"The comments you post here may appear in print editions of student media publications. By posting on this site, you grant us permission edit and reprint your work."
I'm moving any forthcoming content to VandyStudents.com
I don't want to contribute to a site that doesn't give its users ownership of their content.
An e-mail from Anne Malinee, the current director of InsideVandy, was comforting: She says Reeve Hamilton, the Hustler opinion editor, usually contacts content producers prior to printing their writing.
Still, I'm going to decline to allow anyone to edit my material without my consent.
So you never post elsewhere online?
This is a very, very standard part of almost any community's policies.
For instance, from MySpace's Terms and Conditions:
By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the MySpace Services.
From the Terms of Use from Facebook:
By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.
Blogspot is one of the few companies with a more-user friendly policy, but even it seems like it would be unacceptable by your tone above:
Pyra does not claim ownership of the Content you place on your BlogSpot Site. Pyra may quote or reproduce small portions of your content (if you have made it public) in order to promote your BlogSpot site and/or the BlogSpot service, but only on a fair-use-type basis.
You acknowledge that Pyra does not pre-screen Content, but that Pyra and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to refuse or remove any Content that is available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, Pyra and its designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.
So, in other words, much ado about nothing. In fact, VandyStudents.com is most likely violating the law by not having a terms document like the above stating more-or-less exactly what these state, because otherwise they are copying and distributing your content without express permission, which is a violation of copyright laws.