BILL OF RIGHTS for Social Network Creators and their members:
1) That you as the creator and administrator of your Social Network have the RIGHT to access your content and membership data at all times, even in the event of a disagreement or dispute between yourself and the network host;
2) That should there be a disagreement or dispute between yourself and the network host, then your site content shall remain accessible to you at all times, even if it is no longer "online" for general use and consumption by your membership during the time it takes to resolve the aforementioned and/or to protect the rest of the network from any objective and demonstrable harm;
3) That there shall never be any use of force, coercion, threat, extortion, or harm to you, your data, or your membership by the network host, under ANY circumstance;
4) In the event that network host and yourself cannot agree as to the means or method to solve any disagreement or dispute, then you shall be provided a free and transportable copy of ALL your data from the Network immediately;
5) That the network host shall NEVER interfere in the contractual affairs between yourself and any third-party developers or parties from whom you have purchased software to run on your social network site. In the event that any such software should be shown to cause a Network-related issue, then your site shall be temporarily assigned by the network host to "offline" status until such time as you solve the clearly-stated technical reasons for any Network issue, or until you otherwise remove the third-party software. Under NO circumstances shall your previously-purchased software be prohibited by the network host without a written explanation of cause and specific technical details and proof as to the reasons for said prohibition;
6) There shall be a PRESUMPTION that the Social Network Creator is INNOCENT and that any alleged network issues were created without malice by the Social Network Creator;
7) Any decision by a network host to remove a Social Network shall be subject to the decision of a neutral third-party. This mutually agreed third-party shall have the final authority to determine removal or restoration of the Social Network to active status;
8) That any statements or comments made in the public forum of the Network Host relating to such matters shall NOT BE CENSORED, sanitized, deleted, edited, or otherwise removed by the Network Host without archiving the same and offering a right of reinstatement upon written request for review by the author.
2) That should there be a disagreement or dispute between yourself and the network host, then your site content shall remain accessible to you at all times, even if it is no longer "online" for general use and consumption by your membership during the time it takes to resolve the aforementioned and/or to protect the rest of the network from any objective and demonstrable harm;
3) That there shall never be any use of force, coercion, threat, extortion, or harm to you, your data, or your membership by the network host, under ANY circumstance;
4) In the event that network host and yourself cannot agree as to the means or method to solve any disagreement or dispute, then you shall be provided a free and transportable copy of ALL your data from the Network immediately;
5) That the network host shall NEVER interfere in the contractual affairs between yourself and any third-party developers or parties from whom you have purchased software to run on your social network site. In the event that any such software should be shown to cause a Network-related issue, then your site shall be temporarily assigned by the network host to "offline" status until such time as you solve the clearly-stated technical reasons for any Network issue, or until you otherwise remove the third-party software. Under NO circumstances shall your previously-purchased software be prohibited by the network host without a written explanation of cause and specific technical details and proof as to the reasons for said prohibition;
6) There shall be a PRESUMPTION that the Social Network Creator is INNOCENT and that any alleged network issues were created without malice by the Social Network Creator;
7) Any decision by a network host to remove a Social Network shall be subject to the decision of a neutral third-party. This mutually agreed third-party shall have the final authority to determine removal or restoration of the Social Network to active status;
8) That any statements or comments made in the public forum of the Network Host relating to such matters shall NOT BE CENSORED, sanitized, deleted, edited, or otherwise removed by the Network Host without archiving the same and offering a right of reinstatement upon written request for review by the author.
8 comments:
Hello, this seems to be a good omen, we wish you the best and we hope recover your products and meet those that you guys can create.
It is uncomfortable being in the middle of something has undoubtedly harmed, we love ning, but we love your products also.
We want an favourable end to both sides, that is why we are waiting and we are reassured because we have confidence in WL and Ning.
Well said, WL.
I took the risk of building on a platform where I believed simple, respectful rights would mitigate the risk I was taking by placing my communities at the mercy of a benevolent host. I was wrong.
Without pushing for fair treatment - and getting these rights in writing - none of us can afford to put our communities at risk and simply hand over our hard work to arrogant owners who think the concept of "community" applies to only us - not them.
The learning from this experience must assist our "community" of community developers to organize our influence and advance OUR rights and OUR contribution to the success of companies that host OUR communities.
I continue to be very energized watching to see the open source environment you will develop. This option is so needed.
At every step with Ning, I had to watch my posts inquiring about change and the need for community tools being deleted - with arrogant responses from Ning as to their rights to moderate THEIR community.
THEIR rights - because, we have none.
With open source, there is no need to beg a group like Ning to "do the right thing."
This is great for social network creators but doesn't really impact third party widget providers...
Best of luck guys, I'm sure you will recover some of your business but seems like the excitement has worn off a bit...
Here's a novel ideas, how about WL creating their social network creation platform. I'm onboard, and you guys can offer some of your more basic products for free and offer the more complex ones for free.
I'm sure you guys have the technical know how to get er dun.
I'm not a lawyer but it would appear that Ning is in direct violation with the terms included in this post.
I'm not a lawyer but I can say, "class action". . . I'll be there. They messed us up bad.
$1.6 billion wasn't enough Marc? How do you sleep?
Does this mean that the $209 I paid for the WL gadgets and are now defunct will be repaid to me... some I only had online for a few days.
I doubt it!!
Totally disgruntled Ning NC.
Spencer - you can work out the site I had the widgets on from my email address but if you cant its www.HiddenDesires.ning.com and www.ladiesarewaiting.com
I await your comments with interest
Well said and I'm going to make a presentation with some music and a few other things added to this (with your permission) and post it up on youtube for the world to read.
Thanks and at the end of the day, all this is about "freedom" (not the yahoo kind but the kind with rights and protections and responsibilities). A true community is built around that and without it - you only have a souless hollow.
Thanks Spence and await developments, take it easy.
David
David,
Rock On!
You have our permission.
Post a Comment