Terms of use

1. The service and its operator

Before Us is operated by Luojia Zhang in Australia. It offers family history articles and a private workspace for researching public sources. Browse without an account; use the research workspace by signing in with Google and a verified email address. Starting research requires a separate processing confirmation.

2. Research is a starting point

Articles and results help you carry out your own investigation. Automated research can be incomplete, mistaken or based on a source taken out of context. A matching name is not proof of identity or kinship. Check important claims against original records and independent evidence.

The service does not guarantee a result, a complete family tree or access to an archive. It does not supply certified evidence for inheritance, citizenship, legal identity or other formal proceedings. External archives set their own conditions, availability and fees.

3. Your material and other people’s privacy

Only provide material you have the right to use. Keep credits, source details and uncertainty statements. You retain the rights you lawfully hold. Submitting material allows the processing needed to save it and carry out your requested research; it does not permit us to publish private records as site content.

Do not submit unnecessary sensitive information about living people. Do not use the service for stalking, harassment, impersonation, locating private contact details, evading archive restrictions or unlawful activity. Do not access another account’s records or bypass usage controls.

4. Private records and your account

Saved investigations are linked to your Google account identifier, not publicly listed. Protect your Google account and sign out on shared devices. You can edit clues, export records and delete investigations. Keep your own backup of irreplaceable material. Provider processing and deletion limits are explained in the privacy policy.

5. Fair-use limits and availability

Research currently has no visitor payment process. Each account can start up to five research attempts in a rolling 24-hour period, with at most three starts in ten minutes and one active request at a time. The whole site has a limit of 100 starts in a rolling 24-hour period. These are rolling windows, not a reset at midnight. Attempts that reach the research service count even if the provider fails or no useful result is found.

An account can save up to 100 investigations. Reaching that storage limit prevents new records; you can still update, export or delete existing records. Remove a record you no longer need before creating another.

Limits, outages, maintenance and unavailable sources can interrupt research. A pause does not mean saved records have been published or deleted. We may adjust limits, restrict abusive activity or change a feature to keep the service operating, and will explain material changes on the website.

6. Articles, sources and copyright

You are welcome to share links to our articles. Do not assume that an image or document can be republished because it appears here or is linked in a result. Copyright and reuse conditions belong to the relevant rights holders. Contact the operator for permission to reuse Before Us material or to raise a credit or copyright concern.

7. Funding and advertising

No advertising is currently served and there is no visitor checkout. If charges or advertising are introduced, we will explain the change before asking for payment or an advertising privacy choice. Ads must be visibly distinct from articles, findings and navigation. You will not be asked to click ads to use research.

8. Changes, concerns and applicable rights

The date at the top identifies this version. Significant service changes will be reflected in updated terms. Nothing here is intended to exclude a right that applicable law does not allow to be excluded. For questions, corrections, privacy concerns or service problems, contact Luojia Zhang at lucaszlj821@outlook.com.