oblivion
Admiral
Keeper of the Chapa'i
Posts: 1,844
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Post by oblivion on Nov 12, 2004 15:38:39 GMT -5
Whoa, whoa! Don't shoot! I'm not posting any of my websites! I wanted to share this copyright website and tool, though creativecommons.org/After discussing the kind of collaborative work that the people on my forum tend to do, we decided we wanted to reserve SOME rights. For instance, if someone copies something written by someone on our site, we want a citation. We also absolutely wanted NO commercial use of anything we do. We're volunteers helping each other. We wanted to make it very clear "NO FAIR profiting from our volunteer efforts". This website lets you put together both a "human undertandable" list of the use restrictions and expectations AND a legal document. You can add a button to your footer information that takes people to the human readable version, and links to the legal version. For collaborative works, like forums and message boards, I think creative commons has a good tool for making ownership and use understood.
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xkamelx
Global Moderator
Check Those Corners
Posts: 11,108
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Post by xkamelx on Nov 13, 2004 15:07:18 GMT -5
I took a look at the site, and think it is very cool, but have decided not to use it on Temporal Reality. The reason being, we are in competition with every other forum of our genere, and the copyright allows others to copy parts of our content to use on thier own web site. The biggest thing Temporal Reality (and all forums) have going for them, is thier content. With that copyright, where "some" rights are reserved, people would be free to stoll through TR, and copy threads word for word to use on thier own forum. Then, Temporal Reality would have nothing to offer that several other forums don't, thus we would become less distinctive, and become one of many, as opposed to one of a kind. As it is now, everything posted on here is copyright to me, Temporal Reality as a whole, and the individula authors of posts (and technically Patrick Clinger, since all of our info is on his server). For example, if a poster took one of his/her posts here and copied it word for word on another site, then tha would be thier right, as I believe in people owning the content of thier posts. However, if another poster started taking threads fro TR, that they did not start, and started copying them and posting them on another forum, I would contact that sites admin, and either work out a deal to where they would post a link in that thread leading back to Temporal Reality, or I would ask them to remove out content or face board deeltion for copyright violation. That copyright would also allow people to set up a sci fi forum basically indentical to this, as opposed to comming up with thier own ideas. So in the end, I am very protective about Temporal Reality. I have done my very best to make it as original, and distincitve as possible, to give everyone here a one of a kind place to come post and have fun. I would much rather reserve ALL rights, as opposed to only reserving SOME rights, if that makes sense.
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oblivion
Admiral
Keeper of the Chapa'i
Posts: 1,844
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Post by oblivion on Nov 13, 2004 17:14:42 GMT -5
It makes perfect sense...the restrictiveness of the copyright is dependent on the site and its purpose. I had written a longwinded description of how information from our site could be used, and how the individuals who WRITE posts retain all control of their writing, include whether to share it elsewhere.
But, since we weren't going with "all rights reserved" I was concerned that legally our copyright statement wouldn't stand up if challenged. My biggest concern is that a pharmaceutical company or supplement company might use something one of our members write as a product endorsement. I also don't want academic researchers and grad students combing through our website for something they could steal, file off serial numbers and put into their thesis.
So, the creative commons license gave us all some peace of mind that the restrictions we've outlined will allow us to stop such activities if we discover them.
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xkamelx
Global Moderator
Check Those Corners
Posts: 11,108
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Post by xkamelx on Nov 13, 2004 17:42:00 GMT -5
The way I understand it, and please take this with a grain of salt, is that all images and text on this forum is automatically copyrighted by law to the forum of Temporal Reality, and it's administrator (me) and to Patrick Clinger because of the copyright notice I have placed in the small table at the botom of every page here. Of course to Patrick, because while I personally own the concept of Temporal Reality, and the images I have created, he owns the server, and all of the data we are putting on the server. Even though I run a forum through his server, I believe it would be illeagle for him to go create a site copying this one. The reason being, is that copyright notice. Again, as I understand it that is all that it takes for someones work, be it art, images, ect. online to legally belong to an individual, or an entity, in this case, then enitiy of Temporal Reality. I believe that alone is enough to stand up in court. Obviously, I would never take anything like that to court. If another ProBoards stole something from us, I would contact Pat or CMDynasty, and they would either remove the content, ot delete the forum. If they copied work and took it off ProBoards' servers, then I would get intouch with thier server administrator. So "hopefully", I am legally right, and Temporal eality is protected. As for your site though, iti s completly different then Temporal Reality. I think the copyright program can really benifit your site, becase from the sound of it, it sounds like people could, in fact, make a profit off of your, and your members work. The only way someone could make a profit off of TR is if they wanted to write a science fiction novel, which is unlikely (anotherreason for the copyright, ecspecially in the fan fiction and art forum, which is not accesiable by guests) or if they wanted to add a sci fi web template to thier database, and copied our graphics. Both of those are very unlikely, as where it is very likely people would steal from your site and try to make a profit. So I guess it depends on the nature of ones site/forum as to where the limited copyright would be a good thing. I do not think it fits Temporal Reality's intrests, but believe it fit your forum's intrests perfectly. In any event, I do thank you for sharing that!
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