What’s up with the Terms of Service?
The Terms of Service is probably the most common “I agree” lie that most of us click on. These nagging pop-ups delay the inevitable experience of trying out a new product, and half the time you just click on the thing to get it to go away. And I am as irked by it as you are!
But the Terms of Services might also be the most important thing you, as an author, should take note of, especially if you want to own what you write. Draconian terms introduced in very complicated and incomprehensible legal language prey on the ignorance of the users. But when there is a problem, THIS is the document that’s cited. Which is why, you must, must, must read before you click on the ‘I Agree’.
If you have been a long time user of Cucumbertown you’d have noticed the TOS. It was first written in 2012 during our previous avatar as a “network for cooks” and it was a very generic TOS that largely had phrases like
“Contents on Cucumbertown have a shared license”
“Cucumbertown will do what it wants with the content” etc.
As we evolved to become a food blogging platform we knew the whole thing needed to be re-written. But truth be said, I hated touching this part. Procrastinated for the longest time.
And when we started growing into the thousands of blogs, we knew we had to bite the bullet, and get on with it.
Reading through drafts of legal terms is as close to taking a sleeping pill as you can get, without actually taking one, right next to the semester six, control systems book. I am serious. Besides that, it’s also a very expensive task running into thousands of dollars of attorney fees.
We went back to the drawing board and led by Eri Murayama and WSGR we wrote a new Terms of Service. With every draft and iteration, we empathized with you the blogger. As much as possible we tried to keep things simple, in your favor while also trying to carefully tread the line of not being sued for silly reasons.
After over thirty drafts, three months and many red bulls later, here’s the new boring TOS :-).
It’s a lot of legal speak; with many “clause usage” that’s the result of decades of iterations over frivolous lawsuits. Take some time to read the new one. It’s a lot of
“You own the rights to your content”
“We won’t use the content outside of Cucumbertown without your permission”
“God forbid, we go out of business we’ll give all the data back to you”
“Please don’t add NSFW content to the platform, we’ll take it down”
etc.
I don’t think this will get you excited, but it’s a bit like having a new fire station in your neighborhood. You know you are covered.
Please reach out to me at cherian@cucumbertown.com if you have questions. I’d be happy to address.
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