Discord's Got A Lovely New Arbitration Clause

[Mikéy]

I'll provide more information and make this post a bit prettier the next time I have some free time on my hands.



Let's start by taking a quick look at the updated terms themselves, found here: discordapp.com/terms

The first thing we notice is the extremely recent modified date. The next thing we notice is the NOTICE in all caps that outlines their new Arbitration clause. You can ctrl+f to find the clause and information outlining it in the terms themselves.

Next, here is an article that outlines why Arbitration is good for companies but bad for consumers: consumerist.com/2014/02/25/why-you-should-opt-out-of-forced-arbitration-in-3-sentences/

Lastly:

YOU CAN OPT OUT!

Send an email to [e-mail] within 30 days of the terms being applied to you and being forced to go through an arbiter to file a lawsuit or complaint is voided to you. It is advised to do this for any additional accounts that you may have created as well. To make this easy, you may use this template: pastebin.com/zbkJfL5q

Discuss this at your leisure.

Lastly I will be leaving this thread as an
announcement causing it to appear in all
forums/subforums through November.
Any staff may undo this if they wish.

[MegaTuga]

I... don't really get it.
Then again I usually skim past these files and ignore them forever (I assume that's going to bite me in the future) so maybe that's why i can't understand all that's written there.
Also the link you provided Mikey, is unavailable in Europe. (for whatever reason) so I'm even more clueless

[Mikéy]

I assume you mean the Consumerist link? It's extremely brief so I'll just put it in a spoiler.

SPOILER: Click to show

While more and more companies are adding “forced arbitration” clauses to their terms of service, only a handful of these businesses are offering customers the choice to opt out of this part of the contract. Here are the reasons why you should take advantage of that option whenever possible.
1. Forced arbitration takes away your right to file a complaint in a court of law against a company that’s wronged you.

2. Companies want you to arbitrate because the system has been shown to be heavily unbalanced in favor of businesses — who have the legal knowledge, experience, and funding to put up a proper defense — while harmed consumers often enter into the complicated process without legal representation.

3. Most arbitration clauses also take away the right of groups of harmed consumers to pool their similar complaints together, forcing each customer into going through a binding arbitration that puts limits on damages; meaning companies can harm large groups of customers but get away with only paying out to those people who are willing to arbitrate.

By opting-out you…
1. Can still agree to arbitrate, if you would prefer that option.

2. Can still agree to settle out of court.

For these reasons, it is our recommendation that consumers opt-out of forced arbitration clauses, whenever possible.

[ShadyRounds]

Discord modified it since then to only apply to US users anyway. Courtesy of Ave:
blog.discordapp.com/terms-of-service-feedback-and-changes-c58a530c7693

Still best to opt out if you can because of course. They screw up in the future, you can do something, and if they don't then you can voluntarily do nothing.