To the Editor,

I respect that you do not want to have anyone cut and take your cover art. But I thought you might want a little rundown of what happens in the mind of someone trying to navagate your newsletter:

**Every single time** my cursor even touches the art it switches to the warning. I am a student of self. I pay attention to what happens with my emotions. I find that it is offensive to have this message come up almost each time I move my cursor. It feels like someone is assuming that I am wanting to **steal** the image and doesn't shut up about it. It is like it is calling me a "theif" over and over again. It makes me angry, offended and agrivated and makes me want to find a way to take the image, and anyone with a little html and web training could I'm afraid.

See if there is anyway that you could secure your image without the warning. I've seen it done on the web in other, less offensive (sorry to put it that way) ways. Besides, the copywrite warning is already given in the text of your magazine.

Besides that, I have enjoyed your magazine greatly. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rose W.

Hi Rose,

Thanks for the great feedback! And thanks for appreciating MatriFocus despite how the swap image makes you feel!

Your letter brings to mind my favorite quote:

"Among the principles essential to the health of living systems are empowered participation of all parts and continual negotiation of self-interest at all levels of organization." Elisabet Sahtouris (Earthdance, Living Systems in Evolution)

I so appreciate your "negotiation of self-interest" in terms of MatriFocus and hope others will follow your lead.

It had never occurred to me that the swap-image would be annoying. I was focused on communicating an important (matrifocal?) value -- that women's work is to be respected and their ownership of that work honored.

Many of the artists who allow us to publish their work are concerned about copyright violation, which on the Web is as easy as cut-and-take (it doesn't even take knowing HTML to find ways around the various copyright protections generally available). The artists appreciate the effort and care we take with their copyrights.

As you can see, this issue (#1 of year four!) reflects a redesign occasioned by an increase in contributors and some other changes that made the former design unworkable.

For this issue, we're publishing without that (annoying!) swap image. We've also put in our budget the purchase of a Digital Watermarking utility license so that we can embed copyright protections in images when necessary (protections invisible to readers but trackable, electronically).

We're asking our readers to consider expanding their participation in MatriFocus in the usual ways -- by contributing writings and art, and by subscribing to our zine -- and in a new (for us) way -- by considering our request for donations to support MatriFocus.

When I first received your letter, I had no idea how to address your concern, yet for this issue and, Goddess-willing, for the foreseeable future, we'll have a more elegant solution to the image copyright protection problem.

Thanks again for caring and communicating,

Sage Starwalker
Editor, MatriFocus