How to Legalize my "Terms of Use"?

To protect against any law suits etc...

[asas111]

I have a fairly big community portal website.

Lately, some users have been trying to cause trouble with me and other users.

I do have a "terms of use", but when I turn some of my troublesome users to it, they tell me 'hey, it is not even legal, so we won't abide by it..."

How can I make it legal?

I also have a privacy policy, which I want to legalize too.

Please help with any companies that do this.

[stapel]

What do they mean by "not legal"? Didn't they agree to those Terms of Use when registering their accounts? If they thought what you were doing wasn't legal, why did they sign up in the first place?

In any case, you're the one paying for the site; you're providing the access. If they don't want to play by your rules, you have every right to kick them out of your "community". They have no "legal" "right" to demand that you pay for them to harm you.

And, no, kicking them out isn't an infringement of their "right to freedom of speech". You're not stopping them from saying whatever they like. You're just not choosing to subsidise their speech. They can say whatever they like on the site that they choose to pay for. But they don't get to decide what you pay for.

Just my opinion, of course....

Eliz.

[VegasRook]

A couple of things.

1. I am not giving legal advice, just informal chat.

2. If you want to make your terms legal, they must state legal things. For example, if your terms said I must slap myself in the face to use your site, that's not legal and your entire "contract" could be invalidated.

3. You don't need a company, you need a lawyer. Many people think you need tons of legalese for an agreement, but you don't. Simply state what people can and can't do. Make them perform an action to agree to the terms before using the site (for example, typing their name in a box stating they read and agree to said terms).

Also, your website is a private network under private ownership. The 1st amendment doesn't apply. Think of pro sports for a moment. Players get fined for speaking their mind sometimes. Why is this allowed? Because they are doing something that is detrimental to the organization they represent. Freedom of speech applies to one's private space and public arenas.

You should know that hateful speech or speech that can entice illegal behavior is not protected under the first amendment to begin with.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. Someone is free to run into a church and yell all sorts of obscenities. However, the church is free to expel them.