The Epouch of the VOID

\ˈe-pək, ˈe-ˌpäk, US also & British usually ˈē-ˌpäk\

Etymology: Medieval Latin epocha, from Greek epochē; cessation, fixed point, from epechein to pause, hold back, from epi- + echein to hold — more at scheme. Date: 1614

1a: an event or a time marked by an event that begins a new period or development 1b: a memorable event or date

2a: an extended period of time usually characterized by a distinctive development or by a memorable series of events 2b: a division of geologic time less than a period and greater than an age

3a: an instant of time or a date selected as a point of reference 3b: a moment of commemorative advancement in blogvertability

We are etched in time this night. Long have we awaited this moment. We have prepared and accepted peer review of our selves and our offerings. We are ready to be known. The four top article submission sites have accepted our feverish attempt at meaningful placement within the published world of the Web. Slashdot, Digg, DropJack, and GoArticles have all taken in our thoughts, to be digested by the community and disgorged upon the even wider world beyond the void...
...the whETHER.
w2wScribe reporting.

All content © 2008 Keith E Larson

How To Protect Your On-Line Article Copyrights

Article marketing can be an effective "low cost" tool for presenting your literary and subject expertise. It can also result in varying degrees of copyright infringement and ownership issues. Rest assured, you become the legal copyright owner as soon as you create your article. As to whether you will retain that right and whether or not it will be honored, that is an entirely different situation.

Marketing inside your own publication "requires" merely a copyright notice on the site. Adherence to copyright law depends upon the integrity and understanding of other publishers. Submitting your article(s) for publication requires you to "give up" or transfer certain rights to the publisher. The legal holder of a copyright (or portion thereof) is not necessarily that of the originating author. Publishers will generally post their "requirements for inclusion" in a prominent location on their site. Readme files and fine print are often overlooked as standard blah-blah-blah. They are NOT! Those disclosure statements are legal documents intended for the preservation and protection of the rights and responsibilities of both the author and publisher.

OK, your intellectual work is an original, and as the author, you own the copyright in its entirety. Now you want a wider audience than you have available on your own. No longer then will all rights be reserved; some copyright provisions will have to be assigned to the publisher(s). First right to publication is yours by default; use up that right and it is not available for anyone else. That is correct, first right is consumable. You cannot publish your own work and then submit to a publisher demanding first right because it is no longer yours to offer. You have given it up to yourself. You have consumed the right. Be quite certain of the first right publisher's intended time frame for use of your article. Put your own time limit on this exclusive right if necessary. Unsavory characters could otherwise bury your intellectual work of genius forever. They might also delay it long enough to publish a similar copyrighted work of their own choosing, thus making you look like a plagiarist. Believe me - it happens.

Works of extremely high personal or professional value should be registered with the official copyright office in your country! You may also post copyright notice in the USA from most other countries. Furthermore, copyright protection laws, and the enforcement thereof, vary from country to country. Once you post to the internet you are vulnerable to literary pirates of all sorts around the globe. Be aware but, DO get published.

Reproduction, distribution, and re-distribution rights are what make article marketing work. This is what allows your intellectual property to be seen by a much wider audience than you might reach on your own. Your article may then provide much needed or desired content on another site. The restrictions/conditions for use must be clearly written and included as a part of the whole. It is a package deal - all or nothing. This helps to ensure proper citation for your work and places your own homepage URL within the body of the file. Protected and published (hopefully) as a whole unit. Everybody wins.

With proper citation, which includes a live link back to the source, part of your article might wind up on a blog post without your knowledge. There is an assumption of implied consent on your part to be "reported as news worthy". This could provide you with yet additional exposure. It might then bring further desirable, even controversial, traffic back to your site. The latter likely resulting in a threaded (you must have this feature installed/enabled)) commentary right on your homepage - returning visitors!

The right to resell, or not to resell a copyrighted work is a very specific legal right which is generally incorporated into the general copyright notice. For the purpose of Article Marketing the keyword is NOT; no one should be selling your work directly for a profit unless specifically authorized. There is also a giveaway provision which might be included but, this is usually for more complex works such as ebooks. Copyleft and derivative works are beyond the scope of this post; however, their definitions and intentions are readily available at Wikipedia.

All content © 2008 Keith E Larson

Reviewers at W-T seeking sex!

The following conversation with the folks at Webmaster-Talk Forums has run its course:

"This is a farce! The respondents are replying to sexy avatar pics rather than honest requests for a review. As a professional reviewer I look for the lessor marked and go for them first to give the "little guy/gal" a shot at infamy. The two top reviews at this time both have a girls pic as the avatar, one of them is a guy who is deliberately using sex as a marketing tool on this forum. My site is honest and so is this duplicate request for review. This is a test of the viewer mentality, moderator judgment, and value of continued service at this forum. I do NOT have time to waste on disingenuous sites. V.O.I.D."

I thought I had found a good place to get noticed while providing a valuable free service to webmasters which might give me a boost as well. Maybe I could find some friends there? Maybe. I have not given up hope, though I have a different opinion since my recent discovery. Just look at the response numbers as I do, then check the low #s versus the high. Its obvious. Sex sells.

This quote is taken from a PM from a moderator at W-T: "I'm not certain I understand what you're so irate about in your rant in the blog reviews section. Would you mind explaining what the problem is ? I read your blog entry too, I'm still not sure what is wrong.

Is it just some member's avatars that you are finding fault with ?? If so, who are they ? We do have fairly strict rules here about adult-oriented stuff - we do not allow it.

Thanks."

I thought I was being quite clear. At the time of this alleged rant the two top posts both had human female avatars quite obviously oriented to attract attention not to the blog but, to the image. This avatar from sizzler_chetan was painfully obvious. This is a MALE poster presenting a sexy female image to the world which at first appears to be the poster "herself". This is blatant use of sexual connotation and is also misleading advertising. What about this is difficult to understand? Where is your morality? What about simple honesty? Why should I continue to review here with such an obvious bias toward sex? There were multiple blogs listed yet, the only two with major responses were attached to female avatars. Perhaps you do understand, and are denying accountability. Adult oriented? Get real. This is all about how YOUR VIEWERS look at the posts. It is ALL ABOUT SEX because that is what it is.

"I would hardly go so far as to call it false advertising.. the guy's not advertising.. it's just an AVATAR in a forum."

In the USA this is DEFINITELY advertising, as such it would fall under the preview of misleading. All avatars are expected to be a reflection of the poster in some way. I do appreciate your contact and continued discussion of this matter. Since I need to participate in a global format, and my views can be somewhat rigid at times, your assistance in this matter is very gratifying/enlightening. Thank you.

"What would that say about me if I used a photo of my cats ?? It would say nothing more than 'I like cats'."

And when you use a pic of a sexy girl it says two things; I like sexy girls, and I'm using this one to sell my blog. That's close to prostitution, it's technically legal but, not very honest. He withdrew the avatar? Hmm, wonder why. Not. You want to sell your blog with *****cats make em furry and four legged; there's way more than enough reference to sex on the web. We do NOT need it here at W-T.

Haha! Got censored when I meant the literal psycats! Thanks for the continuing epic.

LadynRed, there is a certain expectation from your avatar, followed by your demeanor and attitude. When what is found behind the avatar is FALSE it is a LIE. Period. Yours seems to suit your position as a Mod and a commentator in general. Does this help you find my objection?

Liars, cheats, and thieves are intolerable. Where is the proper forum for the discussion of misuse of sexual innuendo? I am not alone in the recognition of this blatant disregard for appropriate use of avatars. This is avatar abuse at the level of misrepresentation leading to an inappropriate expectation of service which will be denied at first contact. Sex sells. Abusive innuendo hurts all of us.

All content © 2008 Keith E Larson

Webcentric Without Electricity?

The vast majority of my life is spent on-line. What happens when the power goes out?! First, a moment of panic, what was windows doing just then? Am I backed up everywhere? What did I lose? The absolute black screen of death. OMG, how long will I be without my Web connections? Is there life outside still?

Yes, I have neighbors, all of whom descend upon the commons for mutual support. Whatever they might have been doing, they are now a part of the community survival ritual. We come together as not before to celebrate our new found interest in each other. We break out candles in the dark; we get the grills going for a power-free cookout. The fire of enthusiasm is everywhere. Life takes on new meaning. All thanks to the snobs that snub us; the ones who kicked in their AC all at once in the city proper. LOL - what's for YOUR dinner?

We are considered second rate citizens, the people who come up from the bottom while supporting the rest. The ones who's money is earned through multiple lifetimes' of hard work. Those who have not quite made it to the "snub you" level, those who still remember their roots. In truth, we provide the foundation upon which the rest of society builds. Remember me, for your children will, whether or not to their advantage depends entirely upon their attitude toward "new money" making its way into their midst. Good luck to the "good 'ole boys" network in this town; I'm on the way up to my own "top view" and it will be as much a look back as sideways. I can still see from whence I have come...

All content © 2008 Keith E Larson

Social Bookmark Maintenance

Maintenance work on my Blinklist account is, as always, on-going. Much had fallen behind during the redevelopment of V.O.I.D and its supporting cast of characters. The tag list is much closer to my intended purpose, with fewer tag redundancies and greater cross-indexing. In theory, a tag search for photo editing software should now be found under photo, editing, and software; however it will NOT be found under the three word phrase, "photo editing software", nor shall you locate it under "photo editors". There is no hierarchy structure, as yet, to Blinklist which might support multiple sub-categories under a single "root" tag. Maybe the 2.0 release will provide a folder/file format; such an improvement would; however, cause many days of re-organization...

One feature of Blinklist which I use quite a bit is the QuickBlink button. This allows for a speedy and private post while maintaining my focus on the project at hand. Without it, I would become hopelessly mired in the sticky web strings so enticingly place before my path. Some links I will follow in pursuit of the research; other links will be "placed on hold" for development.

The last few days I have returned to the QuickBlink tag list in an effort to categorize those findings for both Research and Development, and my social network. One hundred thirty three posts had to be upgraded from a simple bookmark to a useful and locatable instrument of productivity: a valuable tool. Information not properly labeled, nor logically placed, is merely raw data of very little use to the end-user. Except in this case, my re-discovery of these "lost" bookmarks was very rewarding in and of itself! Some were savored, de rest deleted.

Finally, the most important step in this process must be completed; backing up all this work is essential. Blinklist provides multiple export options which allow for a variety of solutions. The simplest method is a "backup to browser" function. It has an intermediate step which saves a standard bookmark file to the hard drive. The file is good there for rebuilding, right? Sure. What happens to my social network contacts when the primary bookmark manager is off-line? They can't pull a link off my browser but, I want them to find my posts. Therefore, IMPORT. Many people do this already, as indicated by the preponderance of "imported" tags found on social bookmark sites.

The recommended import tag is not necessary for my purposes since Blinklist and Del.icio.us are one unit; bound together by my browsers and my backups. One of them does have a serious spam problem in its public search list which will be addressed in the next release. The other was only recently integrated into my network so I have yet to fully assess this area. These two represent a small fraction of the social search opportunities available to the astute researcher.

Certainly you can think of a few more?

All content © 2008 Keith E Larson