hibug.me ("Hibug", "the Platform") is owned and operated by oDesk Software Co., LTD ("oDesk", "we", "us", "our" — collectively "the Company"). Hibug is a publishing platform built for developers, engineers, and technical practitioners to document real bugs and incidents — share bugs to earn — built for developers, by developers.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing or using Hibug, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.
2. Use of the Platform
You may use Hibug for personal, non-commercial purposes unless you hold an active author agreement. You agree not to:
- Scrape, copy, or republish content without explicit permission
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Platform, including circumventing paywalls or the subscriber gate on paid posts
- Post content that infringes third-party intellectual property rights
- Use the Platform to distribute spam, malware, or harmful content
- Submit fraudulent, self-generated, or bot-driven views, subscriptions, or donations for the purpose of inflating author earnings
3. User Accounts
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. Notify us immediately at security@hibug.me of any unauthorized use of your account.
4. Content Ownership
Authors retain ownership of their original content. By publishing on Hibug, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive license to display, distribute, and promote your content on the Platform and in marketing materials.
5. Paid Content, Subscriptions & the Author Partner Program
Some posts are available only to subscribers or one-time purchasers. Authors may earn revenue from qualifying subscriber views on paid posts and from reader donations — see Hibug Partner Program for the full earnings model, rates, and payout thresholds, all of which are configurable by Hibug and disclosed in your Account → Earnings dashboard before you publish paid content.
All purchases and subscription charges are final unless the content materially differs from its description or was not delivered. Billing disputes should be submitted to billing@hibug.me within 14 days of the charge.
6. Payments & Payouts
Hibug uses two payment providers, each with a distinct role — this division is fixed and not user-selectable per transaction type:
- Airwallex is the primary payment gateway for all subscriptions and one-time post purchases, and the primary payout gateway for author earnings from those subscriber/purchase revenues (view-based earnings under the Partner Program). Authors choose how they receive an approved payout: to a linked bank account (via Airwallex's bank transfer integration) or directly to an Airwallex account the author controls. Either applicable VAT-on-fee and Personal Income Tax (PIT) withholding is disclosed on the payout breakdown before you confirm a withdrawal.
- PayPal is used exclusively for donations — it is never used for subscriptions or post purchases. When a reader donates to an author: for a one-time donation, PayPal splits the payment at checkout and sends the author's share directly and instantly to the author's own connected PayPal account — Hibug never receives or holds that money. For a recurring donation, PayPal's subscription billing has no per-cycle payee-split capability, so the charge is received into Hibug's PayPal balance first and then transferred to the author's own connected PayPal account on a regular settlement schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly, disclosed on the author's PayPal connection page); once settled, the funds belong to the author's PayPal balance. Either way, an author withdraws PayPal donation funds directly from their own PayPal dashboard, at any time — Hibug's payout approval flow does not apply to donations.
Authors must complete tax verification (see the Author Tax Information Guide) before payouts or donation settlements can be released, where required by law.
7. Payment & Card Data Security
Hibug does not collect, transmit through its own servers, or store full payment card numbers, card security codes, or bank account/routing numbers. Card details are entered directly into Airwallex's or PayPal's own hosted payment fields; bank account details entered for a payout are submitted directly to Airwallex's beneficiary API. Hibug's database stores only a non-sensitive reference — a transaction ID, provider customer ID, or beneficiary ID — used to look up the payment or payout with the provider. See our Privacy Policy, §7, for how this data is handled.
8. Termination
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, at our sole discretion, with or without notice. Earnings and donation balances already settled to an author's own payout account or PayPal account before termination remain the author's.
9. Disclaimer of Warranties
The Platform is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee that bug fixes or solutions described in posts will work in your specific environment.
10. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, oDesk Software Co., LTD shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Platform.
11. Changes to Terms
We may update these Terms of Use at any time. Continued use of the Platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the new terms. Last updated: August 2026.
12. Contact
For questions about these terms, email legal@hibug.me. oDesk Software Co., LTD, operator of hibug.me.