promotion or pollution

I wanted to ask the members of ATS

I was going to post a link to this website on a webpage of mine and before i do so i would like your opinion first.

Would you consider that a possible polution of ATS and prefer that only people that are really serious about the topics discussed here get recommended?

OR

Do you think the more people reading the merrier?

I am asking this because I want to respect the memebers that have been on here for years. (there is an incredible loyalty to this site) Adding the link is not a huge deal to me. I am just curious.

edit: typos!

[edit on 10/10/2008 by lushyslushy]

My best advice on the matter is to use the Contact ATS form found here to seek approval of the the site owners. Below is a link to the form

www.abovetopsecret.com...




[edit on 10/10/08 by FredT]

reply to post by FredT


so what your saying is, i would need approval of the sites managment first and foremost?

even if i was adding it to a "favorite websites" kinda thing?

My 2% of $1USD...

I've seen ATS linked on several sites. But, as FredT pointed out, there is a protocol with this...for legalistics, of course.

Bet the ATS staff goes for it.

[edit on 10.10.2008 by ItsTheQuestion]

Originally posted by lushyslushy
I was going to post a link to this website on a webpage of mine and before i do so i would like your opinion first.

I think this is a very interesting legal question.

I've been web-searching for an answer to this question for at least a full hour, and can't find out this simple question:

Can you copyright a URL?

I have found several cases, but every one of them seems to have been settled without going to court.

My feeling -- although you can definitely copyright the content at a URL, I do not think you can actually copyright the URL itself.

I don't think the answer has ever been determined in court.

I see where it may be possible to trademark a domain name. But apparently, you cannot enforce that trademark if it is part of a URL, other than the domain name. That looks like it has been settled (but is kind of off-topic.)

So -- can you copyright the actual text composing a URL?

Don't know. Any info would be appreciated.

EDIT UPDATE: Here is the closest answer I could find:

www.templetons.com...

It is from a blog. It says there have been court cases, but they have gone both ways, depending upon certain conditions, such as whether the links are publicly known, or whether you are linking to a site strictly to help facilitate copyright infringement of the sites content, etc. Very confusing!

[edit on 10-10-2008 by Buck Division]

there is nothing legally wrong with it unless you continue to host the link if someone asks you to move it. your best bet is to send a u2u message to an admin member.

here at ats i feel that if a comment gets quoted its 'promotion'. one line posts are pollution, as well as 4000 character ones. speak in as few words as needed to get the most impact for you ideas and i say post on.

[edit on 10-10-2008 by drsmooth23]

One more note.

Obviously, if it is improper to ever post a link anywhere without permission, then ATS is in big trouble. People do it here all the time, including ME in my previous post.

I wouldn't think twice about posting the home page of ATS anywhere.

However, If it was a deep link, requiring login, or a password to this site, I absolutely would not do that without prior permission.

That is not legal advice, above. It is just how I feel about things.

reply to post by Buck Division


thank you, i appreciate it!!

reply to post by drsmooth23


thank you for the advice

reply to post by lushyslushy


its gravy. the web was intentionally established as an information sharing agent. pretty much anything you post online can be seen by anyone anywhere with the interweb. hyperlinks are quite legal. but once again you must be careful, for your readers sake, as to not throw thousands of
words/thoughts/ideas at them at once, because it can be overwhelming.

My personal opinion is that the more people we can get reading this site the more people we will have asking questions and not just accepting the Main Stream Media feed coming at them from every direction.

Springer...