We’ve found several instances lately of other bloggers reprinting content from this site without permission.
While we are flattered that people like our work, and the work of our guest bloggers, and want to share it with their own communities, we must insist that “fair use” copyright rules are followed.
What does “fair use” mean?
It means you may use our blog and other people’s writing for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. In these cases, you do not need permission from the copyright owner.
In other words, feel free to pull a quote or two from a blog post, or to reprint the first paragraph, or to summarize the full post in your own words — as long as you include a link back to the original post on our site.
However, you may not reprint a full post, or even a significant amount of the post, without our explicit permission. Reprinting, even with acknowledgement and a link back, is NOT acceptable unless we have specifically given you permission.
You do not get a free pass on fair use just because you are a nonprofit, or your readers are nonprofits, or you are a news site.
Please play nice. We hate sending out nastygrams.
