ADMIN: Possible Changes to the Main List Settings

[Talisman]

--- In HPFGU-Feedback at yahoogroups.com, "Iggy McSnurd" 
<CoyotesChild at c...> wrote:
> > > 
That's just a bit of advice from a fellow list member... 

Talisman responds:

I realize some people may take this as a "threat," and break out 
their cyber pitch-forks and torchs, but they could also take it as 
VERY friendly, as if someone stopped them from running headlong over 
a cliff by pointing out the existance of the abyss. 

I am not acting as anyone's attorney, nor do I intend to give anyone 
legal advice, nor create any legal relationships. But I will share 
some information, which you can verify yourselves or discuss with an 
attorney of your choosing, should it interest you to do so.  

Everyone who posts on HPfGU joined a members only literary 
discussion group.  This, in my personal opinion, is strong evidence 
of members' intent at the time, regarding where their work would be 
published.

If some members now want to post in a non-member forum, I reiterate 
my belief that they need to establish a seperate forum--either to 
conserve extant posts, or to go forward on a different basis.

There are many considerations that come into play when a court 
determines whether an implied non-exclusive license has been 
granted, and if so, what the limits of that license are.  

In the U.S., at least, what the putative licensor was actually aware 
of, intended to grant and received in return for any rights granted 
are some considerations.    

Personally, I think it would be quite strange for any trier to find 
that, in exchange for being allowed to post in a members only 
environment, the poster was granting the right to be re-posted in 
non-member environments. The entire "benefit" to the poster being 
the particular members only environment.

Whatever language may have been nestled, intermittently, in the self-
named humungous big file, would likely be considered "belt and 
suspenders" for the idea that, if you posted to HPfGU, meaning the 
group substantially as you joined it, you should expect to see your 
work published there. 

Posting work to the site is an act of trust that your work will be 
used for the purposes intended and not mistreated.

As long as the administrators continue to administrate the list 
substantially as it existed when people joined, things are likely to 
hum along smoothly.

But if anyone, admin or otherwise, begins to view the extant posts 
as a resourse for various projects or wants to substantially change 
the nature of the group, again, I say they are heading toward an 
abyss.

Let's  re-explore copy right issues.  It is safe to assume that 
members of the list, Admin and posters alike, are citizens of 
countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention. Certainly 
those in 154 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Norway, Germany, 
Poland, Fiji, Togo, the Holy See and Liechtenstein, are.

Under the Berne Convention, each citizen is accorded the rights of 
the copy right laws of his or her own country.  Just think about it.

As I recall, in the U.S., there is no statute of limitations for 
prosecution of copy right infringement.  That's enough to keep you 
up at night.

I'm not saying that the Admin aren't delightful folks, but in the 
time I've been a member, I've seen evidence of more than one 
scuffle. One guy even has a web site detailing how he feels he was 
mistreated.  

Only a small percentage of members participate in Feed Back, but 
within that small group you've heard from a number of people who 
don't want the changes to occur as proposed.  Apply that percentage 
to the list and you've got a lot of potential trouble. 

Forget the lawsuits, enough threat letters from attorneys and the 
site would likely be deleted. 

Authority always comes with responsibility.  I can understand the 
impulse to creativity, but when you reach for the work of 11300 odd 
people as your resource, an abundance of caution is a virtue.

Do you want to create a book? Set up a sister "book project" site 
and let posters donate their own work, if they will.  

Do you want to make posts non-member? Split off and leave those who 
don't want to go, behind.

It's just so much better to ask, than to force.

Just my obnoxious thoughts,

Talisman