Regarding "Content Links": What About Our Endorsement Fee's?

I'm afraid I couldn't help noticing when browsing outside the site not 10 minutes ago that, apparently, whilst I'm a member here at Sciforums, not only do I both hold and express certain views and opinions which indeed I consider to be my own and are published here as such - I also apparently have developed the tendency to publicly endorse certain products and services I've never in my life even heard of before, yet alone been either asked or in anyway consulted regarding weather or not I particularly wish to have my intellectual property rights used in this manner.

Let alone in anyway, shape or form agree to it.

There's obviously a very simple reason for that. I haven't been consulted on the matter. None of us have.

No one has in anyway even attempted to ask and further more, the matter of my endorsement fee hasn't even been raised.

Now, as you probably already know, as members of any online forum community, in agreeing to abide by the membership rules, etc when registering we also automatically grant both the site and site owners with a perpetual licence to use the content we provide in anyway, shape or form the administration deems fit.

However, this right does not extend to Personal Endorsements.

This is a particular and very specific niché associated with copyright that stems directly from that side of copyright law known as Intellectual Property Rights.

Now, you can all read up on this at your leisure and till your heart's content - the point being, the application of the "Content Links" software in association with words you yourself have originated amounts, in legal terms, to forming a Personal Endorsement issued by you to the General Public of whatever Sales, Service and/or Product the Content Link happens to point to.

For either a company or individual to raise capital in this way without the endorsee's express agreement, on the one hand, is quite illegal. There's also a whole slew of moral and ethical considerations slapping around there if they should bother you, particularly.

The main point, however, is cash.

If I, or any other person, is actively involved in endorsing commercially available Products, Sales and Services - that individual so issuing such endorsement is entitled to a fee for the service they are providing.

By having your content so altered as to appear that you so endorse said properties - by law you are entitled to an Endorsement Fee for the service you, in turn, have supplied.

Unless, of course, you have signed an agreement wavering these specific rights.

I haven't.

I don't know about anyone else, but if my work is going to be used commercially in this way I not only have the right to seek proper financial renumeration at the appropriate rates, I also have the right to seek legal regress for my work being used in this manner without my prior consent and foreknowledge.

Obviously, early days yet. Nothing carved in stone. But if we could start the ball rolling at, say, £900.00 per annum whilst an active member with a further residual fee of £300.00 per annum thereafter whilst said content remains online and in use commercially - ball park figure really, just to get things rolling. I can get the paper work started my end first thing Monday - should be tied up and sealed by the end of the week.

Thanks for your time chaps, pleasure doing business with you.

Best regards,

A

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everything's so formal now-days...

people arent machines...they can be talked with.

 

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Pish! Nonsense! It's progress! I've descided, therefore I'm doing. It's the spirit of the times we live in, and profitable too. Personally, I'm all of the for it...

 

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This form of advertising is very disgusting. I am going to have to be quite adamant about its removal.

The admins have yet to sound off on the issue, so no need to get our panties in a bunch... yet.
I hope they'll be sensible and limit their advertising to ethical means.
And, I agree that this is skirting the bounds of legality regarding copyright. It might be explicitly illegal.

It is, without a doubt, a breach of faith with the users of this forum.


I've set up a poll in free thoughts on the issue. Thought it'd get more notice there.

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=58784

 

The admins have power over us, they are our SF Gods! Do not upset the Gods or great messenger will come and disrupt the normal chi flow for 3 days or even more!

 

Without even the offer of an Endorsement Fee, you're bladdy right it's illegal. I'm a businessman too, old chap. Also work with Advertising and Copyright Law rather a lot. No panties in any bunches here I assure you - I personally welcome innovation and embrace it - especially if theres a chance to earn an extra buck, which thoughtfully the option to do so has been more than generously provided for all.

Just want to sort out the specifics, renumeration wise is all. No hurt in that is there - and, hey! Full transparency - open policy and consultation all the way. Can't knock that now, can we?

A

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Dragon old chap, doff your natural pessimism for a moment my friend and look at the bigger picture here - this isn't a complaint. This is an opportunity. What's that old saying: Fortune Favours No Sweethearts. Times are changing and we must adapt with them, that's what I'm advocating here - embrace the free-market economy, weather you particularly want to or not. Technically speaking, you already have. Now let's just get the financial side of things sorted and we'll all be comfortable with our new roles around here.

A

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there is no bigger picture mr. A, the only thing your proposal will do is litter everyones posts with garbage words the google spiders will hit on.

there is a reason porf never done this sort of underhanded tactic and that is he knew it would fly in the face of posters.

as far as law goes what law? whose? under what coutrys?

 

So they are gone now???

 

they only show up when you are not logged in. they are still there as of this post.

 

Zoz told us that he would do something like that, I think he mentioned that only newly registered forumites would be able to see the ads until their 20th post or something, but link windows OVER somebody's post is a bloody disgustin' innit?

 

Quite horrifying.

I'll support a boycott, if it gets to that point...

You all just let me know.

EDIT-
having ads, and relating it to login is a fair enough arrangement,
but the in-post links will obviously have to go.

 

ill join a boycott too, these content links are awful

 

As far as the first in that goes, I know old chap. I'm just being rampantly British, as to that latter: basically, as their use as applied stands, it's an infringement of the individual copyright holders Intellectual Property Rights. IPR's are part and parcel of standard international Copyright Law, recognised in both Europe and the US. It is recognised further afield, but in this specific instance US and European Copyright Law is enough.

Copyright as such is pretty straight forward - if you create a thing, basically you own it. You have to agree to allow a third party to either handle or in anyway use, commercially, your work. Technically, as members, we have agreed in signing up to grant a thing known as a Perpetual Licence to the site owners to use our work indefinitely - however, as far as this goes basically it's just a standard agreement providing indemnity to the site owners for storing your work on their servers.

Signing up here in no way infringes your rights to market and sell anything you come up with - you basically just agree that the site can host your work. They can quite safely use it for promotional purposes indefinitely, but that's pretty much as far as they can safely go with using the stuff in anything like a commercial sense.

The Intellectual Properties associated with that same material however are a whole different ball game.

Basically, in terms of your membership agreement, you haven't signed over these rights to anyone. Certainly, it can't be legally endorsed that in using them (as these Contact Links in practical terms actually do) any website/business so doing has the slightest legal right to take as such and assume to use them for commercial purposes - in this instance, the appearance of you (the author) appearing to to issue personal endorsement of certain Sales, Products and Services which, in practice, you've never heard of.

Technically the practice is also making you liable to potential legal action - quite without your consent.

Say, and this is ludicrous instance I grant you but nevertheless technically feasible - say someone was reading a post you had written and happened upon a Contact Link leading them to either a service or product they, then in turn, decided to use. Should anything go awry with whatever service/product, technically speaking, since they first arrived at such a decision to use whatever service/product via the means of a personal endorsement apparently given by you - technically such a person so detrimentally affected as to warrant the action, on paper at anyrate, has the right to seek legal redress with you (the party which endorsed the product) for any damages or injury sustained as a consequence of unwarily trying such an either faulty or else otherwise fraudulent service/product.

Of course, in practical terms, the likelihood of either you or anyone being actually sued over such a thing remains remote - nevertheless, on paper, the application of this advertising software is opening you , as an individual, to a potential legal action for damages should anyone be bloody minded enough to particularly want to try...

Would be an interesting case, actually.

But, basically, you're membership terms as they stand form in no way any form of personal indemnity for you against anyone choosing to take such action, providing of course such action could in any significant proven to be warranted.

 

excellent

to whom it may concern...when do the payments begin? i can provide acct # for wire transfers.
thanks

 

That's the ticket!

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A boycott wouldn't work. No-one contributes financially anymore, it's their site now, all the members are eminently replaceable... so they wouldn't give a shit. Why should they? If the content links aren't removed, the choice comes down to leave or not leave. Sciforums will continue regardless, with the post quality dependent on the new intake. Does anyone think the owners really care about the post quality, as long as the site makes money?

 

Given the number of hits the site pulls through search engines, the number of hits from actual members are largely negligible - so, certainly, that's a perfectly legitimate question you raise there. If the site were closed down for active posting, as such it wouldn't effect advertising revenue particularly. A fair point.

 

However, another member made a fair point too.

He said that we make up sciforums and the not the administration. If we would leave there would be nothing left. Or just the bush lovers since they love to be exploited.

 

I hate to sound defeatist.

So I won't.

Remove the content links now!