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- The following is the text of the ASP Ombudsman Policy.
-
-
- Ombudsman Policy:
-
- 1. The board shall set up the office of Ombudsman and appoint someone
- to that position. The Ombudsman's sole role shall be to mediate
- disputes between ASP members and their customers. The Ombudsman shall
- report to the board situations where he feels board action or knowledge
- is appropriate.
-
- 2. All ASP members and vendor associate members are required to
- cooperate with the Ombudsman when approached by him/her.
-
- 3. The shareware version of any shareware program produced by ASP
- author members must contain the following text as part of some file on
- disk. (The shareware version means the one intended for trial use).
-
- "This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
- Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
- principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
- shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member
- directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you
- resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide
- technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP
- Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve
- message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536"
-
- 4. Inclusion of Ombudsman statement.
-
- 4.a. Versions of ASP shareware sent to users when they register with
- the author or his direct agent shall also have the Ombudsman statement
- quoted in point #3, but these statements may be in a written form
- included in the registration package.
-
- 4.b. Packages of the registered version (essentially idnetical to those
- sent registered shareware users) intended for sale in retail
- establishments or primarily retail mail order firms need not have an
- Ombudsman statement included. However, if the version contains any
- reference to shareware, it must also contain the Ombudsman statement.
-
- 4.c. Members are free to include the Ombudsman statement in printed
- documentation, ads, and other mailings if they wish.
-
- 5. The first sentence may be replaced by "<Member's name> is a member
- of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP)." If a member's
- company qualifies under the company name policy, the company name may be
- used instead of <member's name>.
-
-
-
- 6. ASP approved vendors must include the following statement with their
- catalogs and newletters and is encouraged to include it with all disks
- sold:
-
- "Company X is an approved vendor and associate member of the
- Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure
- that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to
- resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
- member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help
- you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not
- provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the
- ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a
- Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536"
-
- 7. The Ombudsman statement may not be hidden in a file or other manner
- which 60% of the board of directors regards as obscure.
-
- ------------------------
-
- Note that the Ombudsman policy will likely be changed in the future to
- include Approved BBS associate members. Meanwhile the applicable aspects
- of this Policy are covered in the Standards document 3.1.
-