Q) How do I get a user account on PunkPlanet.com?
A) It’s easy. Simply choose “Select New Account” from the User Login menu to the left. Then fill in your desired user name and a valid e-mail address and you’re pretty much done. We’ll send you an e-mail (immediately even) with a temporary password and you can enter a new one in, fill out your profile, and start taking part in our community!
Q) I’ve forgotten my password, what do I do?
A) Simply choose “Request New Password” from the User Login menu and we’ll send a new temporary password to the e-mail address we have on file for you.
Q) How do I put images and stuff into my PunkPlanet.com blog?
A) Currently we don’t have the web space (read: cash) to host your images for you, but if you’ve got somewhere you can stow your images on the Internet (Image Shack is a good choice), you can insert images into your blog with simple HTML commands (“img src”, to be exact).
Q) How come you don’t put all of your magazine content online?
A) The reason we don’t reprint the entire magazine online is because we don’t believe that is being fair to the authors that write for Punk Planet. In the “real world” (as opposed to the punk world) freelance authors have been fighting (and, let’s face it, mostly losing) for many years now for compensation for what’s now known as “digital reprint rights” or “electronic rights.” An entire article could be written on this but the basics are this:
-When an author sells a story, they are selling it (unless otherwise stated in a contract) for ONE TIME RIGHTS ONLY. That publication only owns that story for the time they publish it. They can’t publish it again, or resell it to another publication. And they can’t publish it on their website.
Many publications (including most major newspapers) don’t agree with this and have been fighting with their writers for years (although by now I’d imagine that it’s cleared up-more than likely in the corporations favor).
-Here at Punk Planet, we believe in being an advocate for our writers. We can’t pay people much, but we can promise that they’ll be treated well and not taken advantage of. One way publications take advantage of their authors is by pretending that the web and print are the same thing. We refuse to do that. As a result, we get permission to reprint the few pieces we put online and don’t try to overdue the goodwill of underpaid authors.
(For more information about digital reprint rights, check out the PDF Authors in the New Information Age from Northwestern University.
Q) So then what’s the point of punkplanet.com?
A) PunkPlanet.com exists outside of Punk Planet magazine. It’s related, but it’s different. It exists to help build community and to help get new ideas out there by using methods that would be all but impossible in a static print magazine. Of course it’s not all goodie-goodie: It also is a great way for us to get issue information out to people as well.
