Onion links

[avram]

Yesterday, in one of holyoutlaw’s threads, I linked to a story in The Onion. Unfortunately, I linked using the article’s headline, like so:

Supportive Gay Friend To Counsel American People On Ways Of Romance

Turns out The Onion doesn’t like it when people do that. I’ve just found (through reading Bump.net) that The Onion has a link policy:

Can I use a headline to link to The Onion on my site?
The Onion does not support the use of its headlines without the express written consent of the publisher. You can put a link to The Onion on your site but may not use the headlines or content. More information on how to link to The Onion is available at our Link Page.

Oops. So they wouldn’t like it if I were to quote their headlines while linking to such articles as “Bush Sends Troops To West Nile” or “Judge Orders God To Break Up Into Smaller Deities” or “Video-Game Character Wondering Why Heartless God Always Chooses ‘Continue’” or “Bush Executes 253 New Mexico Democrats: Retakes State’s Five Electoral Votes” or “Graphic Designer’s Judgment Clouded By Desire To Use New Photoshop Plug-In” or “Military Promises ‘Huge Numbers’ For Gulf War II: The Vengeance” or “Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma” or “Grad Student Deconstructs Take-Out Menu” or “Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia” or “Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race Of Skeleton People” or “U.S. Dept. Of Retro Warns: ‘We May Be Running Out Of Past’” or “Revolutionary New Insoles Combine Five Forms Of Pseudoscience” or “Stephen Hawking Builds Robotic Exoskeleton” or “U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We’re At War With” or even the eerily prophetic Bush inaugural piece “Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’”. So I won’t be doing that. Much.

Comments

[redbird]

"Does not support"--that's nicely vague. I guess that means you have to write your own HTML.

Fair use, I think, especially in the context of "this is a cool article, you should look at it."

[tavella.livejournal.com]

It seems pretty clear fair use from my reading. I'm just sort of boggled than the Onion is being assholey about it.