Today's post is about the bottom of the page, the legalese, the fine print.

Every site is unique, and will have unique requirements, but this should get you going in the right direction. 

The phrase "Terms of Service" applies to an actual online service or application that's being provided (like Hoop.la or PayPal).  The purpose of the terms of service is to clarify the commitments of the those offering the service, as well as the commitment the user of the service is making.  

You will normally see (and ignore) the Terms of Service as a checkbox on your way to signup.  Seriously, you should read it before you click that box!

As a site owner, it's a good idea to put your commitments and expectations in writing.  It doesn't have to be War and Peace; just be clear and direct.

Here's a general Terms of Service outline:

• Give a name to your site or business and explain what it is.  If it's non-commercial, say so; if it's a business site, say so.
• Explain what you are trying to provide via the site. What's your mission?
• Explain the type of behavior you want or don't want (for a community-oriented site, be as detailed as you want, and consider including an explanation of your moderation policy as well).  Think about whether you allow profanity, adult content, political debate, and/or other controversial discussions.
• If there is an age restriction, state it here.
• Outline how you plan to treat content ownership; are you claiming ownership of any material that is posted to your site? Are you allowing authors/creators to retain ownership? Do you plan to re-use or monetize content that is posted?
• What is your privacy policy? Do you have any third-party systems accessing the data on your site?  (If you are a business, you will want to have a separate privacy policy.)

Here's what our Hoo.do Terms of Service looks like: http://socialstrata.com/docs/hoodo_tos.html

Note that I'm not an attorney, so none of this should be construed as legal advice.  If you feel leery, you might want to run your Terms of Service past a lawyer.

(Hat tip to Morgan Luce of VT Farm and Garden Exchange for the blog idea! If you have suggestions, please share them!)