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| As the owner of a non-profit website, I thought I would pass on my thoughts about the use of signature urls (leading to your own website) AND the use of copyrighted materials without permission.
Signature urls: I have noticed that most of the major Muskie forums are no longer allowing threads with links to personal websites (whether for profit or non-profit). The reason for this is very simple: Why should one person get a free advertisement on a site when someone else has to pay for the same thing? After all, these forums themselves, have to pay for the use of their own website!. In order to pay their bills, the forums charge for advertising there. Otherwise, there would be no forums of the quality presently available Why would anyone pay for something when they can get it for free? Therefore, everyone must be treated equally. Want an advertisement on a site? Pay for it - it’s only fair. Nuff said!!!
Copyrighted materials: Copyright laws are in effect and may include written materials, photos, etc. to ensure that materials are not being stolen or plagiarized. All someone has to do to copyright something is to include the copyright icon or include the words “Copyright-do not use without permission of…” (or something similar) for that item to be considered copyrighted. With the advent of the internet, it has become very easy (and common practice) to use someone else’s work. Although on the public domain (I am not looking for a legal challenge here), those materials should not be used without the permission of the owner whether they are copyrighted or not. It is against the law!
Recently, it seems that everyone wants his own website. No problem – I have my own and use it as a hobby, educational/entertainment thing for the benefit of others and myself. Although no money is made from the site, I still should not use someone else’s work without permission. Now that my site has grown, I am getting more and more visitors each day. In THEIR enthusiasm, I am receiving materials from them for my website. In MY enthusiasm, I put the materials on my site in good faith, assuming that the provider also has permission to use those materials. I do attempt to verify permission to use those materials, but occasionally one gets thru the cracks and someone else’s work may end up being used without permission. Of course, I will immediately remove it if requested. I guess what I’m getting at here is: #1 Do not use someone else’s work on your site without permission & #2 do not represent someone else’s work as yours on another site, #3 Remove it if you find unauthorized work on your site. Your comments are appreciated! Thanks
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| I'd like to develope a web site for the "down + out", but I'm afraid the expense would be more than I could handle at the time...would be neat to have a site where you could have peeps visit + ask questions + share non pertinent information. The ability to console those who have lost the fish of a life time, lost a favorite bait, a pet, rod breakage, backing a boat into a gas pump or garage + other stuff would be a great way to help others in a time of need! W/out going over me head, what does a non profit site run per month + is there a market for a "Samaritan" site? [:sun:]
***I might add at this time I am pretty much serious...if the expense was reasonable I'd like to have a picture made in a suit sitting at a nice desk to at least give the impression of semi dignified seriousness, + can the site be canceled at any time? | |
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| Sponge Bob: You already have a TV show. Now the net?
All kidding aside, there are lots of free ones around that you could use for a fun thing. Of course, you end up with a bunch of pop-ups that can be very annoying. Although my site is non-profit and for fun, I pay a website provider for mine, but only for the dot.com address and the ability to eliminate most advertising on my site. Very affordable. If you are interested in your own site email me and I will fill you in and how to find places with tutorials on how to write html. It's simple once you do it for a while. | |
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| MF does allow signature urls in a post because simple links are not worth anything in todays world. MuskieKid, you use to have it in your signature here....why did you take it off?. You can even make it clickable if you follow the ideal BB code overview. You will find that under the summit key when you are posting.
But button and bannor Ad's like you would see in a magazine and on site are worth something. I dont like flashing ones, they drive me nuts.[:bigsmile:]
MuskieKid....How come I always get a silly camera ad on your site that I have to constantly click off every time I surf your site?
By the way...you have the best set of links out there for exploring the muskie world! | |
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| On my site (www.cruisebikes.net) I'm ok with people putting their little blurbs in their sig files, I figure it helps people know who's who. "Oh Sponge Bob? He's the guy who always trying to sell the pocket warmers in July..." Plus I figure it's a fair enough trade. A board is only as good as it's content/contributions, and if somebody is making a contribution, by all means, link yourself in a sig file. I wouldn't expect a mechanic to use his expertise to answer questions without letting him identify his shop. THe musky example would be that I wouldn't expect a guide to spend his time and give up his knowledge without being able to identify himself and his business.
But I don't go for single purpose plug posts, ie "Visit me for all your hand warmer needs" and crap like that. I figure that you wear your little identifier (link in sig file) and people will read your contributions, decide if you're worth a damn or not, and if they're curious about you are what you can offer, they'll click through the link. I went round and round with a guy on my site who just didn't get it, and just wouldn't get it.
Now if there was an opne house, or an event of some sorts, I think I'd have to be a bit subjective. If the event was of general interest and everything, great. If it was a 10% off everythign in the store, no. UNLESS of course, someone completely not-connected with the store was posting it. "Hey Cady, big sale @ Sponge's Saturday. Might not be a bad time to stock up." vs. Sponge himself posting "Visit Sponge Bob's this Saturday from 8 am to 8 pm. All handwarmers 10% off!" So you can see where it starts getting a bit fuzzy. My rule is if I feel like I'm reading junk email, it's gone. If I feel like I'm listening to a conversation between friends, I let it stay. | |
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| Jason; great, I will put the url back on and make it clickable later. It has become a controversy on some of the other sites. I even got an email from one of them asking me (politely) to remove the signature url, even though my site is obviously non-profit. Thanks. Wondering what camera add you are referring to? I pay for the site and should only get the Geocities banner on there. Is that what your talking about or is it a large pop-up on the top right? It should not be on the toothycritters.com website. I also have the http://www.geocities.com/toothcritters.html (Tiger Muskie site) that I link to which is also my work. It may be coming from there. I am transferring it over to the dot.com site a little at a time. Hopefully, that will take care of it. As you know, sites can become monsters. Mine has. Seems like it never stops growing. Kind of a living thing. I appreciate your kind comments. I put this thread on because I put pictures on my records photo page that were sent to me by someone else. I wrongly assumed they were his work - they were not and I got hammered for it (politely) from someone else before I removed them. Hoping someone else will benefit from this post. By the way, I don't sleep much, so I work on the site in the middle of the night. Can't catch fish with a computer!!
CMunger: I appreciate you input and agree with you. Amen, brothers!!
Take care. Tom [:sun:] | |
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| How much per month for a site? Munger lost me after the first paragragh! If I did one, it would be a hodge podge of ignorance w/ a once a year serious topic...mentally I don't think I could hang onto one + do it justice, but the thought of having one will keep me excited for a week or so anyhow. [::)] | |
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| Well, domain name through Register.com is $35 per year. Hosting will vary depending on your needs. The place I use charges me $20 per month for 15 gigs of bandwidth (haven't used more than 4gig in a month yet!) and 400 megs of disc space. Happy with them, very reliable. They have a basic plan that is $10. If your site was gonna be relatively small and you weren't hung up on having a seperate registered domain, you probably have free hosting available via your ISP. Your website URL would look like www.adelphia.net/users/spongedude/index.html or something like that. you could play and learn that way, and then go the full bore route if you decided to later...
Muskiekid: It'd be one thing if you were trying to take members away from their site to yours, but if you were there contributing info, I'd say screw 'em. Sites can't be "gimme gimme gimme" all the time. They should allow you to identify yourself in exchange for the contributions you make. If your contributions are good, it's good content for their site, so your identifier link shouldn't bug 'em. And if your contributions aren't worth a darn, well people are gonna see that, it becomes a non-factor and it shouldn't bug 'em. Give a little info, get a little exposure. Win-win. One without the other is just unfair to the other party, in my opinion. | |
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| CMUNGER: Is it Cory? Thanks for your kindness and advice. I agree with you about the hosting for Sponge Bob. I agree, A good way to learn is with a free site. Then convert it over later. I did all the right things (I thought)on my site. However, work was given to me that most people would have had no problem with using as long as a link was provided. I attempted to work something out. However, the person could not be satisfied whatever I did and indicated in his own way that I was a "web pirate," and attempted to intimidate me. Removing it was not just enough.
As a cop with 30 years experience, I am not intimidated easily. After all, you can get rid of emails easily with the click of a button and put a block on their email address. However, I removed them to avoid further hassle. A couple of things that were there for all to enjoy are no longer on my site. Theoretically, I screwed up. However, I did use them in good faith thinking there was no problem using them with the idea that others could enjoy them. After all, I am not compensated (other than personal satisfaction)for my site and pay for it out of my own pocket. As you say: the hell with him. I could be Musky fishing instead!!
Sponge Bob: I have some great tutorial links I can send you that are free. If and when you decide to get on the net, let me know and I will send them to you. I work on mine in the middle of the night. They are a living thing and never seem to stop growing. Better to be on the net at night, fish in the afternoon and work flextime like me. All I gotta do is figure out how to get rid of that damn job!! | |
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| C stands for Chris... I've seen little disclaimers around on some sites regarding copyrighted material, could ever be worth putting up if it's something that's happened more than once. Something to the effect of a fine print "ToothyCritters.com does not condone copyright violation, however we rely on member submitted content and are unable to verify the true origin of all materials submitted, so if you see material that you believe is copyrighted by individuals other than those who submitted, please contact us with that information, and it will be removed."
My policies regarding photos/art/etc. A) show me where it originally came from, B)verify that a copyright exists and if so determine whether I believe the use on our site constitutes Fair Usage (ie if it was originally presented as "public domain", or access-restricted) and finally C) take appropriate action, whether that be removing the post or saying "Nope, nothing wrong with that." There's a whole area of legal theory that needs to be addressed to really sort things out, because your website is "educational", and as such would have expanded copyright leeway. It's a huge mess, really.
As a rule, I try to avoid any issues and tell people to link to articles, not cut and paste (saves bandwidth, too).
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| Chris: Thanks for the great input. I have another thread that I will post as the result of this subject that I think you will get a chuckle out of. Take care. I will call it: Attention Website Wannabees!!! | |
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| You can check it out if you would like. I love to make websites any tips or any questions feel free and shoot me an email, my email is below. Its all for fun. There is a reason why some of these online musky forums are better than others :) | |
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| Hey Jason,
I was about to remove my website from my signature as I have started doing on the other boards. I wish not to violate or cause confliction with the boards and I respect their laws of governing these sites. But I saw this post and your answer to Tom and was wondering if my site with my signature is against rules or not? I would gladly remove it if so and if not and it doesn't offend the board I will leave it. Thanks Jason and howdy to all.
[:)] | |
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| Stan,
By all means--- leave the link in your signature, and make it clickable if you wish![:bigsmile:] | |
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| Steve I would like to make my site clickable but don't know how. Can anyone help me out on this? I think that the info on this board is above the rest and the links only make it better. Keep it up everyone!!!![;)] | |
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| Stan Durst!
This site.....has NEVER...said....no signatures!
We allow them, because simple site signature links in the world of internet are not worth anything. It allows our members to see and learn more out there. There is lots to learn on the net, lets all share.[:)]
The only catch 22 is when someone try's to leave a link to sell something. Ad's like the Slammer tackle Ad are examples of what is needed in those situations.[;)] [:)] | |
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| Steve and Jason,
Thank you for the info. I know THIS board has never said anything about it. But I wanted to make sure I did no wrong here. I am putting it back on and I would love to make it cilickable. Will see if I can do it right.
Thanks again guy.
Stan Durst
www.durstproducts.com
[email protected] [:p] [;)] | |
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| Boy am I a dummy or what? I can't get it to work.
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| Stan: They are called BB codes. Slightly differnt from HTML. Do it this way:
Stan Durst | |
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| Stan: They are called BB codes. Slightly differnt from HTML. When I posted them here the brackets made the codes disappear. I will email you the directions on how to do it.
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| [ these ] CruiseBikes.net is done by {URL=http://www.cruisebikes.net}CruiseBikes.net{/URL} (replace the { and } with [ and ] | |
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