About a month ago, I posted something about the fact that The Sun and The Examiner are in danger of using up all the internets with an explosion of Baltimore blogs. It's easy to see why they're doing it from a business point of view--it's a heck of a lot cheaper than paying a bunch of nosy reporters to leave the office and get all up in the city's business.

At least The Sun pays its bloggers. Alert City Paper reader Scrapple (thanks, Scrapple!) noticed the Examiner's terms of service on its web site, which seems to give an awful lot of rules and regs, but not a lot of reward.

From the contract:

"You hereby grant to Examiner.com a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to:

i) copy, reproduce, distribute, perform, modify, adapt, create derivative works, use, transmit, and display the Works or any part thereof, in any in any manner, media or format now existing or hereafter devised, whether fixed or interactive, including without limitation in print, audio, on the Internet, via wireless network, in databases and compilations, via MP3 players and other devices capable of playing audio content, via cell phones and PDAs, in CD-ROMs and DVDs, and in the websites and print newspapers of Examiner.com and Affiliates;

ii) use, copy, transmit, display and otherwise promote your name, image, likeness, and biographic information in connection with the exercise of the rights granted herein, including without limitation in connection with the advertising, promotion, and publication of the Works in any manner, media or format now existing or hereafter devised; and

iii) sublicense, syndicate, or otherwise grant third parties any of the rights described in this subsection 7(b), without any obligation of notice or compensation to you."

Well, there's nothing about a soul in there. But hey, at least they give you something, right?

"Consideration: In consideration of the Services, you will be provided exposure of your name and the Web Page. You understand that you will not initially receive any other compensation for performance of the Services. However, if the Web Page obtains traffic levels and/or other performance metrics determined by Examiner.com from time to time, you may be eligible for a performance-based incentive ("Incentive"), which would be paid according to a formula and metrics to be provided to you by Examiner.com, as modified by Examiner.com from time to time in its sole discretion."

For the record, City Paper pays its freelance bloggers, although staff writers, like yours truly, don't see a thin dime ("incentive") for their tireless web-based efforts.

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