Welcome, ...
Internet Rewind ("the Platform," "we," "us") is a free, non-commercial online community operated by Altruistic Apps, based in Greendale, Wisconsin. Our mission is to provide a nostalgic, Prodigy- and AIM-inspired community space for discussion, chat, news, weather, and entertainment — completely free of charge, advertising, and data monetization.
By creating an account or using any part of Internet Rewind, you ("User," "you") agree to be bound by these Terms of Service in their entirety. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform.
These Terms apply to all areas of the Platform: topic boards, chat rooms, instant messaging, the Newsstand, Game Room, Weather, and all other features.
You must be 18 years of age or older to create an account. By registering, you affirm that you meet this age requirement. Misrepresenting your age to gain access is a violation of these Terms and grounds for immediate permanent ban.
One account per person. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Keep your credentials secure and do not share your login with others.
We do not sell your data. We do not share your data with advertisers. We do not run advertisements. This is a non-commercial platform.
When you register, we collect your screen name, email address, and a hashed (encrypted) password. We use your email only for account-related communications such as password resets. We do not send marketing email.
We log connection metadata for chat rooms (timestamps and user identifiers) for security and abuse-prevention purposes only. We retain this metadata for 90 days and then it is automatically deleted. We do not log, store, or retain the content of chat messages. Once a chat message is sent, it exists only in participants' screens for the duration of the session. We cannot retrieve it.
We collect standard server logs (IP addresses, request timestamps) for security, abuse prevention, and platform stability. These are not shared with third parties except where required by law enforcement with a valid legal request.
We collect no payment information. Internet Rewind is and will remain free.
Internet Rewind is a community space. The following categories of content are strictly prohibited anywhere on the Platform — on boards, in chat rooms, in direct messages, or in any other feature:
Additional prohibited content includes: spam, commercial solicitation, impersonation of other users, sharing of others' private information ("doxxing"), copyright infringement, and any content that violates applicable law.
We use a tiered moderation system designed to be fair while protecting the community:
Step 1 — Automated Review: When a post is reported, it enters an automated review process. The post may be temporarily hidden pending review. Reports are treated as a priority signal, not an automatic verdict — a high report count does not by itself determine the outcome.
Step 2 — Topic Moderator Review: If automated review flags a violation, a topic moderator evaluates the post. The original poster is notified if a post is removed. If you believe a removal was in error, you may submit an appeal to the topic moderator.
Step 3 — Site Moderator Review: If your appeal to the topic moderator is denied, you may request a final review by a site moderator. The site moderator's decision is final.
We make good-faith efforts to review content and respond to reports, but we cannot guarantee that all violating content will be identified or removed in any particular timeframe.
Banned users are banned by both account and IP address. If your account has been banned and you create a new account or access the Platform from a new IP address, and we are made aware of your presence, your new account and IP address will also be permanently banned. No explanation will be provided.
Attempting to evade a ban is itself a violation of these Terms. We treat ban evasion as confirmation of the original violation and as evidence of bad faith.
Bans may be temporary or permanent depending on the nature of the violation. Certain violations — bigotry, sexual solicitation of minors, threats of violence, and ban evasion — result in permanent, non-appealable bans.
Harassment: Harassing another user — on boards, in chat rooms, or via direct messages — is grounds for immediate account ban. This includes repeated unwanted contact, targeted abuse, and coordinated harassment by groups.
Threats of violence in direct messages: If a user sends threats of violence via our instant messaging system, this is grounds for immediate permanent ban. Although we do not retain message content, we retain connection metadata (account identifiers, timestamps, IP addresses) and will provide this information to law enforcement upon valid legal request.
We reserve the right to report suspected illegal activity to law enforcement at our discretion, without notice to the user involved.
Internet Rewind's chat rooms are designed with privacy in mind. We do not log, record, or retain the text content of any chat room conversation. Messages exist only in the active session and are not stored on our servers after they are sent.
Because we do not retain message content, we cannot retrieve, review, or produce transcripts of chat conversations. We are not responsible for the content of communications that occur within chat rooms.
We do retain connection metadata for chat sessions — specifically, which user accounts connected to which chat rooms and at what times. This metadata is retained for 90 days for security purposes and is not used for any other purpose. It may be disclosed to law enforcement upon valid legal request.
These Terms of Service still apply within chat rooms. Users who violate these Terms in chat — through harassment, threats, or other prohibited conduct — may be reported by other users and are subject to the same enforcement consequences as violations on the boards.
Internet Rewind aggregates and displays content from third-party sources. We display this content for informational and community purposes. The following sources are used on our platform:
We make no claim of ownership over any third-party content displayed on this Platform. If you are a rights holder and believe your content is being displayed inappropriately, please contact us.
When you post content on Internet Rewind's boards, you retain ownership of what you write. By posting, you grant Internet Rewind a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display your content on the Platform for as long as it remains posted.
You represent that you own or have the right to post any content you submit, and that your content does not infringe the intellectual property or other rights of any third party.
We reserve the right to remove any user-generated content at our discretion, for any reason, at any time, with or without notice.
Internet Rewind is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful content posted by users.
We make good-faith efforts to moderate content and enforce these Terms, but we cannot review every post in real time and are not liable for user-generated content that violates these Terms or applicable law. The presence of violating content before it is identified and removed does not constitute endorsement of that content.
We are not responsible for the content of third-party websites linked from Internet Rewind, including news articles, game hosts, or archived publications.
Market data, weather information, and news content are provided for informational purposes only. Nothing on Internet Rewind constitutes financial, legal, or professional advice.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Internet Rewind and Altruistic Apps shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Platform.
We may update these Terms of Service from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last Revised" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will post a notice on the Platform's Highlights page.
Continued use of Internet Rewind after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree with updated Terms, your remedy is to stop using the Platform and delete your account.