About Textpile

Textpile is a low-maintenance reading surface for sharing longer texts within a bounded community.

It is intentionally simple, temporary, and unattributed.

What Textpile Is

• A place to read longer texts that don't fit well in email
• A shared surface for reference and rereading
• A tool operated for the convenience of the community

What Textpile Is Not

• An archive
• A system of record
• A moderated publishing platform
• A service with guaranteed availability or retention

Textpile does not promise permanence.

Attribution and Identity

Textpile does not store author attribution for posts. Any identifying information included in a post is provided by the author and is not verified.

When submitting content:

• no author identity is collected
• IP addresses may be logged as part of normal operation

Authors are responsible for keeping their own copies, including:

• title
• version identifier
• the Textpile URL

Retention and Expiration

All posts expire automatically after a fixed period.

Expiration is intentional:

• to limit long-term maintenance burden
• to avoid implicit archival responsibility
• to encourage authors to retain their own records

Maintainers do not back up content.

Once a post expires, it may no longer be recoverable.

Use Expectations

Textpile is provided for good-faith use by the community.

It may not be used to:

• facilitate illegal activity
• cause harm
• evade ethical or legal responsibilities

Textpile does not include moderation or review workflows.

Operation and Shutdown

Textpile is run on a best-effort basis.

If operating this instance becomes burdensome — due to time, legal risk, or support overhead — it may be shut down and all content removed.

This is not a failure mode; it is an explicit design choice.