Users are not prompted to accept the TOS

Noticed this just a bit ago, No users have been prompted to accept the Terms of Service at any point. This should be fixed as soon as possible. Also you need to make sure all existing users accept the TOS before posting again. This is just so you can enforce it.

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Agreed.

By accessing or using any part of the web site, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement.

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@mbaxter Unfortunately that creates no legally bound contract between the site owners and the users. Please note, this MAY suffice with some courts, but more than likely it will not. There is no easy way, before signing up for the site (or the completion of the registration), for the users to read and accept the terms.

Currently, the users are not actively engaging in any affirmative conduct regarding the Terms of Service. It just states that accessing any part of the website (including the homepage?!?) you passively agree to the TOS. To use this type of TOS is very unfair to the end user. Mainly because Terms of Service are commonly considered like contracts; how would you like be contracted by Wal-Mart to work 8 hours a week there because you walked into the front door? Same concept.

So a remedy is this: Sometime during the registration process, before clicking, the user must scroll to the bottom of a set of terms, or through an adjacent scroll box that contains full Terms of Service, guarantees the entirety of the TOS appears at least once.

If you implement the above remedy, this will debut any dispute about not having been informed of any/all information contain in said document. The user would have a reasonable notice and opportunity to review.

Please note: All courts are different, each individual term is not always going to be counted as a contractual term. Some terms may be unenforceable due to many reasons.

All of this is just to protect all parties involved in the project.

What part of the ToS do you think is going to be enforced by Sponge via court?

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@mbaxter It doesn’t matter about if anything currently inside the ToS could or could not be enforced in the court of law, rather, you should try to protect the project with as much legal protection as possible.

At any point in the future you wish to amend the ToS that may contain anything that may lead to a suit involving the site or associated services, and have failed to provide any reasonable notice and opportunity to review the document, may lead to legal repercussions.

There is also this the Services term inside the ToS.

As this is not a thing currently, you don’t have to worry, however if the Sponge Project does include such a thing, it could become a problem involving, say the Payment and Renewal Term.

Again, this is a preventive measure to protect the project’s assets and associates.

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Where’s the Dislike button?

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@Squawkers13 why would you need a dislike button?

Many reasons, just like we should have a agree button, there’s time when I agree with someone but not like the post…

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Ah okay, didn’t think about that. Let’s stay on topic now :wink:

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