Terms of Use & Posting Policy

Effective date: August 4, 2026

1. What this site is

Critique Piqua(“the Site”) publishes commentary, recordings, and documents concerning the public conduct of the Piqua, Ohio city council and other local government bodies. It is operated by Damon Wilson(“we,” “us”).

The Site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for the City of Piqua, its council, or any government body. Nothing here is an official record. Official records are available from the city directly.

2. Reading is open; posting is not

Anyone may read the Site without an account. Posting is limited to people we have specifically approved in advance. There is no public sign-up. Being able to read the Site does not entitle anyone to post on it, and we decide who is approved at our sole discretion.

3. Rules for members who post

If you post here, you agree to the Posting Policy, which is part of these Terms. In particular, you agree that you will not post content that is knowingly false, that threatens or harasses anyone, that reveals a person’s home address or other private contact details, or that concerns a minor.

You are responsible for what you post. You represent that you have the right to post it, and that any recording or document you upload was lawfully obtained.

4. Your content stays yours

You keep ownership of what you post. By posting, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, and distribute that content on the Site, and to keep archival copies as described in the Privacy Policy. This license continues after your access ends, for content you already posted.

5. We moderate, but we do not pre-screen

Posts appear immediately and are not reviewed before publication. We may hide, remove, correct, or annotate any content at any time, for any reason or no reason, and we may revoke posting access at any time. We are not obligated to publish anything, keep anything published, or explain a decision either way.

Content posted by members is their speech, not ours. Under 47 U.S.C. § 230, we are generally not treated as the publisher of content provided by others. That protection does not extend to content we write ourselves.

6. Asking us to remove something

If you believe something on the Site is factually wrong, defamatory, invades your privacy, or infringes your copyright, use the removal and correction request process. We take those requests seriously and respond to them. Please use that process before anything more formal.

7. No warranty

The Site is provided “as is.” We do not warrant that anything on it is accurate, complete, current, or available at any given time. Commentary here reflects the opinions of the people who wrote it. Verify anything that matters to you against primary sources — the city’s own minutes, recordings, and public records.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Site. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Site will not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars ($100). Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits, in which case they apply to the maximum extent permitted.

9. Indemnification by members

If you post content here, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and reasonable legal costs arising out of that content or your breach of these Terms. This section applies to people who post — it does not apply to people who only read the Site.

10. Ending access

We may suspend or revoke posting access at any time, with or without notice. You may stop using the Site at any time. Content you already posted may remain published; see the removal request process if you want something taken down.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. When we do, we will change the effective date above. Material changes affecting members will also be communicated to members directly. Continuing to use the Site after a change means you accept it.

12. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Miami County, Ohio.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms: admin@critiquepiqua.com
655 N Main St, Piqua, OH 45356

14. Posting Policy

In force from August 4, 2026. These are the rules for what members may post, and they form part of these Terms.

This site exists to hold local government accountable. That work only holds up if what we publish is accurate and fair. These rules are not bureaucracy — they are what keeps the site credible and keeps contributors out of trouble.

Everything here applies to comments as well as posts. A comment is published under your name, is readable by anyone, and can be quoted or screenshotted the same way a post can. The author of a post may close it to new comments; that stops the conversation continuing, it does not remove comments already made. Moderators can remove an individual comment under the same rules used for posts.

The core rule: official conduct, not private lives

Post about what public officials do in their public roles — how they vote, what they say in meetings, how they spend public money, how they answer to residents. That is legitimate public interest and it is the strongest ground to stand on.

Do not post about their marriages, their health, their finances unrelated to office, their children, or where they live. An official being fair game for criticism of their council votes does not make their family fair game for anything.

Say true things, and label opinion as opinion

There is a real legal difference between these two sentences:

“Councilman Smith took a bribe.” — a statement of fact. If it is false, it is defamatory, and “I heard it from someone” is not a defense.
“Councilman Smith voted for the contract three weeks after his brother-in-law was hired by the contractor. In my opinion that stinks.” — verifiable facts, plus clearly-labeled opinion drawn from them.

The second is both more defensible and more persuasive. Write that way. If you are stating something as fact, you should be able to point to where it came from — a meeting recording, a public record, a document, something you personally witnessed. Say which.

Public officials suing over criticism of their official conduct generally have to prove the publisher knew it was false or recklessly disregarded whether it was. Do not hand anyone that argument. Guessing, embellishing, or repeating rumor you have not checked is exactly what that standard is designed to catch.

Never post

Home addresses, personal phone numbers, or private email addresses of anyone, official or not. Published official contact information is fine.
Threats or calls for violence, against anyone, in any tone. There is no joking exception.
Content about identifiable minors, including officials’ children, including photos where they appear incidentally.
Private individuals who are not part of the story. A resident who spoke at a public meeting has entered the public conversation on that topic; their neighbor has not.
Slurs or harassment based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.
Recordings you had no right to make, or material obtained by breaking into an account, a building, or a device.
Copyrighted work you do not have the right to republish. Government meeting footage and public records are generally safe; a local newspaper’s article or photo is not — link to it instead.

Recordings and documents

Ohio public bodies must hold their meetings openly, and recordings of public meetings are the backbone of this site. Post those freely.

Recordings of private conversations are a different matter, and the law varies by what was recorded and where. Do not upload a recording of a private conversation without checking first. If you are unsure whether you had the right to record something, do not post it.

Corrections

We correct things. If you posted something wrong, say so — flag it to a moderator rather than quietly hoping. A prompt, visible correction is a far better outcome than a removal demand, and it is much better for the site’s credibility than being right by accident.

Anyone, including a person written about here, can request a correction through the request form.

How this is enforced

Posts go live immediately and are reviewed afterward. Moderators may hide a post at any time, and hidden posts disappear from the site immediately, including for people who already have it open.

Roughly, in escalating order:

A post gets hidden and you get told why.
Repeated problems cost you posting access.
Anything involving threats, doxxing, or content about minors is an immediate removal of access, first time, no discussion.

Moderator decisions are final. This is a small site run by volunteers; there is no appeals board.

A last word

The people written about here are, in a small city, people you will run into at the grocery store. Being harsh about a vote is fair. Being cruel about a person is not what this is for, and it is the fastest way to turn a documented public record into a lawsuit about a personal grudge.

Questions about this policy: admin@critiquepiqua.com