Who I am
This is the personal site for Roelof Vermeulen. Views and opinions expressed on this website is personal views by Roelof and should be seen as such.
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Acceptance of these terms
By using the Website or registering for Resources, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not create an account or download or use the Resources.
If you use the Website or Resources on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation to these terms.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including applicable rights under South African consumer-protection law.
Free Resources and registration
The Resources in the download section are currently provided free of charge. You may be required to register and verify your email address before accessing them.
You must be at least 18 years old and have legal capacity to create an account. If you are under 18, do not register or submit personal information through the download section.
You must provide accurate, current information and keep any login details secure. You are responsible for activity through your account unless it results from a security failure for which we are legally responsible. Please notify us promptly at info@roelofvermeulen.com if you suspect unauthorised access.
Registration does not guarantee that a particular Resource will remain available indefinitely. We may add, revise, replace, or withdraw Resources, subject to applicable law.
Emails, updates, and your choices
We may send service messages that are reasonably necessary to operate your registration or deliver a Resource, such as email-verification messages, download links, security notices, responses to your requests, and notices of material changes affecting your account.
We will send emails about revised books, new guides, related resources, events, or services only where we have a lawful basis to do so. Where your consent is required, we will ask for it separately. Agreeing to these terms does not by itself amount to consent to direct marketing.
You may withdraw marketing consent or unsubscribe at any time by using the unsubscribe link in an email or contacting info@roelofvermeulen.com. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing that occurred before withdrawal, and will not prevent strictly necessary service messages while your account remains active.
Licence to use the Resources
Unless a Resource states otherwise, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to download and use it for your own personal or internal business learning and reference.
You may:
- save a reasonable number of copies on devices you control;
- print copies for your own use; and
- apply the ideas and methods in your own work.
You may not, without our prior written permission:
- sell, sublicense, republish, upload, distribute, or commercially exploit a Resource or a substantial part of it;
- remove copyright, trade mark, attribution, or other proprietary notices;
- present a Resource as your own work;
- use a Resource to build or train a competing product, publication, course, dataset, model, or commercial knowledge base;
- share account credentials; or
- use automated means to bypass registration or access controls.
Short quotations for review, commentary, or other uses permitted by law are not restricted by these terms, provided the source is appropriately acknowledged.
Intellectual property
The Website and Resources, including their text, frameworks, methods, graphics, branding, layout, and downloadable files, are owned by or licensed to us and are protected by intellectual-property laws. Except for the limited licence in section 5, no rights are transferred to you.
Names, logos, book titles, framework names, and marks displayed on the Website may be trade marks of their respective owners. You may not use them in a way that suggests endorsement, affiliation, or ownership without permission.
Revised editions and additional guides
We may publish corrections, revised editions, supplements, or additional guides from time to time. A newer version may replace an earlier version, and recommendations may change as technology, law, standards, or our thinking develops.
You are responsible for checking the version date and deciding whether a Resource remains suitable for your purpose. Unless we expressly state otherwise, we do not promise a particular update frequency, continued availability, or backward compatibility.
Educational information, not professional advice
The Website and Resources are provided for general educational and informational purposes. They are not legal, financial, tax, accounting, medical, cybersecurity, or other regulated professional advice, and they are not a substitute for advice based on your particular circumstances.
Examples, estimates, frameworks, AI-related material, prompts, and case studies may require independent verification and adaptation before use. You remain responsible for your decisions, implementations, governance, security, legal compliance, and results.
Acceptable use
You must not:
- use the Website or Resources unlawfully, fraudulently, or to infringe another person’s rights;
- introduce malware or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, an account, or connected systems;
- scrape, crawl, probe, overload, or disrupt the Website except through ordinary browser use or with our written permission;
- misrepresent your identity or affiliation; or
- use the Website or Resources to create or spread unlawful, deceptive, discriminatory, or harmful material.
Third-party services and links
The Website may use or link to third-party platforms, including hosting, analytics, email-delivery, scheduling, payment, social-media, or book-distribution services. Third parties operate under their own terms and privacy practices. A link does not necessarily mean that we endorse or control the third party.
Privacy and cookies
We process personal information as described in our Privacy Notice and, where applicable, our Cookie Notice. Those notices explain what we collect, why we collect it, who receives it, whether it may be transferred outside South Africa, how long we keep it, and how you may exercise your rights.
Availability and security
We take reasonable steps to operate and secure the Website, but no online service can be guaranteed to be uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure. Maintenance, technical failures, security events, third-party failures, or circumstances beyond our reasonable control may affect access.
Please keep your own copies of Resources that you are permitted to download. The Website is not a permanent storage or backup service.
Important limitation: To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Website and Resources are provided on an “as available” basis. We do not promise that they will be error-free, fit for every purpose, or produce a particular result. You should independently assess and verify material before relying on it. This section may limit rights or remedies you might otherwise have, but it does not exclude liability or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss arising from use of, or inability to use, the Website or Resources, including loss of profit, revenue, opportunity, anticipated savings, data, or goodwill.
Our total liability arising from free Resources or use of the Website will not exceed ZAR 1,000, unless a different limit is required by law.
These exclusions and limits do not apply to fraud, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, death or personal injury caused by a person, breach of duties that cannot lawfully be limited, or any consumer right or remedy that applicable law does not permit us to exclude or limit.
Suspension or termination
You may stop using the Website at any time and may request account deletion as described in the Privacy Notice.
We may suspend or terminate access where we reasonably believe that you have materially breached these terms, created a security risk, infringed rights, or used the Website unlawfully. Where reasonably practicable, we will give notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue. Sections that by their nature should continue—including intellectual-property, disclaimer, liability, and dispute provisions—survive termination.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms to reflect changes to the Website, Resources, our practices, or applicable law. The updated terms will display a revised date. If a change materially affects registered users’ rights or obligations, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to their attention before it takes effect.
Changes will apply prospectively. Your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated terms, to the extent permitted by law. If you do not accept a material change, you may stop using the Website and request account deletion.
Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.
Before starting formal proceedings, please contact us at info@roelofvermeulen.com so that we can try to resolve the dispute in good faith. This does not prevent either party from seeking urgent relief or using any court, regulator, ombud, tribunal, or consumer-protection process available under applicable law.
If a court finds part of these terms invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts will continue to apply.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.