WEBSITE TERMS OF USE & DISCLAIMER

Last updated: September 2026

1. ABOUT THESE TERMS

These Terms of Use govern your access to and use of responsible-ish.co.za and the content, features and services made available through the website.

These Terms also apply to Mostly SOS(ish) / A Mostly Ear (“SOS”), including related forms, messages, email correspondence and responses. Please read section 3A before using SOS.

The website is operated by:

Jacques de Villiers trading as Mostly Responsible(ish)

Gordon’s Bay, Western Cape, South Africa

Email: admin@responsible-ish.co.za

By accessing or using the website, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you should not use the website.

2. PURPOSE OF THE WEBSITE

Mostly Responsible(ish) is a lifestyle, content and community platform covering topics including health, money, productivity, adulting and life.

Our content is intended for general information, education, entertainment and community discussion.

Content is not prepared for the individual circumstances, needs or objectives of any particular person and should not be treated as personalised professional advice.

3. NO PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

Nothing published on Mostly Responsible(ish) should be treated as a substitute for appropriate professional advice.

Health(ish)

Health-related content is general information only and does not constitute medical, psychological, psychiatric, nutritional or other healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Mostly Responsible(ish) does not diagnose medical or mental-health conditions or recommend individual treatment.

Do not disregard, delay or replace appropriate professional medical or mental-health care because of something you have read on this website.

If you believe you or another person may be experiencing a medical or mental-health emergency, seek appropriate professional or emergency assistance.

Money(ish)

Money-related content is general educational and informational content only.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in relation to a separately regulated service, content published on Mostly Responsible(ish) does not constitute personalised financial, investment, tax, accounting, insurance, credit or legal advice and is not a recommendation to purchase, sell, replace, cancel or enter into any particular financial product or transaction.

Financial circumstances differ from person to person. You should obtain appropriate professional advice before making decisions based on your individual financial circumstances.

3A. MOSTLY SOS(ISH) / A MOSTLY EAR

Nature and limits of SOS

Mostly SOS(ish) / A Mostly Ear is a listening, informal support and signposting feature. It provides a space to reach out and, where appropriate, receive general information about independent sources of support or professional help.

SOS is not therapy, counselling, medical, psychological or psychiatric advice, diagnosis, treatment, crisis intervention or an emergency service. Contacting SOS does not create a therapist-client, counsellor-client, doctor-patient or other clinical relationship with Mostly Responsible(ish) or Jacques de Villiers. A supportive reply or referral does not change these boundaries.

Do not use SOS as a substitute for qualified professional care or stop, delay or change treatment because of an SOS response. We do not provide clinical assessment, monitor your wellbeing or undertake to manage your safety. We cannot guarantee a response, a particular response time, ongoing support or any outcome. SOS is not continuously monitored; messages may be delayed, missed or not answered.

Emergency assistance

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, may act on thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or is experiencing a medical or mental-health emergency, do not wait for an SOS reply. In South Africa, call 112 from a mobile phone or seek help at the nearest hospital emergency department. Outside South Africa, contact the emergency services where you are. If safe, ask a trusted person nearby to help you obtain immediate assistance.

Private submissions and safety disclosures

SOS submissions and our replies are treated as private correspondence, subject to our Privacy Policy & POPIA Notice. They are not public comments or Confessions for publication. Contacting SOS does not authorise us to publish your message, use it as a testimonial or disclose your identity for publicity. Any proposed public use requires separate, specific permission and compliance with applicable privacy law.

Privacy is not absolute confidentiality or legal privilege. Access may be given to authorised people assisting with SOS and service providers supporting its operation, only as reasonably necessary and subject to appropriate confidentiality and security obligations. We may disclose the minimum necessary information with your specific consent, where required by law or a valid legal process, or where a disclosure to emergency services, an appropriate authority or another person able to assist is necessary and legally permitted to address a serious threat to life or safety. Any disclosure of health or other special personal information must also satisfy POPIA’s additional requirements; a safety concern is not an unrestricted permission to share your information.

Where safe, lawful and reasonably practicable, we will seek your consent or explain a proposed safety disclosure beforehand. This may not be possible in an urgent situation or where the law prevents it. We cannot promise to identify your location, contact help, intervene or secure assistance, particularly where identifying or contact details are unavailable.

Share only what is necessary. You do not need to provide a diagnosis or medical records to ask for general signposting. Avoid sending identity documents, unnecessary sensitive details or identifying information about other people without lawful authority. Health and mental-health disclosures are handled under section 6A of the Privacy Policy; accepting these Terms does not itself provide consent to process special personal information. Children’s information is subject to the additional protections in that Policy.

Independent referrals

Sections 4 and 12 apply equally to referrals and introductions made through SOS, including any referral or commercial relationship. A referral is not a clinical recommendation or a guarantee of suitability, availability, acceptance, fees or results. You decide whether to approach the independent professional and agree to their terms. We will obtain specific consent before sending your SOS message or health information to a professional for an ordinary referral, unless another disclosure is required or permitted by law as described above.

Contacting SOS does not subscribe you to newsletters or marketing, and receiving support is not conditional on marketing consent. Nothing in this section removes any right or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

4. REFERRALS TO PROFESSIONALS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

Mostly Responsible(ish) may from time to time introduce or refer users to independent professionals or service providers, including professionals with whom we have referral, commercial or other business arrangements.

Where reasonably appropriate, we will disclose the existence of a material commercial or referral relationship.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, any referral or introduction is provided solely to connect you with an independent third party. Mostly Responsible(ish) and Jacques de Villiers do not provide the professional service, advice or recommendation ultimately supplied by that third party.

You are responsible for deciding whether to engage the referred professional or service provider. Before doing so, you should satisfy yourself as to that person’s or entity’s qualifications, registrations, experience, suitability, fees, terms and services.

Any professional advice, service, agreement or transaction subsequently provided or entered into is between you and the independent professional or service provider.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Mostly Responsible(ish) and Jacques de Villiers are not responsible or liable for the independent acts, omissions, advice, services, representations, fees, negligence, misconduct or other conduct of a professional or service provider merely because we introduced or referred you to them.

A referral does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of the professional’s or service provider’s performance, outcome or continued suitability.

Nothing in this clause excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

5. YOUR DECISIONS REMAIN YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

You are responsible for evaluating whether information on the website is appropriate to your circumstances.

Any action you take or decision you make based on content from Mostly Responsible(ish) is taken at your own discretion and risk.

Where a decision may materially affect your health, finances, legal position, safety or other important interests, you should obtain appropriately qualified professional advice.

6. ACCURACY AND AVAILABILITY

We aim to provide useful and responsible content, but information may contain errors, omissions or become outdated as circumstances, research, products, laws or other information change.

We do not warrant that all website content will always be complete, accurate, current or suitable for every purpose.

We may correct, update, remove or change content without notice.

We do not guarantee that the website will always be available, uninterrupted, secure or free from technical errors.

7. COMMENTS, CONFESSIONS AND USER CONTENT

The website may allow users to submit comments, stories, Confessions or other content.

You remain responsible for content that you submit.

You must not submit content that:

is unlawful;
is defamatory or knowingly false;
unlawfully infringes another person’s privacy or confidentiality;
infringes copyright, trade marks or other intellectual-property rights;
contains unlawful discrimination, harassment, threats or abuse;
contains malicious software, spam or unauthorised advertising;
impersonates another person or misrepresents your identity;
discloses another person’s private or personal information without appropriate authority; or
otherwise violates applicable law or these Terms.

We may moderate, hide, refuse, edit or remove user content where we reasonably consider it necessary to protect the community, enforce these Terms, comply with law, protect another person’s rights or maintain the website.

We are not obliged to publish any submission.

8. CONFESSIONS AND PRIVATE SUBMISSIONS

Where a feature is expressly presented as a private submission, such as a private Confession, submitting information does not give us permission to publicly identify you or publish your personal information.

For SOS submissions, the specific privacy, publication and lawful safety-disclosure provisions in section 3A also apply.

If we wish to publish or share a private submission in a manner that identifies you, we will obtain appropriate permission unless disclosure is otherwise required or permitted by law.

You should nevertheless avoid submitting unnecessary personal information about yourself or other people.

Our handling of personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy & POPIA Notice.

9. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Participation in Mostly Responsible(ish) community features is subject to reasonable community standards.

We may moderate participation and may warn, mute, suspend, restrict or remove a user where reasonably necessary because of conduct, safety, misuse, repeated breaches of these Terms or protection of the community.

Where appropriate, restrictions may be temporary or permanent.

Email subscription preferences are separate from community membership and moderation status. Unsubscribing from emails does not, by itself, terminate community membership.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Unless otherwise indicated, the original content, branding, written material, graphics, designs, logos and other intellectual property appearing on Mostly Responsible(ish) are owned by or licensed to Jacques de Villiers trading as Mostly Responsible(ish).

All rights are reserved except where expressly stated otherwise.

You may view and share links to publicly available website content for ordinary personal and non-commercial purposes.

You may quote reasonable extracts where permitted by law and with appropriate acknowledgement.

You may not, without prior written permission or another lawful basis:

reproduce substantial portions of our articles or website;
copy or reproduce our logos, artwork or branding for commercial use;
sell, license or commercially exploit our content;
falsely present our content as your own;
create merchandise using our branding or protected artwork;
systematically scrape, harvest or reproduce website content; or
use our intellectual property in a way that falsely suggests endorsement, affiliation or association with Mostly Responsible(ish).

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of our intellectual property to you.

11. USER CONTENT AND PERMISSION TO HOST IT

You retain ownership of original content that you submit.

By submitting content for publication or community participation, you grant Mostly Responsible(ish) a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display that content only to the extent reasonably necessary to operate the feature or purpose for which you submitted it.

This does not give us ownership of your content.

Private submissions are subject to the additional protections described in these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

The publication licence in this section does not apply to private SOS correspondence. Processing of that correspondence is limited to the purposes and lawful bases explained in our Privacy Policy & POPIA Notice.

12. THIRD-PARTY LINKS, REFERRALS AND SERVICES

The website may contain links to independent third-party websites, products, resources or services.

A link does not necessarily mean that Mostly Responsible(ish) endorses, controls or guarantees the third party or its content.

Where we specifically recommend or refer you to a third party, that recommendation or referral does not make the third party our employee, agent, partner or representative and does not make Mostly Responsible(ish) responsible for the professional services they independently provide.

Third-party websites and services operate under their own terms and privacy practices.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for loss or harm arising solely from your use of an independent third-party website or service that we do not control.

13. ACCEPTABLE USE

You may not use the website to:

break the law or facilitate unlawful activity;
interfere with the operation or security of the website;
attempt unauthorised access to accounts, systems or data;
distribute malware or harmful code;
scrape or harvest personal information;
send spam or unauthorised commercial communications;
harass, threaten or unlawfully discriminate against another person;
misuse community features; or
attempt to circumvent moderation, security or access restrictions.

We may restrict access where reasonably necessary to protect the website, our users or our rights.

14. PRIVACY

Personal information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy & POPIA Notice.

The Privacy Policy forms part of the legal framework governing use of Mostly Responsible(ish).

15. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Mostly Responsible(ish) and Jacques de Villiers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss arising solely from:

reliance on general website content;
use of or inability to use the website;
temporary website unavailability;
content or services provided by independent third parties; or
unauthorised or unlawful conduct by another website user that is outside our reasonable control.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful.

Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded under applicable South African law.

16. NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the website and its general content are provided on an “as available” basis.

We do not guarantee that:

following information published on the website will produce a particular result;
content will meet your individual requirements;
every statement will remain accurate indefinitely;
the website will always be available; or
the website will be completely free of technical faults or security risks.

This clause does not exclude any warranty or right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

17. INDEMNITY FOR YOUR MISUSE

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to be responsible for loss, liability, damage or reasonable legal costs suffered by Mostly Responsible(ish) as a direct result of your unlawful use of the website, your material breach of these Terms, or content submitted by you that unlawfully infringes another person’s rights.

This clause does not make you responsible for loss caused by Mostly Responsible(ish) itself.

18. CHANGES TO THE WEBSITE OR THESE TERMS

We may change, suspend or discontinue website features and may update these Terms where reasonably necessary.

The current Terms will be published on the website and the Last updated date will be changed.

Where applicable law requires additional notice or consent for a particular change, we will comply with that requirement.

19. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

Any dispute relating to these Terms or the website will be dealt with by a court or other forum having jurisdiction under applicable South African law.

Nothing in this clause unlawfully restricts any right you may have to approach a competent court, regulator, ombud or other authority.

20. SEVERABILITY

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be treated as severable to the extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue to apply.

21. CONTACT

Questions concerning these Terms may be directed to:

Mostly Responsible(ish)