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Ask HN: How did you write your side project's ToS?

16 pointsby CoreSetover 5 years ago
I have a side project &#x2F; lifestyle business I&#x27;m launching in a few weeks and wanted to see what resources other HNers have used to write a basic ToS?<p>The project has no users or revenue, so I&#x27;d really just like to homebrew something basic for the moment.<p>Thanks!

3 comments

jmstfvover 5 years ago
Basecamp has open-sourced their policies under CC BY 4.0, which means you can use those as long as you include the attribution: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;basecamp&#x2F;policies" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;basecamp&#x2F;policies</a><p>When&#x2F;if you reach a certain scale, it will make sense to find a lawyer who can customize those policies for your business (or maybe even draft new ones).
Nextgridover 5 years ago
Do you need any? What do you want those ToS to achieve? If you want to use them to prevent users doing something nefarious, do you think they&#x27;ll actually care?<p>Certain markets require you to have ToS with specific information if you&#x27;re for example selling something. But if you&#x27;re not selling anything and offering the service on a &quot;free without warranty&quot; basis, why bother?
brudgersover 5 years ago
If it matters, hire a lawyer. It&#x27;s a good test. Rolling your own TOS provides more opportunity to avoid the hard work of finding users and generating revenue. And if you really need TOS, then you really need a lawyer too. Enforcing TOS is an even bigger distraction from business fundamentals than writing them. Good luck.