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License and Copyright

Articles and Posts

As noted at the bottom of every page of this site, unless otherwise specified I hold the copyright to all content presented here; and I’m licensing it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license. What this means in simple terms is that you are free to reproduce my content; provided that you provide proper attribution (ideally including a link back here), you are not using the content in a commercial context (more on this in a bit) and that you are not producing a derivative work from my content.

Regarding the “noncommercial” clause, I’m fully aware that the vast majority of the web is advertisement driven. At any given moment I may, or may not be running ads myself. Given that reality, I don’t consider “noncommercial” to exclude ad driven sites that may want to link to or comment on my content. What I do object to are the sites that link or display blog posts (with or without attribution) solely in order to generate Google juice.

I want to comment a little bit on why I’m choosing this particular license. If you’ve read some of my writing you’ll find that I’m not a particular fan of the “Free Culture” movement. At the same time I am committed to the concept of “the commons;” whether it be the physical, intellectual or creative commons. The ideas and and opinions that I present here were not formed in a vacuum. I’m indebted to the work of those that have come before me and, if others are inspired by my work in some way (be it positive or negative) then I want them to be able to express that.

A particular comment on the “No Derivative Works” clause: I fully support the notion of mashups, re-mixes and the like; but I personally cannot see how my writing could be used in those contexts. Any use that I can envision is fully covered under the Fair Use concepts of commentary, parody and criticism. On further reflection I’ve decided that there are no usages allowed under the Creative Commons license that I condone that wouldn’t already be available under the fair use doctrine. Given that, I’m reverting to all rights reserved. 

Photographic, Video and Audio Content

So, about that “unless otherwise specified” comment above. For the time being, any and all photographs, videos, or audio content produced by me and presented on this site is copyright me, all rights reserved. The reason I’m going is this direction for now is based on comments made by Dan Heller at his blog. Understand that this content is still available for the Free Use purposes of parody, commentary and criticism.

Third Party Content

All third party content displayed on this site, including the WordPress software, theme and plugins is copyright their respective owners and any appropriate licensing applies. Third party content not related to the site functionality is displayed here for the Fair Use purposes of parody, commentary, criticism or brutal mockery.

Terms of Service

Comment Policy

The comment policy here is pretty simple. You own your words, don’t be too big of an asshole. Comments are usually open on any articles posted here for 14 days, at which point comments automatically close. I think that two weeks is more than enough time to comment on something; but if you have something to say about an older piece feel free to email me and I’ll consider adding it. Disqus doesn’t support auto–closing comments, so that’s out. The latestversion of Disqus now supports auto-closing comments. I’ve currently got that set to 30 days.

I’m allowing comments, not because I have any interest in fostering a “community,” but because I am a firm believer in taking responsibility for one’s statements. Since I intend to say controversial things, it’s more than fair to allow others to make their voices heard. That being said, I reserve the right to ban overly abusive commenters and delete their comments. Also, I will have far more tolerance for commenters who use their real contact information than those that hide behind an alias and a fake email address.

I also reserve the right to edit comments as necessary for purposes of formatting and display.

Comment License

As is stated in the comment submission form, by submitting a comment here you grant this site a non-exclusive revocable license to reproduce your words for the purpose of display and name/web site in attribution. I think that this is fair, if you disagree, don’t comment.

Well, since I’ve moved to using Disqus as a commenting system, I’ll just link to their Terms of Service.

Privacy Policy

I do not currently gather any personal information from visitors other than that which they choose to provide, and that which is technically required for the functionality of the site. Which brings up a point. I was recently shocked to discover that there are people who consider their IP address to be some sort of private information. Here’s a clue, it’s not. Yes, Virginia, every time you visit here you’re IP address is logged, and I can view them all. Any information that is gathered will never be sold or disclosed to any other party with one exception. The exception to the previous statement is that I reserve the right to use any information provided as I see fit in any case of “hacking” or legally actionable abusive behavior. The bottom line is, act like an adult and we’ll never have to worry about this.

Disclaimers

Last, and certainly fucking least, here are some disclaimers.

First, you will be offended. If you aren’t offended by something that I write, then you are a horrible, horrible person and we should have a drink together sometime.

Second, everything I write here is my opinion and mine alone. It does not reflect the opinions of my employers, my parents, your parents, the Pope of Rome, or Major League Baseball.

Last, all warranties void where prohibited. Chances of winning 1 in 11,235,813,213. Your milage may vary.