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Are wordpress.com blogs non-commercial?

  1. endemicity
    Member

    Hi,

    Are wordpress.com blogs considered non-commercial? Some of the images and figures I post are Creative Commons licensed with the stipulation that they be used for non-commercial purposes. I sometimes see little advertisements to other blogs on my blog, and I'd just like to make sure I'm not violating any one's terms of use. I personally certainly don't make any money off of my blog, but I don't know if the non-commercial label applies to wordpress.com as a whole.

    anthozoa.wordpress.com

    Cheers

    Dusty

    The blog I need help with is anthozoa.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    Hello there,
    Please read these support entries so you are clear on the situation:

    1. Free hosted WordPress.com blogs cannot be used to drive traffic to third party sites (section 2 – 5th bullet) http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

    2. Types of blogs – what content is welcome and is not welcome on WordPress.com > http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
    scroll to this section and note how limited it is:

    Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (“Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc). This includes multi-level marketing (MLM) blogs and pyramid schemes. To be clear, people writing their own original book, movie or game reviews and linking them to Amazon, or people linking to their own products on Etsy do NOT fall into this category.

    3. No blogger initiated advertising of any kind and most particularity of any if the get rich quick schemes is allowed on free hosted WordPress.com blogs > http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/

    Note: To support the service (and keep free features free), we also sometimes run advertisements. http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/go-ad-free/ We’ve tested a lot of different ad providers and currently use Google AdSense and Skimlinks. We try hard to make the ads discreet and effective and only run them in limited places. If you would like to completely eliminate ads from appearing on your blog, we offer the No-Ads Upgrade. http://support.wordpress.com/no-ads/

    4. If a blog has been found to be in breach of the WordPress.com Terms of Service, it will be suspended. http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/

    Additional reference > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
    Hope this helps. :)

  3. raincoaster
    Member

    Let me clarify: if you are not making any money from your blog, then using those Non-Commercial licensed things is fine. If someone squawks, explain that any Adsense they see on your blog is for the benefit of WordPress.com, not for you, and you didn't put it there.

    At that point, it's up to the interpretation of the original person, but I've NEVER had anyone object when they realize that the blogger isn't getting a cent.

  4. sl1k
    Member

    You could put a disclaimer on your side bar that you don't benefit from the ads

    Here is the quote I use on my blog and I have seen on other blogs you're welcome to use the quote

    If You See Google Ads
    They are not placed by the blog author but By automattic which is the company that owns & runs WP.com the ad affect is the down side of having a blog hosted for free.

  5. mickverran
    Member

    You can get rid of those ads that appear on your blog (which feed off your blog content and will therefore eventually direct people to your competitors!) by paying WordPress a very small fee - I think its something under $30 a year.

    I thought that was very reasonable given the service here, but I wish WordPress would make it more obvious you can do that - I had to dig around a little. And now I've forgotten how I did it!

    Mick

  6. sl1k
    Member

    To buy the "NO Ads" upgrade you go to Dashboard, → Upgrades, on the left navigation bar...

    -sk

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