Plain-language terms of use.

1. What this site is

This site (en.iolc.org.cn) is an independent community guide to the International Linguistics Olympiad. We are not the official IOL Board. The official IOL website is ioling.org; for contest regulations, registration, results, and the contest schedule, please consult the official site directly.

Our role is to archive past problems with attribution, annotate signature solutions, and run weekly walkthroughs on WhatsApp for grade 7-12 students worldwide. The mentor cohort is free; no fees are charged for membership, walkthroughs, or any club service.

2. Usage of site content

The text we write on this site — editorial articles, problem walkthroughs, study plans, FAQ answers — is licensed for personal, educational, non-commercial use. You may quote excerpts for study notes, share article links with classmates, or print articles for personal reference. Please cite the source URL.

For commercial reuse (publishing in a textbook, including in a paid course, reposting on a commercial platform), please scan the WhatsApp QR and request permission — we generally say yes, but ask to be informed.

3. Usage of past problem text

If you want to reproduce a past problem’s full text, please consult ioling.org/problems/ for the official PDF and the IOL Board’s terms of use. National-olympiad problems (NACLO, UKLO, OZCLO, etc) are subject to those national olympiads’ terms; we link to their sites for the full picture.

4. No warranty

Everything on this site is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind. Specifically:

• A
  We do not guarantee contest outcomes. Past medalists’ preparation patterns are not a recipe; individual results vary.
• B
  We do not guarantee accuracy of statistics beyond what’s verifiable on ioling.org. Where we cite a statistic, we cite a source; if you find an error, message the mentor and we correct it.
• C
  We do not guarantee mentor availability at any given time. Mentors are volunteers and may be slow to respond during exam season at their own universities.
• D
  We do not guarantee admissions outcomes. An IOL medal signals certain skills; it does not guarantee university admission anywhere.

5. Conduct in the cohort

The mentor-led WhatsApp group runs by simple norms: be respectful to mentors and peers; do not share solutions during active contests (see the academic-integrity policy); do not attempt to recruit cohort members for commercial services or paid coaching.

The mentor reserves the right to remove cohort members who violate these norms. Removals are documented; if you believe a removal was incorrect, you can request review by messaging the editorial team.

6. External links

This site links to many external sources: ioling.org (extensively), national-olympiad sites, university research pages, book publishers, and the sister site iolc.org.cn. We curate these links for relevance; we don’t control external content. If an external link breaks or its content has changed in a way that misleads our reader, message the mentor and we update the link.

7. Jurisdiction

This site is hosted in mainland China; the mentor channel runs on WhatsApp. Disputes related to use of the site or the mentor service are governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China, subject to mandatory consumer-protection rules in your country of residence.

For EU-based users, mandatory consumer-protection rules under EU law apply to the extent they offer stronger protection than Chinese law. For users in other jurisdictions, applicable mandatory protections in your country of residence apply.

8. Changes to these terms

If we change these terms, the new version is published at this URL with an updated date at the top. Material changes are announced in the weekly cohort bulletin. The previous version is preserved in our repository for audit purposes.