Submission terms

Welder Underground is a publication that tells the stories of welders, metal artists, fabricators, tradespeople, and shop owners. When you submit a story, photos, video, or links through this site, you're agreeing to the terms below.

By submitting, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old, or that you have permission from a parent or guardian to participate.

Your story belongs to you. We will never sell your individual story, name, photos, or identifying details to third parties. You can ask us to remove your story from our archive at any time (see "Taking it down" below).

By submitting, you grant Welder Underground a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, edit, adapt, excerpt, translate, and distribute your story — in whole or in part — across our website, newsletter, social channels, and any future formats we publish. We may also use excerpts to promote your story or the publication generally.

We may also draw on the collection of stories as a whole — for example, identifying themes, patterns, or trends across many submissions — to support research, reports, advocacy, or commentary about the trades. Aggregated and de-identified insights of this kind do not include your name, photos, or identifying details, and may be shared or published independently of any individual story.

By submitting, you represent and warrant that:

• The story is your own, based on your own experience, and accurate to the best of your knowledge.
• You have the right to share everything you submit, including any photos, video, names, quotes, or references to other people, places, or businesses.
• Your submission does not defame anyone, infringe on anyone's intellectual property, violate anyone's privacy, breach a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement, or otherwise break the law.
• Anyone recognizable in your photos or video, or named in your story in a way that could harm their reputation, has given you permission to be included.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Welder Underground, its parent organizations, staff, contractors, and affiliates from any claims, damages, losses, or legal costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arise from your submission — including but not limited to claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, or breach of contract.

If you're unsure whether something is okay to share, ask us before submitting.

When you upload photos or video, you confirm that you either own them or have the rights and permissions to share them. Anyone recognizable in the media must have consented to being featured. If a collaborator, photographer, employee, or other person should be credited, please include their name in the caption when you upload.

You grant Welder Underground a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the media alongside your story in print, online, on social media, and in promotional materials related to the publication. We will not sell your media or license it to third parties for purposes unrelated to Welder Underground.

We are not obligated to publish every submission. We may decline or remove submissions at our sole discretion, at any time, for any reason — including (but not limited to) content that is unlawful, hateful, profane, harassing, misleading, libelous, infringes on someone else's rights, or doesn't fit our editorial standards.

We also reserve the right to edit your submission for length, clarity, accuracy, or style before publication. If we've substantially changed the meaning of something, we'll check with you first whenever possible.

You can ask us to remove your story or media at any time by emailing hello@welderunderground.org. We'll remove it from our active channels within 30 days. We can't guarantee removal from third-party copies (search engine caches, archives, prior social posts, etc.).

This site and service are provided as-is. We don't promise any particular reach, timeline, placement, or outcome. Publication — and the pace of publication — is at our discretion.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York. Any disputes will be handled in the state or federal courts located in Brooklyn, New York.

We may update these terms. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the new terms.

Questions, requests, or anything else: hello@welderunderground.org. See also our Privacy page for how we handle your data.