Terms of Service
September 17, 2026Norton’s Mind
Terms of Service
What you are agreeing to when you read here, join the list, subscribe, or book my time. In plain English, with nothing hidden in the middle.
Last updated September 18, 2026
The whole thing in plain English
In short
- Reading here is free and you owe me nothing for it.
- The writing is mine. Quote a little with credit. Do not republish it wholesale or feed it to a machine.
- Paid things are clearly paid and you are told the price before you pay it.
- Nothing here is professional advice. I write about life. Your decisions stay yours.
- You can leave whenever you like and I will not make it difficult.
- If something goes wrong, my liability is limited to what you actually paid me.
The four ways people deal with me
Which part of this page applies to you
Most of what follows only matters once money changes hands. Find yourself below and read that section first.
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1
You read
You land on the site, read an article, watch a video, and leave. Nothing is owed either way.
Free · Sections 02 and 07
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2
You join the list
You give me your name and email and I write to you. One click removes you again.
Free · Section 03
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3
You subscribe
You pay for the Substack. Billing, cancellation and refunds happen there, under their rules.
Paid · Section 04
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4
You book me
You buy my time, a talk, or something from the site. A separate written agreement may also apply.
Paid · Sections 05 and 06
✕ You can step off at any point. Stop reading, unsubscribe in one click, or cancel a subscription in your own account. None of it needs a phone call or an explanation.
01Who you are agreeing with
Norton’s Mind is the personal publication of Mike Norton. Where these terms say I, me or my, that is who they mean. Where they say you, they mean whoever is reading, subscribing or buying.
By using nortonsmind.com, joining the mailing list, subscribing, or buying anything I offer, you agree to what is on this page. If you do not agree, the honest answer is not to use it.
Post: 3300 Arctic Blvd, Suite 201 PMB 1404, Anchorage, AK 99503, United States
Email: michael@nortonsmind.com
02What this site is
It is one man writing about life, fatherhood, struggle, masculinity and the parts of a person that usually stay in the dark. It is opinion and personal experience, offered honestly, with no support desk behind it.
Everything here is written for adults. You must be eighteen or older to join the list, subscribe, or buy anything.
03The emails
When you fill in one of my forms, you are asking me to email you. I send what you asked for, occasional notes about new writing, and sometimes an invitation to the paid subscription.
- Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and it works immediately.
- If you say on a form that you would like a reply, I or a colleague working on my behalf may write to you directly.
- Give me a real address. Signing someone else up, or using an address you do not control, is not allowed.
- I may stop sending to an address that bounces, and I remove contacts who have not opened anything in three years.
What happens to the details themselves is set out in the Privacy Policy.
04The paid subscription
The paid edition of Norton’s Mind is published and billed on Substack. When you subscribe you enter an arrangement with Substack as well as with me, and their terms and their billing rules govern the payment itself.
- The price and the billing period are shown to you before you pay.
- Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel. You cancel in your own Substack account, and it takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for.
- Refunds follow Substack’s policy. If something has genuinely gone wrong, write to me and I will look at it personally.
- A subscription buys you access to writing. It does not buy a reply, a call, or my time.
If I ever stop publishing the paid edition, I will not keep charging for it.
05Booking my time
You can book a meeting with me, or book me to speak. Those pages describe what is on offer and what it costs.
- A booking is confirmed when I confirm it, not when the form is submitted.
- For anything substantial, a separate written agreement sets out scope, fee and dates. Where that agreement and this page disagree, that agreement wins.
- If you need to move a booked slot, tell me as early as you can and I will try to accommodate it.
- If I have to cancel and cannot offer a replacement date you can use, I refund what you paid for that booking.
06Anything you buy here
Where this site sells something, the description, the price and the delivery terms shown at checkout apply to that purchase.
- Prices are in United States dollars unless the page says otherwise, and tax or duty may be added depending on where you are.
- I may correct an obvious pricing error and cancel the affected order, refunding you in full.
- Digital items go to the email address you give at checkout. Check it before you pay.
- Whatever consumer rights the law gives you where you live are not removed by anything on this page.
The part that matters most
07The writing is mine
Everything on this site that I made is mine: the articles, the essays, the photographs, the video, the audio, the design and the name Norton’s Mind. Reading it, or paying to read it, does not transfer any of that to you.
- Read it, save it, print it. For yourself, as much as you like.
- Quote a short passage. With my name on it and a link back to the original.
- Share the link. Anywhere, with anyone, with my blessing.
- Do not republish it whole. Not on a blog, not in a newsletter, not in a book.
- Do not sell it or put it behind your own paywall. That includes a paid subscriber copy.
- Do not scrape it to train a model. Automated collection of this site for machine learning is refused.
Want to use something properly? Ask. Write to michael@nortonsmind.com and the answer is usually yes.
If you send me something, by email, form or comment, you keep it, but you give me permission to quote or publish it with identifying details removed, unless you tell me otherwise. Do not send me anything confidential that you would not want repeated.
08What you agree not to do
- Break into, overload, probe or otherwise interfere with the site or the systems behind it.
- Pretend to be me, or to speak for Norton’s Mind, anywhere.
- Use anything here to harass, threaten or defame another person.
- Submit false details, someone else’s details, or a payment method that is not yours.
- Use the site for anything against the law where you are.
If you do any of this I may remove your access, unsubscribe you and cancel anything outstanding, without warning.
09No advice, no guarantees
I am not your doctor, your therapist, your lawyer or your financial adviser, and nothing here replaces one. What worked for me may not work for you.
If you are in crisis, or you are thinking about harming yourself or someone else, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line. Do not wait for an email from me.
The site is offered as it is. I do not promise it will always be available, error free, or that any particular piece of writing will still be here tomorrow.
10Where my liability ends
To the fullest extent the law allows, I am not liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost profit, lost data, or any decision you make after reading something here.
Where I am liable, my total liability is limited to what you actually paid me in the twelve months before the claim. If you have paid me nothing, that limit is nothing.
Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by my negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.
11Other people’s sites
I link out to other places, and I mention my other ventures, including OMI Firm, Wolven Industries and Norton’s Gourmet. Those run under their own terms, and a link is not an endorsement of everything on the far side of it.
Substack, Meta, Brevo and my website host each operate under their own terms and their own privacy notices.
12Changes and endings
I may change these terms. When I do, the date at the top changes, and the version on this page is the one that applies from then on. If a change materially affects something you have paid for, I will tell you.
You can end this at any time by unsubscribing, cancelling, and closing the tab. I can end it by removing your access if you break section 08. Sections 07, 09, 10 and 13 survive the ending.
13The law that applies
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Alaska, United States, without regard to conflict of law rules. Any dispute goes to the courts of Anchorage, Alaska.
If you are a consumer in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, this does not take away the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of the country you live in.
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still stands.
Something here unclear, or you want permission to use my work? Write to michael@nortonsmind.com and I will answer personally.
