the internet and copy right important please read!

[Samhain]

one thing i love about the sacred spiral so far is that there are threads where people have studied a topic and all got together to post about it.
don't forget that if you copy and paste from another site you must credit them with their work, if the site states what author has written it, credit him or her, in the absense of this credit the name of the site you got it from.
its possible to quote from another site, in this case its obvousily not your work, but you still need to credit it.
if you just copy and paste but don't quote it, its looks like you've written it yourself.
Hipforums could get complaints if we don't do this, yes its not terribly likely, but you know what people are like!
sorry this is so boring and I sound so teacherish.
this is not closed so any questions or comments do post!
S

[nimh]

good idea, sam

give credit where credit is due.

i like to cut and paste bc i'm lazy and dont really see the need to reinvent the wheel, but the original author should definitely be recognized.

cheers!

[Samhain]

folks heres what Skip has to say, I think it makes it very clear
S
This issue comes under Copyright Law's definition of "fair use" (look it up).

It allows for quoting text, using images other other media for certain purposes.

These include:
Educational
Satirical
Archiving
Criticism, Commentary & Review

In context of this site, you are safe to quote anything providing you acknowledge & link to the original source, and provide some commentary about it.

Just cutting and pasting with nothing more violates not only copyright law, but this forum's guidelines.

Of course it's one thing to violate this rule, another to actually be prosecuted. In most cases an offended author will request that the item be removed. A prompt removal will usually end the affair.

For someone to actually take legal action would require far more than not removing the item. First of all they would have to prove that they've been financially or otherwise damaged. This will only be the case if they can prove that your copyright violation either denied them income or enabled you to profit financially. And of course the amount of damage done would have to be significant enough for them to want to hire a lawyer and seek compensation.

The likelyhood that your posting up something by someone else would result in such a claim of damages is probably zero.

Of course claiming some copied work is actually yours could result in a slightly different type of lawsuit under plagarism, where you could be assessed punitive damages in addition to any copyright violations that occured.

I hope that clarifies the issues for you.