Introduction
Welcome to Skylantix, a collective microcloud. These Terms of Service explain the agreement between you (a member) and Skylantix. We’ve written this in plain language because transparency matters to us.
The short version: Be respectful, use services reasonably, pay on time, and we’ll provide reliable infrastructure. If something goes wrong, we’ll be honest about it.
Important: Learning Together
Skylantix is run by a University of Chicago student learning production systems administration by managing real infrastructure for real users. This is not enterprise-grade hosting with 99.99% SLAs—it’s a craft project and learning experience.
What this means:
- I’m learning production infrastructure alongside the community
- While I strive for excellence and reliability, I cannot guarantee specific uptime or availability
- Issues will happen—I’ll communicate honestly when they do
- You’re joining a collective that values transparency and growth over perfection
- This infrastructure is managed personally, not by a professional operations team
If you need guaranteed uptime or enterprise SLAs, Skylantix may not be right for you. But if you value transparency, community, and supporting someone learning while building something meaningful, welcome aboard.
1. Accepting These Terms
By creating a Skylantix account, you agree to these terms. If you don’t agree, please don’t use our services.
Important notes:
- You must be at least 18 years old (or have parental consent)
- You must provide accurate information
- You’re responsible for keeping your account secure
- One person per account (no sharing credentials)
2. What We Provide
Skylantix provides the following services for $20/month or $200/year:
- Nextcloud - File storage and digital life management
- Email - @skylantix.net address with 20 GB storage
- Bitwarden - Password manager
- Linkding - Bookmark manager
- Mattermost - Community chat
- Gitea - Git repository hosting
- Immich - Photo management and backup
- Minecraft Server - Shared community server (Java/Bedrock crossplay)
Storage: 200 GB total (180 GB shared between Nextcloud/Immich + 20 GB email)
Infrastructure:
- California-based servers (Orange County at launch, geographically distinct nodes added as we scale)
- RAID Z3 redundancy from launch
- Automated encrypted backups following 3-2-1 rule
- Cloudflare DDoS protection and SSL/TLS
3. Your Responsibilities
Acceptable Use
You agree to:
- Use services for lawful purposes only
- Not engage in spam, phishing, or abusive behavior
- Not attempt to compromise security or access others’ data
- Not use excessive resources that harm other members
- Respect the community and fellow members
- Follow the rules of individual services (Mattermost community guidelines, etc.)
Prohibited Activities
You may NOT:
- Host illegal content (child exploitation, terrorist content, etc.)
- Distribute malware or run attacks from our infrastructure
- Violate copyright laws (piracy, unauthorized distribution)
- Mine cryptocurrency (excessive resource usage)
- Resell or sublease your membership
- Use services to harass, threaten, or harm others
Enforcement: Violations may result in account suspension or termination. We’ll contact you first unless there’s an immediate security threat.
4. Payment & Billing
Pricing
- Monthly: $20/month
- Annual: $200/year (save $40)
- Student Discount: $12/month or $120/year (40% off for 3 years for university students)
Payment Terms
- Payments are processed on your billing date
- We accept credit/debit cards via our payment processor
- Failed payments: We’ll notify you and give 7 days to update payment
- After 7 days of non-payment, services may be suspended
- After 30 days, your account may be terminated and data deleted
Refunds
- 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee: Full refund available within 14 days of initial signup (both monthly and annual)
- After 14 days (Monthly): No refunds (cancel anytime, no charges after cancellation)
- After 14 days (Annual): No refunds, but you keep access for the full year you paid for
- Service Issues: Extended outages exceeding our SLA may qualify for prorated credits or refunds
- Termination by Us: If we terminate your account for reasons other than terms violations, you may receive a prorated refund (at our discretion)
5. Early Member Benefits
The first 50 members total (regardless of plan type) receive extraordinary perks when Skylantix reaches 1,250 members:
- If you chose annual: All fees waived as long as Skylantix operates
- If you chose monthly: 50% discount ($10/month instead of $20) as long as Skylantix operates
Important:
- Early member status is tied to your account (non-transferable)
- If you cancel and rejoin, you lose early member benefits
- Benefits activate automatically when we reach 1,250 members
6. Service Level & Uptime
Our Goal (Not a Guarantee)
We aim for 99% uptime (excluding scheduled maintenance) and work diligently to maintain reliable services. However, as stated in the introduction, we cannot guarantee specific uptime or availability.
Our approach:
- Target less than 7.3 hours of unplanned downtime per month
- Announce scheduled maintenance 48 hours in advance when possible
- Provide transparent incident reporting via status page
- Learn from every issue to improve reliability over time
What We DON’T Guarantee
We’re honest about limitations:
- No enterprise SLAs - This is personally managed infrastructure, not a professional operations team
- Learning process - I’m improving systems administration skills while running production infrastructure
- California power outages - May cause brief interruptions (we have backup power systems, but they’re not perfect)
- Internet outages - Beyond our control (we have redundant connections)
- Force majeure - Natural disasters, wars, pandemics, etc.
- Human error - I’m learning and mistakes will happen; I’ll be transparent when they do
If Service Falls Short
If uptime drops significantly in a month, I’ll:
- Communicate transparently about what happened and why
- Offer prorated credits or refunds on a case-by-case basis (at my discretion)
- Publish a detailed incident report explaining what went wrong
- Share what I’m doing to prevent similar issues
There are no contractual uptime guarantees. Service credits are goodwill gestures, not contractual obligations.
7. Data Ownership & Backups
Your Data is YOURS
- You own all data you store on Skylantix
- We don’t claim any rights to your content
- You can export your data anytime
- We’ll help you migrate to another provider if you leave
Our Backup Responsibility
We maintain automated encrypted backups:
- Daily backups retained for 30 days
- Following 3-2-1 rule (3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite)
- RAID Z3 redundancy
IMPORTANT: Backups are for disaster recovery, not version control. You should maintain your own local backups of critical data.
8. Privacy & Security
Your privacy is fundamental. See our Privacy Policy for details, but key points:
- We collect minimal data (only what’s needed to run services)
- We never sell your data
- Data stays in California on hardware we own
- Encrypted at rest (LUKS) and in transit (SSL/TLS)
- Only infrastructure admin has access (and only for support/maintenance)
Security Incidents: If there’s a breach affecting your data, we’ll notify you within 72 hours with full transparency about what happened.
9. Account Cancellation
You Can Cancel Anytime
- Monthly members: Cancel anytime, no charges after current billing period
- Annual members: Keep access for the full year you paid for
- How to cancel: Email [email protected] or contact via Mattermost
What Happens After Cancellation
- You have 30 days to export your data
- After 30 days, we securely delete all your data
- We’ll send reminders at 14 days and 7 days before deletion
- Deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed
We May Terminate Your Account
Skylantix (the owner/administrator) reserves the right to terminate any membership for any reason, at sole discretion.
Common reasons for termination:
- Violating these terms repeatedly
- Using services for illegal activities
- Failing to pay for 30+ days
- Compromising security or harming other members
- Behavior that conflicts with community values
Notice & Refunds:
- We’ll give 7 days notice before termination (unless immediate security threat)
- You’ll have time to export your data during the notice period
- If terminated for reasons other than terms violations, you may receive a prorated refund (at our discretion)
10. Service Changes
We May Modify Services
Skylantix may:
- Add new features (usually free for existing members)
- Remove features with 60 days notice
- Change infrastructure (while maintaining service quality)
- Adjust pricing with 90 days notice for existing members
Grandfathered Pricing: If we raise prices, existing members keep their current rate for 1 year minimum.
We Will NOT:
- Reduce storage without equivalent compensation
- Compromise privacy commitments
- Introduce ads or tracking
- Sell your data (ever)
11. Limitation of Liability
What We’re Liable For
If we mess up, we’ll make it right:
- Service credits for extended outages
- Data recovery from backups if we lose data
- Honest communication about what went wrong
What We’re NOT Liable For
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
- Lost profits or business opportunities
- Indirect, consequential, or punitive damages
- Data loss if you didn’t maintain your own backups
- Third-party services (payment processors, Cloudflare, etc.)
- Force majeure (natural disasters, war, etc.)
- Service interruptions or issues arising from the learning nature of this project
Important: By using Skylantix, you acknowledge and accept that this infrastructure is managed by someone learning production systems administration. While every effort is made to maintain reliability, you accept the inherent risks of using personally managed infrastructure that is part of a learning journey.
Maximum Liability: Our total liability is limited to the amount you paid in the last 12 months.
12. Dispute Resolution
We’re committed to resolving issues fairly:
- Contact Us First: Email [email protected] or message on Mattermost
- Good Faith Discussion: We’ll work with you to find a solution
- Mediation: If we can’t resolve it, we’ll try mediation (shared cost)
- Arbitration: Binding arbitration in Orange County, California (if mediation fails)
No Class Actions: Disputes must be resolved individually, not as class actions.
As a collective microcloud, members have a voice:
- Feature Votes: Members vote on feature priorities
- Donation Allocation: Members vote on how 50% of profits are donated to open source
- Transparency Reports: Annual financial and operational reports
- Community Grants: Members can apply for grants for community-benefiting projects
Participation is voluntary but encouraged. We make decisions transparently and include the community.
14. Intellectual Property
Your Content
- You retain all rights to content you upload
- You grant us a license to host/backup your content (necessary to provide services)
- This license ends when you delete content or cancel your account
Our Property
- Skylantix name, logo, and branding belong to us
- Our infrastructure code and configurations are proprietary
- We may open-source parts of our setup (at our discretion)
- Documentation and guides we publish may be shared freely
15. Student Verification
If using the student discount:
- You must email [email protected] from your university .edu email address with proof of enrollment (Student ID, unofficial transcript, or National Student Clearinghouse certificate of enrollment)
- Verification happens once when you sign up
- You receive the discount for 3 years from signup (no ongoing verification required)
- You must be enrolled at the time of initial signup
- After 3 years, pricing transitions to standard rates ($20/month or $200/year)
- Falsifying student status results in account termination
16. Changes to These Terms
We may update these terms:
- Minor changes: Posted here with 30 days notice
- Major changes: Email notification + 60 days notice
- Effective date: Changes take effect after notice period
You may cancel if you don’t agree with changes. Continued use means acceptance.
17. California Law
These terms are governed by California law. Any disputes will be resolved in Orange County, California.
18. Severability
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.
Questions about these terms?
- Email: [email protected]
- Mattermost: Available after joining
- Location: Orange County, California
We’re happy to explain anything. Our goal is transparency, not hiding behind legalese.
The Spirit of These Terms
Skylantix is a collective microcloud built on trust, transparency, and community. These terms exist to protect both you and us, but the real agreement is simpler:
You: Use services reasonably, pay on time, be respectful.
Us: Provide reliable infrastructure, communicate honestly, prioritize privacy.
Let’s build a better internet together.
Last Updated: November 1, 2025
Effective Date: November 1, 2025