Did you know that 81% of people do not read user agreements, licenses, and the like (if you don't believe that, then can you at least comprehend that 68% of all statistics are made up on the spot?) Regardless of the actual number of people who do or do not read the fine print, the important thing is that, for Helium, you should. Many times.

Obviously, when you sign up to use a product or service, you should be interested in the terms of that product or service. This should be much more so the case when money is involved. In Helium, your money is indeed involved...so if you haven't scoured the user guide yet, please take the time to read through this layman's primer. If you don't believe what I say, then feel free (in fact, I encourage you!) to read the real thing - a link to the User Agreement can be found at the bottom of every page at Helium. You will find, I hope, that many of the questions you might have are answered (albeit in legalese) in that User Guide.

Helium allows you to pick a pseudonym or pen-name, and one detail in the User Agreement that you might not know is that you are permitted to change your pen name only once after creating your account. If you want to change more than once, all is not lost, however...just contact Helium at help@helium.com if you want to change your pen name further.

Helium reserves the right to cancel the accounts of those who commit fraudulent behavior. Although these include some of the things you might expect (plagiarists, those who attempt to abuse the Helium rating system, those who attempt to create artificial traffic to their articles, or those who violate other laws), also keep in mind that every person is entitled to only one Helium account, so having multiple may lead to the closing of all your accounts.

Helium does not claim ownership of your content, which means you can post on Helium as well as any other site or publication you choose. However, you do grant Helium a license to use your content, which means you grant Helium and all subsidiaries a perpetual, world-wide, all-encompassing right to use, publish, create derivative works from, edit, translate, on and on.

In other words, you may do what you want with your articles. Helium may also do what they want with your articles. With few exceptions, you may *not* take down your articles from Helium...so don't be shocked if this request is rejected.

Your articles accrue earnings as long as you are active. What this means is that you've participated

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