And also, the Discussion Policy was obviously written by someone with some savvy. “Personal attacks and foul language = FAIL. Adding to the discussion = WIN” – sounds very similar to the policy of a certain blog not too far from here…

You guessed it…Frank Stallone.

Oops, I meant Wal-Mart. So they cover their legal asses. They need to.

Thank you for visiting http://www.walmartstores.com/twitter (the “Site”). The Site includes a networking service operated by Wal-Mart-Stores, Inc. (“Wal-Mart”) to allow users to share experiences and communicate their thoughts and opinions. In light of the complexities governing the use and operation of websites, we have set forth below a series of Site Access and Use Terms (“Terms”) that apply to access to and use of the Site. We hope that you will understand that, in the complex legal world of the internet, website access and use terms are required. We have also included below, as part of the Terms, an identification of our agent for receipt of notice regarding copyright claims and other communications regarding the Site. BY CHOOSING TO ACCESS AND USE THIS SITE, YOU ARE EXPRESSLY AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS.

Link to Wal-Mart’s Twitter Terms of Use

The twitter discussion policy seems pretty reasonable to me – it details how to determine if a “tweet” is an offical Wal-Mart communication or not, what they will and will not reply to, and their request that you add to the discussion and provide supporting evidence when possible:

A few notes:

•While many of our 2.2 million associates around the world are using Twitter and other social networks, all official Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Twitter users will be identified on this landing page and will have a link back to this page from their Twitter profile.

•Unless otherwise noted, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. approved Twitter users will follow the following naming conventions of “business unit + name/category.” For example, “walmartradio,” “samsclubrobert,” and “walmartgames.”

•We won’t reply to off topic @replies. Personal attacks and foul language = FAIL. Adding to the discussion = WIN.

•@replies should contribute to the dialogue. Please support any claims with links to sources whenever possible. We love opinions. We love it even more when you back them up.

Link to Wal-Mart’s Twitter External Discussion Policy

Wow, what a bunch of tools – no wonder more Corp. don’t jump on the social networking bandwagon… What a bunch of crazy-a$$ rules and policies they have!

Yeah, what kind of soulless corporate monkeys would institute a moderation policy on their social website?

This device is provided without warranty of any kind as to reliability, accuracy, existence or otherwise or fitness for any particular purpose and Bioalchemic Products specifically does not warrant, guarantee, imply or make any representations as to its merchantability for any particular purpose and furthermore shall have no liability for or responsibility to you or any other person, entity or deity with respect of any loss or damage whatsoever caused by this device or object or by any attempts to destroy it by hammering it against a wall or dropping it into a deep well or any other means whatsoever and moreover asserts that you indicate your acceptance of this agreement or any other agreement that may be substituted at any time by coming within five miles of the product or observing it through large telescopes or by any other means because you are such an easily cowed moron who will happily accept arrogant and unilateral conditions on a piece of highly priced garbage that you would not dream of accepting on a bag of dog biscuits and is used solely at your own risk.

urwelcome!

[and there's a big difference between a policy for using a service that a company is providing, versus a policy for using a service that a different company is providing.]

But here they are doing precisely what Twitter tell corporate users to do, create a landing page on their own site linking back to any official Twitter accounts they have. It’s a simple way for anyone to find out whether a Twitter account they’re following is authentic or not.

And they are doing what I tell my clients to do, have a clear, simple use policy of dos and don’ts. The only real quibble I would have is whether there is any point forcing people to agree to them when all you need do it make sure they’ve read them. It’s guidance for wise people, the nutters wouldn’t be fazed by it anyway.

We can argue about whether even that is overkill, but it’s really not what it’s being played as here (a license to see Tweets).

It has a nice ring to it. :)