For curators · Article I, with K.4 · Rewritten from Field Manual Ch 4.8

K-4.8 Risk for a Curator, a Host and a Builder

Spec v0.1.1 · StableExamples invented and labeled

The Field Manual's opening holds: "Insurance pays for the events that would create those debts. Contracts decide who pays when something breaks, and a lawyer used at the right moments keeps the rest working." On Kindling the risks come from three places: the in-person activity some Pools sit beside, the data a Pool holds, and software that other people's yes or no runs through. K.4 has an invented risk register for a curator. Spec references are to v0.1.1, as of October 4, 2026. This is not legal or insurance advice.

Insurance for the library's shapes

"States regulate insurance, and premiums vary too much by state, industry and revenue to quote here. Get at least two quotes for anything you buy."

Coverage	What it covers, in the Field Manual's words	Library shapes it fits (invented organizations)
General liability	"bodily injury and property damage you cause to others"; "Essential with a location, on-site clients, events or physical products"	The Drip Line gym; Ferry Room's evenings; Many Moons' socials and workshops; Face Up's "Ticketed evenings at a bar"
Business owner's policy	"General liability plus commercial property and business-interruption coverage"; "Worth it with physical assets or a location"	A gym or a room you run yourself
Product liability	"Physical products, especially anything ingested"	Ask a broker whether Late Supper's private dinners need it (verify)
Media liability	"Publishers, podcasters, content businesses: defamation, IP infringement, privacy claims"	A paper that prints asks from Pools as classifieds, such as the invented The Circular ("The consortium paper")
Cyber liability	"Covers breach and attack costs: forensics, legally required notifications, credit monitoring, defense, ransomware, business interruption and customer claims"	Anyone holding the data mapped in Chapter K-4.7
Errors and omissions	"claims that your work or advice was wrong or negligent and cost a client money"	A shared curator desk like the invented Threshold; a client or host that organizations rely on

Figures checked October 2026.

Three points from the Field Manual matter more on Kindling than elsewhere:

Errors and omissions policies are mostly "claims-made, so a lapse leaves past work uninsured." A host that stops hosting buys "tail" coverage.
Cyber insurers "condition coverage on MFA and backups. Claim controls you lack on the application and you can void a claim." Chapter K-8.5 sets the controls.
AI. "Some insurers now add AI exclusions. Ask in writing whether AI-related errors are covered." Ask this if your client or host runs an agent over Pools.

Workers' compensation, D&O, employment practices and the rest of the Field Manual's list arrive with employees and investors. They are in the full Chapter 4.8, on solo.joshwolf.net.

How to buy without overpaying

List the coverage types and limits your contracts require. An organization you keep Pools for may name its own (Chapter K-4.3).
Get quotes from an independent broker and one online small-business insurer.
Read exclusions before coverage: contractual liability, prior acts, AI, specific services.
Answer the application truthfully.
Check whether defense costs erode the limit.
Review at each renewal and whenever what you run changes.

Disputes

Two kinds of dispute reach a Kindling reader. Each has its own first rung.

From the owner of a page. Every manifest names an address for this. The schema describes curator_contact as "How a profile owner can reach the curator about removal, complaints, disputes." Most of what arrives there is a removal request. A withdrawal sent through the messaging channel is not a dispute: "Implementations MUST process withdrawal within 60 seconds of receipt" (§5.3). Do it, then answer the message. For a complaint about another member, the tools are already in the spec. The owner's accept_from rules decide who may write to them (§7.2), and block lists filter known abusers (§7.3). K.4's register lists the rest.

About money, with an organization, a member or a buyer. Climb the Field Manual's ladder "one rung at a time. Each rung costs more than the last":

Talk, then follow up with a written summary.
Write a clear letter: the facts, what the contract says, what you want, a deadline.
Formal demand letter. One on a lawyer's letterhead costs "around $500 for a simple one from many small firms" and "often works where yours didn't."
Mediation.
Small claims court, for claims under your state's limit ("ranging roughly from $2,500 to $25,000 depending on the state; check Vol 13").
Arbitration, if your contract requires it.
Litigation.

Chapter K-5.3 covers collecting from members and organizations, and its rule holds throughout: a payment dispute never touches anyone's place in a Pool.

When you're the one being sued or threatened

Answer on time. "A federal complaint usually needs an answer within 21 days; state deadlines are similar."
Notify your insurer immediately. "Late notice can void coverage."
Preserve documents. "Once a suit is reasonably likely, stop routine deletion." On Kindling one removal never stops: a withdrawal still completes within 60 seconds (§5.3). Keep your log that it happened. Ask your lawyer how to preserve what a hold requires without delaying anyone's exit (verify).
Get a lawyer's read on cease-and-desist letters before you comply.

When to hire a lawyer

The Field Manual lists the predictable moments. Three of them fit a Kindling reader, and the edition adds a fourth:

your first negotiated arrangement to keep Pools for an organization (Chapter K-4.3);
a regulated sector, which includes a peer-support Pool that may hold health information (Chapter K-4.7);
"any lawsuit, subpoena, government inquiry or serious demand," including a request for the list of people who said yes to a Pool;
a data request you cannot answer from your own procedure, such as a deletion request that meets a decline record (Chapter K-4.7).

Affordable help

Flat fees for "any defined task, including review of a contract you drafted."
Law school clinics for entrepreneurship and IP, which "do supervised work free."
Bar association referral services, "sometimes at a reduced cost."
SBDCs and SCORE, which "often host free legal clinics," and legal aid and community economic development programs for lower-income founders.

Bring "a one-page summary: facts, dates, documents, the question, the outcome you want." Check the state bar's site for license and discipline history.

A risk register for a host and a builder

K.4 has the curator's. A host or builder adds risks that sit in the software. An invented example:

Risk (invented example)	Likelihood	Impact	What covers it
A withdrawal is not processed within 60 seconds (§5.3)	Low	High	Monitoring on the withdrawal path; a timed test each week (Chapter K-8.5)
Decline records are lost in a migration, so a declined owner could be asked again (§5.2)	Low	High	Decline records in every backup and every restore test
A subscribed block list filters someone by mistake	Medium	Medium	Read every list before subscribing (K.4); the project's own list held 2 illustrative entries on October 4, 2026
Handshake email stops being delivered	Medium	High	A second sending provider configured; bounce monitoring
A parser stores photo bytes or ignores noindex (§2.5, §2.7)	Low	High	A test page in your test suite (Chapter K-4.7)
An agent over Pools answers with someone who never said yes	Low	High	The agent reads only manifest entries with a `consent_proof` (§3.4, §5.1); AI errors confirmed in writing as covered by your errors and omissions policy

Figures checked October 2026.

"Review it quarterly, and whenever the business changes shape."

Field exercises

List the in-person activity your Pool sits beside, if any, and get two quotes for the coverage it needs. Done when you have written quotes with exclusions read, or a written note that no in-person activity exists.
Fill in the host and builder register for what you run. Done when every row names what covers it and one row is the withdrawal path.
Write the reply procedure for messages to your curator_contact address. Done when it separates withdrawals (processed first, within 60 seconds), removal requests, complaints about members and money disputes, with a first step for each.
Find your lawyer before you need one. Done when you have had a 30-minute consult, confirmed their license, and saved their flat-fee pricing for contract review.

Rewritten for the Kindling edition from Chapter 4.8 of The Solo Operator's Field Manual. The full chapter is on solo.joshwolf.net. © 2026 Josh Wolf, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Quotations from the Kindling Protocol Specification v0.1.1: © 2026 TranquilTech and Kindling spec contributors, CC BY 4.0, marked where shortened.