What is euphemistically called “Terms of Service” in the web development biz, in the end, is just a list of arbitrary boundaries beyond which a user’s ability to interact with a website is throttled in one way or another. It usually involves a bunch of legalese gobbledygook that no one can understand so they don’t bother reading it, they just click the box and move on into the site for reasons of their own. The TOS page is always the buzzkill of a website. In that regard, this one strives to be different.
The TOS for KrakenNews.us is very simple:
IOW:
• Be courteous in any interactions you might have in comments or elsewhere in the site. Only use foul language when there’s a damn good reason for it.
• There is a TOS Enforcement Committee of one (me), so I am the sole arbiter of TOS violations. I’m not particularly strict, nor capricious, in my enforcement duties… but don’t push it.**
PRIVACY
I personally am a big fan of privacy, both off and on the internet, so please take note:
• What you post publicly is by definition not private. I wouldn’t belabor the obvious, but sometimes a liberal blissninny will cruise through, and they’re a little slow on the uptake.
• Your email address and any other sensitive information you provide the site is *never* shared, sold, or otherwise disseminated to any third parties. Period. That is, unless heavily-armed jack-booted Deep State thugs come rampaging my door, threatening to shoot me, my wife, or worse yet, my dog. In the unlikely event of such an all-out assault on my personal sovereignty, I may have to reconsider. Maybe.
** Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the law that gives tech companies legal immunity from lawsuits related to defamatory content posted by users, as well as immunity from lawsuits related to censoring user content. In other words, Section 230 allows platforms like Wikipedia to smear you as a racist while allowing platforms like Facebook and Twitter to censor you if you object too strenuously. (source)
I really don’t know whether the Kraken is a publishing platform, or a public forum. Regardless, you are hereby notified that you and you alone are responsible for how you express yourself in this site. Leave me out of it.
And with that, thank you for visiting KrakenNews.us. I hope you enjoy your surf. 🙂
~~ Jeff Foster
