New Terms and Agreements

[JanPhilip]

I was not sure exactly where to post this, I hope this is ok.

I just read the new terms and agreements to the page and outrage, or possibly disgust, would probably be the only words I could come up with to describe what I felt. Although I must admit that I did not read the old ones before first registering many years ago, now that I did, I do not see how anyone can or should agree to this. I am seriously reconsidering my membership on this site.

By far the worst part has to be this line:
"These terms may be changed at any time without notice."
How can it be acceptable to ask people to sign something that might be changed after signing?

Also, sending off our data to undisclosed third party sites or companies, without notice, is not acceptable behavior from any responsible service.

I am aware that terms like these are commonplace on the internet, especially when hosted in the US. However, just because big internet companies get away with it, there is no reason why Arachnoboards cannot be different. There is no reason at all why we should have to comply to something like this to be a part of a discussion board.

I am aware that this will probably not change, as these things seemingly never do, but I hope you will at least take notice and possibly give it a bit more though for the next iteration. In the future, I hope there will be laws to prevent this kind of cancerous behavior.

-Jan Philip

 

[MrDeranged]

Hi Jan Philip,

Thanks for bringing your concerns to our attention.

I was not sure exactly where to post this, I hope this is ok.

I guess this could be considered a suggestion to change our Terms and Agreements, so here is fine.

I just read the new terms and agreements to the page and outrage, or possibly disgust, would probably be the only words I could come up with to describe what I felt. Although I must admit that I did not read the old ones before first registering many years ago, now that I did, I do not see how anyone can or should agree to this. I am seriously reconsidering my membership on this site.

We've had Terms of service since we started the website in 2001. I believe they've changed once since then, from whatever the default was for vBulletin software to whatever the default is in Xenforo when we switched to that software towards the end of 2015. They're probably pretty much the same as on any non "corporate" forum. What terms of use are we asking for that are so onerous that you were outraged and disgusted?

By far the worst part has to be this line:
"These terms may be changed at any time without notice."
How can it be acceptable to ask people to sign something that might be changed after signing?

All that statement means is that we don't have to notify you in advance of making any changes to our terms, not that we won't notify you if and/or when those terms are changed. To be honest, I'm not that crazy about how that's worded and will probably change it at some point in the future at which point everyone will be directed to accept the Terms of Service and Rules again.

Also, sending off our data to undisclosed third party sites or companies, without notice, is not acceptable behavior from any responsible service.

What gives you the idea that we send off data to undisclosed third party sites or companies?

I am aware that terms like these are commonplace on the internet, especially when hosted in the US. However, just because big internet companies get away with it, there is no reason why Arachnoboards cannot be different. There is no reason at all why we should have to comply to something like this to be a part of a discussion board.

I am aware that this will probably not change, as these things seemingly never do, but I hope you will at least take notice and possibly give it a bit more though for the next iteration. In the future, I hope there will be laws to prevent this kind of cancerous behavior.

-Jan Philip

Terms like these are commonplace regardless of which country the site is hosted in. Are you saying that users should be able to post hate speech or videos of people abusing animals or links to child porn and we shouldn't be able to delete it? Should we allow spammers free reign on the site by not checking accounts against various blacklists to try and prevent them from signing up in the first place? Maybe we shouldn't be able to promote a review or a picture on our front page because someone didn't post it on our front page?

I have to say, I'm not sure if I should be offended at your description of our Terms and Rules. I'll ask again, what exactly is cancerous about our behavior?

Regards,
MrD

 

[The Snark]

There is no reason at all why we should have to comply to something like this to be a part of a discussion board.

I'm going to drop into cop mode for a brief moment here. Yes, there is a reason. Welcome to AB. Private property. By logging in you agree to conduct yourself per the rules the owner of the property establishes.