[Talk Host]

that was written by somebody else.

Remember back several years ago when people were downloading music from those pirates sites by the millions. Attorney's got their hands on the issue and the poop hit the fan. Many people paid millions of dollars in fines and the whole pirate industry got shut down.

Well, now, those attorneys need a new cottage industry. Guess who is in their sites this time? Forums like Talk of The Villages, that's who. There are law firms that have full time people on the payroll who do nothing but scour the internet looking for forums. They then look to see if any member has posted anything that was written by somebody else, copied then pasted in the forum. (Copyright Infringement) Then, they pick up the phone, call the person who originally wrote the piece, collaborate with them for 5 minutes, then sue the forum for $100,000....and they are winning.

So, if you copy and paste and article from the Wall Street Journal, National Enquirer, Yellow Pages, Church Bulletin, grocery store flyer or the New England Journal of Legal News, we, and you, are in the cross-hairs.

This may seem like a small thing to many, but it's a big thing to the original author and to us. It means that we must now view every (That's Every) post on this forum every day (That's Every Day) to be sure that we are not their next victim....ah......rather......target. Google analytics tells us that last month, we were searched 14 times by individuals using keywords that indicate searches for copyright infringement.


Please, please, please, please, don't copy and post anything that somebody else wrote. We will just have to delete it. We have researched this (the charge being let by Tony) and have read, not a few, horror stories of forum owners being dragged into court and being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It is okay (for now) to post a link to the site where the text was originally posted...like http://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/org...ewsNoteWEB.pdf

JLK, the nice administrator

[BogeyBoy]

The original authors should be flattered that the elite member of TOTV would repeat what they wrote.

[Pturner]

that was written by somebody else.

Remember back several years ago when people were downloading music from those pirates sites by the millions. Attorney's got their hands on the issue and the poop hit the fan. Many people paid millions of dollars in fines and the whole pirate industry got shut down.

Well, now, those attorneys need a new cottage industry. Guess who is in their sites this time? Forums like Talk of The Villages, that's who. There are law firms that have full time people on the payroll who do nothing but scour the internet looking for forums. They then look to see if any member has posted anything that was written by somebody else, copied then pasted in the forum. (Copyright Infringement) Then, they pick up the phone, call the person who originally wrote the piece, collaborate with them for 5 minutes, then sue the forum for $100,000....and they are winning.

So, if you copy and paste and article from the Wall Street Journal, National Enquirer, Yellow Pages, Church Bulletin, grocery store flyer or the New England Journal of Legal News, we, and you, are in the cross-hairs.

This may seem like a small thing to many, but it's a big thing to the original author and to us. It means that we must now view every (That's Every) post on this forum every day (That's Every Day) to be sure that we are not their next victim....ah......rather......target.

Please, please, please, please, don't copy and post anything that somebody else wrote. We will just have to delete it. We have researched this (the charge being let by Tony) and have read, not a few, horror stories of forum owners being dragged into court and being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yours truly

JLK, the nice administrator

.... Eeek. The devil made me do it. Just kidding folks. Talk Host is right. Please don't do it.

[K9-Lovers]

Okay. We won't.

[golfnut]

Within a week this post will be so far down no one (ok very few) will ever see it again, if you truly think TOTV has exposure for this type of event you need to put some internal controls into effect, otherwise it's only a matter of time, but then again you really didn't need me to tell you that...gn

[BogeyBoy]

Originally Posted by golfnut

Within a week this post will be so far down no one (ok very few) will ever see it again, if you truly think TOTV has exposure for this type of event you need to put some internal controls into effect, otherwise it's only a matter of time, but then again you really didn't need me to tell you that...gn

Interesting concept - how do you envision these internal controls?

Perhaps every time someone starts a thread or posts a reply a warning message would appear.

[golfnut]

Don't know how to do it, that's for Jan or Tony to figure out, i have no idea how these blogs work, if i could help i would, i was just putting in my .02 cents, and that's probably all it's worth, it's the nature of the beast. ok i just had one more thought, can't you post a disclaimer some where that says posts/quotes by members are not endorsed by the administrators, dah dah dah, look at what movies/tv shows post at the beginning of their programs..gn

[tony]

Forum software can be set to withhold every single post for review by a moderator before it is released to appear.

We don't think our members would like this. It interrupts the flow of posting and spontaneity. It would require full-time moderators 16 hours a day and those moderators would have to be skilled in spotting copyrighted material.

For example, I tripped across a post by accident that was almost 18 months old. It was completely lifted from another site, without the poster even writing that the material had been copied. (Crediting the material, by the way, does not get you off the infringement hook.)

Here's how it happened. I wanted to know something about a certain subject related to Florida. I searched in Google and found the first search result pointed to Talk of The Villages. I was quite proud that one of our poster's work was so astute. I even remembered reading it when it was posted and was impressed then. I had thought the poster was perhaps a retired expert, or at least a very advanced amateur in the subject. I never even suspected, not even a little, it was stolen.

Again, by happy accident, I went back to Google and looked at the second item in the list of search results. There I was horrified to find, verbatim, the identical material on a very knowledgable web site on the topic. That, in fact, was the original work.

That original poster was quite cavalier in the reply to my Private Message in which I explained my discovery. I asked if any other of the poster's entries had been lifted, cut and pasted, and was assured none had been. I still had to search and research every post made by that member to be sure.

This is why I have asked members to help us and let us if they suspect a post has been lifted from another site. We will check and not reveal who told us. We will simply ask the original poster to rewrite the post and link to the original.

Let me ask: Would you like to have every post held for review until we can release it appear?

[bkcunningham1]

Originally Posted by tony

Let me ask: Would you like to have every post held for review until we can release it appear?

No.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by tony

This is why I have asked members to help us and let us if they suspect a post has been lifted from another site. We will check and not reveal who told us. We will simply ask the original poster to rewrite the post and link to the original.

Let me ask: Would you like to have every post held for review until we can release it appear?

I recently posted a message where I copied and pasted a Florida statute off a government site to support my statement. I felt it was public domain material and I had a right to copy & paste it since it was simply a quotation of law. How do you feel about that copy? If you feel it should be removed, I will do so or you can yourself if you wish! Please let me know one way or another. Thanks!

Here is the post: https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...&postcount=164

[tony]

Laws are not copyrighted. It is fine.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by tony

Laws are not copyrighted. It is fine.

Thanks! Thought so but just wanted to be sure!

[Jhooman]

Thank you for being so vigilante with our forum.

[The Great Fumar]

Wait a minute, does this mean we can no longer steal material from someone else , this will mean the end of fumar as we know him (third person reference) I haven't had an original thought since high school..........Oh woe is me , I think I'll go out and kick a dog, I know it will make me feel better..........

fumar the plagiarizer.....

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by The Great Fumar

Wait a minute, does this mean we can no longer steal material from someone else , this will mean the end of fumar as we know him (third person reference) I haven't had an original thought sense high school..........Oh woe is me , I think I'll go out and kick a dog, I know it will make me feel better..........

fumar the plagiarizer.....