Comments on: Nip Problems in the Bud with a TOS Page

By: Widgett Walls

Widgett Walls — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:53:51 +0000

While I appreciate the whole contract with the readers thing, I’ve found that just basically being up front about your policies in a non-scary, non-legalese sort of way has a tendency to make people behave themselves. On my message board and on my comments, over the course of several years, I’ve seldom had to really slap somebody around. In fact, because of the policy being clear up front, troublemakers I’ve been warned about from other sites have shown up and been perfectly civil.

I finally put together a full-on privacy policy and a TOS (I’ve put the link as my website for this comment if anybody wants to look–warning: language) just because I felt like I wanted to get all of that in writing. No gypsy curses, though. Good idea. Maybe on the next site.

By: Andy Merrett

Andy Merrett — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:21:55 +0000

Or even “lose”, Hisham. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

By: Hisham Abboud

Hisham Abboud — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:22:31 +0000

4th paragraph, 1st sentence: should read “and will BE taken very seriously”. You wouldn’t want to loose a lawsuit over this or have the Gods of English hit you with a two by four!

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:24:32 +0000

Hooray! David Hobby on Problogger! I’ve learned an awful lot from him and I hope that others here will as well.

By: Stephen Cronin

Stephen Cronin — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:16:24 +0000

It’s interesting that some people think a TOS would be overkill. I can see why – it’s getting away from the origins of blogging, which are quite informal.

However, as blogs increasingly become businesses, due to monetization, you have to expect them to adopt the features common to other web companies. In my opinion, it’s reasonable that blogs have guidelines about how they may be used, to discourage abuse and protect themselves. Enter the TOS.

But if a blog takes that step, then they should also consider other things, such as a Privacy Statement. Now that’s a can of worms…

By: Dom

Dom — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:20:15 +0000

“Threaten some bodily harm. Throw in an ancient Gypsy curse or two.”

I know this is meant to be fun, but if you’re going to implement a TOS, you *must* keep it serious. Not only is a TOS effectively a legal contract, but threatening your readers isn’t going to do you a whole lot of good either.

If you’re not careful, you could end up getting yourself into legal trouble by implementing the suggestions here.

IMO, a TOS for a blog is overkill, and totally useless unless drawn up by a lawyer. You’d be much better off writing a more informal “Editorial Policy” page.

By: David Hobby

David Hobby — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:23:55 +0000

Hi, I am David Hobby, the guy who wrote this article.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I stick a little tracer in the bottom of my (full-feed) RSS, which tells people that if they are seeing the (appended) tracer, to contact me by leaving a comment on my TOS page.

Almost every week, a reader tips me off to someone stealing my content.

-DH

By: RT the fitness guy

RT the fitness guy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:46:25 +0000

A legal contract sockmoney? Hmm…

By: Sockmoney

Sockmoney — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:03:23 +0000

A TOS is a legal contract the user agrees to. I would keep it simple and clean, no jokes or threats… else it might not be taken seriously in a court of law if the need arises.

Just my 2 cents.

By: Keith

Keith — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:30:46 +0000

I put up a rules/TOS page on a big forum I run right after it started. Not only did it set ground rules that were easy for anyone to reference, it also brought us a lot of inbound links from other forums wanting to use our rules.

By: Max Powers

Max Powers — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:02:33 +0000

I looked at many other websites TOS page and came up with my own just to make everything look more professional.

By: Michael Dunlop

Michael Dunlop — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:52:15 +0000

Great idea, will add it to my website ASAP!

By: DefogMyBlog

DefogMyBlog — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:47:25 +0000

I think the name is a bit unfortunate but a good idea, It also leaves me wondering about the wisdom of putting a blog up on facebook since they operate a no follow policy and so presumably the clicks go to them and not to me.

By: ~Dawn

~Dawn — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:36:35 +0000

Like Zach, I didn’t want to forget, so I just did it right then and there. Thank you for education – though I wish I had the lawyers to fight the blogs that scrape my stuff.

By: dukeofweb.com

dukeofweb.com — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:50:20 +0000

I’ve never considered a TOS for a blog, although I’ve used it on forums sites I’ve built due to the amount of interactive posting. I can see how it would be advisable though once you start getting some traffic. As they say, “there’s one in every crowd.” When my readership grows beyond my shoe size I’ll take heed of your advise and work on my TOS.

By: James Chartrand - JCM Ent.

James Chartrand - JCM Ent. — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:51:25 +0000

This is a great idea. I’ve noticed that lately, there has been a lot of talk about improving communication and downsizing on the amount of time spent dealing with situations on blogs via clear, outlined pages. For example, a comment policy reduces the need to worry whether you should delete, censor or moderate. It’s clear, it’s posted, away you go. This TOS accomplishes a similar action: these are the rules, these are the consequences, cross the line at your own risk.

After reading Elise’s post on comment moderation and the discussion on policies and after reading this post, I’d like to implement both strategies into our own blog.

If anyone has more ideas about other types of outlines/rules/consequence pages to post, feel free to share the ideas!

By: Ian Eltringham

Ian Eltringham — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:27:05 +0000

I hadn’t really though of a TOS page, maybe I will get around to it sometime soon.

I like the idea of cursing anyone that breaks it though, very tempting.

By: Matt Robin

Matt Robin — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:07:33 +0000

Gypsy Curse – hehehe, you’ve just reminded me of the Borat Movie! :D

I think the TOS is a good idea – makes more sense with bigger, more established blogs perhaps (by comparison I’d have a ‘Hey, I’m surprised you commented at all’ page!)

By: nitinpai

nitinpai — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:04:33 +0000

Hey Daren,

Nice take on the TOS. I would like to see some TOS which can avoid plagiarism. I am not sure how many spam blogs are there at the moment.

All I notice is that just as I publish an article I get 2 to 3 spam back links. I think the TOS would be a perfect way to atleast make the spammer a little afraid for his life. :)

By: Sangesh

Sangesh — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:04:11 +0000

Com’mon,

I have a blog and I run it myself. No one else is concerned other than me. I don’t have any TOS page. I don’t think that almost all blogger also do not have a TOS page too.

Ok, ok my TOS is that you, yes you, have to visit my blog @ http://www.sangesh.com.np/blog that it.

Cheers.