Originally posted by: -publicenemy-
I would like some clarification on the personal blog issue.
I just read through the Terms of Use of India Forums and the following is the only portion that addresses this issue - Provision 26 of prohibited content includes:
"displaying an advertisement on your profile, or accepting payment or anything of value from a third person in exchange for your performing any commercial activity on or through the India-forums Website on behalf of that person, such as placing commercial content on your profile, posting blogs or bulletins with a commercial purpose, selecting a profile with a commercial purpose, or sending private messages with a commercial purpose."
The keyword in the above is "blogs or bulletins with a commercial purpose" indicating that there is some intention of financial profit. Most of the blogs listed here are personal blogs with no commercial purpose. I understand that it may be difficult to go through every possible blog listed to weed out which ones are personal/commercial - but as it is currently stated in the Terms of Use, providing a link to a personal blog in itself is not restricted. Please do correct me if I am wrong here.
As for those who have been writing in with complaints that there are authors who post part of their stories on personal blogs half-way through - there is typically a solid reason for it (whether due to the uncontrolled plagiarism that abounds here or a desire to exercise their creative freedom more thoroughly). I understand it is an inconvenience to who have become invested in the story; however, do understand that both the reader and the writer get something out of sharing stories. If the reader wants to continue to read in a vacuum without offering any sort of feedback to the writer and then complains when the story is suddenly no longer available, then I hardly think it qualifies as grounds for raising a complaint. To put it a bit more harshly, If the content was free for your use, then you hardly have any rights to it. Those invested in the story and those who want to find out how it progresses typically will put in some extra effort to seek it out. Otherwise, abandon it and move on to the next one; there is no shortage of stories on IF.
-Devi
comment:
p_commentcount