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ramon3309
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 11:55 pm
Post subject: Question Re: Sub-Domain & Mirror Site
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First, please bear with me, cause I'm new at this. I think I have a sub-domain site (as in mysite.thebigsite.com). In the terms of use agreement, the "bigsite" says that I cannot use them as a mirror site.
If, in the future, I decide to get my own domain site because the sub-domain's name is too long, but since I like their content, can I just use my site to automatically re-direct to the bigsite. Would this be considered as using them as a mirror site?
Thank you all in advance for any information.
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Charlie
Joined:
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:38 am
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Ramon,
Why not email "bigsite" support and ask them what this means in practice? Outline your plans and ask if this is OK.
Most of these agreements are just legal escape clauses of some kind, and are not always a true reflection of practical policy.
In other words, a human might be prepared to make a decision on your case, or "they" might not. Either way, the answer will be at least as good as anything we can provide.
Hope this helps,
Charlie.
P.S. Domains are less than $10 a year remember. Definitely the way to go, I reckon. 
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mdmsports
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:48 pm
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Yes, it always bears asking. I have a personal, painful, story about just that topic.
I was (still am) promoting the eBay affiliate program. For a long while I had various sections of my site highlighting and promoting auction categories that were themed with my site, and I put clumps of pages as unique pages. I including them in a sub-folder I named ebay-search to be not only indicative of what it was, but hopefully to draw traffic, so my url was something like:
http://mydomain.com/ebay-search/widgets.html
Later, I received a general email from eBay (not directed specifically to me) updating their TOS saying that the name eBay (and other trademarked terms) could not be used in a URL, so I took the trouble to rename the ebay-search folders and update all the links to point to the new folder. Thousands of links to change. Worst of all, traffic plummeted.
A year or more later, I was surfing and noticed one of the top 3 for a really competitive search term that included ebay in it was from an obvious affiliate site. I went to the url, and they had the page in a folder that included ebay in the name, exactly like I used to before my change. In checking out more of the top 10 results, another affiliate was doing the same thing.
I went back and looked at the TOS again and it still said ebay couldn't be in the URL, but I decided I should email the company for clarification. After a couple days I received a reply back from eBay that even though the TOS says "ebay" cannot be in the URL, what they really meant was that "ebay" cannot be in the domain name or sub-domain name, but that my proposed use of it in a sub-folder was perfectly acceptable.
Who would have thought that a company as large as eBay, with so many corporate lawyers, and probably quite a large affiliate support department, could write their TOS specifically saying that their trademarked terms could not be used in a URL, and not mean exactly that?
So much traffic lost for so many months, I should have emailed to begin with I suppose, but I figured they said what they meant, and they meant what they said, how does the rest of the verse go?
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Charlie
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:03 pm
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| mdmsports wrote: | | I have a personal, painful, story about just that topic. |
I feel your pain. 
Even when it comes to the domain itself, companies can often be flexible...
I have registered quite a few domains VERY similar to domains covering products I wish to promote as an affiliate - even when the terms officially don't allow it.
In these cases, I email a polite, friendly note saying that I have noticed their terms, but "foolishly" already registered "domain". Would it be OK to use it as long as it is used solely to promote their product (as an affiliate)?
Nearly always, the answer is "OK". Generally, people are just covering themselves, and I don't blame them. They just want reassurance that you are acting fairly.
Let's face it, they can always monitor things and withhold commissions if they aren't happy, after all. This has never happened to me yet, though.
Just a thought,
Charlie.
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robertb
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Columbus, OH
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:31 pm
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| mdmsports wrote: |
Later, I received a general email from eBay (not directed specifically to me) updating their TOS saying that the name eBay (and other trademarked terms) could not be used in a URL, so I took the trouble to rename the ebay-search folders and update all the links to point to the new folder. Thousands of links to change. Worst of all, traffic plummeted.
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Sounds like you should have used redirects from the old pages to the new pages. Traffic should have been fine if you would have 
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ramon3309
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:18 pm
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Excellent posts from members of an awesome site. Great information. Thank you all!
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