Introduction
I recently had a problem with some images uploaded to one of the blogs, I was able to remove the images before any harm was done.
This got me thinking about protecting myself, my blogs has a Terms of Use page and a Privacy Policy however users are not required to agree to them before posting. I decided I would implement some sort of system to amend this problem.
Issues
- I am running a mature blog with over 200 users and 23 blogs already on the system so I needed some way of getting them to agree to my terms.
- I didn’t want to slow the sign up process by adding another check box.
Solution
The WordPress Terms of Use plugin, yes I know there are many other options out there to do this however this plugin takes a slightly different approach. Instead of making the user agree to the Terms of Use when they join the site this plugin makes them agree to the terms and conditions the first time they login. The reason for doing this is that you can install the WordPress Terms of Use plugin on a mature blog and existing members will be able to agree to the Terms of Use the next time they log in. In addition the new users are presented with a nice fully customizable welcome message after they agree to your Terms to help them get started using WordPress.
Features
- Works for both New Blogs and New users.
- Customizable Open Source Terms of Use agreement.
- Customizable Open Source Privacy Policy.
- Customizable Welcome Message.
- Can be integrated into a mature blog.
- Support for both WordPress and WordPress MU.
- No changes need to be made to the Sign up process.
Screenshots
 Agreement Page |
 Settings Page |
|---|
Installation
WordPress MU
- Download the terms-of-use.zip
- Extract the files.
- Copy the ‘terms-of-use.php’ into ‘/wp-content/mu-plugins/’
- Copy the ‘terms-of-use’ directory into ‘/wp-content/plugins/’
- If you want to use WordPress to edit your terms of use, privacy policy and welcome message, chmod terms-of-use.txt to 0664 (make them writable).
- That’s it.
WordPress
- Download the terms-of-use.zip
- Extract the files.
- Copy the ‘terms-of-use.php’ and ‘terms-of-use’ directory into ‘/wp-content/ plugins/’
- If you want to use WordPress to edit your terms of use, privacy policy and welcome message, chmod terms-of-use.txt to 0664 (make them writable).
- You can now login and edit your terms of use, privacy policy and welcome message via “Settings > Terms of Use”.
- That’s it.
Add a Terms of Use page and a Privacy Policy page to your website.
- Create a Terms of Use page in the normal manner.
- Add the [terms-and-conditions ] tag to the page.
- Create a Privacy Policy page in the normal manner.
- Add the [privacy-policy ] tag to the page.
NOTE: remove the spaces between the last letter of the tag and the ].
Download
This plugin is hosted in the WordPress plugin repository.
64 Comments
[...] Download Version 0.2 beta This is a complete stable version and is running on all my WordPress and WordPress MU blogs without a problem. If no one reports any bugs I will change the version to 1.0 [...]
Thanks for the plugin! Still trying to get it customized for my site. I really need it only on the Orders page, before the user clicks on the button to purchase. It could be either a simple checkbox that they have read the T&C, or a pop-up window. Is it possible to link your plugin to a specific page? (This is for a website rather than a blog, and I do not require the user/customer to login.)
Thanks,
Joe
Hi Joe,
When you say website rather than a blog are you using WordPress? The plugin was developed out of my need to have new and existing members agree to my terms when they log in. It is possible for me to add a shortcode or function that allows you to add a terms check box to a page or post. How are you creating your order forms?
Also voting has now opened on the WordPress mu plugin competition so if you use or like this plugin please vote.
http://wpmu.org/voting-open-plugin-contest/
[...] Terms of Use [...]
[...] WordPress Terms Of Use Plugin (tags: wordpress wpmu plugin) [...]
Hello, I have a problem
When I active de plugins an error ocurred:
Warning: file_get_contents(/home/ralcesar/public_html/ayudaelectronica.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/ralcesar/public_html/ayudaelectronica.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions.php on line 74
Warning: file_get_contents(/home/ralcesar/public_html/ayudaelectronica.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/privacy-policy.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/ralcesar/public_html/ayudaelectronica.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions.php on line 78
Hi Ingenieria,
It sounds like your terms-and-conditions.txt and privacy-policy.txt are not readable, make sure terms-and-conditions directory, terms-and-conditions.txt and privacy-policy.txt files are readable at minimum. If you want to use the WordPress admin to edit these two files then they need to be writable.
I recommend using permissions 0664
thanks I change the permissions to 0664 and now works perfectly,
[...] Terms of Use – Este plugin coloca uma caixa para concordação com os termos de condições do seu blog, na altura em que o visitante faz o login pela primeira vez. [...]
[...] Terms of Use [...]
[...] Terms of Use – Instead of making the user agree to the Terms of Use when they join the site this plugin makes them agree to the terms and conditions the first time they login. [...]
[...] Terms of Use – Questo plugin inserisce una casella per permettere all’utente che visita per la prima volta il vostro blog di concordare con i Termini e Condizioni dello stesso. [...]
I am just trying to decide whether to use your plugin or another one which places the TOS on the signup page and forces the user to check: I agree with the terms of service.
To help me decide, I am just wondering, what will happen if a user doesn’t agree and I am using your plugin. where will they be redirected? will I be able to also set a custom message?
I mean, someone could sign up, but when logging in sees the TOS and doesn’t agree… There should be a message telling him that he has 7 days to agree otherwise his account and personal info will be completely deleted, right?
Hi ovizii,
Currently when a user doesn’t agree to the terms they are logged out and redirected to the login page. However it is very easy to change the URL you are redirected to.
If you know how to edit PHP you can change the URL in /terms-and-conditions/ terms-and-conditions.php
I plan to add a customizable messages for users that don’t agree to the terms in an upcoming version.
One of the many benefit of having the member agree to the terms after the member has already signed up is that if they don’t agree then you still have their contact details and you can still send them emails and newsletters lure them back in, gaining a user you would have otherwise lost.
Additionally I have never not had a member agree to the terms.
Hi,
in my admin panel after installing the plugin I am getting the following errors:
Warning: file_get_contents(/home2/badjobco/public_html/erasmusinpoland/WPMU/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home2/badjobco/public_html/erasmusinpoland/WPMU/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php on line 16
Warning: file_get_contents(/home2/badjobco/public_html/erasmusinpoland/WPMU/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions/privacy-policy.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home2/badjobco/public_html/erasmusinpoland/WPMU/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php on line 20
Where is the issue?
issue resolved… I had to chane the permission to all the .txt files
Thanks for one great plugin.
[...] Need TOS Plugin for WordPress WordPress Terms Of Use Plugin That’s the only one I know of. Is that the one giving you an [...]
It appears the download for this plugin is broken. Can you send it to me or is available somewhere else?
Thanks!
I’m looking for this as well. It sounds exactly what I’m looking for!
The download link is down. Seems like this is the only place to download it. I found a version 0.1, but that version does not let you embed into pages like this version.
Sorry guys, The download link is back again.
Hi i already have the plugin but how do i make change the permisons for the .TXT files???
i dont know to do that
Can you help me please????
Hi
Other thing i set up the plugin in my wordpress control panel, but nothing appears in mi website????
Hi
thats my site and i have set up the plug in in my wp-admin and it doesnt show anything
http://www.recipesdrinksandfood.com
Hi Camilo,
Changing File Permissions
FTP into your web hosting navigate to into your ‘/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-of-use/’ directory then change the permissions of the terms-of-use.txt to 0664.
How you change the permissions depends upon the FTP program you are using, I would recommend doing a google search on the topic there are many many tutorials out there.
The WordPress codex are a good starting place.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions
Adding A Terms Of Use Page
The primary purpose of the Terms Of Use Plugin is to makes new members of your blog agree to the terms and conditions the first time they login. This means that the terms are primary displayed on the admin side of your site.
However it is also possible to create a page on your site that will display the terms. To do this create a New Page, named something like ‘Terms Of Use’, add the [privacy-policy] tag to the new page then publish the page.
The terms of use will now be displayed on your Terms Of Use … its that easy.
hi thank you for the great plugin, i upgraded to the 2.7 but when a new user logs in for the first time, it says “Cannot load terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php.”
the address bar reads “http://annzeejay.voblop.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php”
i have a problem with helpdesk plugin, the first link in the admin bar “Help Desk” gives me a 404.
i think the problem is related…
thank you for your time.
Cheers
I’m having the same issue as George, though I’m not sure I’m using the latest version of the plugin. I’m digging in and trying to figure out what the issue is. I’ll let you know if I figure it out.
Figured it out. It’s a bug in the 2.7 core code. I submitted a bug to trac:
http://trac.mu.wordpress.org
Ticket #888
do you think it’s possible to make it compatible with wordpress (single user version)?
[...] you are using my Help Desk Plugin or my Terms Of Use Plugin with WordPress MU 2.7 you will notes there is an error with the sub [...]
I think I’ve find a security issue in WPMU 2.7. I’m not sure about this – maybe there is a conflict with one of my installed plugins.
The problem is that other non admin users can access and even change the tems (if CHMOD is 667) by the link: http://domain.com/mainblog/user/wp-admin/wpmu-admin.php?page=terms_and_conditions even if they have no roles in main blog.
They can even find the link in Admin Bar drop down by changing their Settings/Admin bar theme into WordPress Classic (Drop down menu without top level Name by the left of Log out button).
Sorry for writing here, but there no contact information and contact form doesn’t work on this site.
Thanks Matew,
I have fixed this security issue.
This is not a big security issue as the .htaccess file included in the terms-of-use directory douse not allow scripts to be executed from any of the text files, however I would still recommend updating.
When I maded update I got an errors:
Warning: file_get_contents(/home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions.php on line 114
Warning: file_get_contents(/home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/privacy-policy.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions.php on line 115
Warning: file_get_contents(/home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/welcome.txt) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/domain/public_html/subdir/wordpress-mu/wp-content/mu-plugins/terms-and-conditions.php on line 116
CHMOD for txt files is set to 775
Hi Levi,
can you give me your email, I want to forward my conversation with Donncha Caoimh (WpMU Lead Developer), with suggestions how to fix my described issue.
[...] bardzo fajny dodatek Terms of Use. oni korzystają z tzw. hook – is_site_admin (), jest trochę o nim opisane tu_____ a także: [...]
hi there.
started using your plugin and was wodnering wether you might plan an itnernationalization? Its all english right now, and I don’t feel like going throught the whole plugin and translate…
I’d be willing to do the work, if someone gives me some hints…
oh, what if I change the terms, is there an easy way to make all memebrs agree again? I think that would be important in case somethign changes later on…
otherwise I guess one has to do it manually via phpmyadmin, right? can you give soem more info which fields would need to be changed? I guess its somewhere in the wp_users table?
[...] 1. Download the terms-and-conditions.zip. 2. Extract the files. 3. Copy the ‘terms-and-conditions.php’ into ‘/wp-content/mu-plugins/’ 4. Copy the ‘terms-and-conditions’ directory into ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ 5. If you want to use WordPress to edit your terms of use, privacy policy and welcome message, chmod terms-of-use.txt to 0664 (make them writable). NOTE: for additional security there is an .htaccess file included in the terms-of-use directory that does not allow scripts to be executed from these files. This protects against code insertion.You can now login and edit your terms of use, privacy policy and welcome message via “Site Admin > Terms of Use”. Here is the original post. [...]
Hi.
Thank you very much for your plugin.
Since yesterday update, 2.8 to 2.8.1
I have a problem with your plugin: my new users cant
see the terms of use page. It saying that they dont have
the right to acces that file. Since then I cannot register
new user to my blog.
Please he.
Dan,
After installing on a WP 2.8.2 site and following innstructions within the txt the following message is displayed upon activation.
“You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”
The message is displayed in the same style as the WP Installation page and is also displayed whenever I try to access my Installed Plugins page. The only way that I have managed to stop this is to remove the plugin althogether via FTP.
Ideas?
try the version at wpmudev.org Deanna has modified it to be 2.8.2 compatible.
Cheers for the answer, unfortunatley the wpmudev version is not working either. It’s probably worth noting that this is NOT an mu install. Once the plugin is activated I can not access any page in the admin folder without being redirected to the following page:
http://www.*.com/members/wp-admin/admin.php?page=terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php
Error message as follows:
You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.
Any more ideas would be great or other alternatives, I have done a lot of searching but so far it seems this is the only option that “should” work for a recent WP install.
Thanks either way.
Is there anything available for WordPress MU 2.8, as this did not work for me
It doesn’t work with 2.8.4. I activate it and can longer access plugins until I delete terms through ftp.
I’ve rewritten this plugin to make it simpler and just so it works in the latest WP versions. Get it here.
thanks for the plugins, i need it for my new site
Hi there,
Love this plugin.
I want my members to have to accept the terms and conditions on the first time they click on the ‘groups’ page on the front end of my site.
Any idea how I can set this up as the ‘Groups’ page does not appear in the drop down in the settings page.
Thanks!
I have two questions concerning the plug-in (which is great BTW):
1) Can you set it up so each time someone goes to the page with the Terms of Use disclaimer they have to accept? I guess it is storing a cookie or something that allows the person to only have to accept the first time they visit the page.
2) I using WP as a CMS. I am aiming the plug-in at the page that acts as my blog (where posts are updated). The plug-in won’t seem to open up on these types of pages for me (I am using this plug-in on multiple sites).
Thanks!
I really need help!! I was in the middle of uploading the plugin and now I can’t access any of the website – I can’t even log in. It keeps saying, “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page,” no matter what I do.
Please, please help!
Hi tcr,
To get access to your site again you will need to go into the plugins file through your FTP and delete the folder which contains just this plugin.
I haven’t used this plugin with WP 3.1 so don’t know about compatability issues but deleting this plugin through FTP should mean you can access your site again.
If deleting it doesn’t give you access back then change the name of your plugins folder to something like ‘_plugins’ temporarily.
This will deactivate all plugins. You should then be able to go back into your site and reactivate the plugins again and delete this plugin which is causing you issues.
Love this plugin for my college hosted WP (was MU) site. However, with the change to 3.1 – it is not listing the Terms and Conditions settings for all users under Tools rather than putting it in the admin menus. Any plans to update the plugin to move that out of the view of users? Thanks for much for the plugin!!
Hi everyone, is there any means of downloading this file(pluggins), from
http://www.wordpress.org under extent menu->pluggins. So that I can Install right away just without using any FTP software like FileZila. Or Can I search this pluggins, if yes which should I?
Cheers creator.
Ok, Kiyange you can now Install the plugin via the http://www.wordpress.org.
I have tested this version out on several of my personal blogs however if you find any issues please let me know.
Is it necessary for a normal wordpress blog to have terms and conditions? I mean, what is the point of having those when your not selling anything?
This plugin was originally designed for a WordPress MU site however I have installed it on several normal single site WordPress installations. It is useful if you want to allow open user registration to your site and want new users to agree to your Terms Of Use before they can post or access the back end.
I have not updated this plugin in some time, if there is enough interest I will update and add it to the WordPress Plugin repository.
*interest*
Ok, the plugin is now working with WordPress 3.2.1 and has been added to the WordPress Plugin Repository.
Hi Levy,
I get the following Error message with WordPress 3.2.1
Warning: file_get_contents(/mnt/webe/e2/70/5227070/htdocs/WordPress_01/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/terms-and-conditions.txt): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /mnt/webe/e2/70/5227070/htdocs/WordPress_01/wp-content/plugins/member-terms-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php on line 78 Warning: file_get_contents(/mnt/webe/e2/70/5227070/htdocs/WordPress_01/wp-content/plugins/terms-and-conditions/privacy-policy.txt): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /mnt/webe/e2/70/5227070/htdocs/WordPress_01/wp-content/plugins/member-terms-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php on line 82
Could you give me a hint? So far I can’t edit anything in WordPress anymore. Only the Error message shows up!
Sorry about that Michael,
The plugin name Terms and Conditions was already taken so so I registered the name Members Terms and Conditions, little did I know that this name is automatically applied to the plugin folder if installed via the WordPress plugin manager.
I have fixed the issue and uploaded a new version of the plugin.
You have three options to fix your install:
1) If you can access the plugin manager, updater the Terms & Conditions plugin to version 2.0.1
2) via FTP delete the wp_content/plugins/members-terms-conditions folder then reinstall via the plugin manager
3) via FTP edit wp_content/plugins/members-terms-conditions/terms-and-conditions.php changing line 30 from
define(‘_TACPATH’, WP_PLUGIN_DIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.”terms-and-conditions”.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
To
define(‘_TACPATH’, WP_PLUGIN_DIR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.”member-terms-conditions”.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
Let me know how that works for you.
Installed in a WP3.3.1 subfolder multisite.
On applying “Network Activate” I received the infamous “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page”.
It wouldn’t deactivate, so I had to delete the plugin manually from the server, and then clean the database out.
It did this on a vanilla instal of WP and your plugin.
hi dear
your plagin useful for me but problem is that pls provide shortcode i use the code in popup window
thanks
Hello Levi:
I understand that you are incredibly busy–I hope you can take a second to reply. Okay, here it is: I am a neophyte and am starting my first blog! Using BlueHost and Word Press. I have downloaded the Terms and Conditions plugin and it now appears in my Settings. However, as I’ve tried to install this plugin, I’ve gotten to Item 4 in your Word Press Installation instructions, then get stuck there because it says that to change it to “writeable” I must do the following: chmod terms-of-use.txt to 0664 (make them writable). What does this mean and where do I do it? Also, once I’ve done this, where on my blog will, or should, this Terms and Conditions copy appear? How do I get it there? If you can’t help me, could you please direct me to the right page(s) to get the answers. Many thanks, in advance.
Mark Godding
Hi Mark Godding. To change the file permission is very simple. when you change the permissions you are simply writing in the file who can change it. ex, most of the webpages you see you can only read so you only have the permissions to read, if you want to make a change on the page as a visitor someone will have to give you that permission. so this is all those codes do. Let the host know who can change the file. You can do it in your host control panel, but the procedure will change from host to host.Or you can do it through a FTP client. It is a program that access your files for you. I use FETCH so i will explain as i deal with it. You have to access the file using the FTP client , than you just click on the icon (i) Get info and you will see an window with the name of the file and the permissions, May permissions were 755 so i just have to replace it with 664. Hope this comment was helpful. All the best from Brazil!
Hi there! I have uploaded the Terms & Conditions
2.0.1 on My WordPress. Everythinh worked well until i discover that any user that is not an admin or editor get the message that they do not have enough permissions to access that page. Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this and what is the solution?