I’ve mentioned Problogger many times on this blog because it’s such a fabulous resource for bloggers.

But this week, one post stood out for me for entirely the wrong reasons.

“Nip Problems in the Bud with a TOS Page” was a guest post by David Hobby which suggested that the best way to stop potential problems with your readers is to write a TOS (Terms of Service) page.

Why did this catch my eye? Because it’s a completely stupid idea. Please, for the love of [insert deity] don’t do it unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

The problem is, a TOS is a legal document. It should be written by a lawyer – or at least with the aid of a lawyer. Yet in his article, David says:

“One last thing. You’re a blogger, which means that your TOS page can be much cooler than, say, Microsoft’s TOS page. Have some fun. Threaten
some bodily harm. Throw in an ancient Gypsy curse or two. It shows that you can be serious about something that is very important to your, and still maintain a sense of humor.”

There is a reason companies like Microsoft don’t put “funnies” like this in legal documents. I’m sure you can guess what that reason is…

By all means, have an “Editorial Policy” or a “Code of Conduct”. But please, please don’t go writing legal documents when you don’t know what you’re doing. As a blogger, the chances are that you don’t have a limited liability company – and that means that it’s you personally that will be responsible for the consequences.

Subscribe to Money Blogger

Similar Content:

  1. There’s a blog in everyone The other day, it occurred to me that three of my friends have written books (or are in the...
  2. Free E-Book: Blog Monetization Strategies Matt Jones over at BloggingFingers.com got in touch to tell me that he’s just released his first ever e-book:...
  3. Writing an ‘About Me’ page You’ll notice I’ve now written an ‘About Moneyblogger‘ page. Like many things on the site, this will evolve, but...
  4. When Should You Give Up? It’s not often that I agree with John Chow, but I think this time he’s hit the nail on...

Tags: , , ,
Share this post on: