Last updated: 15 October 2026
These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") apply to closetrepublic.com, its pages and features (together, the "Site"), and to the community spaces we run. Please read them together with our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines, which form part of these Terms.
By using the Site you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Site.
1. Who we are
Closet Republic is run by the founders of Closet Republic ("we", "us", "our"). You can contact us at [email protected].
2. What Closet Republic is, and is not
Closet Republic is a parody micronation and an online community. The words we use (republic, nation, citizen, constitution, government, ministry, tax, treasury, passport, election, law) are part of the story we tell together. To be completely clear:
- It is not a state. Closet Republic does not claim territory, sovereignty, diplomatic status or any power over anyone. It is not recognised by any country, and it does not want to be.
- Citizenship is symbolic. Being a "citizen" means taking part in the community. It gives no nationality, residency, legal status or rights against any government, and it takes none away.
- Passports are novelty keepsakes. The passport generator makes a decorative booklet in your browser. It is not an identity or travel document. Never present it to any official, border agency, bank, employer or business as identification, and never use it to deceive anyone. Doing so may be a crime where you live.
- "Taxes" are voluntary donations. Nobody owes the Republic anything. Contributions are gifts, not payments for goods or services. Closet Republic is not a registered charity, so contributions are not tax-deductible in any country.
- Our "laws" bind only our community. The constitution, ministries and decisions of the GCR describe how the community organises itself and what it expects of people who take part. They do not override the law of any country, and nothing on the Site is legal, medical, financial, immigration or psychological advice.
- It is not a political party and does not campaign for or against candidates in any election.
Satire, parody and lore must stay recognisable as such. You may not use the Republic's name, symbols, documents or roles to make anyone believe Closet Republic is a real government, an official body, or an organisation it is not.
3. Who can use the Site
Anyone may read the Site. To submit information to us (for example to join the Lifeline, sign up as a contributor, or take on a community role) you must be at least 16 years old, or older if the law where you live requires it. If you are younger, please don't send us personal information; you are still welcome to read, and to print a passport, which never leaves your device.
4. Virtual roles
Community members may hold roles such as founder, elected representative, lawmaker, minister, moderator, writer, artist, developer, drafter or intern ("Roles").
- Roles are voluntary and symbolic. A Role does not make anyone our employee, agent, partner or legal representative, and it gives no authority to make promises, sign agreements or speak for Closet Republic outside the community unless we agree it in writing.
- Roles can be changed. Roles are given and removed according to the constitution and these Terms. We may suspend a Role immediately to protect people's safety or to comply with the law.
- Paid work is agreed separately. Payments from the welfare fund to developers, artists, writers and interns are made under a separate written agreement or invoice for each piece of work. No one is entitled to payment because of a Role. Recipients are responsible for their own taxes.
- Mutual aid is discretionary. Need-based help is given at our discretion, depending on available funds, and is not a contract, a loan or a guarantee of further support.
5. Your conduct
When you use the Site or our community spaces you agree to follow the Community Guidelines and not to:
- harass, threaten, dox, out, impersonate or discriminate against anyone;
- post or send anything illegal, including child sexual abuse material, terrorist content, non-consensual intimate images or content that infringes someone else's rights;
- send us private, unpublished or someone else's work, or claim work you did not make or commission;
- try to break into, overload, scrape at scale, probe for weaknesses in, or disrupt the Site or its admin areas, except through responsible disclosure (see section 11);
- use bots or automation to sign up, submit forms or send messages;
- use the Site to send spam or unsolicited advertising;
- misrepresent Closet Republic as a real government or official body, or use its passport as identification.
6. Contributions and verification
Contributor sign-up forms collect only your name, pronouns, email and a link to work that is already public. We never accept uploads of artwork or text, and we ask you not to send private or unpublished work by message.
We check that linked work was made or commissioned by you before we verify a contributor. We may decline or remove any sign-up, and we don't have to give reasons beyond those required by law.
Ideas and suggestions belong in our public community spaces (GitHub, Reddit or our forum), not private messages. If you share an idea publicly, you agree that anyone, including us, may discuss, build on and use it. If you contribute code to the GitHub repository, it is licensed under the licence stated in that repository.
7. Intellectual property
- Code. The Site's source code is published on GitHub under the licence stated there.
- Illustrations. Open Peeps and Transhumans illustrations are by Pablo Stanley and released under CC0.
- Writing. Gazette articles and other writing belong to their authors unless an article says otherwise. You may quote short passages with credit and a link.
- Name and symbols. The Closet Republic name, logo and passport designs may be used for fan, community, news and commentary purposes, but not to suggest our endorsement or for commercial products without our permission.
If you believe something on the Site infringes your copyright, email [email protected] with: the work you own, the page where it appears, your contact details, and a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised and that your notice is accurate. We will respond promptly and, where appropriate, remove the material. This process is also how we handle notices under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Canadian notice-and-notice regime.
8. Donations and payment providers
Donations are made through third-party providers such as Buy Me a Coffee, GitHub Sponsors and UPI apps. Your payment is a contract between you and that provider, under their terms. We never see or store your card or bank details. See the Privacy Policy for what the providers tell us.
Because donations are voluntary gifts, we generally can't refund them once received, but contact us if you made a mistake and we will try to help. This does not affect any refund rights you have under the provider's terms or your local law. Monthly sponsorships can be cancelled at any time with the provider.
We decide how funds are allocated between the treasury's funds and may change those allocations. We publish balances on the funding page.
9. Emails
If you join the Lifeline, we will email you only to tell you where Closet Republic has moved if the Site goes down, plus a welcome email when you join. If you sign up as a contributor, we email you about your sign-up. Every Lifeline email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.
10. Availability and changes
The Site is provided free of charge by volunteers. We may change, pause or close any part of it, including community features, at any time. We will try to tell Lifeline subscribers where to find us if the Site moves.
11. Security
If you find a security problem, please email [email protected] privately before telling anyone else, and give us reasonable time to fix it. Please don't access, change or delete other people's data while testing. We won't take action against good-faith research that follows these rules.
12. Third-party sites
The Site links to other sites, including GitHub, Reddit, forums and payment providers. We are not responsible for their content, terms or privacy practices.
13. Disclaimers
The Site, its lore, passports, constitution and community are provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we make no promises that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free or fit for any particular purpose, or that any content is accurate or complete. Content about laws, rights or safety is general information only; please seek qualified, local advice for your own situation.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits rights you have as a consumer that cannot be excluded or limited by law. This includes, for example, the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, your statutory rights under the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the consumer protection law of your country in the European Union, and rights under Canadian provincial consumer protection laws.
14. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows:
- we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, data, goodwill or opportunity;
- our total liability to you for anything arising from the Site is limited to the greater of the amount you donated to us in the 12 months before the claim and 100 US dollars (or the equivalent in your currency).
We do not exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, or for anything else that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
15. Suspension and ending
You can stop using the Site at any time, and ask us to delete your data as described in the Privacy Policy. We may suspend or end your access to community features, Roles or the Lifeline if you break these Terms or the Community Guidelines, if we must do so by law, or to protect others. Where we restrict you, we will explain why and how to appeal, as described in the Community Guidelines, unless the law or someone's safety prevents us.
16. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Please contact us first so we can try to resolve any problem informally.
If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you may bring proceedings in the courts there. In particular:
- UK: you may bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, depending on where you live.
- European Union: you may bring proceedings in the courts of your EU country of residence.
- United States, Canada and Australia: nothing in these Terms requires you to give up a class action or to use arbitration, and you may use the courts, tribunals, consumer agencies and regulators available where you live.
17. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. We will change the "Last updated" date and, for significant changes, give notice on the Site before they take effect. If you keep using the Site after that, the new Terms apply.
18. General
If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. These Terms, the Privacy Policy and the Community Guidelines are the whole agreement between us about the Site.
Contact
the founders of Closet Republic
Email: [email protected]