Thread: How should I share my online articles?

I have a number of bellydance related articles on my website, and I've been getting an increasing number of requests for people wanting to reproduce them. I think it's time to develop a policy of how I allow this. I'm very happy to share (that's why I wrote them!), but am umming and ahhing about how to do it. Such as:

(a) Only allow people to link through to my site. No print-outs or incorporating my material into their own websites
(b) Allowing print-offs for distrubution to students (with website reference on printout) but no online reproduction
(c) Allow online reproduction as well (with website reference).

Any thoughts? I do want to share my materials. However, my website stats tell me that quite a few visitors come via way of my articles (they type in 'how to sew a hip scarf', for eg). So if others reproduce my articles on their website, perhaps I won't get so many hits. On the other hand, it could work in my favor, if more people click through from other sites, or even just read my stuff elsewhere and register my name in the back of their mind.

Hmm, not sure what to do. Help, oh Bhuz!..c::

I'll tell you what I do...

• I let teachers make printed copies of articles from my web site to give to their students, so long as they agree to abide by these conditions: a) The front page must say somewhere on it that the article came from www.shira.net , b) The article must be reproduced in its entirety, including any acknowledgements that may appear at the end; c) At the time it is given to people, they must say something encouraging the recipients to visit my site to see what else can be found there, and d) If they want to print it again in the future (for example, for a new crop of students) they must print a fresh original because I sometimes go back and update my articles and I want people to receive the most current version available. People have always told me they find these conditions agreeable.
• I don't give permission for my articles to appear on other people's web sites, but I do encourage them to link to the page on my site if they wish. This is for the reason you said - I want people doing web searches to come to my own web site to read my articles, not to go to someone else's web site. (Now, I do sometimes write articles specifically for someone else's web site, such as Gilded Serpent. In this case, the article appears initially there, and 6 months later I may put it on my own site. But there are a number of things I've written for Serpent that I wouldn't put on my own site because they don't fit the "mood" of my site. For example, photo essays of dance events.)
• I also allow print magazines (these are usually regional newsletters for local clubs) to reprint articles from my web site. The rules for this are similar to the rules for teachers who ask to distribute printouts to their students.

You can take a look at articles submitted to

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

all of them include a bio and link to your website at the end.

The only rule would be to make sure your article is indexed in Google first before distributing it to the rest of the world.

Thanks for the responses so far. Shira, I was hoping you would chime in. Your approach sounds eminently sensible, and probably is the way I'm leaning.

HubicRizz, what does this mean? I'm not very technically literate!

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

The only rule would be to make sure your article is indexed in Google first before distributing it to the rest of the world.

Thanks for any further input!

Jewel

If you're wanting a legally-backed way to share your materials, I would strongly consider working through the Creative Commons. They have a number of pre-drafted licenses (list of licenses) that allow you to denote a certain level of sharing (although not as precise as what Shira allows), and their licenses are drafted by and checked with a number of legal folks, to make sure it's all good.

I license almost all my dance stuff, including my wirings and pictures, with the Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license, and it's come in very handy over the years. Highly recommended!

Hi, You knowthat Jareeda will print artist submissions as well as Gilded Serpent then the material is under you name with a date, and available on:line if you like.