I cruise the blogs on occasion, as we all do.

Now, recently I tripped over About.com’s Writing Prompts challenge.

It sounded interesting, so I signed up at the forum… and well… I actually do read those User Agreements.

"The materials used and displayed on the Service and the Sites, including but not limited to text, software, photographs, graphics, illustrations and artwork, video, music and sound, and names, logos, trademarks and service marks, are the property of About.com or its affiliates or licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark and other laws."

It’s that bold part that concerns me.
To me, this reads like I will give up all rights to my work if I post it anywhere on their site, because as far as I am concerned, I am neither an affiliate, nor a licensor.

Yahoo Groups used to have a similarly worded clause in their User Agreement.

I’ve asked for clarification on the forum and they are looking into it. But it just shows that you really MUST read this stuff carefully, and not just blindly click "Agree", because if it turns out that yes, whatever you post in their writers forum will become About.com’s property… well.

Poster beware.

Don’t click agree until you’ve read what you are agreeing to!

Tags: Copyright, Legalese, User Agreements