General Guidelines for Use of Web Content

Jim Popenoe

I often grant permission to use my content for a special purpose.  These guidelines are my inclinations based on my experience and reading, just so you know where I am coming from.

Attribution - Attribution means identifying the sources of content in your publication that you did not personally create.  I take care to identify sources in all my publications, and I expect and require that anyone publishing or using my web content does the same.

Photography - To use a photo of mine in your book, flyer or school report, I require:

  1. An email asking permission.  Permission is granted to the requesting party only.
  2. The text, “By Jim Popenoe”, or similar in small print below the photo.
  3. Each photo requires a page citation in your bibliography or list of references with the name of the photographer, the date downloaded, the title of the web page and a web page URL in the form, "https://plants.jimpopenoe.net/path/page.htm".

Text - To use of any of my text in your book, flyer or school report, I require:

  1. An email asking permission.  Permission is granted to the requesting party only.
  2. Exactly copied text must appear in quotes with a footnote.  Paraphrased text requires a footnote.  The footnote can appear at the bottom of the page or in your bibliography or list of references.
  3. The text of the footnote must include the web page title, author, download date and page URL in the form, "https://plants.jimpopenoe.net/path/page.htm".

Duplication of Web Content - What I most like about the worldwide web is its broad diversity of freely and quickly accessible original works.  The more independent content choices available, the better we the public are served.  Surfing the web can be an inspiration and a great learning experience.  On the other hand, duplicated web content adds nothing new to the experience, and it slows discovery of additional perspectives, information or art. Duplication also tends to diminish the rank search engines assign to the original posting web site.  So even as duplication interferes with finding new content, it is the original content creators who suffer most, both financially and in terms of morale.  For these reasons, I prefer that my content normally be on my web site only, and I prefer that other people's content be respected as uniquely theirs.  But please do contact me if you have a special request. I have been persuaded to share content in the past, especially when it was for a charitable purpose or for a short-term need.

Links - Good web authors don't copy without permission, but they do link.  The network of links among sites is what powers the worldwide web.  I link to other people's pages when I feel that their pages will add value to the theme of my page.  If you feel that visitors to one of your pages would benefit from a page of mine, please do link.  No special permission is required. However, never link in a way that omits or hides the attribution or the URL from end users.

Further Reading