I am a little confused about sharing. I understand it is a no no to offer other members designs. Yet I see links to downloads all the time and to the left of my screen there appears to be many designs offered free to members. What is the difference to this and say.... me saying to XXXX Oh I have that design I will send it to you. Have I opened a can of worms.....

Hi again Glory, I see you have been given very good answers already so I'll just give you a rose and ask you.....

Have you clicked on the Freebie tags to the left to see what happens?

Gotcha curious now, eh? :-)
Hugs n roses, Meganne

Hello and Welcome. "Free" means there is no cost to you. Like a purchased design, it still belongs to the digitizer. That means you are not able to then "give" it to someone else. You can direct them to where you found it-which is what we do in the freebies section-but not send it to them. Digitizers provide us with samples to test out their work so we go back and purchase. That's how they make their money. A lot of people with web sites also have Yahoo groups, where they give samples to their members, and you learn a lot. (Like here!)

3 comments

by freedom 02 Mar 2011

Yep, I get that now. It was merely a question. I can understand given all the hard work digitizers spent creating s=designs, they want them to remain theirs and pull people to their site. Had I stopped to think about the reason, I guess I would have worked it out, but posted it anyway, as it explains to other Newbies, such as my self.

by jofrog2000 02 Mar 2011

There are no stupid questions! Ever. We all jump into this hobby with much to learn. (And that doesn't stop, I've been doing it over 9 years and still have AHA moments. And there's no one place with all the answers. I think the copywrite issue is the hardest to grasp at the beginning. The digitizer owns the designs, and we purchase the right to use them (with whatever restrictions come with them). Not like the machine, where, once you've bought it, you own it. That's why I save my designs in folders under the designer/website name, so I know where I got it.
Jo

by rachap 02 Mar 2011

Best explanation I have heard and I hope I can remember it all when someone questions why I won't "give" them a design.Thanks so much.

Usually when I ad a link to a design in one of my post it because it is a design that I created and is on another site. I go by 2 names Sewinhuggs here on this site. And julief on the sewforum site. I don't know if others do that or just me.
Smiles
Sewinhuggs

I am confused also and have voiced that before. Mostly I have a hard time figuring out which sites that give freebies, are giving freebies they shouldn't..... Some are obvious to me, some not so much.

Freebies are given as an advertisement - stitch them out, appreciate the quality and buy other designs, or a membership, whatever the site offers. On nearly every site you'll find 'Terms and Conditions' that state you can't give away the designs - at the bottom of the page you'll find the terms and conditions of this site.
So if you give NN a design you are taking away prospective clients from the site. Just give them the link and let them collect for themselves.

Design by Cuties are designs made by members, who might or might not have their own site. But we don't want them shared either. Everyone can come here and get them, give some sign of appreciation - a comment, ideally after stitching them out, and a thank you.

Well, I agree. But it's something to do with copyright law. You just can't "share" that way. Have to download from the original source. DUMB to me.