Terms of Service
Last updated: 5 September 2026
Webtrail is a published notebook, not a platform. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to buy, so these terms are short: they say what the site is, what you may do with it, and what it does not promise.
1. Scope and operator
These terms govern the use of webtrail, published by Brian Douglas in Switzerland (hc.liartbew@ofni). They apply by the act of reading the site; there is no account to open and no agreement to accept. The Privacy Policy forms part of them.
2. What the site is
Webtrail publishes trails: a few external sites on one subject, put in an order, each with a note on why it earned its place. The same stops are listed on their own in the catalog. The selection is one person's editorial judgement. It is not a ranking, a directory, a review service or a recommendation you should rely on for anything consequential.
Nothing here is paid placement. No stop has been included in exchange for money, links or goods, there are no affiliate links, and no advertiser has any say in what appears.
3. Webtrail's own content
The write-ups, the site's design, its typographic and visual identity and its source code belong to the operator. You may quote from a trail with attribution and a link back, as you would any published piece of writing. Republishing whole write-ups, or reproducing the site's design or identity, needs permission first — write to hc.liartbew@ofni.
The site runs on Ruby on Rails and other open-source libraries, each under its own licence. Those licences travel with the libraries and impose nothing on you as a reader.
4. Other people's material
Each stop carries a screenshot of the site it points at, and names that site and its title. Those remain the property of whoever made them. They appear here to identify and describe the page being written about, which is what the quotation right under Swiss copyright law (URG Art. 25) is for, and they are kept to what that purpose needs.
If you run a site that appears here and you want the screenshot removed, the description changed or the entry taken down, write to hc.liartbew@ofni and say which entry. Requests are acted on rather than argued with: this is a notebook of sites worth reading, and one that its owner does not want listed is not worth listing.
5. Links to other sites
Following a stop takes you to somebody else's site, which webtrail does not control and is not responsible for. A stop's presence says a person read that page and thought it worth your time on the day it was written. It is not a warranty about the site's current content, security or conduct, and sites change hands, decay and disappear.
6. AI in how this is written
As set out in the Privacy Policy, AI tools are used to draft and edit the write-ups and to help maintain the site's code, with a person opening every page that gets a stop and reviewing every write-up before it is published. Review catches a lot and not everything. Treat what you read here as an informed note, not a verified record, and check anything you intend to act on at the source.
7. Accuracy
Webtrail is published as-is. No promise is made that a write-up is complete, current or free of error, and a stop that was accurate when it was written may not describe the site you find today. Corrections are welcome at hc.liartbew@ofni.
8. Acceptable use
- Read it, link to it, quote it with attribution, and subscribe to the feed in any reader you like.
- Do not attempt to reach the editorial pages, the API or any account on this site without authorisation, and do not probe it for weaknesses.
- Automated collection must stay within the rate limits the site enforces and must not degrade it for other readers. Bulk copying of the catalog for republication is not permitted.
- Do not use webtrail's name or design in a way that suggests it endorses you or vouches for something it has not written about.
9. Availability
The site is run on a single small machine as a personal project. It aims to stay up and makes no promise that it will. It may be taken down, rebuilt, restructured or ended at any time, and individual trails may be revised or withdrawn.
10. Liability
To the fullest extent Swiss law allows (OR Art. 100), the operator is liable only for direct damage caused by intent or gross negligence. Liability is excluded for indirect and consequential loss, for anything that happens on a site reached through a link from here, and for any decision taken on the strength of a write-up. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
11. Changes to these terms
These terms may change; the current version always stands on this page with its date at the top. There is no mailing list to notify, so the date is the notice.
12. Governing law
Swiss law applies, excluding its conflict-of-law rules. The place of jurisdiction is the operator's domicile in Switzerland, subject to the mandatory exceptions that consumer protection law provides (ZPO Art. 32).
13. Contact
Brian Douglas, Switzerland
hc.liartbew@ofni