Terms of Use and Copyright

Experience has shown that the term "copyright" doesn't mean anything to some people. For the purpose of this explanation, what it means is:

The images I produce are for your own personal use ONLY.  Note:  "Personal use", to me, doesn't imply "non-commercial".  If you have a site that sells something, that's fine with me, and my images are allowed.  However, in that case, you might consider donating something to me for my work by clicking on the appropriate buttons.  I'm so in favor of "commercialism" that I'll accept donations from anyone who either uses or simply enjoys my work.

For the sake of specificity, here's someone who can tell you a little more about what copyright means and what it doesn't mean.

All images displayed on this site and all downloadable images are Copyright © 1985-2005 Robert Tracy. All Rights Reserved. None of the images may be used in any manner other than for your own personal use. Using portions of the images for inclusion in any other image is also forbidden.

And for all you hot-linkers out there... Don't even bother trying. This site is protected against hot-linking.

Note: Save the image to your hard drive and upload it to YOUR OWN server. Using my site as the source for the image is not only inappropriate, it won't work.

About Hot-Linking
(Also known as direct linking, bandwidth stealing).

It's likely that most hot-linkers don't realize they're stealing. If you link directly to someone else's image and pull it off their server instead of your own, you're using up their bandwidth and not your own. Bandwidth costs money.

After you get permission to use an image, save it to your hard drive, then upload it to your server. This site contains a function that prevents hot-linking; if hot linking is attempted, the result will be a "broken image" symbol on the offending site rather than the image, and the link to the site will show up in my stat logs. I also have the option of substituting an image that would universally replace any and all images hot-linked to from this site. Imagine the possibilities...that's another good reason to not hot-link. You're giving the person you're stealing from a certain power over the appearance of your site.