Andy Leonard

Andy Leonard is CSO of Linchpin People and SQLPeople, an SSIS Trainer, Consultant, and developer; SQL Server database and data warehouse developer, community mentor, engineer, and farmer. He is a co-author of SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Design Patterns. His background includes web application architecture and development, VB, and ASP. Andy loves the SQL Server Community!

A Simple Request

Captured at 11:11 AM, 25 Jul 2011

I would like for this “Read Article” link at the SSWUG.org website to take readers interested in my writing to my writing and not to a screen to sign up for a service.

This isn’t the first time I’ve asked about this – I’ve requested my work not be linked on this website in the past. I believe publishing my work without my permission is not right. I believe a link directing an unsuspecting user to a sign-up screen with the intent of collecting money from them for access to my freely-available writing is not right. I do not accept any argument that my assigning $0 USD for access to my writing constitutes a transfer of copyright, nor does it imply anyone is able to charge others for providing a link to content owned by me, even if I choose to make the content I own available for free. And if it did, shouldn’t I at least be asked first?

This is my work. I choose to not charge for access to it. I do not want others to charge for access to this portion of my work.

Is this asking too much?

:{\

Published Monday, July 25, 2011 12:00 PM by andyleonard

Filed under: Ethics, Blogging

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	Matt Velic said: Not at all. I hate when content is cordoned away behind a sign up wall, and SSWUG is definitely the worst offender for that practice. And I didn't know that SSWUG also scrapes content for their site either. Well, just more reason for me to continue to not use their site... July 25, 2011 11:43 AM
	Adam Machanic said: While I agree that this site is run in a very shady way (for numerous reasons), I have to say that I don't see anything wrong with charging for a link. They are providing a service: going out and finding content for readers to look at. If people want to pay them to do that, I don't see a problem. They are NOT charging for your content in this case. However, they do make it look as though that's what they're doing. July 25, 2011 11:44 AM
	Ralph Wilson said: I have to agree with Andy. If Andy had contracted with them (even if it were for $0.00) to present the link to his web site, then I would have to agree that they would have the right to charge for the link. However, ESPECIALLY since Andy has requested that they NOT publish the link to his web site, I believe that they are misappropriating the content of his site. July 25, 2011 11:56 AM
	Steve Jones said: All you can do is ask to remove your content from the list. He has removed mine in the past, but I agree with Adam. He has the right as he is providing a service (niche searching) to the readers. It is disingenuous in that it seems that you can't access this content from the SSWUG site without paying. July 25, 2011 11:58 AM
	Robert Matthew Cook said: not sure if there is any illegal about the site but it seems rather immoral to use the tagline of "READ THOUSANDS OF ARTICLES ON DEVELOPMENT AND DATABASE PLATFORMS, EXCLUSIVELY AT SSWUG.org" when so much of the value to the site is actually links to outside content. it feels like you have been dupped with a bait-and-switch. as a sidenot when sharing a link to their site i only do so when it works out that changing the "memberarticle" part of the url into "viewarticle" takes you to an article without a signup prompt http://www.sswug.org/articles/memberarticle.aspx?id=##### http://www.sswug.org/articles/viewarticle.aspx?id=##### July 25, 2011 12:33 PM
	Tim Mitchell said: Further proof that something can be permissable without being right. This is just such a case. July 25, 2011 12:35 PM
	Peter Schott said: Thanks for reminding me that I need to unsubscribe from that mailing list. It's been sitting out there for a while and I keep forgetting to just unsubscribe. I've always been annoyed with the fact that you can't tell original content from other people's work without clicking through their links and getting bugged about signing up and paying. July 25, 2011 12:48 PM