Before distribution, to check consistence, really?
> Most companies who have included my FAQs have
> not sent me a free copy even when I requested one. And it wasn't offered.
> I had to ask to receive it and then not receive it...
This is reprehensible, but irrelevant to the current topic, IMHO.
> Now what can we do as FAQ authors to make it easier
> for us to get the Information Service Providers to assist in allowing
> you meet your 4 points ?
Wait a minute. There is a question that needs to be asked that hasn't
been. *Should* we make changes to our document, which most of us do
on our own time, to make it easier for someone to make money off it?
I think one could stronly argue that we shouldn't have to. We already
*all* spend a lot of time to make it easy for others to get information.
Haven't we already done our jobs?
> First, the ISP must be able to quickly get
> any to Permission/Copyright statements out of the articles.
grep [Cc]opyright faq.faq
Quick, easy, portable, covers 90+% cases right now.
> In looking at
> the archive of news.answers I have here I do not see a standard way in
> which people put a copyright statement in their FAQs.
Should we? How will we let all the FAQ maintainers know and get them
to comply? What about those FAQ's that aren't posted to *.answers?
What should the ISP do when it runs across one of these.
> Why am I trying to make it easier for them ? Cause if its hard or costly
> they will not do it and we will be having this discussion yet again.
I contend that the burden of responsibility rests entirely on them.
If each FAQ maintainer wants to make this extra information available,
cool, but each ISP has *no* *right* to even *ask* this of a FAQ
maintainer.
I shouldn't have to post explicit rules in my neighborhood to prevent
people from having loud parties at 2:00 AM. "You should have posted
a sign that was easy for us to find and read" is not an adequate
excuse for a lack of common decency. This is a wild analogy, but
the concept is still valid.
> -----
> ISP Procedures:
I have a new set.
If you're going to publish this information for money, either get the
author(s)'s permission or make sure that there is no redistribution
restriction in the document. If you don't like this, don't play.
If we choose more elaborate ISP procedures, how do we get them in
the ISP's hands?
If an ISP can't even be bothered to check the copyright inside a
document or contact the author, what would make one think that they'd
search a header for this information?
> -----
> FAQ Maintainer Procedures:
Continue to spend your own time to make the best document you can.
> Am I off base here ? If we make it easier then ISPs will be more likely to
> do it "right". We need to know what that is as a group and try to make it
> easier for all. Ideas ? Permission/Copyright formats ?
I understand and applaud what you're trying to do, but I don't want to
coddle someone who is behaving, IMHO, reprehensibly. I'm not all that
interested in inconveniencing myself to help someone with no scruples
(IMHO, again) make money on my labor. Period.
Like just about everyone else, if I were asked (and my FAQ were mature
to my satisfaction) I'd probably tell them to go ahead and take it,
with proper disclaimers and attribution, but I do not want to be
surprised when my work shows up somewhere unexpected, that's all.
Nick Christenson
npc@minotaur.jpl.nasa.gov
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