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 Will sets out to help Takoda and his tribe preserve some of their identity... and ends up finding his own. More...

People confound young, brilliant, college professor Brendon, including his boss. So when Josh, the assistant football coach, pursues him, Brendon isn’t sure what to make of him. More...

 

The cult classic is back -- now for your Kindle. The Jarrat and Stone epic began right here:  "A powerful futuristic thriller" - Capital Gay. More...

 

In a world where sexuality is often an excuse to hate instead of love, despite family disapproval, two men find the courage to try again. More...

 

The love of men for men in the harsh yet magnificent world of historic America:  here is a tale of passion and power, ambition and treachery in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains. More...

“A thriller with puzzling twists aplenty ... creates a web in which the innocents are the accused, the accusers are the criminals, and the plot doesn't stop gyrating until the very end...” (Publishers Weekly) More...

 

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Terms Of Service

Welcome to the GLBT Bookshelf Community ... we hope you'll have a great experience here. And to help make sure that the experience is as rewarding as possible, there's a few things to point out.

THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT! At this point in the development of GLBT Bookshelf, this whole wiki is the brainchild of an individual who is inviting the participation of colleagues. In a perfect world, this wiki could remain free of legal-beagle jargon, because no one would abuse it! The world is not perfect, however, and eventually (inevitably) there will be a legal document pasted in here. But let's keep this wiki FREE in the financial sense, and also free in the sense of "civil liberties," for as long as we can. Until or unless "trolls" get in here and abuse the system, we don't have to smother the whole thing (which ought to be fun) with legalities. So --

Let's get a few things clear, and then get on with the fun side of this. Mel Keegan and a core group that has grown up around DreamCraft have built this whole thing and are paying for it (at the time of this writing, May 2009), so MK  & group would like to set out a few simple "house rules" for guests. By registering to contribute to this wiki, you agree to abide by its terms ... which are pretty simple.

Privacy policy: Rest assured, we respect your privacy 150%! So please respect the privacy of other users.

Promotion of the wiki: is on the Three Musketeers Principle: one for all, and all for one. We ALL promote the heck out of the wiki, and in return we ALL reap the benefits of being part of a Community which should, in a reasonably short time, grow into the biggest GLBT bookstore on the web. Which also, these days, means "in the world." Don't forget to play your part in promoting the wiki -- and at the same time, don't hesitate to add your content to it. Occasionally, we'll be tossing loose change into a fund to scare up some real, genuine advertising. When the time comes, have that dollar or two ready.

Welcome and unwelcome content: Most GLBT content is more than welcome. We draw the line only at images and language that'd raise eyebrows in our own Community! Erotica should stop short of porn, profanity should have a decent reason for being, and nudity should be both tasteful and 5% less than utterly explicit. Remember that members of the public can, and will, be on these pages -- which could also mean minors. This is a wiki, and you're more than welcome to add pages, edit your own pages, and "police" your own content. Activate the common sense gene.

Membership is absolutely FREE ... but we will be "passing the hat around" for your loose change ($1 or $2 contributions, made via PayPal) when the time comes around for us to run a mutual advertising campaign. This is called Collective Advertising. The campaigns have nothing to do with membership and registration, and should not be confused with any kind of "membership fee."

What is Collective Advertising? Everyone who hopes to sell books here (and anyone who, though "only" a reader, would like the support the Community and see it grow rapidly) kicks in a couple of coins (the price of a candy bar), and everyone profits from having tens of thousands of visitors come by. No one ever pays more than a dollar or two, and campaigns will come around no more often than every month or two.

Results of Campaigns: we exhort you to track your sales. After a campaign, we'll run a poll and collate results, figure out what worked, what didn't, and we might be able to figure out why it didn't work as expected. Hot advertising tips are invited! Help to plan the next campaign. Results will be posted to a special forum, and -- let's thrash out what would work better.

Who's paying for GLBT Bookshelf? In the early days, Mel Keegan is picking up the tab. (You're welcome, guys.) This is fine, because it's starting out pocket-sized. When it's turned into a seven-headed monster and is costing much more to run, advertisers should cover its costs, due to the vast increase in site traffic. In an utterly worst case scenario, we imagine an annual "peppercorn rent" of some fiddling amount per member. Here's the magic: this is a Community, not a business enterprise. No one at GLBT Bookshelf is looking to get rich and retire on it! Let's keep it FREE, and simple, and profitable for all. (What kind of advertising is expected to pay the running costs, down that track when the wiki is a monster? Not Google ads! We envision something along the lines of blogads. Check out www.blogads.com to see the kind of unobtrusive margin-sitter. Google ads are worthless, in all practical terms. See this screen capture and be appalled: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_UZ_NbqmS00M/SgoAAeqXVWI/AAAAAAAAByQ/Re2PjD43H9Y/s800/adsense-absurdity-again.jpg ... We'll work it out as we go ... and in the spirit of Community, we'll thrash it out between us, when the time comes that running costs have to be covered. Someone out there is likely to have a hot tip or a brilliant idea that will solve this problem ahead of time, with a minimum of fuss and impact on the wiki.) 

Admin is ultimately in charge of the details! While the wiki is a community effort, built by all of us together, the Administration team is ultimately responsible for the operation and wellbeing of the enterprise. This means that if any individual user should jeopardize the wiki (say, by uploading child pornography, or attempting to cheat search engines with code that will be disallowed by Google to the detriment of the wiki in terms of search visibility) all appropriate corrections will be immediately made by the Admin team to ensure the safety of the enterprise. No offense is intended, it's just the rules.

Abuse of Admin. Everyone here at the wiki is courteous when dealing with you and we appreciate similar courtesy on your part. Please remember, this wiki is a free service, not a privilege. Abusive behavior or language toward Admin will result in your account being canceled.

No copyright bootlegging, please! Make sure that you have the rights to upload and embed materials. Don't tread on people's toes ... they tend to get PO'd and come and tread on yours rather sooner than later. Observe copyright, and have a good understanding of what the Creative Commons actually means, and how it works. Where possible, work with your own materials, and if you're working with those of an associate, make sure all parties are aware of what's going on, and are cool with the arrangement.

No spam, please! That includes flyers for things and services that aren't books, audio books, or book-related. (For instance, we don't want "squeeze pages" for the latest get-rich-quick scheme posted here.) "Spam" also means, no outbound links without relevant, meaningful content contribution. (Example: a tiny comment saying, "Nice post," and a link to another site. This could categorize as spam.)

No "naked hijacks," please! What in the world is a naked hijack? The imagery...! In fact, a "naked hijack" is a more or less blank page with a redirect added. The page essentially "hijacks" the visitor to an external website, and closes the Bookshelf behind it. Nobody minds you linking out to an external page -- please do! But please don't do it with a redirect pasted to a blank page! This isn't fair to the many other contributors who've worked long and hard to make this into a wiki, not a "link farm." If you want to link out, at least add some content here (however slight), and then use a proper link, with the correct targeting code to make your outbound link open in a new window. This leaves the Bookshelf open behind you. The only outbound link we have a problem with is a "naked hijack," which added no value to the wiki, and made off with the user! Thanks in advance for your cooperation! Click here for more on this...

No dynamiting the hub pages, please! What in the name of Jove is Keegan on about now?! Simple: the contents pages (or index pages) are the hubs around which the whole wiki revolves. It's a database taking the form of a list of lists of lists ... dead easy to navigate, to add things into, and to be found in. However, the whole point of a "contents list" is that it lists contents, right? So, please: no outbound links in the hub pages, and that includes affiliate code which links direct to a shopping cart or checkout page. Hub pages are intended to point visitors "inwards," so that they browse and stumble over new writers, new books. Want to make an outbound link? Make a page for your title, link to it from the Book Category (hub) page, and put the outbound link onto your own page. Here's a lot more on this topic, including why we're trying desperately NOT to turn into a "link farm." (Short version: if we become a glorified links page, Google will zero out our page ranking, and the wiki will vanish off the face of the Internet! Read more... )

No flame wars, please! You can butcher each other anywhere on the web, there's no need to do it here too. Flame wars will get whacked with an extinguisher at the first sign of smoke and/or fire.

No freeloading, please! By uploading to this site, you agree that you've joined the Community. When we all put up a $1 or $2 contribution to float an advertising campaign to send several boat-loads of visitors to these pages, you're expected to throw your loose change in the hat as it comes around to you. Remember, visitors (possibly numbering in six figures, if we put the advertising buck into just the right ads, in just the right places!) will be seeing your books here, as well as everyone else's. It's up to the customer to decide what to buy, but everyone in the Community is responsible for their share of the visitor traffic. It's only a buck or two, so -- when the hat comes 'round, let's see your loose change!

No editorial buccaneering, please! This means, make, edit and maintain your own pages ... leave other people's pages alone. This is a wiki. You could -- if you were a real SOB -- get in there and make a mess of other users' pages. Please don't -- because a) this is a rotten thing to do, and b) you'll get caught at once. We have logs of who did what, to which page. We know exactly who edited what they shouldn't have, and when. We also have prior versions which can be reinstated at a click. And transgressors will be delisted with another click. In other words, do the decent thing here: edit to your heart's content -- on your own pages. Leave other users' pages alone. Thanks!

No direct uploading, please! Always embed your images, documents and videos, using links generated by such services as Fickr, YouTube and Box. This is due to storage space issues. The Bookshelf can be a free service -- so long as we don't have to start paying for more storage. So -- embed your pictures here using links provided by Flickr.com,  Picasaweb.com, PhotoBucket.com, and others. Most bloggers and web users know exactly how to do this, but if you're new, without much of a clue, click here and we'll walk you through all three. They're FREE accounts. You pay nothing -- and if members use these services, the Bookshelf can also continue to be free! Thanks for your cooperation.