Please Read!

[NewsGuy]

To all,

I wanted to call your attention to this new endeavor, which is to "donate" some of our opinions to other pro-Israel Web sites and publications. Our intention is to provide high-quality original content for distribution to help strengthen pro-Israel sites, to explain the pro-Israel viewpoint to all who care to listen, and counter the onslaught of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda which is all too common these days wherever one turns.

These writings may be original pieces written expressly for this purpose, or they may be compiled and edited from member posts, and given a new headline for distribution as opinion columns and news analysis articles.

I would think that our members would be proud to have their opinions distributed to as wide an audience as possible, especially for a good cause. But if anyone, for whatever reason, objects to re-publishing their opinions, then please let me or iborodsky know via Private Message, and we will do our best to honor your wishes.

FYI, all articles have www.IsraelForum.com as their byline, rather than a screen name.

Here are some examples of such articles:

http://www.israelforum.com/board/forumdisplay.php3?forumid=22

These opinions also appear elsewhere on the forum for discussion.

[sharonbn]

I want to know who is responsible for selecting which text and "donate" it to the world?
Is it only NewsGuy and ibrodsky? or can anyone contribute something?
Only pro-Israel opinions will be allowed/selected?
Do you monitor who is taking the material and what's being done with it?

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by sharonbn
I want to know who is responsible for selecting which text and "donate" it to the world?
Is it only NewsGuy and ibrodsky? or can anyone contribute something?
Only pro-Israel opinions will be allowed/selected?
Do you monitor who is taking the material and what's being done with it?

These are good questions, Sharonbn. Thanks for brigning them up.


1. Anyone may contribute opinions, so long as the opinions are written with the standards of professional journalism, i.e., a high enough quality for established publications to want to publish. So, everyone needs to be honest with themselves about this aspect.

2. Yes, only pro-Israel content would be considered for distribution under this initiative. We have no desire to distribute anti-Israel material through our auspices.

3. We do not require sites to sign-up for the content. However, I would expect to have a pretty good idea in any event. Anyone using the content legally will provide a link back, which can be tracked. Apart from that, I expect to have a pretty good idea of where the content winds up. The Web, although vast, is also very transparent.

4. At the moment, ibodsky and myself would sift through submissions, but I also invite anyone else to lend an editorial hand. Please let me know if anyone is interested in being involved with this initiative on any level.

btw - Apart from this particular initiative, anyone can simply copy and paste anything at all from the Israel Forum message board, as they please. We ask that the material would not be taken out of context, and that a credit and a link back would be given out of common courtesy. One of the main goals of this forum is to provide pro-Israel people and sites with high-quality information to combat the anti-Israel negativity that is, unfortunately, so common on the Web.

[Mediocrates]

no problem-o but how do you do attribution?

It's like what I ask my kids about AOLIM: "It's not that I have a problem with you calling yourself 'monkeysoutmyass' it's that 3147 people beat you to it"

[Mediocrates]

Seriously how do you do attribution with online monikers and aliases?

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by NewsGuy


4. At the moment, ibodsky and myself would sift through submissions, but I also invite anyone else to lend an editorial hand. Please let me know if anyone is interested in being involved with this initiative on any level.




Well L@mplighter would be interested in contributing. I don’t know about professional journalism it seems a bit far off in the future for me. Like some members I don’t make a living from writing.

But I do distribute pro Israeli literature in the community.

A similar initiative was mentioned in a Jewish paper last week.

Luckily nature compensates and I would be willing to participate in some capacity without dropping my cloak.

[elke]

I would be more than happy to do what I can.