[jswww]

You agree to grant to KBOARDS.COM a non exclusive, royalty free, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual license to reproduce, distribute, transmit, sublicense, create derivative works of, publicly display, publish and perform any materials and other information you submit to any public areas, chat rooms, bulletin boards, newsgroups or forums of KBOARDS.COM or which you provide by email or any other means to KBOARDS.COM and in any media now known or hereafter developed. Further, you grant to KBOARDS.COM the right to use your name and or user name in connection with the submitted materials and other information as well as in connection with all advertising, marketing and promotional material related thereto, together with use on any other VerticalScope Inc. web sites. You agree that you shall have no recourse against VerticalScope Inc. for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your communications to KBOARDS.COM.

I normally don't think of stuff like this as bothersome, but I know some of you use your author names as your usernames, and you could find your words used to promote this site on other vertical scope websites.

Unless I'm reading this wrong.

Anyway, not sure it's a problem, but you know how it goes. Someone's nice today and a bear tomorrow.

 

[Trioxin 245]

So your author name/book covers can be used by them without your permission?

 

[Nicholas Erik]

Well, as someone who's rarely bothered by boilerplate legalese, I must say that's pretty damn concerning.

Nick

 

[My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too]

Wow, that's very concerning.

Did someone make an alternative to Kboards recently? It might be time to start thinking about that. We're authors, the idea that we're signing over all rights of any words to someone else in such a broad fashion isn't making me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[unkownwriter]

Um. I don't like those terms at all we should have been notified there was going to be this sort of language in the TOS.

 

[I'm a Little Teapot]

Hell no. This is not cool. Between this and the skeevy ads, this whole new ownership thing feels dirty, and not in a good way.

 

[101569]

Um. I don't like those terms at all we should have been notified there was going to be this sort of language in the TOS.

We definitely should have been notified!

Wow, that's very concerning.

Did someone make an alternative to Kboards recently? It might be time to start thinking about that. We're authors, the idea that we're signing over all rights of any words to someone else in such a broad fashion isn't making me feel warm and fuzzy.

Especially private messages. Some of us share parts of our books in these pm. I am not giving them rights to my words.
Switching forums might be a very good idea

So many places have been adding interesting things into their TOS without really notifying people. I have noticed apps and games putting in there that they can record and sell everything you say as well as access and sell all your content on your phone including pictures. My mother had an app start taking random pictures without her consent or knowledge.

 

[unkownwriter]

Changed my profile, got rid of stuff. My stuff is mine, and I never gave anyone permission to potentially use any of it. I'd given this board six months. Now I wonder if it has that long.

 

[Ellie L]

Changing my profile as well. I don't like it either.

 

[Guest]

No, I do not agree to that. Wonder how many of us they will ban for refusing to accept those terms?

 

[ImaWriter]

Did someone make an alternative to Kboards recently? It might be time to start thinking about that. We're authors, the idea that we're signing over all rights of any words to someone else in such a broad fashion isn't making me feel warm and fuzzy.

Yes.

https://indieauthorhaven.freeforums.net/

 

[Trioxin 245]

The company that now owns kboards had six websites hacked and users information including passwords/messages stolen. In fairness, there were a lot of hits like that happening awhile back, it was not just them. But it is a reminder than anything you post online is never private or yours.

 

[Nicholas Erik]

I would love to find a message board for writers that is NOT indexed by Google and has "can't read until you register" forums (as in you can see the forums exist but can't read the posts unless you're a registered member). I hate that so many are open and indexed by search engines. It's one reason I never posted much on Kboards even though I would have liked to.

These new TOS and the changes made since the sale are saying this community is heading for an ugly end if things continue this way.

If anyone has recs for a forum like I described, please post!

Dirty Discourse. It's $5/mo and has all of those features.

Nick

 

[My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too]

Seriously...anyone know of a board we can migrate to that isn't erotica and doesn't have TOS that says they own what you write? Even if it's paid.

 

[Alan Petersen]

I believe all forums have that. It's boilerplate default that comes installed when you set up a forum. I would be surprised if that verbiage hasn't been there since the beginning especially since this forum uses Simple Machines software. Go to any forum out there and click on their terms and search for "perpetual" dollars to donuts you'll find that in there too. Not saying it's not freaky but I don't think it's something the new owners are slipping in there recently.

 

[Nicholas Erik]

I believe all forums have that. It's boilerplate default that comes installed when you set up a forum. I would be surprised if that verbiage hasn't been there since the beginning especially since this forum uses Simple Machines software. Go to any forum out there and click on their terms and search for "perpetual" dollars to donuts you'll find that in there too. Not saying it's not freaky but I don't think it's something the new owners are slipping in there recently.

Yeah, I looked at bodybuilding.com's TOS (not running Simple Machines, from what I can tell), and YouTube's TOS, and they have language in there about being granted various rights to use content that's being posted (obvious disclaimer: not a lawyer, there may be nuances I'm not seeing). Seems standard.

Crisis averted, IMO. Carry on.

Also, for those interested, Dirty Discourse isn't really an erotica forum. It's more business-oriented and there are a number of authors who write standard genre fiction. They just don't have the swear/topic filters that exist on KBoards. It's worth registering for a month to check out, at the very least (I'm not currently a member, just because the number of sub-forums makes browsing and finding information a pain, IMO).

Nick

 

[nomas]

Terms like these are the reason I stopped using Blogger--it can use whatever you post as it pleases. Sad to see them here. Guess I'll be leaving.

 

[ShayneRutherford]

I just went and looked at their TOS as well. Seems like what we post there can be used too. Yikes.

Which part of the TOS, WasAnn? I looked, but couldn't see it.

 

[77071]

I withhold my consent. If I am banned for that I expect all data on me to be deleted.

Everything I've posted.  Anything that's been harvested from me.

I've shared advice and experience through the years here, in the spirit of sharing openly with other indies.  Sometimes I've shared things I regret, such as when sharing what a hungry market I wrote to soon led to a bunch of "marketers" (and botters) hitting the genre hard.  I'm not so naive lately.  (Of course that could have been a total coincidence, as a lot of genres were hit hard around the same time.)

I certainly do NOT consent to have anything about my profile, writing here, or anything else about me/ my writing/ my books harvested by VerticalScope for any use: advertising, monetary, or other.

 

[My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too]

Which part of the TOS, WasAnn? I looked, but couldn't see it.

When you register, right at the end when you click the "agree to terms of service" if you click the link, it opens up the expected page of war and peace level verbiage. Keep going and you'll see it. Or just search on the page for some of the keywords and you'll get to it. And that's BEFORE you get to the privacy terms, which is a whole other page.