Let this link serve as a reminder to all here:

The Cost of Excerpting the AP

On this site, at least, we've tried to get people to include a link when talking about a specific article instead of cutting and pasting an entire article whole cloth into a post.  I know it sounds ridiculous that the AP is going to be able to police the entire blogosphere for instances where their content has been cut and pasted, but I'd hate to see this small site used to set an example.  PLEASE do not cut and paste content from articles here.  No problem including a link, but under no circumstances should we use direct content from the AP especially.  Like the article says at the end, paraphrasing is our friend right now.

Thanks!

Shocker. Information control by economic rather than governmental means. Absolute shocker.

Sorry, that's the cynic in me.

I'm not sure how finely the lines are drawn, and I'm all in favor of "fair use" quoting, but I've seen "fair use" used way too often as a means to just avoid paying for a commercially traded product.

(There has, for instance, recently been a high profile case in my country of a phone company trying to use a celebrity's name and reputation to sell their product by saying "even xxx would agree we have the best rates."  and then claiming it was "fair use" because he was a "public figure". )

AP is selling news content to newspapers and other news outlets. Often in extremely short articles of a sentence or two. Quoting them is in some cases an appropriation of the entire text. A lot of "bloggers" portray themselves as a sort of news outlet, and some of them make a buck or two in advertising etc.

Even if these guys don't make any money off it, when they're lifting the text into their own blogs or sites instead of linking, they're affecting the "hits" and potential ad revenue of paying clients. I can, in that context, understand why it may be seen as a form of piracy. 

I just hope that clear distinctions are drawn, so that it doesn't affect the core of "fair use" exceptions:  the ability to debate, criticize and evaluate a text while using examples (quotes).

Thanks, guys.  I've noticed a ton of quotes in the US Election thread in particular, so would appreciate you guys policing yourselves as much as you're able.  Include links, paraphrase, etc., but please don't quote anything from the AP, in whole or in part, until this matter is sorted out.

Just curious Matt, what's the difference (re: rules at JBF) between posting "text" and "pics", especially from comics?  As an example, I've wondered about our "Awesome Panel Thread" which I've enjoyed immensely and contributed to a number of times !

Thanks !

Got it, Matt -- link on!

A "how to" on hyperlinking (a personal favorite of mine so as to avoid cutting and pasting a link into a browser):

• Copy a web address from the site and article that you want to link to
• Return to this site and the reply section of the thread you are in
• Look at the second row of buttons at the top of "Post Reply"
• You'll see a button that has the earth in the background and a chain "link" on top of it (you can also scroll over the buttons...it's the one labeled "Add Hyperlink")
• Click that button
• Paste the web address you copied at the beginning of this "how to" into the URL line
• Hit "OK"
• That link will now appear in your post as "active" meaning that anyone can click it and it will open up a new browser window that takes them to the article you want people to read
• You can also make text an active link by typing a line of text, highlighting it, then clicking on the "Add Hyperlink" button while the text is still highlighted, pasting the web address in the URL line, and hitting "OK".  That makes a line or phrase an active link, such as when people write "Click here for a John Byrne Fan Site".

Hope that helps!

The AP's guidelines sound like a violation of "fair use" rights to me. It will be interesting to see what kind of legal pushback we see from here.