Strobist Terms of Service

EDITOR'S NOTE: These terms of service are occasionally updated. You can read the latest version by clicking on the "TOS" link at the bottom of any page.
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First of all, thanks for caring enough to click through to read this. Right away, that separates you from the automated scumbot content scrapers that I have to go after nearly every day.

Strobist® is the product of countless hours of hard work and it is very important to me that I protect the value of the original content. Everything you see on Strobist® is copyright David Hobby in the year that it was first published. (In the case of third-party contributors, they retain the copyright.) That does not mean that you cannot use material from the site, only that there are a couple of rules.

If you want to link to the articles, that's cool. It's what makes the blog world spin. But don't be a scraper. Feel free to post brief abstracts of the original posts -- the pithier the better. Please limit any verbatim excerpts to ONE PHOTO and ONE OR TWO paragraphs at the most. A prominent link to the original source is required, lest we confuse anyone about the source of the content.

VERY IMPORTANT: Frequently this blog publishes the work of other people. Given that you were not part of any previous agreements or permission, do not reblog the work of others from my site. Any permissions I may have gotten certainly do not include you. So ask them before assuming it's cool to just republish their photo.

Wholesale cut-and-paste reproductions of entire posts are strictly prohibited and will be taken very seriously. That is copyright infringement, plain and simple. This blog is my entire livelihood, and if you are going to jeopardize my family's income, I will come after you.

My preference is to come after infringers (especially the automated, made-for-Adsense scraper guys) with a two-by-four. But I have been told that the lawyers are more civilized (a matter of opinion, to be sure) and, ultimately, far more rewarding. So let me be as clear as I can about it:

If you scrape my site, be absolutely aware that everything is on the table as far as possible responses: DMCA notice (if I am in a *very* good mood), filing an infringement claim, publishing your personal and/or work contact info to hundreds of thousands of people, hiring a dark army of bots to DDoS you, voodoo dolls, hit men, you name it.

You started it; I will finish it. Imagine someone with the maturity level of a 12-yr-old, resources to make things happen and the law on his side and you won't be far off. So don't effing scrape me.

I very much appreciate the general idea of foreign-language Strobist® sites, and it is something that I am looking into. We already have a Spanish® language site here and an Italian translation group here.

While the idea is cool, the implementation of 30 disparate sites grabbing my content and translating it with no structure or control would be be problematic, to say the least. Therefore, translations of the site into other languages require prior written approval. Additionally, they are only permitted within the framework of a Flickr group, or on a website that I control.

Specifically prohibited are full translations on separate websites or blogs, the most egregious of which seek to confuse people with the use of the word "Strobist®" in the URL and/or design schemes that mimic those of the original site. I am generally a nice guy, but if you caught me in your living room walking out with your stereo you might be a little miffed, too.

It's a very easy thing to get a website or blog shut down (and the content deleted) by demonstrating to the ISP and/or host that one of their publishers is flagrantly infringing copyright. (If they do not shut you down, they are liable, too.) Please don't make me do that. And if you are scraping me with a mindless MFA-type site, you go to the front of the line.

So, long story short, just because the site is free does not mean that the content is free for the taking. Thanks for understanding, and sorry to be a buzzkill.

And while we are at it, the name of this site is not generic. Strobist® is a federally registered trademark. So if you are blogging, or teaching lighting or making cool lighting gear, etc., please choose a different name unless we have a specific agreement that you have permission to use it. Thanks.

Sadly, there are companies out there who will slap the name Strobist® (without the "®" of course) onto their rebranded mystery meat gear just to try to get into your pants. If you see someone using this term to try to sell lighting gear or education of some type and they have not been mentioned on this site, they are probably in the above category. And no, I would not endorse them as far as I could throw them.

Feel free to write or call them and ask if they are affiliated with this site. If they are not, please pass their info on to me in the form of a do-not-pubish comment and I will have a word with the little scumbucket myself. Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Finally, I do not necessarily endorse (nor guarantee the safety of) content external of this site. I point to things all of the time, and in almost all cases have visited the links myself.

I generally note NSFW content on outbound links. But please be aware that content on the other sites can be changed after I link to them. If anything is weird, content or virus-wise, please let me know and I will check it out ASAP.


Thanks,
David Hobby