Do recipe authors keep rights for recipes submitted to cookbook contests?

And I also think some questions, such as the original one here merit being discussed in the so to speak light of day. The question posed by Gluten-Free Boulangerie pertains to many participants rather than exclusively to "food52's inner workings." I believe her question was an honest one, with no ulterior motives, and certainly not a deliberate attempt to "veer off course." When the foodpickle changed suddenly to Ask a Question, the latter was very open-ended, then just as suddenly changed to Ask a Food Question. So the question remains: do the Editors plan to make it easier for participants to ask non-food related questions? I seriously doubt anyone intends to plumb the depths of food52's "inner workings." But clearly there are questions which are non-food related, like it or not.

I sent an email to the Editors a few days ago, right after their multiple requests for food52 operational questions to be sent to them rather than foodpickled. My question was if the teeny tiny Contact Us at the bottom of the page needed to be a button at the top of the page. I think HLA and Panfusine are alluding to the same idea. I'm still waiting for an email answer.

I agree they're super busy, so sometimes an e-mail is gonna slip through the cracks. Also if multiple people are experiencing the same problem they're going to get dozens of e-mails about it, and need to respond to each one. If there was a spot like pickle but not pickle to bring up questions or concerns the editors could address it there and in theory increase efficiency and decrease extraneous work.

My question to the editors via email was answered really quickly today, but given their busy schedule with the day to day operations, I feel hesitant to intrude upon their time.

I'm with Panfusine on this one. If there are troubles with the site, a spot to bring them up would be great. That way other users would be able to see that what happened to them was happening to others, and it seems the responses are much more rapid when posted on the pickle than when e-mailed to the editors. When the site was experiencing a glitch last week I sent an e-mail to the editors (June 9.) Someone else posted a pickle question about it. The pickle question got responded to on the same day, and the glitch was fixed the next day. I got an e-mail response from the editors on June 14th.

A lot of the non food food52 questions elicit very informative answers from the members. and a lot of us probably post these questions on foodpickle because of the hesitation in badgering the editors & flooding the [email protected] email account (I like to think of it as the hallowed address to which EP tasting notes go and am very wary of the possibility of even slightly misusing it). Would Food52 consider the possibility of having a tab for non food /food52 related questions that the members could post & discuss? Thanks!

Thank you, Helen!

hmm, will reconsider what I post from now on...

Hi everyone -- please help us out by sending any questions or concerns about food52 to [email protected], instead of posting them here. We designed foodpickle as a place for questions about food and cooking to be answered quickly -- but lately, we've seen it veer off course with conversations about food52's inner workings. This is confusing to new visitors and, worst of all, some urgent pickles have been buried before they can get an answer -- that's no good! Thanks for understanding and for helping us keep foodpickle doing what it does best.

Wow, AJ - that's a mouthfull!

That's good enough for me Kristen.. Thanks much!

Panfusine, we will always do our best to ensure proper credit is given when your recipes are republished elsewhere -- that's the whole point of food52, after all -- but for legal reasons, we can't absolutely guarantee that outside publishers will honor those wishes. So far, we've never had any trouble.

Actually, you continue to own the copyright in the recipe (i.e., from a legal standpoint, it's not "co-ownership"), but by posting, you do grant food52 an irrevocable license to use it in any form and with any technology they want, anywhere, in their sole discretion. Here is the actual license grant: By submitting any content to food52.com or Food52 Inc., you simultaneously and automatically grant or warrant that the owner has expressly granted us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully sublicensable and transferable right and license to use, record, sell, lease, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works based upon, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, publish and otherwise exploit the submitted content as we, in our sole discretion, deem appropriate. We may exercise this grant in any format, media or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any copyright that may exist in the submitted content. You additionally grant other users permission to access your submitted content for personal, non-commercial use as permitted by the functionality of the website and these Terms of Service.
In my own experience, the editors have graciously removed any recipe I've asked them to take down, so at least in those instances, the "irrevocable" part of the grant was not enforced. Of course, once your recipe is distributed to and published by third parties, which food52 has the right to allow and facilitate, your chances of getting back control of it are substantially diminished. But that, of course, is the case with the publication of anything, anywhere, on the internet. ;o)

Thanks Kristen, another clarification if you don't mind...
if Food52 publishes the recipe elsewhere other than the cookbook, will the original author be credited for the recipe, even if it is by their username?

Feel free to peruse our thrilling Terms for any and all legal answers to this question here: http://www.food52.com/home/tos

But bottom line: once you submit a recipe to food52, we co-own it. So yes, you can publish it elsewhere (and so can we -- like in the cookbook!).

Excellent question, I'm curious, too!