The Terms of Service prohibit editing other users' content

Question

The second paragraph of section 4 of the Stack Exchange Terms of Service, "Restrictions," reads:

Under no circumstances will Subscriber use the Network or the Service to ... (d) post any false, inaccurate or incomplete material or delete or revise any material that was not posted by You.

The part

delete or revise any material that was not posted by You

technically prohibits editing of other users' posts. I guess the intent was to say "delete or edit other users' stuff in a way that makes this stuff worse," but the current wording fails to say that.

Answer 1

We're taking a look at this. It may be a few days because it'll require going back and forth with the lawyer.

Update

We've amended the line

(d) post any false, inaccurate or incomplete material or delete or revise any material that was not posted by You.

to

(d) knowingly post any false, inaccurate or incomplete material.

Answer 2

Whilst we're at it,

post any false, inaccurate or incomplete material

This technically means everyone I've ever downvoted for answering a question wrongly is in breach of the ToS. And I'm probably in violation somewhere along the way as well.

We're also forbidden, technically, from using pseudonames:

(c) create a false identity

Needless to say, my real identity is not, actually, Ninefingers, and is therefore false.

Suggested revisions to these sections:

1. Misrepresent any information as if authorative in such a way that its use may be detrimental to other subscribers,
2. Use an identity that wrongly implies expertise, knowledge or ownership of intellectual property belonging to another person, persons or organisation.

I am not a lawyer, I did just make those up, so please find a real lawyer to check those with. I'd say edit in corrections, but unfortunately if you do that, I'm gonna have to sue you.

Answer 3

I think the clause about not posting "false, inaccurate or incomplete material" needs to be broken off from the editing portion and have "knowingly" tacked on at the front. And perhaps have the word "incomplete" removed entirely.

And "delete" doesn't matter, since users can't actually delete content (it's all soft-deleted, which means it's still there)

And the "revise" clause just needs "that was not posted by You" removed. And even then, since the edit history is available, it isn't really editing it as much as it is posting a new version (which has its own issues with plagiarism, but that's a whole different topic.)

_{Note: I am not a lawyer. The points expressed above are my own opinions and are not reflective of the opinions of my employer, state, country, planet, galaxy, universe, or any other body or organization of which I am a part.}

_{Void where prohibited.}

Answer 4

Thank you for making me read the Terms of Service for the first time...

I've just noticed the following in section 5:

"Much of the Content of the Network is provided by and is the responsibility of the user or subscriber who posted the Content."

Which effectively means that everyone is responsible for any dodgy code they post ( not that anyone does of course ). There's lots of stuff indemnifying Stack Exchange from any responsibility for how the service is used by a "subscriber"; but nothing about the people who actually make the site work.

"8. Indemnity

Subscriber will indemnify and hold Stack Exchange, its directors, officers and employees, harmless, including costs and attorneys' fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of Subscriber’s access to the Network, use of the Services, the violation of this Agreement by Subscriber, or the infringement by Subscriber, or any third party using the Subscriber's account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity."

I don't know whether it's legally possible under US law but an additional sentence somewhere in the ToS along the lines of the following would be nice.

Subscriber takes full and sole responsibility for use of any content that has been posted by another subscriber. Except where such content breaches another condition of these Terms of Service, Subscriber indemnifies the provider of content in the same manner as Stack Exchange.

Or something like it...