By Daria Black
Currently there are over 30 million blogs on the internet and thousands more being created each week. Assuming ownership of one blog per person, that's a minimum of 30 million people slinging around their personal opinions on all that exists under the sun. This is a good thing. The free exchange of thoughts and ideas is what prevents the world from becoming a stagnant pool of dictatorship with the appropriate green scum floating on top.
However, to steal a line from the movie Spiderman, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Blogging has become a way for the voice of the people to be heard. We must be careful, though, not to abuse our power through thoughtless acts that hurt the credibility of bloggers and blogging. One place that continues to be our Achilles heel is when good posts go bad.
In the United States, libel and slander are the two categories of defamation. In many states, courts have begun treating them the same as the only difference between the two is that libel is a false written statement about a person, place or thing that harms his/her/its reputation while slander is the verbal act of the same offense. Whether blogged on the internet or whispered offline to your mother, the common denominator is that what is said is false.
Since I'm psychic, I already know what you are thinking. 'The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects me. As long as it is the truth, I can say whatever I want.' Well, sort of. As crazy as it sounds, truth is not the silver bullet defense for every case of libel or slander. A judge may require that besides being true the information relayed is in the public interest to know.
So reporting that the CEO of a major corporation had been caught pilfering money from the employees' retirement fund would probably get dismissed from civil court whereas telling the world that your neighbor has smelly feet could get you into more trouble than you want. Even if it were true, why would it be in the public interest to know that your neighbor's feet could clear out Yankee Stadium?
Now, the First Amendment does protect your right to an opinion. If you think that the Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap, you are certainly free to tell anyone within earshot as long as you make it clear that it is your opinion on the subject. Likewise, if a person puts forth a negative sentiment with regards to their experience with you and it is clear to any reasonable person that it is their opinion, your legal recourse against them is severely limited.
Parody and satire are also protected. If they weren't, Saturday Night Live and South Park would have never made it past the first episode. And criticism of a public performance such as a symphony, a play and even a book is protected under the Fair Criticism and Comment clause.
Now the internet contributes some interesting layers of complication to the whole blogging shebang. Instead of being contained in a localized area, libel has the potential to cross international borders and not every country handles these cases the same. One of the major problems courts around the world are having to deal with is the one of jurisdiction. If I live in the US and I libel someone who lives in the UK where exactly does the case take place and who's laws do we go by? Several cases have set a scary precedent that leans towards being able to sue anywhere around the world for libel published on the internet.
Then there is the issue of third party liability. Say you are a responsible blogger who is careful about her posts to avoid a troublesome libel accusation. One of your readers posts a libelous statement on your blog. Can you be held responsible for that person's actions? Well, so far the law has only made provisions for internet service providers stating that they cannot be held responsible for how their customers use their services (as it pertains to defamation). Likewise, blog service providers such as Google and Six Apart would likely be immune to any lawsuits arising out of a person's use of the service.
Whether or not you would be held responsible may come down to if you moderate your comments. If you allow comments to be posted automatically, you might be protected under Section 230 of the US Code (for US Citizens). It may be a different story, however, if you approve comments before posting them. It could be argued that your posting of the comments equates your agreement to them. To date, no one has shown up in court to argue this, hence the fact that we are kind of forced to make it up as we go along.
Defamation is a tricky issue and one that needs to be tread carefully if one is to avoid landing in court. Here are a few tips to help keep you out of trouble. Note: I am not an attorney. I don't even get to play one on television. If you and your blog deal with some highly controversial issues or you're just not sure how much trouble you would get into if you published that post about your best friend's boyfriend, I recommend getting in touch with a lawyer to get the best advice.
Change the names. By far the easiest thing you can do is to change or to avoid using the name of the person you are talking about and to strip away as much identifying information as possible. If a reasonable person can visit your hometown and quickly identify the 'mealy-mouth cow' you blogged about online, you might want to do some editing.
Make use of a disclaimer. Kevin S Brady has an excellent one on his website. Even something as basic as 'By making use of this blog site, you agree that the opinions expressed are the property and responsibility of their respective owners' may provide some defense in the event of a lawsuit. (Check with a real attorney please).
Consider writing your rant as a parody or satire. Extreme exaggerations that no reasonable person would believe are not considered defamation because, quite frankly, they are unbelievable. Be careful though, this type of writing takes a certain je sais quoi, and could easily backfire on you. Have a reasonable person proofread your entry to make sure it passes the believability test.
Watch your language. Be sure to use wording that makes it clear that this is your opinion about the subject. Statements like, 'That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap makes it sound as though you are stating a fact when in all actuality you are making a personal judgment about the toy. Something like 'I think that Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy is a piece of crap' or 'That Mr. Squiggly Toddler Toy fell apart after the first use' are safe bets. At least as far as the law is concerned.
And last but definitely not least, don’t tell false tales. Now this may seem like common sense but how common is common sense these days? Really. If you feel the need to resort to lying about a person, you may want to seek professional help in examining why you want to do that. 'Cause chances are, it's not to protect the public.
Blogging is a great way to meet people and stay current in the world and doing so responsibly will only make the experience better. Stay safe, stay sane and most of have fun.
Daria Black is a freelance writer and web designer. Visit her website Webernet Architect located at http://webernetarchitect.com for information and tutorials on web design, website administration, blogging, social networking and having fun on the Webernet. To learn more about Daria or to contact her visit her personal weblog Lexicon Indigo at http://lexiconindigo.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daria_Black
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Bloggers-Handbook:-What-You-Need-To-Know-About-Defamation&id=181888
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Blogs Are Us! Create A Money-Making Winner
By Karen Cook
Do you have a blog? Maybe you have more than one. It may just be a vehicle to publish your personal views. Or you may have set up a blog to make money.
Maybe you don't have a blog yet. You've been thinking of starting one because it's all you keep hearing about and you want to get in on this cultural phenomenon. You just are not sure how to go about setting
a blog up. After all, it wasn't too long ago that you didn't know what or who a "blog" was!
Either way, I've noticed bloggers seem to take advantage of AdSense. That tells us the blogger wants to receive payment from Google. Who among us can say NO to having our incomes supplemented?
What if there was a new and one-of-a-kind way to make money with your blog? What if it was easy to set up? So easy, total newbies are doing it!
There are simple steps to follow setting up your new blog...
1. Choose your target market.
Obviously, it will be a niche you are interested in. A hobby or a subject where you have special knowledge. This is important. After all, you don't want to work in doing something that gives you zero
interest.
This system offers you a choice of over 25 million markets! The most time you will spend on setting up your blog will be the time it takes you to decide which markets you want to pursue.
2. Set up your blog.
(Blogger.com offers you a free service) With this software, as soon as you have selected the products you want on your blog, you simply press BUILD and voila! Your very own store/boutique is automatically created for you!
The best part? Your blog will be unique! Nobody, nowhere, will have a store like yours. You'll be thrilled when you see what you can achieve with this software.
And, you don't have to stop with only one shop. Build more. Go crazy with your piece of virtual real estate.
3. Turn traffic into money.
Each page of your store will target different keywords. Meaning, better search engine rankings. How? Because you now have content-rich pages which search engines love! And...it's constantly changing as products are bought and new stock added. Search engines will love you.
When visitors are attracted to your blog, they will be funneled through to the products they are interested in. You will be paid commissions on the products your visitors purchase. Plus, they have the
bonus of a pleasurable shopping experience. Who can say that for the mall?
So, whether you have a blog for fun or profit, this newly-developed system deserves your attention.
(c) 2007 Karen Cook
Live demo! Case studies! Everything you need to know to have a one-of-a-kind blog!
Go here now...http://addebay.blogspot.com
Karen Cook works in a Public Library where she helps patrons with their blogs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Cook
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogs-Are-Us!-Create-A-Money-Making-Winner&id=426784
Do you have a blog? Maybe you have more than one. It may just be a vehicle to publish your personal views. Or you may have set up a blog to make money.
Maybe you don't have a blog yet. You've been thinking of starting one because it's all you keep hearing about and you want to get in on this cultural phenomenon. You just are not sure how to go about setting
a blog up. After all, it wasn't too long ago that you didn't know what or who a "blog" was!
Either way, I've noticed bloggers seem to take advantage of AdSense. That tells us the blogger wants to receive payment from Google. Who among us can say NO to having our incomes supplemented?
What if there was a new and one-of-a-kind way to make money with your blog? What if it was easy to set up? So easy, total newbies are doing it!
There are simple steps to follow setting up your new blog...
1. Choose your target market.
Obviously, it will be a niche you are interested in. A hobby or a subject where you have special knowledge. This is important. After all, you don't want to work in doing something that gives you zero
interest.
This system offers you a choice of over 25 million markets! The most time you will spend on setting up your blog will be the time it takes you to decide which markets you want to pursue.
2. Set up your blog.
(Blogger.com offers you a free service) With this software, as soon as you have selected the products you want on your blog, you simply press BUILD and voila! Your very own store/boutique is automatically created for you!
The best part? Your blog will be unique! Nobody, nowhere, will have a store like yours. You'll be thrilled when you see what you can achieve with this software.
And, you don't have to stop with only one shop. Build more. Go crazy with your piece of virtual real estate.
3. Turn traffic into money.
Each page of your store will target different keywords. Meaning, better search engine rankings. How? Because you now have content-rich pages which search engines love! And...it's constantly changing as products are bought and new stock added. Search engines will love you.
When visitors are attracted to your blog, they will be funneled through to the products they are interested in. You will be paid commissions on the products your visitors purchase. Plus, they have the
bonus of a pleasurable shopping experience. Who can say that for the mall?
So, whether you have a blog for fun or profit, this newly-developed system deserves your attention.
(c) 2007 Karen Cook
Live demo! Case studies! Everything you need to know to have a one-of-a-kind blog!
Go here now...http://addebay.blogspot.com
Karen Cook works in a Public Library where she helps patrons with their blogs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Cook
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogs-Are-Us!-Create-A-Money-Making-Winner&id=426784
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
So What Happened To All Those Enthusiastic Internet Marketers Who Didn't Have A Opt-in Email List?
By John C Vincent
FACT: 95% of internet marketers are failing with their marketing efforts, i.e., they're either losing money or just barely breaking even.
You wouldn't believe the emails I get from the 95%-ters, in fact, I'll tell you a little story.
A few years ago when I was just beginning, I had a total of 4,000+ emails, UNREAD in my inbox lol
So at that time I decided to get rid of the waste.
I started from the earliest emails to the most current, and here is what I discovered:
Some of the emails looked interesting and so I would open the message and click on the url link inside the email and guess what?
The urls and I mean most of the urls in those emails did not work. I got the old Blank Page, Can't Find Page or No Such URL.
What did this tell me? All those marketers who were so enthused about their product, so yippity happy, so, "You Better Jump On-Board Or You're Gonna Miss This Train" had jumped ship LOL
They had either unknowingly joined a scam or they didn't have the determination to stick with a good program.
Most people say they want to succeed and they want to make a TON of Money, Cash, Moolah but when it comes down to the effort it takes to succeed, they cut and run and they remain a wage-slave.
Internet marketing takes Determination, Persistence and a Love for what you're doing.
My favorite quote:
"Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
~ Harvey Mackay
Once you discover your niche (that thing that you love), learn everything related to it, become the expert, the MUST GO TO Guy or Gal.
In addition, hone your marketing AND traffic generating skills so your particular niche/love, your website will have an audience.
Once you have an audience (Traffic) place an opt-in form on every page of your website.
Why?
Because Your Opt-in List is the MOST Important item in your business.
More on this in later articles.
Entice your visitors with a valuable free report, free eBook or even free software so they will gladly give you their name and email address.
This is how you build your list.
AND THIS IS YOUR #1 PRIORITY!
95% of marketers don't do this, hence, the High Failure Rate.
Additionally: You should be in the "People Business". Putting People/The Consumer/Your Prospect ... FIRST. To consider FIRST their wants and their desires. To set your own desires to the side for the moment and concentrate on giving the best service, the best tools, the best education possible to your Prospect/Customer/Client.
This builds trust, this builds a good business relationship.
REMEMBER: An educated Prospect becomes, through TRUST in you, a lasting Customer/Client.
Truism:
"To Give Before You Receive"
This should be your purpose as a marketer, to assist, to educate, to give of yourself. For if you do this...you will be truly rewarded (monetarily) , your business will prosper and you will finally be a part of the 5% of internet marketers who succeed in this Game.
Remember: It ain't Brain Surgery, it ain't Rocket Science... It's Just Internet Marketing...
John C. Vincent hosts The Opt In Marketing System Websites which provides free downloads and easy-to-follow guidelines on how to build a Massive Opt-in Email List that continuously makes you money every time you click your email "send button". Content Rich.
http://Opt-in-Magic.blogspot.com
http://OptInMarketing.net/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_C_Vincent
http://EzineArticles.com/?So-What-Happened-To-All-Those-Enthusiastic-Internet-Marketers-Who-Didnt-Have-A-Opt-in-Email-List?&id=424672
FACT: 95% of internet marketers are failing with their marketing efforts, i.e., they're either losing money or just barely breaking even.
You wouldn't believe the emails I get from the 95%-ters, in fact, I'll tell you a little story.
A few years ago when I was just beginning, I had a total of 4,000+ emails, UNREAD in my inbox lol
So at that time I decided to get rid of the waste.
I started from the earliest emails to the most current, and here is what I discovered:
Some of the emails looked interesting and so I would open the message and click on the url link inside the email and guess what?
The urls and I mean most of the urls in those emails did not work. I got the old Blank Page, Can't Find Page or No Such URL.
What did this tell me? All those marketers who were so enthused about their product, so yippity happy, so, "You Better Jump On-Board Or You're Gonna Miss This Train" had jumped ship LOL
They had either unknowingly joined a scam or they didn't have the determination to stick with a good program.
Most people say they want to succeed and they want to make a TON of Money, Cash, Moolah but when it comes down to the effort it takes to succeed, they cut and run and they remain a wage-slave.
Internet marketing takes Determination, Persistence and a Love for what you're doing.
My favorite quote:
"Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
~ Harvey Mackay
Once you discover your niche (that thing that you love), learn everything related to it, become the expert, the MUST GO TO Guy or Gal.
In addition, hone your marketing AND traffic generating skills so your particular niche/love, your website will have an audience.
Once you have an audience (Traffic) place an opt-in form on every page of your website.
Why?
Because Your Opt-in List is the MOST Important item in your business.
More on this in later articles.
Entice your visitors with a valuable free report, free eBook or even free software so they will gladly give you their name and email address.
This is how you build your list.
AND THIS IS YOUR #1 PRIORITY!
95% of marketers don't do this, hence, the High Failure Rate.
Additionally: You should be in the "People Business". Putting People/The Consumer/Your Prospect ... FIRST. To consider FIRST their wants and their desires. To set your own desires to the side for the moment and concentrate on giving the best service, the best tools, the best education possible to your Prospect/Customer/Client.
This builds trust, this builds a good business relationship.
REMEMBER: An educated Prospect becomes, through TRUST in you, a lasting Customer/Client.
Truism:
"To Give Before You Receive"
This should be your purpose as a marketer, to assist, to educate, to give of yourself. For if you do this...you will be truly rewarded (monetarily) , your business will prosper and you will finally be a part of the 5% of internet marketers who succeed in this Game.
Remember: It ain't Brain Surgery, it ain't Rocket Science... It's Just Internet Marketing...
John C. Vincent hosts The Opt In Marketing System Websites which provides free downloads and easy-to-follow guidelines on how to build a Massive Opt-in Email List that continuously makes you money every time you click your email "send button". Content Rich.
http://Opt-in-Magic.blogspot.com
http://OptInMarketing.net/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_C_Vincent
http://EzineArticles.com/?So-What-Happened-To-All-Those-Enthusiastic-Internet-Marketers-Who-Didnt-Have-A-Opt-in-Email-List?&id=424672
Saturday, January 20, 2007
How To Start Your Own Podcast For Free
By Demetria Zinga
Clearly if you’ve been thinking about podcasting these days, you’ll notice right away that there are a TON of solutions out there on the web to help you begin podcasting. There are lots of companies which offer great solutions for podcasters…so be encouraged—there are many ways to go about doing this, and it’s really all up to you.
Here’s an easy, and free way of podcasting:
Set up an account with blogger.com. It’s a really simple step by step process. You’ll see once you get there. Now set up an account with audioblogger.com. It will be connected to your blogger.com account. You will be using AudioBlogger to phone in and leave your recorded posts at your Blogger account. Therefore, you now have what’s called an “audioblog”! And for those of you who are familiar with blogging, this is a really quick and dynamic way of communicating on the web. Add to blogging “audio” and you now have “audioblogging”. The next element in your audioblogging would be converting this to a language understood by podcast “readers” and aggregators. This would be the language “XML”, which, of course, we won’t get into in this tutorial. All you need to do now in order to convert your audio blog posts into a podcast is to open an account with Feedburner.com In Feedburner you’ll be asked to burn a feed…you will enter the website address of your Blogger account, and Feedburner will automatically burn a feed for your blog. Your feed is what podcast displayers, aggregators, and such will use to download your podcastSo now that you have a feed for your podcast, you can announce your Podcast feed to friends, family, and the entire world! Simply give them the feed URL address which Feedburner created for you, and keep on audioblogging!
Demetria Zinga, M.S. is a web designer, internet marketing strategist, video &
podcast consultant, & digital media trainer. Let Coach Demetria’s business
technology training take your business to the next level today, by visiting http://www.faith-media.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Demetria_Zinga
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Start-Your-Own-Podcast-For-Free&id=423708
Clearly if you’ve been thinking about podcasting these days, you’ll notice right away that there are a TON of solutions out there on the web to help you begin podcasting. There are lots of companies which offer great solutions for podcasters…so be encouraged—there are many ways to go about doing this, and it’s really all up to you.
Here’s an easy, and free way of podcasting:
Set up an account with blogger.com. It’s a really simple step by step process. You’ll see once you get there. Now set up an account with audioblogger.com. It will be connected to your blogger.com account. You will be using AudioBlogger to phone in and leave your recorded posts at your Blogger account. Therefore, you now have what’s called an “audioblog”! And for those of you who are familiar with blogging, this is a really quick and dynamic way of communicating on the web. Add to blogging “audio” and you now have “audioblogging”. The next element in your audioblogging would be converting this to a language understood by podcast “readers” and aggregators. This would be the language “XML”, which, of course, we won’t get into in this tutorial. All you need to do now in order to convert your audio blog posts into a podcast is to open an account with Feedburner.com In Feedburner you’ll be asked to burn a feed…you will enter the website address of your Blogger account, and Feedburner will automatically burn a feed for your blog. Your feed is what podcast displayers, aggregators, and such will use to download your podcastSo now that you have a feed for your podcast, you can announce your Podcast feed to friends, family, and the entire world! Simply give them the feed URL address which Feedburner created for you, and keep on audioblogging!
Demetria Zinga, M.S. is a web designer, internet marketing strategist, video &
podcast consultant, & digital media trainer. Let Coach Demetria’s business
technology training take your business to the next level today, by visiting http://www.faith-media.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Demetria_Zinga
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Start-Your-Own-Podcast-For-Free&id=423708
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Managing Backup And Recovery Services
By Alexander Eiriksson
Iceland Seafood International (ISI) has numerous offices located in ten countries and sells seafood products to UK retailers, and in order for the headquarters in Iceland to manage the business on a global scale, it is important that the data generated in all of its satellite offices is protected. ISI was previously using a tape-based backup service, which was not efficient or effective in its subsidiary office locations in the United Kingdom and Germany. The tape-based backup was "just about" manageable in the Iceland offices, but it was proving difficult to manage the tape backups on an international scale: The tapes weren't being changed at the stipulated times, it was difficult to recover data from tapes located all over the world and there was the additional concern of tapes potentially going missing.
SecurStore Remote Backup Service used all its knowledge and experience to bring the most effective and efficient solution to ISI by using Asigra Televaulting. ISI's multi-office corporate structure demanded a backup/restore service that respected remote data and ensured that it is protected to the same level as corporate data. ISI turned to SecurStore to eliminate these problems with their agentless distributed backup software service, which does not require tapes and allows a company with geographically dispersed offices to back up and recover data from a single location. Data protection is assured as encrypted data is backed up via disk over the WAN and stored offsite. SecurStore's high-calibre services guaranteed ISI successful and fast retrieval of any data they require from any office location around the globe.
"Within minutes of starting the test phase of the SecurStore Remote Backup Service we realised the benefits distributed backup and recovery would provide us with, not just from a cost perspective, but also from a global business continuity perspective," said Runar Bjarnthorsson, IT Manager of Iceland Seafood International."We chose SecurStore because their service eliminates the possibility of human error and allows us to protect our entire company's data from every global office location, which can all be managed from our headquarters in Iceland," continued Bjarnthorsson. "We saw very quickly from initial tests how much cost we could save with agentless software by paying for the amount of data stored and not for each machine that is backed up.”
SecurStore Remote Backup Service, provides ISI with an agentless backup/recovery environment for the entire organisation, including information residing on desktops, laptops and servers. This allows ISI to protect every system on the network without the hassle of agent-based license fees, agent installation, agent-induced performance loss and annual agent upgrades. Whenever a new PC is added to the ISI network, there is no need for a backup agent to be installed, which is a complex and costly burden. ISI only pays for the total amount of compressed data stored.
Alexander EIRIKSSON, Director of Securstore Business class Online Backup Service.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Eiriksson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Managing-Backup-And-Recovery-Services&id=419742
Iceland Seafood International (ISI) has numerous offices located in ten countries and sells seafood products to UK retailers, and in order for the headquarters in Iceland to manage the business on a global scale, it is important that the data generated in all of its satellite offices is protected. ISI was previously using a tape-based backup service, which was not efficient or effective in its subsidiary office locations in the United Kingdom and Germany. The tape-based backup was "just about" manageable in the Iceland offices, but it was proving difficult to manage the tape backups on an international scale: The tapes weren't being changed at the stipulated times, it was difficult to recover data from tapes located all over the world and there was the additional concern of tapes potentially going missing.
SecurStore Remote Backup Service used all its knowledge and experience to bring the most effective and efficient solution to ISI by using Asigra Televaulting. ISI's multi-office corporate structure demanded a backup/restore service that respected remote data and ensured that it is protected to the same level as corporate data. ISI turned to SecurStore to eliminate these problems with their agentless distributed backup software service, which does not require tapes and allows a company with geographically dispersed offices to back up and recover data from a single location. Data protection is assured as encrypted data is backed up via disk over the WAN and stored offsite. SecurStore's high-calibre services guaranteed ISI successful and fast retrieval of any data they require from any office location around the globe.
"Within minutes of starting the test phase of the SecurStore Remote Backup Service we realised the benefits distributed backup and recovery would provide us with, not just from a cost perspective, but also from a global business continuity perspective," said Runar Bjarnthorsson, IT Manager of Iceland Seafood International."We chose SecurStore because their service eliminates the possibility of human error and allows us to protect our entire company's data from every global office location, which can all be managed from our headquarters in Iceland," continued Bjarnthorsson. "We saw very quickly from initial tests how much cost we could save with agentless software by paying for the amount of data stored and not for each machine that is backed up.”
SecurStore Remote Backup Service, provides ISI with an agentless backup/recovery environment for the entire organisation, including information residing on desktops, laptops and servers. This allows ISI to protect every system on the network without the hassle of agent-based license fees, agent installation, agent-induced performance loss and annual agent upgrades. Whenever a new PC is added to the ISI network, there is no need for a backup agent to be installed, which is a complex and costly burden. ISI only pays for the total amount of compressed data stored.
Alexander EIRIKSSON, Director of Securstore Business class Online Backup Service.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Eiriksson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Managing-Backup-And-Recovery-Services&id=419742
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