oct 2026. Not legal advice. Clauses marked ⚑ AGE-DEPENDENT (DECISION: age floor) have two versions: keep Option A for an 18+ launch or Option B for 16+, and delete the other. Questions for counsel are at the end.

Effective date: FILL: effective date

These terms are an agreement between you and FILL: legal entity name ("ELO", "we", "us") for using DOMAIN. By checking a rating, playing the game or signing in, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use ELO. Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with your data.

1. What ELO is

ELO turns stats you choose to add (platform ratings, test scores and achievements) into one rating and a title, and shows people who sign up on a public ladder. It also has Higher or Lower, a game where you guess which of two rated people is rated higher.

ELO is a game ladder. A rating is a formula applied to the stats you submitted. It is not a judgement of you as a person, your worth, or your ability to do any job.

2. Who can use ELO

⚑ AGE-DEPENDENT (DECISION: age floor)

Option A (18+): Anyone can check a rating or play Higher or Lower as a guest. To create a profile you must be at least 18. You must give your real birth year. If you're under 18, don't create a profile. If we learn you're under 18, we'll delete your account.

Option B (16+): Anyone can check a rating or play Higher or Lower as a guest. To create a profile you must be at least 16. You must give your real birth year, which can only be set once. If you're 16 or 17, your profile is private: it is never shown on the ladder, in the game, in search results or on share cards, and others can't follow you. If we learn you're under 16, we'll delete your account.

⚑ AGE-DEPENDENT knock-on: under Option B, the licence in section 6 and the game/sharing descriptions apply to 16–17-year-olds only for their private profile; add a sentence there if Option B is chosen. The sign-in page line "Open to people 16 and older" must match the option chosen.

You also can't use ELO if we've previously removed you, or if the law where you live doesn't allow it.

3. Your account

  • You sign in with Google. Keep your Google account secure; you're responsible for what happens under your ELO account.
  • One person, one profile. Don't create more than one profile, and don't create one for someone else.
  • One platform account, one profile. A Chess.com, Lichess, Codeforces, LeetCode, GitHub, AtCoder, Hacker News, Stack Overflow or Monkeytype account can be linked to only one ELO profile. You can only link accounts you own, which you prove by placing a one-time code in that account's public profile. You can remove the code afterwards.
  • Your display name, handle, headline and X handle must not impersonate anyone, mislead people, or be offensive. We may change or remove a handle or headline that breaks these terms, or reserve handles (for example for well-known people who ask, or for words like "admin" or "support").
  • The X handle field is optional and unverified. Only add your own.

4. How ratings and titles work

  • Each credential is turned into a percentile within its own population, then into a standard score. Only your strongest credential in each field counts. The formula, the weights for each verification level (verified, proof, self-reported) and the title thresholds are published at DOMAIN/regulations.
  • Ratings change only when credentials change: a newly verified account, a refreshed platform rating, a new score or achievement. Nothing anyone else does can lower your rating. Guesses in Higher or Lower never change anyone's rating.
  • New ratings may be shown as provisional.
  • We may refresh platform stats from time to time, which can raise or lower your rating if your stats on that platform changed. If a platform closes or flags your account (for example for a fair-play or terms violation), we may remove that credential.
  • We may change the method (formula, weights, populations, titles or thresholds) to make it fairer or more accurate. For significant changes we'll post a notice on the rules page at least DECISION: notice period for method changes before they take effect, except where we need to act faster to stop abuse.
  • In the words of the rules page: all decisions of the rating system are final, until your next achievement. In plain terms, we decide how ratings are calculated, but you can always dispute a credential (section 8).

5. Titles, names and no affiliation

  • ELO titles are not chess titles. ELO's titles are names for rating bands on this site only. They are not awarded by FIDE or any chess federation and don't mean you hold any real-world title. Don't present an ELO title as one.
  • ELO is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by FIDE, Chess.com, Lichess, Codeforces, LeetCode, GitHub, AtCoder, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, Monkeytype, College Board (SAT), ACT, ETS (GRE), LSAC (LSAT), AAMC (MCAT), Y Combinator, Kaggle, the International Olympic Committee, any olympiad, or any other organisation whose name appears on the site. Their names are used only to describe the credentials people add. All trademarks belong to their owners.
  • "Elo" is also the name of the rating system invented by Arpad Elo. ELO, the site, is named after the idea and is not connected to his estate or any rating body.

6. Your content and what we can do with it

"Your content" means what you add: display name, photo, handle, headline, X handle, linked accounts, scores, achievements and proof links.

  • You keep ownership of your content.
  • You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, display, reproduce and format your content to run ELO: on your profile, the ladder, the Higher or Lower game, search results, and share cards (images generated from your public profile, for example when you or anyone else shares your profile link). For adult public profiles, this includes showing your name, photo and credentials to people who aren't signed in.
  • DECISION: may ELO feature opted-in users' public cards in its own launch and marketing posts? Recommended wording: We won't feature your profile in ELO's own marketing (for example in a launch post or ladder report) without asking you first, except in automatically generated ladder views on the site itself.
  • The licence ends when you hide or delete your profile, except for copies already shared by others outside ELO and for backups that roll over (see the Privacy Policy).
  • You promise that your content is true, that you have the right to add it, and that it doesn't break anyone's rights or the law.

7. Rules for using ELO

Don't:

  1. Add false credentials: scores you didn't get, achievements you don't hold, or proof links that don't show what they claim or belong to someone else.
  2. Link or try to link accounts you don't own, or use bought, shared or boosted platform accounts.
  3. Impersonate anyone or suggest a connection with a person or organisation that doesn't exist.
  4. Put anything illegal, hateful, sexual, harassing, or someone else's private information in your profile or proof links, or link to malware.
  5. Scrape, crawl or bulk-download ELO, including profiles, ratings and game data, or use the rating check to look up large numbers of accounts.
  6. Use bots or scripts to play Higher or Lower, manipulate streaks, or interfere with how the game picks pairs.
  7. Use ELO to harass, mock or target anyone, including people who aren't on ELO.
  8. Try to get around rate limits, security, age rules or privacy settings, or access data you're not meant to see.
  9. Use ELO ratings, titles or profiles to make decisions about employment, credit, housing, insurance, education admissions or any other eligibility decision. ELO isn't designed or tested for that, and it isn't a consumer report.
  10. Resell or commercially exploit ELO data.

We never reward anyone for posting about ELO on X or anywhere else, and you may not offer or accept rewards for doing so on our behalf.

8. Proof review, reports and disputes

  • Proof links are reviewed. An achievement counts at self-reported weight until we've reviewed its proof link. We may reject a proof link that doesn't clearly support the achievement, comes from an unreliable source, or appears to belong to someone else. We may also review any high rating before its title is shown publicly.
  • Reporting. Anyone can report a profile (fake credential, impersonation, underage, offensive, other) using the report button, or by emailing FILL: contact email.
  • Disputing your own rating or a credential. If you think a credential or calculation about you is wrong, email FILL: contact email.
  • We aim to review reports and disputes within 48 hours. We may hide a profile or credential while we look into it. We'll tell the profile owner what we decided and why, unless doing so would put someone at risk or the law doesn't allow it. You can ask us to look again once.
  • Removal requests from non-users. If you think ELO shows something about you without your permission, contact us and we'll act within 48 hours of a valid request.

9. Ending things

  • You can hide your profile or delete your account at any time from your profile settings. Deletion is permanent.
  • We may remove content, hide a profile, suspend or delete an account if you break these terms, if we must by law, or to protect users or ELO. Where reasonable we'll tell you why and give you a chance to respond.
  • We may change, pause or shut down all or part of ELO. If we shut it down, we'll give at least DECISION: shutdown notice period notice where we can, so you can download your data.
  • Sections 5, 6 (for content already shared), 7.9, 10, 11, 13 and 14 survive termination.

10. Disclaimers

ELO is provided "as is" and "as available". Ratings depend on data from third-party platforms and on what users submit, and we don't guarantee that any rating, title, percentile or credential is accurate, complete or current, or that ELO will always be available or error-free. Platforms we read from may change or block their APIs, which can affect your rating. ELO is entertainment and is not professional, career, academic or financial advice.

Some places don't allow these disclaimers, so they apply only as far as the law allows.

11. Limitation of liability

As far as the law allows, ELO and its people won't be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, reputation or opportunities, arising from your use of ELO. Our total liability for any claim relating to ELO is limited to the greater of DECISION: liability cap amount or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim (ELO is currently free, so that amount is zero).

Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, or your rights as a consumer under the law where you live.

12. Indemnity

If you break these terms or the law and someone makes a claim against ELO because of it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with that claim, as far as the law allows. DECISION: keep indemnity clause for a free consumer product?

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For meaningful changes, we'll update the date at the top and tell signed-in users on the site (and by email for big changes) at least DECISION: notice period for terms changes before they take effect. If you keep using ELO after that, the new terms apply. If you don't agree, you can delete your account.

14. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of FILL: governing law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be handled in the courts of FILL: courts / venue, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim locally. Before going to court, please email FILL: contact email so we can try to sort it out informally within 30 days.

15. Contact

FILL: legal entity name, FILL: mailing address Email: FILL: contact email

Notes for the lawyer

Remove this section before publishing.

  1. Age floor (section 2). Founder to choose 16+ or 18+; GTM recommends 18+ at launch. Confirm the Option A/B text and whether self-declared birth year is enough for each.
  2. Likeness and publicity rights (section 6). Users' names and Google photos appear in a game shown to anonymous guests and in share cards anyone can generate by sharing a profile link. Is this licence plus an explicit onboarding notice enough consent under right-of-publicity laws (e.g. California Civil Code §3344)? Should game appearance be a separate opt-in?
  3. Use in ELO's own marketing (section 6). GTM recommends asking each person before featuring their card in launch posts or ladder reports. Please confirm wording.
  4. "Not for employment/admissions" (section 7.9). Is this enough to keep ELO outside the US FCRA and EU Art. 22 automated decision-making, given we don't sell data to employers? Any wording to add?
  5. Defamation and disputes (section 8). Ratings are computed first-party output (US precedent: Browne v. Avvo, ratings as opinion). Is the dispute process and 48h target adequate for the UK and Canada?
  6. UK Online Safety Act / EU DSA. Do the reporting and notice-of-decision steps in section 8 meet the basic duties for a small user-to-user service? Does the DSA require a statement-of-reasons process or a point of contact we haven't included?
  7. Trademarks (section 5). Confirm the final tier names (founder's decision: DECISION: tier names) don't collide with FIDE or other marks, and that the descriptive use of third-party names (SAT, YC, Chess.com, Olympic) is fine as written. The IOC is known to be strict about "Olympic".
  8. Platform terms. LeetCode has no official API and its terms restrict scraping; Chess.com asks for a "not affiliated" statement. Do these terms need anything more given ELO reads their public data?
  9. Liability cap and indemnity (sections 11–12). Propose a cap amount, and say whether an indemnity is sensible or enforceable for a free consumer product in our main markets.
  10. Governing law (section 14). Founder to supply the entity and jurisdiction. Consumer-protection carve-outs for EU/UK users?
  11. Notice periods. Propose periods for method changes, terms changes and shutdown.