Forum Registration Agreement

[Jonathan Stuart]

When new users register for this site they must agree to certain terms. I have long felt the standard terms were too wordy and they said nothing about the ownership rights of material posted to the forum. We need to address both these points, especially the latter because an ex-member has asked for further content they posted to be removed and we need to be clear in future that this is not in the spirit of Internet forums (this is covered by point 6 below).

My first draft for a new agreement is included below. Please let me have any comments. Once we have agreed a new form of words I will use these for the registration agreement. I think existing users should also sign-up to this new agreement, although I need to find a way to do that.


You agree, through your use of this forum, that:

1. You will not knowingly upload any material to this website or forum which may reasonably cause offense or distress to other users, is in violation of any relevant laws or otherwise breaches the spirit or purpose for which this website and forum is run, and the website and forum administrators may, at their absolute discretion, edit or delete material they reasonably believe may breach this clause; and

2. You remain solely responsible for all content you upload to this website and forum; and

3. You indemnify, and hold harmless, the owners, operators, administrators and other users of this website and forum, save where they breach the terms of this agreement; and

4. The operators of this forum may reveal your identity or any other related information in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum; and

5. Cookies may be used to manage keeping you logged in and out of the forum (for the avoidance of doubt, they will not be used for any other purposes); and

6. Unless you explicitly indicate otherwise at the time of upload, all content (including, but not limited to, posts and attachments) you upload to this website or forum is placed in the public domain and your forfeit all intellectual property rights; and

7. Any disputes or claims arising out of or in connection with the use of this website or forum shall be governed by the laws of England and the courts of England have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such disputes or claims.

[Colin Morley]

Looks very good to me.

Just one typo spotted. Para 6 "Your forfeit" should be "you forfeit".

I just wonder whether you should have a sentence saying that people posting comments should be the author of the content. If they are not the primary author they should acknowledge the real author. In other words - no plagiarism.

[Peter Cockerton]

Jonathon

You must have spent hours considering above content and producing above draft and it seems perverse that its the sort of thing you expect when signing up to join an organisation. And organisation is the very word which created so much furore with certain members including the member asking for content to be removed (toys and prams come to mind).

Ps if i agree to above will i stop being called by PPI and Utility swap sales persons

Many Thanks

Peter Cockerton

[Jonathan Stuart]

Peter, Colin,

Thank you very much for that feedback, all appreciated but I can't do anything about the PPI calls I'm afraid!

I have made the changes suggested (the new clause 3 handles original ownership of copyright for posted material) and added new clauses 7 and 8 which, although probably unnecessary, make explicit a couple of important points. Also amended clause 6 to be retrospective and added words about copyleft protection.

New version below.


You agree, through your use of this website, that:

1. You will not knowingly upload any material to this website which may reasonably cause offense or distress to other users, is in violation of any relevant laws or otherwise breaches the spirit or purpose for which this website and forum is run, and the website and forum administrators may, at their absolute discretion, edit or delete material they reasonably believe may breach this agreement; and

2. You remain solely responsible for all content you upload to this website; and

3. The rights for any material you publish to this website will be owned by you or you will otherwise have the right to publish such material, for example the material will already be in the public domain or you will have been granted permission by the copyright holder. Where the copyright is owned by a third party that third party must be credited and you are responsible for meeting, and ensuring you continue to meet, any other terms imposed by that third party.

3. You indemnify, and hold harmless, the owners, operators, administrators and other users of this website, save where they breach the terms of this agreement; and

4. The operators of this website may reveal your identity or any other related information in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum; and

5. Cookies may be used to manage keeping you logged in and out of the website (for the avoidance of doubt, they will not be used for any other purposes); and

6. Unless you explicitly indicate otherwise at the time of upload, all content (including, but not limited to, posts and attachments) you upload, or have previously uploaded, to this website is placed in the public domain and you forfeit all intellectual property rights. Where you wish to retain ownership of copyright this is strictly subject to you making such material available for public use and reproduction (crediting you as the owner) under suitable "copyleft" terms; and

7. This agreement relates to you as an individual and not a specific website account, thus should you have multiple user accounts, create additional accounts or use other users' accounts then these conditions apply to your activities in all such accounts.

8. The term "website" includes all material and functions within this website, including, but not limited to, the website content and forum.

9. Any disputes or claims arising out of or in connection with the use of this website shall be governed by the laws of England and the courts of England have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such disputes or claims.

[Jonathan Stuart]

Made a few further changes. The main one to note is that material uploaded to the site now remains the property of the original copyright holder but that they grant a license for its use and redistribution. This is the way most open source software is licensed and it gives freedom of rights without loss of control, so I think is more appropriate than public domain.

Please let me know if you have any concerns, suggestions or can spot any typos (no doubt there are some after making further changes).


You agree to the following in relation to the website (including all sites, material and functions within the swallowyachtsassociation.org website and any websites which, with the written permission of the operators of this website, materially replace some or all of it in future):

1. You will not upload any material to the website which may reasonably cause offense, distress or harm (in whatever form) to other users, is in violation of any relevant laws or otherwise breaches the spirit or purpose for which the website is run, and the website administrators may, at their absolute discretion, edit or delete material they reasonably believe may breach this agreement; and

2. You remain solely responsible for all content you upload to the website; and

3. You indemnify, and hold harmless, the owners, operators, administrators and other users of the website, save where they breach the terms of this agreement; and

4. The operators of the website may reveal your identity or any other related information in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of the website; and

5. Cookies may be used where reasonably required for the operation of the website, for example to manage keeping you logged-in to the website; and

6. You will own the the rights for any material you publish to the website or you will otherwise have the right to publish such material, for example the material will already be in the public domain or you will have been granted appropriate permission by the copyright holder. Where the copyright is owned by a third party you will credit that third party as the copyright owner and you are responsible for meeting, and ensuring you continue to meet, any other terms imposed by that third party and also for ensuring you are able to meet the requirements of clause 7; and

7. You, or the original copyright holder if that is not you, retains copyright in all material uploaded to the website. However, by uploading material to the website, you grant (and certify you have a right to grant) an irrevocable and perpetual license for the website and any person(s) or organisation(s) to use, modify or redistribute such content (in part or in its entirety) for non-commercial use, strictly subject to them crediting the copyright holder and using these same license terms (without restriction) whenever material is used or redistributed; and

8. This agreement relates to you as an individual and not a specific website account, thus should you have multiple user accounts, create additional accounts or use other users' accounts then these conditions apply to your activities in all such accounts; and

9. The administrators of the website may at their absolute discretion suspend or permanently prohibit your use of the website should you materially breach any of the terms of this agreement or otherwise bring in to disrepute or damage the website, it's users or objectives (as described on the website's "About Swallow Boats Association" page or any replacement page(s) detailing the website's objectives); and

10. These terms may from time to time be amended or updated and you agree to abide by such such changes on condition that they are clearly posted on the website and you have a period of 10 working days to make any objections, which the website administrators must reasonably consider, before the changes come in force; and

11. These terms apply retrospectively to all actions and material previously uploaded to the website as well as all future uploads and actions by you; and

12. Any disputes or claims arising out of or in connection with the use of the website shall be governed by the laws of England and the courts of England have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such disputes or claims.