Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!vsi1!lmb
From: lmb@vicom.COM (Larry Blair)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Changes to the monthly postings (for rec.humor.funny)
Keywords: administivia
Message-ID: <1450@vsi1.COM>
Date: 3 Feb 89 18:34:16 GMT
References: <2706@looking.UUCP> <2844@epimass.EPI.COM> <2714@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: lmb@vicom.COM (Larry Blair)
Organization: VICOM Systems Inc., San Jose, CA
Lines: 41

In article <2714@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
=[[a lot of stuff on what a hardship is to moderate r.h.f]]
=
=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.

It is not "your" group.  You just the moderator.

=So I have affirmed my compilation
=copyright(*) in the group,

You are not compiling an anthology here.  All you've done is take other
people's work, stick your own copyright notice at the bottom, and
redistribute it.  It wouldn't hold up in a US court.

=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.

I was one of those people who was glad you stood up against JEDR and all
of the trouble, but your recent actions suggest that you are now on a
campaign to establish the r.h.f is your personal property.  While I
sympathize with your problems that have come from moderating r.h.f, I
would like to point out that would be no great loss if you gave up your
post to someone else.  You are not the only person on the net who is
capable of moderating r.h.f.

As a moderator, you have the right to selected what gets distributed
in r.h.f.  If you think that you have the right to control who gets
to propagate it, then I laugh in your face.  I, for one, would gladly
contribute to the legal defense fund for anyone who you tried to prevent
from propagating _any_ USENET group.
-- 
Larry Blair   ames!vsi1!lmb   lmb@vicom.com