Proboards has updated their terms of service

Looks like there's been an update to Proboards terms of service. People aren't happy about the changes either, one part of the terms mentions that Proboards has the right to use your posts as a way to train AI. Additionally you, the user can't use ChatGPT or another AI to make copies of your content. Here's the quotes from the new ToS. The first one is from section 15. User Content.

Quote from Section15PBTOS

YOU HEREBY GRANT THE PROBOARDS PARTIES A PERPETUAL, FULLY PAID-UP, WORLDWIDE, SUBLICENSABLE, IRREVOCABLE, ASSIGNABLE LICENSE TO COPY, DISTRIBUTE, TRANSMIT, PUBLICLY DISPLAY OR PERFORM, EDIT, TRANSLATE, REFORMAT, ADAPT, PREPARE DERIVATIVE WORKS OF AND OTHERWISE USE USER CONTENT (INCLUDING FOR LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING BY US AND/OR OUR PARTNERS) IN CONNECTION WITH THE OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE, SERVICES OR ANY OTHER SIMILAR OR RELATED BUSINESS, IN ANY MEDIUM NOW EXISTING OR LATER DEVISED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IN ADVERTISING AND PUBLICITY. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT THE PROBOARDS PARTIES MAY PUBLISH OR OTHERWISE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR EXERCISE OF THE LICENSE GRANTED UNDER THIS SECTION. YOU AGREE TO WAIVE, AND HEREBY WAIVE, ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE EXERCISE BY THE PROBOARDS PARTIES OF THE RIGHTS GRANTED UNDER THIS SECTION, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY CLAIMS RELATING TO YOUR RIGHTS OF PERSONAL PRIVACY AND PUBLICITY. YOU ALSO AGREE THAT THE PROBOARDS PARTIES MAY REMOVE METADATA ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR USER CONTENT, AND YOU IRREVOCABLY WAIVE ANY CLAIMS AND ASSERTIONS OF MORAL RIGHTS OR ATTRIBUTION WITH RESPECT TO YOUR USER CONTENT. YOU WILL NOT BE COMPENSATED FOR ANY EXERCISE OF THE LICENSE GRANTED UNDER THIS SECTION.

Here's section 19. n

Quote from Section19nPBTOS

You represent and warrant that you will not: access, search, or collect data from the Website by any means (automated or otherwise, including web scraping in violation of our robots.txt file) except as permitted in this Agreement or through a separate, written agreement with ProBoards. Any violation of this section may subject You to civil and/or criminal liability.

It's a shame I liked Proboards and thought it was unique since it has a global login system. At least ForumSpark has that, and it's a much better service. I'm going to share this information on Forum Promotion and other forums. I might share this in the FP Discord server too.

Quote from PGen98

The unfortunate downward spiral for another "asset" of VS continues. It's their way, sadly, buy something people love, put in minimal effort to keep it running, and watch as it slowly dies off. Such a shame, Proboards deserves better. Not like someone can take it over, either, VS takes a strong stance against selling their "assets," as those of us on TAZ have repeatedly found out.

Here's hoping a solid alternative comes about.

I hope one does come along. ForumSpark is another platform that has a global login system, though it's no longer free. (Which is fine, Cedric has added a ton of cool features.) I'm afraid it might be a bit too late for a new host to come along when forums aren't as active as they once were. But maybe someone will make a cool platform, I have no php knowledge or any web based knowledge to do so myself lol. I wouldn't want to create a vibecoded software either.

Quote from PGen98

My friend Lee was working on one that I was helping with, it was getting close, but we essentially have stopped at this point. I think it could've gone places, it was quite a good piece of software! You're right about trusting vibecoded software, those that are made fully in AI are going to struggle down the line. The reason I trusted in the one that Lee had so much time in is because he's an engineer, someone that knows systems inside and out and is VERY good at what he does.

Little sneaky peak of the test forum, lol, the live forum sadly has stopped functioning.

Display Spoiler

I think I discovered his platform months ago since I believe he shared it somewhere. It's a shame he hasn't worked on it since, it looked really cool. But life gets in the way sometimes.

Quote from Gizmo

His forum platform was awesome and I saw huge potential.

I agree it looked great! I never had the chance to join the support forum but I did lurk and I did see you on the forums lol.