Old ASP Ombudsman Policy
Ombudsman Policy as of August, 2002
  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 s/he feels Board action or knowledge is appropriate.
  2. All ASP members, including Publisher and Distributor Members, are required to cooperate with the Ombudsman when approached by him/her.
  3. The shareware version of any shareware program produced by ASP Publisher 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 technical problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please contact the ASP Ombudsman online at http://www.asp-shareware.com/omb."
  4. Inclusion of Ombudsman statement.
    1. Versions of ASP shareware sent to users when they register with the author or his/her 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.
    2. Packages of the registered version (essentially identical 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.
    3. 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,

    "'Members Name' is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP)."
    or
    "'Company Name' is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP).".

  6. ASP Distributor Members must include the following statement with their catalogs, newsletters, and web sites, and are encouraged to include it with all disks sold:

    "Company X is an approved Distributor Member of the Association of Shareware Professionals(ASP) 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 technical problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please contact the ASP Ombudsman online at http://www.asp-shareware.com/omb."
  7. The Ombudsman statement may not be hidden in a file or other manner which 60% of the Board of Directors regards as obscure.
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