Terms of Service

Summary: This is my personal website—a place for my writing, projects, and background. You’re welcome to read it, link to it, and share it. The writing, images, and code here are openly licensed—you may reuse and build on them, even commercially, as long as you credit me. I publish everything in good faith but provide it “as is,” the views are my own, nothing here is professional advice, and I can’t be held liable if you rely on something and it doesn’t work out. Beyond that, just use the site lawfully and don’t try to break it.

Agreement to these terms

By visiting and using mehrtens.com (the “site”), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you don’t agree with them, please don’t use the site. These terms apply to everyone who accesses the site.

Who runs this site

This website mehrtens.com is operated by Matthew Mehrtens as a personal, non-commercial project. There are no accounts, comments, purchases, or contact forms—it’s simply a place to read what I publish. If you have any questions about these terms, you can reach me at legal@mehrtens.com.

Licensing and reuse

This site is openly licensed, and you’re encouraged to build on it. Two licenses apply, both recorded in the repository’s LICENSE file:

• The source code of this site is released under the MIT License.
• All other content—the text of my posts, images, and design—is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

In plain terms: you may copy, share, adapt, and reuse the content for any purpose, including commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit, link to the license, and indicate whether you made changes. Please don’t suggest that I endorse you or your use of the work. Where this summary and the license texts differ, the licenses control.

Acceptable use

Please use the site lawfully and in good faith. In particular, don’t:

• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site or the infrastructure it runs on;
• attempt to breach or circumvent the site’s security measures, or test for vulnerabilities other than through good-faith research conducted in accordance with my security policy;
• interfere with or disrupt the site—for example, through excessive automated requests, scraping that places an unreasonable load on it, or denial-of-service attempts; or
• use the site to violate any law or infringe anyone’s rights.

Disclaimer

I publish this site in good faith and try to keep it accurate, but I provide it “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. I don’t guarantee that the content is accurate, complete, current, or free of errors, or that the site will always be available or uninterrupted.

Anything I write here reflects my own personal views, not those of my employer, my university, or any organization I’m affiliated with. Nothing on this site is professional advice—technical, engineering, legal, financial, or otherwise—and you shouldn’t treat it as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. Any use you make of the content is at your own risk.

Links to other sites

This site may link to third-party websites and resources that I don’t operate or control. I provide those links for convenience, and including one doesn’t mean I endorse the site or everything on it. I’m not responsible for the content, accuracy, availability, or practices of any third-party site, and visiting them is at your own discretion.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, I won’t be liable for any damages arising out of or related to your use of—or inability to use—this site or its content, including any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, even where the possibility of such damages was known.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Iowa and the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Severability

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, that part will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the rest will remain in full effect.

Changes to these terms

I may update these terms from time to time—for example, if I add new features to the site. When I do, I’ll revise the “last updated” date above and add to the running changelog below. Your continued use of the site after an update means you accept the revised terms.