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Version: 2026-10-16.1 Effective: 2026-10-16

Terms of Service

Version: 2026-10-16.1 Effective: 2026-10-16

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are the agreement between Little Collie LLC, an Oregon limited liability company ("Little Collie", "we", "us") and the customer ("you") for the use of Little Collie Shepherd ("Shepherd"), our comment-moderation service (the "Service"). By creating a workspace, or by continuing to use the Service after being asked to accept an updated version of these Terms, you agree to them on behalf of the workspace you administer.

What Little Collie Shepherd Does

Little Collie Shepherd helps you moderate comments on the sources you connect, currently YouTube standard comments on videos and shorts as well as WordPress comments. When you use Little Collie Shepherd with YouTube, the service will request permissions to manage comments on your behalf and to read your channel's data.

Shepherd uses the access you grant to view and categorize audience comments, including those your channel's own settings hold for review. Shepherd will never post comment replies on your or anyone else's videos. Depending on your Settings, it may hold comments for review by you or those you authorized, hiding them until then; remove abusive comments; publish held comments it finds nothing wrong with; or remove all comments from specified users.

All comment moderation actions, such as hiding comments automatically on your behalf, are taken strictly under the moderation policy you have explicitly approved and turned on during the setup process.

Limits of What Little Collie Shepherd Does

  • You own your moderation decisions. Automated removal happens only under the policy you configured and approved, and every action is attributed and reviewable in your action log. Shepherd is a tool acting on your instructions, not an editor of your community.
  • No moderation system is perfect. The Service will sometimes hold a comment a human would have passed, and pass a comment a human would have held. We do not warrant that all unwanted content will be caught, nor that no acceptable content will ever be flagged or removed.
  • The connected platforms are not ours. What happens to a comment on YouTube or WordPress is ultimately governed by that platform. If a platform changes or revokes API access, parts of the Service may stop working; we will tell you when that happens.

Eligibility

  • Administrators and anyone who pays must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where they live if that is higher. That includes anyone who creates a workspace, subscribes to a paid plan, or holds the billing role.
  • Invited moderators must be at least 13 years old, or the minimum age for using online services without parental consent where they live if that is higher. A moderator under 18 may be invited only by an administrator who is their parent or legal guardian, or who has that parent's or guardian's consent. The inviting administrator is responsible for the minor's use of the Service.
  • Channels belonging to a minor. An administrator may connect a YouTube channel that belongs to a minor in their care, with the minor authorising the connection through YouTube.
  • By using the Service you confirm that you meet these requirements. If we learn that an account does not, we will remove it, and close the workspace if the account is its only administrator.

Your Account and Workspace

You are responsible for providing accurate account information and keeping your credentials secure. You are responsible for the people you invite into your workspace and the roles you give them. Workspace administrators may bind the workspace to these Terms and to updated versions of them.

Acceptable Use

When using Shepherd in any way, you agree to: - not use the Service to harass, abuse, impersonate, spam, defame, or discriminate, or to suppress lawful speech in a manner that violates applicable law; - only connect sources you own or have authority to moderate; - not probe, disrupt, circumvent, or overload the Service; - not to attempt to access another customer's workspace or data; - never create illegal or harmful content, including those that promote violence, illegal activities, or violate applicable laws or regulations; - never resell or white-label the Service without a written agreement with us; - never reverse-engineer Little Collie Shepherd or otherwise reproduce its functionality.

When connecting any YouTube source, you agree to:

  • comply with YouTube's Community Guidelines, YouTube's Terms of Service, and all applicable YouTube posting policies at all times
  • never use Shepherd to manipulate engagement metrics or YouTube's recommendation algorithms;
  • never use Shepherd to moderate comments on channels that use significant AI generated content;
  • never use Shepherd to avoid YouTube enforcement actions, including bans, strikes, or any other moderation actions taken by Alphabet, Google, or YouTube.

When connecting any WordPress source, you agree to: - comply WordPress' terms of service and any applicable hosting company, including but not limited to WordPress.com, GoDaddy, Newfold Digital, Automattic, Hostinger, IONOS/OVHcloud, SiteGround, DreamHost, WP Engine, Kinsta, WordPress VIP, Pantheon, Cloudways, and/or any other applicable service used to host your WordPress site; - never use Shepherd to support content farms or AI generated WordPress sites; - never use Shepherd to manipulate site ranking on Google or any other search engine; - never use Shepherd to avoid WordPress or hosting company policy enforcement actions;

We may suspend any account that violates these terms or agreement in part or in full, after notice where practicable.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Little Collie Shepherd offers two artificial intelligence (AI) features: AI comment classification and AI-generated Rules. By using these features and the Service, you acknowledge and accept the following:

About

  • AI features use may occasionally produce incorrect, unexpected, or inappropriate results
  • AI classification may incorrectly trigger or fail to trigger your rules and thereby fail to take the correct action
  • AI classification of specific comments from your sources are not reviewed by Little Collie staff prior to triggering your approved rules

Auto-Removal

Enabling "auto-removal" policies for rules will cause Little Collie Shepherd to automatically hide or hold comments without your manual review. By enabling "auto-removal", you are

  • Accepting full responsibility for all actions taken by the Service on your behalf
  • Acknowledging that the Service may make errors that could affect your, your channel, or your content's reputation, visibility, or violate YouTube's, WordPress's, or related hosting policies
  • Agreeing that Little Collie is not liable for any consequences resulting from autonomous AI categorization and resulting Service actions
  • Understanding and agreeing that you cannot hold Little Collie responsible for any damages, account penalties, or other negative outcomes that derive from autonomous AI categorization

Little Collie recommends using the "queue" default action for automomous AI features until you are confident in how the AI handles your audience's comments.

Rule Generation

Little Collie Shepherd's Rule Builder feature enables creating rules that can trigger automated actions, including hiding comments. You understand and agree that

  • You are solely responsible for the rules you create and the actions taken on your behalf based on those rules
  • Automated actions based on generated rules can affect you, your channel, and your content's reputation, visibility, or violate YouTube's, WordPress's, or related hosting policies
  • You are responsible for reviewing, testing, and monitoring your rules to ensure they take your expected actions and otherwise behave as intended
  • Little Collie is not liable for any losses, damages, or claims arising from automated actions executed by your rules

Team and Delegate Access

Little Collie Shepherd enables you to grant other people such as comment moderators or billing managers delegate access to your account. If you choose to do so, you are responsible for their actions while using your account as if they were your own. You agree to grant access only people you trust, to remove that access when it is no longer required, and to ensure that your access list is accurate. Anyone using the Service through a delegate account is also bound by these Terms.

Your Content and Connected Platforms

You retain all rights to your channels, sites, and comment data. You grant us the rights needed to operate Shepherd on that data on your behalf (see the Privacy Policy and the Data Processing Agreement). Your use of connected platforms remains subject to those platforms' own terms, and you warrant that connecting them to the Service does not breach those terms.

Revoking Access to Connected Platforms

You can revoke Shepherd's access to any connected source at any time through the Settings / Sources page at https://shepherd.littlecollie.com/settings/sources. You can also do so for YouTube at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. The WordPress plug-in can be removed in your WordPress' Plugins administration page, usually located at /wp-admin/plugins.php; deactivating or deleting the plug-in will revoke access.

Plans, Billing, and Metering

  • Paid plans are sold through Link, Stripe's merchant of record service. Link is the seller of record for your payment: it processes the charge, sends receipts and invoices, and calculates, collects, and remits sales tax, VAT, and GST. Neither Little Collie nor Shepherd stores your full card details.
  • Plan entitlements (connected sources, review volume, analysis capacity) are those of your current plan. Little Collie reserves the right to define or change acceptable usage limits, including regular limits. Any resulting charges will be visible in your workspace before they bill.
  • Prices and plan shapes may change; changes apply from your next billing period and we will notify you in advance.
  • Applicable sales tax, VAT, or GST is calculated and collected by Link at checkout. Any other taxes are your responsibility where the law places them on you.

Subscriptions and Billing

Little Collie offers paid subscription tiers. We may offer free subscription tiers to content creators, subject to availability. All payments are handled securely by Link, Stripe's merchant of record service (https://link.com). By subscribing to any paid plan, you agree to the following:

  • Subscriptions are billed on a recurring basis (monthly or annually, depending on the plan you select) and automatically renew until cancelled;
  • By subscribing, you authorize Link, as seller of record on Little Collie's behalf, to charge your chosen payment method for the applicable subscription fees on a recurring basis until you cancel. These charges typically appear on your statement as LINK.COM* LC SHEPHERD;
  • You may cancel your subscription at any time from the Settings Plan page. Cancellations take effect at the end of your current billing period, during which you will retain access to paid features;
  • Little Collie offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for Shepherd. If the Service is not for you, email us within 14 days of your first payment and we will refund it in full, no questions asked. The guarantee covers your first paid subscription on a self-serve plan, once per account. Email [email protected]; we refund to your original payment method and your account sources will be disconnected.
  • Both monthly and annual subscriptions are charged upfront for their full period and, outside the 14-day money-back guarantee, are non-refundable except where required by law. Cancelling an annual subscription stops automatic renewal but does not refund the unused portion of the current annual period. You retain full access to paid features through the end of the period for which you have already paid.
  • As seller of record, Link also provides transaction support and may issue refunds under its own practices, including within 60 days of a charge in certain cases. You can reach Link support at https://support.link.com/topics/sold-through-link. Nothing in these Terms limits any refund Link provides.
  • We reserve the right to change pricing with notice. Continued use after a price change constitutes acceptance.

Billing Authorization and Chargebacks

Little Collie is a digital service that is delivered immediately and continuously. You must authenticate to use the service. Your access to the service, together with any categorization, moderation, or other actions performed on your behalf by the rules and policies that you configure, constitutes delivery of the service. We maintain records of your authentication, account activity, and actions taken on your behalf.

You can cancel at any time from your account to stop future charges. You can revoke Shepherd's access to previously configured sources through the Settings' Sources page. If you believe a charge is incorrect, please contact us first at [email protected]. We are committed to resolving billing questions as quickly as possible.

Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute for a subscription period in which the service was made available to you is a breach of these Terms. Where a dispute is filed, you authorize Little Collie to provide your payment provider, bank, or card network with records of your account authentication, activity, and service delivery in order to demonstrate that the charge was authorized and the service was rendered. A chargeback immediately terminates your account. Little Collie reserves the right to recover the disputed amount and any any associated fees.

Data Protection

  • Our Privacy Policy describes how Little Collie Shepherd handles your personal data (account, billing, usage) as a controller.
  • The Data Processing Agreement (available from us, and summarised in the Privacy Policy) governs how Little Collie Shepherd processes your commenters' personal data on your behalf as a processor.

Availability and Support

We aim to keep the Service available continuously but do not offer a contractual uptime guarantee on self-serve plans. Scheduled maintenance and incidents may be communicated in-product or by email. Unscheduled maintenance will be confirmed after completion by the same.

Disclaimers and Liability

Intended posture: the Service is provided "as is"; we disclaim implied warranties to the extent permitted; neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss; our aggregate liability is capped at the fees you paid in the twelve months before the claim, except for what cannot lawfully be capped (e.g. our own fraud or wilful misconduct, and our obligations under the DPA to the extent law requires).

Suspension, Termination, and Your Data

You may cancel at any time from your account settings; cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period. We may terminate for material breach that goes uncured after notice, or where required by law. After termination we provide a time-limited window to export your account data, after which it is deleted on the schedule described in the Privacy Policy. Where not possible, Little Collie may terminate an account, create an export and make it available for download via a secure link.

Changes to These Terms

Each version of these Terms carries an effective date. When we publish a materially updated version, account administrators are asked to review and accept it before continuing to administer the workspace; the accepted version and time of acceptance are recorded per account. If you do not accept, you may cancel under section 9 — continued use of your account, including comment moderation after acceptance constitutes agreement.

Severability

Any provision of these Terms found to be unenforceable or invalid, only that provision, limitted or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, shall be rendered so. All other provisions shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.

Governing Law and Disputes

Little Collie is operated from Washington County, Oregon, United States. These Terms of Service and any other separate agreements whereby we prive you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Oregon.

Prior to filing any claim, you agree to contact Little Collie at [email protected] and provide 30 days to work with you to resolve the issue informally. Most issues can be resolved within this window.

Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally shall be finally settled by binding arbitration in Washington County, Oregon, in English, in accordance with this, any, and all other agreements in place at the time your service was in effect. Either party may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for infringement or misuse of intellectual property rights.

To the extent permitted by law, disputes must be brought on an individual basis only. Neither you nor Little Collie may participate in a class, consolidates, or representative action.

You may opt out of this arbitration agreement within 30 days of first accepting these Terms of emailing [email protected] with your name and account email. Emails must clearly state that you opt out of arbitration.

General Limitations

  • These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any plan-specific terms we agree with you in writing, are the entire agreement between you and Little Collie regarding the Service.
  • You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquistion, or sale of assets.
  • Any failure by Little Collie to enforce a provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce or not enforce it later.
  • Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control. This includes outages of YouTube, hosting companies, internet service providers, or issues in the WordPress codebase.
  • All sections that, by their nature should persist beyond Service termination, including those that pertain to content ownership, feedback, service conditions, limitations of liabity, indemnification, governing law, and dispute resolution, survive.

Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected], or by post to Little Collie LLC, 7325 NE Imbrie Dr #513, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA.