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Permission Denied to Link--Who Would Have Thought...

By M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

Services for Real Estate Pros with NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time

June 28, 2007 04:39 PM

If you are a little rusty on copyright laws, click here for a quick read. Warning--its not as free out there as some may have been thinking.

For instance, is it okay that I linked to: 10 Big Myths about copyright explained ? Well, yes. It is okay because the Author, Brad Templeton gave linking instructions. Notice that he gave linking instructions, not copy/paste instructions.

Calling web authors around the world to request permission to link can also be fun. You can feel the grin, when they respond. However, make note that I personally was refused permission to link to a newspaper article once. Pay attention. That was permission denied to link, not the greater borrowing of copy and paste.

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Roberta Murphy

San Diego Previews Real Estate - Carlsbad, CA

Carlsbad Real Estate and Homes

Suzi: Perhaps the newspaper did not yet know how to privatize their material? (eg: that typical warning: You are not authorized to view this page. To subscribe.....)

Jun 28, 2007 04:45 PM

Scott Hoag

FBC Mortgage - Clearwater, FL

Preferred Lender / Mortgage Company

What about people that take promotional stuff from the nearby museum and throw it in their blog word for word. Isn't that a little wrong? Or is any advertising, good advertising, therefore re-printed ads are OK? That particular post got a feature in the Localism/ consumer side. Weird huh?

Jun 28, 2007 04:47 PM

Lynda Eisenmann

Preferred Home Brokers - Brea, CA

Broker Associate ,CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea,CA, Orange Co

Suzi,

Thank you so very much for sharing this info. I missed Brad's prior post. So you actually call these folks as opposed to emailing them?

Jun 28, 2007 04:47 PM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

I have called and emailed both. Usually this type of dual courtesy is a pleasant experience. Now Brad, for instance stated specifically how to share his material and NOT to call him or email him. So, he may never know we are talking behind his back.

This topic especially came to mind not only because of ongoing copy/paste issues within our family here at AR, but because I have spent precious brain power trying to come up with a different LLC name, a SHORTER one. Just when I think I've come up with something original I find someone else has used it. Good grief! Last night I thought I would give in and use my intials with realty because my initials could also stand for Mississippi Gulf, or abbreviation for message. Some REALTOR Guy in California is using my initials!

Also, one of my past brokers is running an ad in which I created the slogan. That hurts, cuz it was a good slogan and it was part of me. Neurons and dendrites should be compensated.

Technically, should we be asking everyone we link in to AR articles, if it is okay with them? Or, is permission assumed?

Jun 28, 2007 04:56 PM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Scott, I don't know what to say. It takes a lot of time to be original. Did you read Brad's 10 Big Myths?

Jun 28, 2007 05:00 PM

Lynda Eisenmann

Preferred Home Brokers - Brea, CA

Broker Associate ,CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea,CA, Orange Co

Suzi,

You bring up some interesting points once again.

Truthfully I never even considered asking a fellow rainer to link within the community...are we supposed to? I always looked at it as an "atta-boy", at least I thought so. I've only had one very thoughtful rainer, Jeff Dowler ask about linking to a blog of mine. I can tell you knowing the caliber of Jeff's posts I was thrilled. I just assumed he was linking in his outside blog.

Am I wrong on this one? If so, I with Brad on this one, link away as far as I'm concerned.

Jun 28, 2007 05:03 PM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Lynda, I too thought the "Atta-boy", would be the attitude of everyone all the time. Think how busy we would all be here at AR if we emailed or called each other for permission to link. Some members' posts would definitely slow down. I say until we get clear direction from AR officially, that we should link as usual to AR posts -unless- that member states a desire NOT to be linked, or inputs the copyright symbol.

But, as far as linking to articles and information from groups we are not a member of, or posters/bloggers we do not know--we should formally ask (IMHO). It will take at minimum 1 minute longer. There is not a projected maximum because if you strike up a rapport with a person with a similar interest--well, it could take a LOT of time. :-)

Jun 28, 2007 05:49 PM

S. Leanne Paynter ☼ Broward County, FL

United Realty Group, Inc. - Davie, FL

Davie, Plantation, Cooper City & Weston Specialist

Suzi, I just don't see the idea of providing linking instructions taking off and I certainly don't see the more popular bloggers (not just on AR) wanting to be bombarded with requests to link to their profile or their posts. To me, there is a huge difference between plagiarism & linking.

Can you share with us what the newspaper article was about that you didn't get permission to link to? Are you sure the person understood that you were only wanting to link and not copy/paste any part of the article? Did they give you any reason why they refused your request to link. Could it be that they didn't like what your post was about and simply didn't want to be included? I'd be curious about all of the above.

Jun 29, 2007 03:30 AM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Leanne, Hello. Actually, I have had a couple of refusals to link. But, they were last year and I do not remember exactly where they were. The newspaper article--it was just their policy period. To top it off I received a rather Curt "hands off". I had forgotten about those incidents until I read Brad's blog which reminded me to be more thoughtful and courteous about linking.

I agree, that plagiarism and linking are totally different subjects. Did you read Brad's article that I linked to (with permission). How much more time and effort would it take for a writer/blogger to put linking policy at the end of a post?

Feel Free to link to this blog.

Link ME!

Do not Copy/paste. Link approved.

Jun 29, 2007 03:41 AM

S. Leanne Paynter ☼ Broward County, FL

United Realty Group, Inc. - Davie, FL

Davie, Plantation, Cooper City & Weston Specialist

I didn't have enough time to do more than skim Brad's article, so I bookmarked it for later reading. I realize that even if it's as simple as just adding the examples you provided in your reply comment, I just don't see bloggers getting into the habit of adding that text to each post. Have you gone back to your old posts and added such wording? Also, what if you put such a statement in your post, but an unsavory website links to you with the text of the link not meeting your approval. Do you see where I'm going with this? I think if you're going to provide your linking policy at the end of a post, it should be specific in the way many reciprocal link exchanges are specific. I think that would be safest.

Jun 29, 2007 03:50 AM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Thus far, Leanne--I don't believe I am popular enough to have many people linking to me anyway. But, you actually brought out the justification for developing and including a linking policy. Just because we have not yet had the experience as far as we know, of being linked and "associated" with people whose morals we do not agree with, doesn't mean it won't happen. Ditto for our websites. But how could a linking policy be enforced anyway?

I have not gone back and changed linking policy on past blogs, and I wouldn't for the past. Its just another thought for our already crowded minds. Maybe everyone should continue to link anything and everything at will and not worry about it. It would definitely slow everyone down to attend to linking policy...who needs that?

Anyway, I have a blog coming up that has some cool first hand information--but its practically useless without referring to a previous popular blog by another member. As a courtesy, I will contact him and assure it is okay to link, further, I will ask him if I can make reference to the new blog. That is considered to be an AR No-NO, but my rationale for doing so would be because many commenters from that post would be interested. Does that make sense?

Jun 29, 2007 04:07 AM

S. Leanne Paynter ☼ Broward County, FL

United Realty Group, Inc. - Davie, FL

Davie, Plantation, Cooper City & Weston Specialist

Makes sense to me, Suzi. My thinking is that even if someone does not give you permission to link, they can't prevent you from mentioning their name and referring to their blog post (without linking to it). With regards to a linking policy, I suppose it could be a general statement such as "do not copy/paste any portion of this post but a link is approved if the text of the link is the title of this post".

Jun 29, 2007 04:15 AM

M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)

NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ

Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Way to go. Let's set Internet policy for the world!

Jun 29, 2007 09:45 AM

Marlene Bridges

Village Real Estate Services, Inc. - Laguna Hills, CA

Laguna Homes|Laguna Condos|Laguna Real Estate

What's that sound---is it the sound of 1000 lawyers working on mailers to teach bloggers how to sue one another. Personally, I'm delighted whenever someone on AR thinks highly enough of what I write to choose to link, comment or mention it. Link away friends!

Jun 29, 2007 05:53 PM

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