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Legal Questions about using ezine articles

by dysldu
9 replies
Hi All,

I've been dabbling in IM for a long time but still consider myself a newbie. I have
some questions about using articles from article directories.

I have a number of articles posted on my blog. They aren't spun and give full
attribution to the authors with links to the original article.

The articles have anchor text links imbedded by the various authors but in the
process of copy/paste they are no longer clickable. Is this a no-no?

If I put my own affiliate anchor text links in these articles, is that a no-no?

Your help will be much appreciated.
#articles #ezine #legal #questions
  • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
    If you copied the articles and the links are not clickable on your website then its you that have done something wrong. Its not Okay to put your affiliate links in the article. You need to ensure that the authors links are in place.

    Otherwise how would the original author gets the full benefit from his syndicated content?




    Originally Posted by dysldu View Post

    Hi All,

    I've been dabbling in IM for a long time but still consider myself a newbie. I have
    some questions about using articles from article directories.

    I have a number of articles posted on my blog. They aren't spun and give full
    attribution to the authors with links to the original article.

    The articles have anchor text links imbedded by the various authors but in the
    process of copy/paste they are no longer clickable. Is this a no-no?

    If I put my own affiliate anchor text links in these articles, is that a no-no?

    Your help will be much appreciated.
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    • Profile picture of the author wizzard74
      Originally Posted by yesacpow View Post

      If you copied the articles and the links are not clickable on your website then its you that have done something wrong. Its not Okay to put your affiliate links in the article. You need to ensure that the authors links are in place.

      Otherwise how would the original author gets the full benefit from his syndicated content?
      Okay so what happens when an author on his own website says it's okay to replace the links in his article, yet the article directory says you cannot, who's permission gets overriden?
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      • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
        That would be a different story if you get the article from his website. If you take it from the article directory then you SHOULD keep the links in tack.


        Originally Posted by wizzard74 View Post

        Okay so what happens when an author on his own website says it's okay to replace the links in his article, yet the article directory says you cannot, who's permission gets overriden?
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    • Profile picture of the author dysldu
      Originally Posted by yesacpow View Post

      If you copied the articles and the links are not clickable on your website then its you that have done something wrong. Its not Okay to put your affiliate links in the article. You need to ensure that the authors links are in place.

      Otherwise how would the original author gets the full benefit from his syndicated content?
      Thanks for your quick reply. It's not the answer I wanted to get, but I had a hunch that would be the case
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by dysldu View Post

    The articles have anchor text links imbedded by the various authors but in the
    process of copy/paste they are no longer clickable. Is this a no-no?
    Yes, it is. You're contravening the article directory's terms, and (clearly) frustrating the authors' intentions in submitting their work there, and thereby breaching their copyrights.

    Authors are giving you permission to re-publish their work only in accordance with the article directory's terms of service.

    Originally Posted by dysldu View Post

    If I put my own affiliate anchor text links in these articles, is that a no-no?
    Yes.

    Alteration of any kind (whether adding things or changing things or taking things away) is a no-no.

    The TOS of most (respectable) article directories are that articles in their database must be syndicated only in their entirety, unamended (and sometimes with the authors' links in clickable form).
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    • Profile picture of the author dysldu
      A-r-r-gh. Another authoritative answer that I didn't want to hear. But that's why I posted the questions. Better safe than sorry. Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paddestoel
    I'm definitely not a law expert but you can assume there will always be people who are going to sue you over every thing they can find. You'd better be careful with this, especially if you're making money from THEIR content even though you included links back to the original source.

    Also, if the links aren't clickable I wonder if Google will even see them as backlinks which means it doesn't really help the original writer.

    Your best bet would be to just contact the writer of the article and ask him.
    As you already pointed out yourself, better safe than sorry

    And you should also check out the article directory's rules on republishing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Okay so what happens when an author on his own website says it's okay to replace the links in his article, yet the article directory says you cannot, who's permission gets overriden?
      If an author says it's ok to replace links - it's usually because the product you are promoting is the author's product. That means you can do it on your sites, etc - but it doesn't override an article directory's rules.

      You'd be posting someone else's article - and that's usually not allowed for directories. The links are irrelevant in that case.
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    • Profile picture of the author dysldu
      Well, I just did what I should have done before starting this thread. I went over to Ezinearticles.com and looked at their TOS. The answers to my questions are very clearly stated:

      "Respect the copyrights of the authors by publishing the entire article as it is with no changes.

      Agree to include the FULL Resource box or SIG line at the end of the article.

      Agree not to change the title or content of the article in any way.

      Agree to make all links so that they are Active/Linkable with no syntax changes."

      I appreciate the answers I've received and I apologize for the thread. Another instance of the Ready, Fire, Aim syndrome.
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