Community Central talk:Terms of use

This page should be protected, IMHO. --Ellmist 17:45, 13 Dec 2004 (PST)
 * Done. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

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Somewhere between signing up with a new account and making an edit, a user should be prompted to accept the Terms of use. An anonymous editer should be shown a link and a checkbox demanding that "you agree with the Terms of Use" before allowing an edit.


 * Added to feature requests. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

''Wikicities is a hosting provider, and takes no responsibility for the content uploaded by third parties. Wikicities will act to remove copyright violations in a timely manner following the receipt of a DMCA takedown request. '' - should include a link to relevent copyright agent info


 * Done. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

''All Wikicities shall remain publicly viewable and editable unless Wikicities chooses to remove a Wikicity. Wikicity pages should only be protected for administrative reasons or in cases of extreme vandalism or edit warring.'' This seems to be placing limitations on our own conduct, which is probably undesirable in a Terms of Use contract. Strictures should limit what we are required to do not what we are allowed to do.


 * Moved to protection since it is more of a guideline than a term of use. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

In cases where it is legal to do so, the content will be made available as a database dump for download for a period after the wiki is closed. - similarly, this imposes an obligation on us. We are willing to do this, but we should not use legal sounding language to state we shall do it.


 * Ok. I removed that part. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Following the comment below, I think this should go back in. Users need reasurance their work won't be lost. Angela 18:21, 23 Dec 2004 (PST)

In the advertising section, there is no need to mention Google specifically.


 * Removed specifics about advertising. Angela 06:57, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

TimShell 15:53, 20 Dec 2004 (PST)

Termination clause ?
I'm willing to invest in the Luxembourg and Suisse wikicities, but would need to have some assurance that if things go bad for any reason, I would be able to copy the wiki to another wiki provider (via a database dump; the "Special:Export file" mechanism does not keep the page layout information, and is thus unusable as it is today). I would require this clause from any hosting provider (even if free).

Also, at this point, I have no information on how advertising will be done, and I'm afraid that it could become intrusive. It is nowhere said that wikicity members will have a say in the design. So, I see this as a big risk, and a sufficient reason to stop my effort. Any information would be welcome.Pcarbonnelle 12:54, 23 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * I originally put in the terms of use that database dumps would be made available in the event of closure. I can understand users need reassurance, but at the same time, it's difficult to make promises such as this. I'd rather it were put back in, though I'll wait to see if anyone else comments. The advertising will certainly not be intrusive. The aim is to build communities, and off-putting advertising would severely hamper us meeting that goal. I expect the design will be to have the ads in the sidebar, as shown at advertising. I wonder if I'd be being too bold to state that we will never have pop up adverts ? I really can't imagine that would ever be the case. Initially, we intend to use Google ads, and their guidelines prohibit these. Angela 18:19, 23 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Thank you for the link on advertising: I had not seen it before. This design would indeed be acceptable.  It would be good to also state that you'll never have pop up adverts.


 * I emailed Jimmy Wales about this, the president of Wikia, Inc., the company that now owns Wikicities, and he stated we will never have pop-up ads on the site. Angela 12:43, 24 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Three cheers (for no pop-up ads)! - RJ 21:15, 24 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Concerning database dumps, previous versions of the terms of use indeed say that they would be available, but only in the case where Wikicities chooses to close the wikicity. What about the case where the founder of a particular Wikicity chooses to close it ?


 * Founders don't have the right to close a Wikicity. Once it is part of Wikicities, the entire community "owns" the content, with the copyright being held by whoever uploaded it. A founder has no more control over their Wikicity than any other user since it is a community built project.


 * Also, would you be ready to offer an ad-fre wiki hosting. If the founder pays a monthly fee, advertising would be removed.  What would be this monthly fee ? Would it be possible to have a different domain name than wikicities.com ? (This would make the free wikicities the entry point to a full wiki hosting service).  Pcarbonnelle 03:42, 24 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Not at the present time. We are aiming to build communities, not provide a wiki hosting service. There are other hosting providers which you could transfer the database to, such as myoo.de, but this does not mean the content would be removed from Wikicities. Angela 03:57, 24 Dec 2004 (PST)

Relevant link to purchase games allowed?
I'm a sysop at the recently-opened Creatures Wiki. In entries for some of the games, links have been added to the main store for these games at the developer, Gameware Europe and to the developers for the Linux port of the Creatures 3 game. No money is being made off of these links, but having read the terms of service, I believe these may be in contravention of the "no non-Wikicities advertising" clause, depending on interpretation. I don't really want to remove them, though, as I believe them to be of use to users wishing to purchase these games (users themselves suggested the need for them!). They are not big flashing ads saying "BUY CREATURES NOW", just external links at the bottom of pages, like the ones for Creatures Internet Edition. My question is, are these types of link permitted, or should I remove them? GreenReaper 23:21, 6 Jan 2005 (PST)


 * I think this is something for the individual wiki communities to decide. As long as it's presented as information, rather than as an advert, it seems ok within the terms of use. Angela 03:57, 7 Jan 2005 (PST)


 * OK, thanks for the clarification! GreenReaper 11:18, 7 Jan 2005 (PST)