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There really are two questions hiding here, and most comments are only answering one. 1. Could we allow users to modify the TOS for themselves and have a quic
by CharlesMerriam2 13y ago
There really are two questions hiding here, and most comments are only answering one.
1. Could we allow users to modify the TOS for themselves and have a quick round of TOS negotiation?
Yes, for a large enough price. In most cases, the cost of having anyone even acknowledge a new customer means that customer is unprofitable. Quicken (Intuit) was the poster child for recognizing that a customer ever asking for customer support was unprofitable. Usually, a minor round of contract negotiation for a $50K product happens, and always happens for contracts greater than $250K.
2. Can we ask the user why they balked at the TOS? If there are enough common reasons for balking we might change the TOS.
Yes, absolutely. Lawyers I work with often complain about products, some aimed at lawyers, that don't understand the diligence implications of "we may change these terms without notice". Any lawyer placing client confidential information on any service with this clause is failing their legal duty to take reasonable measures to protect attorney-client privileged information. Having a feedback mechanism might distinguish the set of "didn't sign up because of your TOS" versus "didn't sign up because product failed".
- CharlesMerriam2 13y agoAh, and let me add some generic TOS advice I recently passed to Experiment.com when their TOS made me balk. 1. The check box should have a date. "I agree to your terms of service (last modified on 10/11/12)" 2. Break your TOS into sections by usage. For example, "when growing our site", "when you create an account", "when you post a comment", "when you make a purchase". 3. Usually, write your TOS yourself, in plain language. Then take it your IP attorney and have them mark up what's wrong. It saves you money and provides a more friendly and readable TOS. It avoids the lesser attorneys that write '"we","us", and "our" refer to MegaSoftware while the terms....'