Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post - Posting long passages of outside text is prohibited.

Unified Serenity · 08-09-2009, 02:43 AM

Hello Marian,

Well as you can see it is a much debated topic even in the realm of academia. Have you ever heard the quip that where there are 3 lawyers there are 5 or more opinions? ( I should know, my sister is a judge, ugh)

Now here is a site that is dealing with the whole internet issue, and part of it says:

Copyright on the internet

"Fair use is one of the most important, and least clear cut, limits to copyright. It permits some use of others' works even without approval. But when? Words like "fair" or "reasonable" cannot be precisely defined, but here are a few benchmarks.

Uses that advance public interests such as criticism, education or scholarship are favored -- particularly if little of another's work is copied. Uses that generate income or interfere with a copyright owner's income are not. Fairness also means crediting original artists or authors. (A teacher who copied, without credit, much of another's course materials was found to infringe.)

Commercial uses of another's work are also disfavored. For example, anyone who uses, without explicit permission, others' work to suggest that they endorse some commercial product is asking for trouble! Yet, not all commercial uses are forbidden. Most magazines and newspapers are operated for profit; that they are not automatically precluded from fair use has been made clear by the U.S. Supreme Court."

As we can see, it is limited and it cannot harm the authors means of income generation. It would be highly unethical to purchase someone's newsletter they charge for and then put it on a forum for all to read free of charge, but if they have it on their free to public website, it would not harm them to post a few paragraphs along with a link. In fact, it would probably be helping them as it would send people to their website if they saw merit in the work and thus generate income for them from site hits and/or interest to purchase their products or other works.

I also think the idea is "limited" sharing and not posting more than a chapter or an article. This is a site for criticism, research and education. No, it is not an academic institution, but I would not call this site a dating service or gaming site. It's about intellectual discussion and sharing of information and ideas.

I think the biggest problem is people plagiarizing (something I have personally dealt with when others stole my poetry and stories and posted them on their sites). It is very important to have some means to show you wrote it first and putting it up on a forum with a prior date shows who wrote it.

If you cannot agree with my points then we will agree to disagree. It is not a concluded topic by experts by any means.

08-09-2009, 02:43 AM	#8
Unified Serenity Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 893	Re: Posting long passages of outside text is prohibited. Hello Marian, Well as you can see it is a much debated topic even in the realm of academia. Have you ever heard the quip that where there are 3 lawyers there are 5 or more opinions? ( I should know, my sister is a judge, ugh) Now here is a site that is dealing with the whole internet issue, and part of it says: Copyright on the internet "Fair use is one of the most important, and least clear cut, limits to copyright. It permits some use of others' works even without approval. But when? Words like "fair" or "reasonable" cannot be precisely defined, but here are a few benchmarks. Uses that advance public interests such as criticism, education or scholarship are favored -- particularly if little of another's work is copied. Uses that generate income or interfere with a copyright owner's income are not. Fairness also means crediting original artists or authors. (A teacher who copied, without credit, much of another's course materials was found to infringe.) Commercial uses of another's work are also disfavored. For example, anyone who uses, without explicit permission, others' work to suggest that they endorse some commercial product is asking for trouble! Yet, not all commercial uses are forbidden. Most magazines and newspapers are operated for profit; that they are not automatically precluded from fair use has been made clear by the U.S. Supreme Court." As we can see, it is limited and it cannot harm the authors means of income generation. It would be highly unethical to purchase someone's newsletter they charge for and then put it on a forum for all to read free of charge, but if they have it on their free to public website, it would not harm them to post a few paragraphs along with a link. In fact, it would probably be helping them as it would send people to their website if they saw merit in the work and thus generate income for them from site hits and/or interest to purchase their products or other works. I also think the idea is "limited" sharing and not posting more than a chapter or an article. This is a site for criticism, research and education. No, it is not an academic institution, but I would not call this site a dating service or gaming site. It's about intellectual discussion and sharing of information and ideas. I think the biggest problem is people plagiarizing (something I have personally dealt with when others stole my poetry and stories and posted them on their sites). It is very important to have some means to show you wrote it first and putting it up on a forum with a prior date shows who wrote it. If you cannot agree with my points then we will agree to disagree. It is not a concluded topic by experts by any means.