Linking to the DallasNews.com terms of service page violates the Terms of Service:
If you operate a Web site and wish to link to this Site, you may link only to the home page of the Site and not to any other page or subdomain of us.
First, I don't agree to their terms of service.
Second, I'm not "using" their site, I'm calling attention to their ridiculous notion that they can take people to court to prevent people from linking to "any other page" on their subdomain. If they really want to do that, there are techincal ways to accomplish it.
Third, what a foolish policy. The Washington Post, by comparison, not only allows linking to individual stories, but through its organization and preservation of cntent, downright encourages it. Journalistic integrity aside, the Post enjoys a tremendous amount of traffic from people linking to - and e-mailing links to - their stories. That's worth a dozen posters at a bus stop - the passing of the link implies endorsement of the source in most instances. It's a personal testimonial passed on to those who know the deep-linker.
I hope the DFW crowd has a linking frenzy to their site, just so they can rack up a whole truckload of legal bills for naught. Time to stamp out stupidity.
Posted by wasylik at May 1, 2002 08:36 PM