Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Changes to the monthly postings (for rec.humor.funny)
Keywords: administivia
Message-ID: <2714@looking.UUCP>
Date: 3 Feb 89 00:43:17 GMT
References: <2706@looking.UUCP> <2844@epimass.EPI.COM>
Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Lines: 52

Since this was brought up in public as well as in private, I must
answer in public.

Recently I have been put through a great deal of personal stress,
considerable cost in telephone and legal expenses, ill health and
literally weeks of lost time because of my dedication to rec.humor.funny.
All this on top of the considerable time I put into moderating the
group.  The whole battle isn't even over yet, and in some ways it is
escalating, as you will all soon find out.

All this because I have worked hard to give you folks, for free, something
you tell me you enjoy a lot.   After all these attacks, I had to ask myself
why I was submitting myself to such abuse, defamation and personal hardship.
Believe me, it's not pleasant to be called a racist on the front page of
major newspapers, and to become the enemy of the president of your alma
mater.

So I decided to affirm that the group is mine, and that I control it,
and that if somebody wanted to charge money for reading it, I have it in
my authority to control that, too.  So I have affirmed my compilation
copyright(*) in the group, and said all free usenet sites can carry it, and
that other sites have to ask.  I have also said that just about anybody
who asks will get a yes.  But it is *my* decision.  If a commercial service
like Compuserve asks, I might say no, or ask for their standard moderator
arrangment -- that's all.  I don't really know what Portal is, but if
I decide they're making money off what I do, then I have the right to
control it.

That's all for now.  But believe me, if attacks on me keep up, it's
not going to be all.  Most of you folks have been really tremendous in
sending me messages of support and thanks.  I know you're out there and
thank you for your help.  (I've just written a program to thank you all,
which I will shortly release freely to the net.)

But I will have control over what I do, and *I* will get to decide if
somebody else can make money off of my work.  If you're right in saying
that the net will laugh in my face for doing this, then I will leave.

--------
(*) A compilation (editor's) copyright, for those that don't know, is
a special copyright on a work or service that is a collection of works
by other people (both PD and copyrighted.)   It claims no ownership in
the individual works, but rather on the work to collect, edit, select
and publish them.  It means that nobody can redistribute a significant
part (or all) of the collection without the editor's permission, or use
the compilation as a sourcebook for further compilations.

All moderators have a compilation copyright on their moderated groups,
unless they explictly renounce it.  They have to declare it to enforce it,
however.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.  --  Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473