Using Material From My Blog

I’m flattered that you would like to include my stuff in your web site, article, or letter to Grandma.  I want to help the community as much as I can.  There’s just a few things we need to clarify first.

My work is copyrighted.

That means:

  • You may not use my work for commercial purposes without my express written permission
  • You may not alter, transform, or build upon my work without my express written permission
  • You may not syndicate my posts via RSS
  • You may not copy/paste my blog posts into your site to “help the community”

However, I love helping the community, so I’m willing to grant you license to use parts of my work to help others.  If you’d like to include a short summary of one of my articles in your site, please include a link back to the original post on my site, prominently disclose that I am the author, and do not use more than 25% of my post.

If you’d like to include more material than that, contact me and I’d be glad to discuss it with you.  I’ve granted exclusions to other sites including SQL Server Magazine, SQLServerPedia, QuestKB, and the Virtualization Virtual Chapter of PASS.

If you find my blog posts on any other site, please email me.

If you’d like to automatically copy all of my new posts, please read my posts on plagiarism first.  I know you think you’re helping the community by getting the word out about my material, but I don’t want my content copied without my permission ahead of time.  Contact me first and I’d be glad to discuss it, but if I find my content copied, I won’t grant permission after the fact under any circumstances.

How to Use My Videos in Your Site

I have two kinds of videos in my site: shorter than 10 minutes, and longer than 10 minutes.  Due to YouTube’s file upload limitations, I can’t host my long videos there, so it’s not as easy for you to include them in your web site.

If you’re using WordPress v2.9 or newer, all you have to do is put the YouTube video URL on a line by itself, like this:

Embedding YouTube Videos in WordPress

Embedding YouTube Videos in WordPress

To get the URL when you’re watching one of my videos, just click in the video itself.  YouTube will launch in a new window. You can also check out my full list of videos in my YouTube channel.

Preview your blog post, and you’ll see that WordPress automagically converts that line into a nice video player.

If you’re not using WordPress v2.9 or newer, let me know what web software you’re using and I may be able to point you to a guide on embedding YouTube videos.