Gaia's Terms of Service.

Grumble grumble.  I was growing to like being a disgruntled protestor. 

Not to mention, you met the terms of my “ultimatum” with 30 days to spare.  Who do you think you are?!?!?!?

KIDDING!

REJOICE!  Thank you, thank you, thank YOU.

There is little need to apologize.  Something as small as paragraph 11 could easily be overlooked.  GAIA is beautiful, and thank you for carrying over the promise to preserve artistic integrity.  You undoubtedly understand the thoughs of many artitsts who would protect the art that perhaps even for that which they, as creators, feel they have no “ownership” over.

I weep with joy to know this venue to spread my soul remains preserved.

Thank you for your beautiful work.

Thanks for clarifying things Siona!

To everyone here on Gaia, formerly known as Zaadz I want you to know that the team supporting you are an incredibily authentic group of people that really, really care about this community.    Please have some faith.  We are YOU!

Ha ha! Thank you Jeepdog! And, we still appreciate the leeway. I know there will be obstacles in the future and it's good to know there's the patience and humor to get through it all and serve this greater vision.

Here's to sharing the goodness of your art and soul on Gaia and to the beauty and awesomeness of what we will create together.

Thank you!!!!! I sure didn't want to pack it in and leave, I love it here and I have worked hard to add a lot of content over the years. Thank you Big,Big!

Again, I stand firm behind the integrity of this site and the team's integrity … there was never any doubt that we wouldn't resolve this quite quickly.  And, yes, being a bit of a geek, I understood why we had to say certain terms in order to display the works of all of these amazing members on the internet…. but it does sound quite concerning to read them because it does sound like content can be “stolen” and used elsewhere.  But my heart knows the intent of this site, so it never registered to me as a threat.  I am pleased that our members are vocal enough to say “no, not this” and hold us to that ultimate goal … “our Highest Potential” and live up to the standards that the integrity demands of us.  Deepest Bows!!

One thing we have tested and know for certain on this revamped christening launch -

the “something is amiss” RED ALERT!!! alarm is working just fine.

:)

Oh, phew. Thank you all so, so much. I think I need to go spend some time breathing; my poor  heart. I'm crossing my fingers for as few “RED ALERTS!!!” as possible… and yes, again, I know full well this could have been completely avoided if I / we'd been more mindful of these changes. I'm glad the group of you are so attentive.

Thank you.

I do understand, and trust you Siona and the zaadz team - but who is to say this site (Gaia ) won't be sold some time soon, or later… we never thought Brian would do that, did we?

So it's just that I wanted and want to state clearly where I stand in all of this:
I love your work; the site looks nice (I don't like purple, but its ignorable - just kidding), things seem to be functioning and I like the added functionality into other realms (like video).

So congratulations for a job done well enough! (Perfection we'll have in our grave!)

Love,
Mushin

The new… old… terms are up. They're virtually identical to what was up there last week. Just some names, addresses, etc, have been updated to reflect the Gaia Community.

Thank you Siona and lawyers. We shouldn't forget that we here are members of the change-the-world club (including people on the Gaia/m team). Smiles. We know how to protest and picket and strike and boycott, and we will follow through whenever we feel backed up into a corner. I think this Terms stuff was a good demonstration of how united we all are. But honestly, even though I would have deleted my account here, I would have been sad to do so, and quickly been looking for an alternative website that is as good and productive as this one in order to present my creations and ideas. Thanks again.

Thank you, Siona, and all the Team for moving through so quickly on this issue.  The creative community here has much to be thankful for, with regard to your ability to stand in the fire, and move things along.  I apologize for any sleep you lost last night - but I felt this was something that would eventually be worse if left unfixed, than the bit of heat it caused presently.  I'm sure you'll make up the sleep easily now knowing this has been resolved to everyones satisfaction.  Personally, I am now looking forward to being able to share my own work more freely here - something I couldn't have done under the GAIAM terms.

{{{{{BIG HUGS}}}}} to everyone who pushed to get this worked out, so we can get on with the show.  ~~{*.*}~~     (posting this on the Gaia Community thread as well)

Thank you! We can all sleep better now! Thank you Mark for bringing this latest update to my attention. Much love and infinite blessings to you all.

Thank you Gem for raising the issue and Siona for resolving it so quickly.

Siona, I'm just wondering about the outcome of this portion:

You said 

 “The difference between Gaiam Community's and Zaadz's terms is that we currently have an additional disclaimer:

“Zaadz claims no ownership over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through the Website. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, copyright, and trademark rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Website and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate.”

If you'd be more comfortable if we added that to the Gaia Community clause, I'll make doubly-sure that its in.

Is it in?  Blessings abounding, Rev. O.M. Bastet

OM Bastet: Yep. 3.7, just as before. I 'm still just embarrassed that it took the extra time. But blessings right back at you, and to everyone else, too. You 'Gais' are just incredible. :)

Hi Siona:  I added a ”caveat” to my above comment, which I also posted in the Gaia Community thread.  Something that Jessica said:  “So, we are restoring the old ToU until further notice, when we've worked out the kinks and had time to have tea with the legal team. ” caught my attention.  Could you please respond to that post?  I had thought this was a done deal - but reading those words gave rise to some doubts (and I really don't want to doubt, but there is just too much at stake here to be careless).  You've all done such an incredible job of hanging in there to get this up and running, I'd hate to see it go from a start-up bonfire to a funeral-pyre.  Blessings…. ~~ {*.*} ~~

Well, I'm having problems. This morning, I didn't get my question of the day, Then after I ogeed in, I had to log in again to get my mail. Those types of redundancy irritate me. Then I didn't have a home tag accessible, nor a way to get to a blog, and the myGaia tag is a future feature.

And if I thought for one second that my peoms which I spontaneously write to answer the question of the day were lock-stock-and barrel the possesion of gaia or anyone else, I'll stop writing them. At least here. I would have thought a ToUA from a site such as this would have valued and promoted ownership. So the “standard agreement” argument in order to provide a service seems quite unclear to me. On what basis does any web site claim sole benefit of any contant, and for the offering of what service? Maybe some links there would be helpful. Especially now that there is new ownership by a corporation.

Which ultimately means, when added to the annoyances of logging in repeatedly, will result in my exit from a site I was enjoying very much. That will sadden and disappoint me.
So what's the story on the fixes that need to be done in order for me to access what I once had?

Gaiazters Rule! & rock & surf the energy of change like champion wave masters!
Right on!

I woke up early today (at 3:30 am) and now I know why- it took all morning to read the threads & catch up with all the centering that has been going on. One thing I have always admired about this community is the mature balance with which we unite to fuel the change that meets our highest potential. Amazing!

Most amazing in my mind right now is Siona and her ability to authentically respond rather than react. Sonia has demonstrated this ability many times throughout the years but she has truly led us with love and grace in the last 36 hours or so and I am truly grateful for her and team. Namaste’ my dear Gaia Goddess ;-)  ~ I behold the light you are being and the grace with which you hold it - at the perfect angles & in the highest places.   

 
P.S. My heart smiles each time I recognize Zaadz here in this new Gaia community similar to the way my favorite beloved objects placed with love helps me recognize HOME in a brand new house. We are the heart of Zaadz and our heart will surely make Gaia feel like HOME (once we fix the plumbing and toss our shoes off in the middle of the living room) ~giggle

Thank you Siona, and your team.  You are a class act.

We should all learn a lot from this experience.  I surely have.

Betsy

I woke up early too, it seems.

Gemstar: Oh, I was just on my way to go respond there, too. I'll start with my own caveat: nothing is ever a 'done deal,' and I don't want to make promises I can't keep, and as the community and site and Gaia grows, I have no doubt we'll need make adjustments to the terms (what if we want to move into the mobile realm, say? What if we to feature screenshots in a promotional DVD?). But as Jordan recommended, we'll do that if and when we need to, not in anticipation of any-and-ever-case-a-bazillion-years-into-the-future. And I'll let the legal team know that while the terms need to protect our distribution rights (that is, our ability to provide the services) they should in no way make is so that we can sell your work. (Without your permission, I mean; I think is would be wonderful if we could do business deals.) I hope that helps.

Rob: Here's a story: before we launched, when we were testing the site last week, I wasn't able to LOG OUT. I'd log into the Gaia staging, and click log out, and when I'd come back, it would immediately log me in again. Can you imagine if we'd accidentally trapped all of you here? ;)

And I know. We've still got glitched and I know the dev team is still running about. Um. At least you know we're still us.

Finally, your QaR answers are your answers. I'm not sure what you're asking with the services question: we host the site; we provide tools for blogging; we provide places to post your photos and profiles; we provide the newsletter services; we provide a safe space for people as per our community guidelines; and so on. I'm not sure I've answered your question, though. If not, let me know.

Synerjyz: If my little icon could blush pink it would be glowing right now. Thank you. It's an honor just being here and communicating with each of you, and it's because of all of you, and your consideration and kindness and patience, that I'm here, and so freakin' committed to this place and to preserving what it is that kindled that first little Zaadz spark. Also, I can't hold all this positive energy and centeredness alone… and the team here, both our original little crew and the support of the others, deserves just as much appreciation and thanks. So a deep bow to you for recognizing everyone behind the scenes.

We've all been through so much together at this point, hm?

Thank you, again and again. 

Thanks, Siona, for handling this so quickly.
 
I was impressed by the speed of things…I had heard that blogging could amp up solidarity and get work done…look at that!

I like the wording I'm seeing here so much better.

I would love to thank the community for coming together and working through this problem. This oneness of heart for each other, as different as we all are, is what inspired me on my first day of Zaadz two years ago, and today, more that ever.

Here we are, working together, for the good of each of us, the whole, and who we touch in our lives, and beyond - the gift of giving.

Being a stand for integrity, authentic communication, and transformation is such a wondrous elixir that has magical, curative powers.

And huge thanks to the Gaia team for listening to us and choosing to work for the good of the whole, ethically, and in integrity. 

My meditations will be filled with mega thanks for this huge step towards more love and light in this tremendous Gaia community of extraordinary beings, 

This humble being bows to all in thanks. 

While I have read the many postings and recognized the valid concerns, something in me sensed the true concern and desire for mutually acceptable resolution.  Consequently, I chose to wait and see how the intellectual property issue would be addressed before I made any decisions about subsequent action.  Siona and all, you work hard and care deeply.  Thank you for recognizing and respecting us and our creative gifts we share with passion and purpose.

I came in late on the legal “issue”. I knew it was all the buzz while we were frantically working throuh the technical aspects of the Z–>G transition this week…. I'm glad it got straightened out so fast.. and I can tell you this: the Gaia team is the most amazing group of people I have ever had th epleasure of working with. Incredible heart and integrity and positive intention. 100% goodness through and through. And the best part is that we are all part of this amazing community and that we're all part of this greater intention. I have some of my photography on the site and am honored to share it with the community and know for a fact that there is no weird misaligned inention by our care takers to abuse my intellectual rights. The reason I know this is because WE'RE US! I've personally hugged the people who make these decisions. Really! :-D

You know, it just occurred to me… jaxxon? Not only do you have some of your photography on the site, Gaiam HIRED you from the Zaadz community to come design this space. I assume this company is going to keep growing… and I assume we'll need more people on the team….

;)

Again, I just think it seems a little unfair to do the guilty-until-proven innocent thing.  I know we're now part of a big corporation. I know we've suddenly leap-frogged into being a big company. I know it's been a HUGE learning experience. Still, my own personal experience within Gaiam (from those who work on the Gaiam Community site, to those writing for catalog side of things, to our lawyers, who willingly offered that we pass on their email addresses to anyone who had any concerns about what the terms meant “in English”) has been wonderful.

And even though it might be a bit of the soft-hearted sap in me speaking (“Really, Siona? You?”), I'd love for this all to work out.

That said, I'm also not particularly worried. As Sun-1 put it, Gaiam did swallow the Zaadz pill. There's no going back now. ;)

This is a great blog/comments. As I was reading and catching up here, I realized there were a few versions of what we call ourselves now. I wonder how many others call themselves “Gaiadzter”. I think my identity crisis is over now that I created this new personal pronoun, or whatever it's called. Well I sort of like “Gaian” too, singular; and “Gaianz” plurally. I think I did see Gaian already, but not Gaianz. So, that's cool. But as far as the Terms go, yeah, just write them up for what you need to protect the company as of now. And, then as things change (in favor of the members I hope), then send out a notice of change of Terms to the members. You know, just like those credit card notices that we get when they modify the contract that we originally agreed to. No need to write Terms to cover every possible senario for the next 4 billion years. Laughs. That cracks me up. I crack myself up with that stuff. Okay, I'm ready to start getting some more videos of Russia online here. Thank you again Team Gaia, and Siona, and all y'all.

Hola all…  as else where stated (in different words) I feel like I just returned home to several people telling different facets of a story about barely halting burning the house down.  I'm glad I missed it!

Worth a look back!  (Synerjyz comment seems to be a glitch at present - permalinks misfluxed)
If I coulda said the same I woulda and so instead I DITTO IT!!!  Siona your little circle should be beet red now and deserved!!!!!  :)

Second look back!  DITTO to that too!

Blessings all, David

Its nice to know your problems are solved…I guess I was spacing out since I didn't even know there WAS a problem!
Since the seed of Zaadz was swallowed by Gaia then what shall we grow into? A giant sunflower?
Peace and hugs, all!