Question regarding the TOU

1. 61

   DasEngelposted 8 years ago

   I have been living in a country for quite a many years now, though I've never read its constitution. Not throughly anyway. And I wouldn't invest more than five minutes reading any constituion frankly speaking. Quite a similar stuff I guess.
   
   I didn't bother to read HubPages' Terms of Use when I joined this site. I've a question, which is: The Terms of Use currently states that revenue generated from each hub is to be split in such a way that 40% of the cash would go to HubPages, and 60% to the author (hubber).
   
   
   The question is:  Is that 60/40 ratio negotioable under and according to the TOU? I ask for help because I personally do not have that much patience to scrutinize every inch of the terms of use section. I get headache after reading such stuff. My concern is briefly this:  for example, if HubPages, in future, develop a desperate need for resouces, and if it decides to change its TOU to increase its revenue share, for example, in a way that HubPages would get 80% of the cash generated from each hub, and the author would get 20%, will that 'change' be considered legal under the TOU?
   
   Thank you.

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   1. 95

      theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, a company can change its Terms at any time. You are the consumer, i.e. the site user, therefore you have the right to remove your content and publish elsewhere, also at any time

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      1. 61

         DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for answering. And your answer is fair enough, I suppose. Given further thought, I came to the following 2 queries:
         
         
         1. Is the HubPages' TOU governed by some other, third-party laws, or is it an autonomous entity itself? The website is housed in California, so common sense tells me that HubPages is bound to run the business according to the laws of the state. And there must be some federal laws (covering entire American users) which restrict the range of actions for Amercian website owners and administrators, in general.
         
         2. HubPages may change its terms of contract anytime and may increase or decease the percentage of revenue split received. But can it legally do so for authors who signed up under the original contract? For example, if under some critical circumstances HubPages increases its revenue share to 80%, and implement that change sitewide, will that be considered legal for authors who had agreed to use the service under the contract which is that HubPages will get 40% and authors will get 60% of the revenue generated by each hub?

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   2. 73

      relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You and most of the others in this thread are misinterpreting the TOU even now.
      
      You do not get a split of the cash from your Hubs, you get a split of the impression time.  You get 100% of what your impressions earn.

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      1. 61

         DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I missed it. Thank you for the correction. But the point actually remains the same:  will it be considered legal if HubPages, under critical circustances, increases their share of the total 'impression time' that is assigned to each hub, from the current 40%, to 80% or more?
         
         I've got the answer. It's legal.

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         1. 73

            relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Just so you know, at no time in the nine year history of HubPages have they ever done anything to increase the impression time percentage. 
            
            And they've added ads which only the site earns from to lots of areas.

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            1. 61

               DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               The question wan not whether it has been done. The question was whether it's possible.

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2. 91

   Kylyssaposted 8 years ago

   The terms of use contains a bit saying the TOU is subject to change at any time. It's pretty standard in terms of rules for posting on content farms. There's also a bit in it that says the earnings are not guaranteed.
   
   Why not just read the TOU? Also, why not read your country's constitution?

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   1. 61

      DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the answer. There are several reasons. One of the most immediate ones is that I do not need to read a constitution to stay in the country.

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3. 71

   makingamarkposted 8 years ago

   You'll find most contracts say or more or less the same thing. The ones that get taken to court are the ones that are unfair within the eyes of the legislature and judiciary of the country/state which governs the contract - as stated in the contract.
   
   Bottom line it would be a very unwise site that relies on others for content to start messing people about
   
   It wouldn't have to be as the extreme example you gave.
   
   The fact of the matter is people can pick up their content any time they want and just walk with it - and that's an actual asset walking out the door - and being deleted from the Google Index as well.
   
   Of course any site has turnover and any sensible site normally monitors the performance indicator for this.
   
   It's when the good authors with good content start walking and the news ones coming in to replace them can barely write English that a site like HubPages needs to be worried.

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   1. 61

      DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the thoughtful answer. But my question was quite specific, which is:  Will it be considered legal if HubPages, for example, incease its revenue share from the current 40%, to something like 80% or more?

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      1. 71

         makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         If the contract allows then it is legal.
         
         Making a change like that would very probably cause the site to close down as most people who are earning the money which keeps it afloat would very probably exit the site PDQ - so that in sense it's somewhat of an academic question!

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         1. 61

            DasEngelposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Just checked in the actual HubPages TOU a moment ago. It was all in the very first paragraph. Seems like that the contract does allow even as 'extreme' measures as such.

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            1. 91

               Kylyssaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Any change at any time is legal because either you clicked that you agreed to the TOS when you signed up or use of the site's services automatically equals agreement to the terms of its use. I think both are actually in there.

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      2. 82

         psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         And your question has been answered, twice.

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4. 0

   Cpoexpertsposted 8 years ago

   Thank you for your suggestion.

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