New policy on posting articles - 2010

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Linnea
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New policy on posting articles - 2010

Post by Linnea » 01-09-2010 05:15 PM

Going forward, these new policies will be in place regarding the posting of articles and content from other sites:

As this is a discussion board, and not a reader's service - and we also need to make an effort to follow reasonable 'fair use' rules - the posting of entire articles, or overly long sections of articles, will not be allowed on the forum.

In addition, it is recommended you post some sort of summarizing statement of what points the article is making that you want to focus on and discuss.

Any portions of articles posted must be contained within 'Quote' format. This is most easily accomplished through the use of the qoute 'tags':

[quote]insert text - and then the bracketed tag to close the function with this tag [ /___] *actually /quote within the ending bracket. List the source of the quote and the link to the quoted material at the end (or the beginning) of the post.

The 'quote' function on the 'posting insert form' will accomplish the same effect with the tags being supplied by the forum software. Not sure how much text can be copy pasted in the box provided. Experiment. You have two minutes in which to edit your posts without the edit comment showing, or up to two hours with the edit comment displayed.

If you have any questions, post them here.

Thanks

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Re: New policy on posting articles - 2010

Post by Joolz » 01-09-2010 05:30 PM

Linnea wrote: Not sure how much text can be copy pasted in the box provided. Experiment. You have two minutes in which to edit your posts without the edit comment showing, or up to two hours with the edit comment displayed.
The "Preview Reply" button is useful for this, too. I use it a lot to see what the post will look like before hitting the "Submit Reply" button. If there's a problem with something at the software level (like length), it will usually tell you what's wrong when you preview the post, and you can make corrections before actually submitting it as a new post (or thread).
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New policy on posting articles - 2010

Post by Linnea » 01-12-2010 01:24 AM

New policy for posting articles on the Fantastic Forum.

Read this! It seems many are missing this announcement....

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Post by Bobbi Snow » 01-12-2010 02:40 AM

According to my husband, an article "may be quoted by posting the first paragraph" without copyright infringement. He's an author, so I guess he should know. But you also need to give the link (or name the author and article) from which the paragraph is lifted.
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Post by Joolz » 01-12-2010 05:12 PM

Fair use law has no hard and fast or absolute rules in regard to how much of a copyrighted work can be excerpted or quoted and still be considered "fair use."

Excerpted from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html:
The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.
From what I've read and as I understand it, fair use law in regard to internet use is still being formulated by the courts, and fair use rules regarding material that is freely available on the internet are still being formulated on a case by case basis. (The internet is still seen by many as sort of a "wild west" domain -- we're making the rules and laws as we go.)

Basically, the rule of thumb in regard to copyrighted written material is that if the aim is to stimulate commentary regarding the material re-posted, and is not for commercial (for profit) use, then "enough" for that purpose is considered fair use, and that amount will vary according to the content of the source. But yes, it does always need to be correctly attributed and linked (failing to do so could also be seen as plagiarism).

However, if the material being quoted is something that readers must pay for in order to access, then reproducing it in full (even with proper citations) would definitely violate fair use law. There was a case filed in 1998, L.A. Times v. Free Republic, in which FR (meaning the owner/admin, Jim Robinson) was eventually found guilty of violating fair use law for reproducing articles in full that were, at that time, only available to online subscribers of the L.A. Times (and the Washington Post) on a fee basis. However, such articles are usually no longer provided on a fee basis, but are generally free (some news sites require registration to view any news articles, some require registration, along with fees in some cases, only for archived content, and some require neither registration nor fees), so it is unclear how this ruling would apply if a new challenge were issued. FR does today allow excerpting (no limit stated), with attribution and links, to most sources, and maintains a list at their site for use of their members in determining what is and is not allowed at their forum by various sources.

Some forums (such as Democratic Underground -- see Rule #5) have a four paragraph limit, some allow more, some less, and others have no such rule at all. In my experience, these kind of rules seem to be applied primarily at political forums in regard to news articles and editorials posted there. Most entertainment-based forums I frequent have no rules regarding fair use in regard to written material at all, except that it be attributed and linked. The reasoning here being, I think, that most reproduction of written entertainment content serves to generate more interest, not less, in whatever media is being promoted, so ultimately serves the needs of the originators of the media content by increasing, rather than decreasing, overall revenue generated. Some things are still not allowed, however -- such as certain network-owned videos, links to pirated video (or audio) content, etc.

Bottom line is: As the owner/admin of this forum, Linnea has the right to establish any rules she likes regarding posting of articles to the forum in order to protect herself from being in violation of fair use copyright law. If a lawsuit were to be filed against the FF, it is she would would be sued, not we, the members. Whether we like it not, agree or not, if we are to use this site, we should all do our best to comply with her wishes in regard to these rules. IMHO.

(BTW, I used the "Preview Reply" button over a dozen times before posting this -- it does help to see if what you are posting will appear as you intend, is too long, or is formatted incorrectly, so that you can edit appropriately before finally submitting for posting.)
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Post by Linnea » 02-10-2010 03:56 AM

Please read opening post here - for those who may have missed the revised rules regarding posting of articles and material from other sources:

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Post by megman » 05-02-2010 12:53 AM

I think this needs to be re-visited..........
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Again...

Post by Linnea » 05-10-2010 02:08 PM

Re-posted from top:

New policy on posting articles - 2010

Going forward, these new policies will be in place regarding the posting of articles and content from other sites:

As this is a discussion board, and not a reader's service - and we also need to make an effort to follow reasonable 'fair use' rules - the posting of entire articles, or overly long sections of articles, will not be allowed on the forum.

In addition, it is recommended you post some sort of summarizing statement of what points the article is making that you want to focus on and discuss.

Any portions of articles posted must be contained within 'Quote' format. This is most easily accomplished through the use of the qoute 'tags':

[quote]insert text - and then the bracketed tag to close the function with this tag [ /___] *actually /quote within the ending bracket. List the source of the quote and the link to the quoted material at the end (or the beginning) of the post.

The 'quote' function on the 'posting insert form' will accomplish the same effect with the tags being supplied by the forum software. Not sure how much text can be copy pasted in the box provided. Experiment. You have two minutes in which to edit your posts without the edit comment showing, or up to two hours with the edit comment displayed.

If you have any questions, post them here.

Thanks

*This policy will be enforced going forward with deleted posts. An occasional longer 'quote' is sometimes reasonable, but not the current trend toward the wholesale ignoring of this policy - especially as to length.

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Post by badspell » 05-10-2010 02:48 PM

Talk about crossing the T.‘s and dotting the I.‘s.

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Post by Linnea » 05-10-2010 04:44 PM

There is always pressure to have a general mayhem and a free-for-all with no rules or policies. There is also a counter-pressure to have some moderation and order.

Where do we seem to be with this now?

The idea behind this policy is two-fold: to encourage discussion being the main consideration.

Fewer posters seem to have the focus/interest to slog through extensive cut and paste articles, or to respond in a conversational manner to them.

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