Been out of town, sadly, so didn't get to join in this discussion from the start. Bunch of you have e-mailed me asking if I would mind if my columns were stolen and distributed for free. Fact is, they are. My columns and others here are reprinted all over the place. I don't get paid and when asked, don't charge. My belief is that I...like music authors..need to change the way money comes in. Despite suggestions to the contrary, I have very little money. But my belief is that the more people read my work, the more valuable I will become as a writer. I don't believe I can charge for my work in a traditional copyrighted way. So my columns are often reprinted, linked to or excerpted and I don't get money or expect any. People are free to use my work in whatever way they want. This many make me stupid or crazy..many people here have suggested both. But I believe that the Net presents new challenges for writers and artists. So my choice is simple: I can get a lawyer to write threatening letters to people who quote my columns, or I can find new ways to earn a living. Those would be become widely read enough so that I can charge flat fees for my work. I have a contract with Slashdot, for example. I get paid as a freelance writer a flat fee per year. I don't expect or receive five bucks every time somebody reprints or quotes from my column. I want them to. I am not writing about this issue from a position of remote detachment..I feel it's time people came up a with a better way to deal with the movement of ideas than antiquated copyright laws, which just don't work in an Internet Age. Some have asked if I mind that people digitalize and distribute my books. It's a good question. I'd love to make money and pay my bills, but I can't say tht I do mind a lot. I'm happy when people see my work, pro or con, and believe that will ultimately take care of me.
In my reading about Renaissance Italy (limited, I have to admit), and in reading writers like Peter Gay, I don't come across anything that makes me believe they were aware of the history they were making, not outside of the CHurch. Do you disagree?
I'll be eager to go read this new study, but I'm always curious about studies like this: How come if video games spur violence among the young, that violence among the young is dropping to its lowest levels since the depression. Though the study may explain Threads.
...is a collection of columns written last year, and the excerpts chosen by a book editor. I didn't assemble it. Of course, they are my columns. Is there something here I'm missing, or that isn't clear?
I'm intrigued by that one. I might try it. I think the timing of this is perfectly appropriate. There were all sorts of victims at Columbine. First and foremost the dead kids. Then the sick kids who killed them. Then the thousands of kids whose lives worsened because of the hysteria that followed. I'm very proud of this book, and quite willing to be judged by anybody's who's read it. As to those of you howling about one thing or another without having read it, nuts to you.
This has nothing to do with sources. Some posts came from e-mail, some on Threads. You do not need people's permission to excerpt from e-mail posted to public sites..CNN, USA Today, NYTimes...to take part in public discussions, as a matter of fact. But the vast majority of the posts I received were from people ASKING to have their stories relayed and published. That was sort of the point. On the law, you are wrong. The questioning of ID sources doesn't apply at all here.Since many of the posters were kids, their privacy needs to be protected...especially when you read some of the posts that appear on Threads.
I don't know. IT's not an OS issue, that I can see, but one for/. The columns and messages are already archived on the site. Repeating a point: More than 20,000 probably people in all have e-mailed Slashdot or me about the Hellmouth series and Columbine. The vast majority of these were from kids who were asking me to get their messages out..to contact media, schools, publishers anybody..Not only were they offering permissiion, they were begging to get their stories out. Many of them did talk to reporters..NBC, NPR, The Boston Globe, New York Times,Phila Inquirer, Charlotte Observor. They were, in fact, ticked at me because I wouldn't give their e-mails to reporters. Permission is not an issue here. This is a totally false distraction, and a dumb one, since the story really is about kids using the Net to speak for themselves, rather than have other people speak for them. I understand the noise-making dynamics of Slashdot's Teen Hate Squads, but there is no issue of who owns comments here. The comments were sent to reach the world,a nd thanks to Slashdot, a handful of them will.
I don't think one can make that judgement without reading the book, frankly. It's not in any way tacky, in my view, nor do I think anybody will see it that way.
I think this is appropriate time to publish this book, for many reasons, but it wasn't my decision. I do support it though. And I totally disagree. It is not the same as the media hounding students. Columbine affected many kids adversely in American schools, and it's fitting that this book be published today.
I have permissions from thousands of posters -- many of whom sumbitted their comments to be passed along to media or included in any public discussion or book, but I didn't put this book together, so I don't know./. isn't legally required to excerpt from e-mail posts that are posted to be part of a public discussion, and as I understand, the posters are not ID's by name or e-mail anyway. They may have contacted or tried to contact the e-mailers. I don't know. But I could write a dozen books with e-mail from people demanding that their messages get published. That's what happened, in fact.
..didn't prepare the book or select the comments, nor communicate any of them. He has about 5,000 posts in his e-mail folders though, from people, who have asked their comments to be distributed to media or any book or article, if it came to that. But I didn't put this book together.
No, the book couldn't possibly include all of the posts. There were thousands posted to Slashdot, many thousands more posted to me over the year. Many are not in the archives, and I lost two computers which crashed during the volume of e-mail. There could only be a fraction chosen.. P.S. I don't use any moderating system. I consider it self-censorship.
I think it's very appropriate to remember the kids who were killed at Columbine..and you will see them remembered in every newspaper, magazine and TV show in America all week. But the killers were victims of a different sort, as are the many kids for whom school is a nightmarish experience. They include some geeks and goths but are by no means limited to them. There are way too many victims in American schools these days, certainly including the kids killed at Columbine. They would be foremost among them.
I didn't publish or edit it, or assemble it. I'm not making any money off it. I hope people buy it for the sake of the people messaging, but it's not my book. I am proud of it, though and very happy it's being published.
I didn't pick the posts or put the book together, so I can't answer all of these questions, and I don't know whether the comments included were after people were asked or not..they may have been..but I believe people are not ID'd by e-mail or name, and as public posts in a public forum, they are reprintable. I don't know if people were consulted or not -- many probably were not available, but I don't know the answer to that. I think there isn't much new material, apart from one of the Wave America columns. I have no idea about the cost, except it must be the production cost, since nobody is making a profit. There's no way to add "new" material to a discussion that was centered on specific columns and responses.. A lot of people have been asking for the columns and responses to be gathered so they could get them more easily than can be done on the site. Kids wanted them. So did teachers and parents. Good for/. for publishing them.
This book isn't being published by me, so I'm not taking anybody's comments and publishing them. It's being published by Andover. I didn't select the postings in it. But as a matter of law, comments posting in public for public dissemination can be reprinted, since they were posted for public discussion. The comments in this book are excerpts from among the many thousands of e-mails, and people are not identified by e-mail or name, so their privacy is protected. It's also a non-profit book, so there is no question of anybody's getting money. Nothing is paraphrased, though, as I understand it. There were thousands of pots, both to/. and to me -- two computers of mine crashed -- so the only way all the posts could be printed is in a 10,000 page book. These are excerpted, but not by me.
I respect Rob's attitude about hype, but actually this isn't self promotion. That would be making the book for profit, and neither he nor anybody else is doing to many any money from it. He's being overly modest. It's a neat thing he's doing by publishing it. Nobody else would. If you want to get into self promotion, imagine what a commercial publisher would do with it.
The columns and responses (those that could get posted) are still archived on/. It's the columns, a number of responses and a bit on the Pinkerton flap added on. I don't think the text of the book is being offered online, beyond what's archived here.
...but a lot of kids, parents and others have been e-mailing asking for it in print form. Nobody has to buy it, and nobody is making any profit from it.
Slashdot Mirror
...the second will happen.
Been out of town, sadly, so didn't get to join in this discussion from the start. Bunch of you have e-mailed me asking if I would mind if my columns were stolen and distributed for free. Fact is, they are.
My columns and others here are reprinted all over the place. I don't get paid and when asked, don't charge. My belief is that I...like music authors..need to change the way money comes in. Despite suggestions to the contrary, I have very little money. But my belief is that the more people read my work, the more valuable I will become as a writer.
I don't believe I can charge for my work in a traditional copyrighted way. So my columns are often reprinted, linked to or excerpted and I don't get money or expect any. People are free to use my work in whatever way they want. This many make me stupid or crazy..many people here have suggested both. But I believe that the Net presents new challenges for writers and artists. So my choice is simple: I can get a lawyer to write threatening letters to people who quote my columns, or I can find new ways to earn a living. Those would be become widely read enough so that I can charge flat fees for my work. I have a contract with Slashdot, for example. I get paid as a freelance writer a flat fee per year. I don't expect or receive five bucks every time somebody reprints or quotes from my column. I want them to.
I am not writing about this issue from a position of remote detachment..I feel it's time people came up a with a better way to deal with the movement of ideas than antiquated copyright laws, which just don't work in an Internet Age. Some have asked if I mind that people digitalize and distribute my books. It's a good question. I'd love to make money and pay my bills, but I can't say tht I do mind a lot. I'm happy when people see my work, pro or con, and believe that will ultimately take care of me.
In my reading about Renaissance Italy (limited, I have to admit), and in reading writers like Peter Gay, I don't come across anything that makes me believe they were aware of the history they were making, not outside of the CHurch. Do you disagree?
I'll be eager to go read this new study, but I'm always curious about studies like this: How come if video games spur violence among the young, that violence among the young is dropping to its lowest levels since the depression. Though the study may explain Threads.
I didn't compile the excerpts and have no such list. It will be in the book. I wouldn't give it out if I had it.
...is a collection of columns written last year, and the excerpts chosen by a book editor. I didn't assemble it. Of course, they are my columns. Is there something here I'm missing, or that isn't clear?
...this would be controversial, and it is. The messages were sent to be published, the kids demanding it. I have absolutely no regrets about that.
I'm intrigued by that one. I might try it.
I think the timing of this is perfectly appropriate. There were all sorts of victims at Columbine. First and foremost the dead kids. Then the sick kids who killed them. Then the thousands of kids whose lives worsened because of the hysteria that followed. I'm very proud of this book, and quite willing to be judged by anybody's who's read it. As to those of you howling about one thing or another without having read it, nuts to you.
Somebody who gets it.
...The cover is terrific
This has nothing to do with sources. Some posts came from e-mail, some on Threads. You do not need people's permission to excerpt from e-mail posted to public sites..CNN, USA Today, NYTimes...to take part in public discussions, as a matter of fact. But the vast majority of the posts I received were from people ASKING to have their stories relayed and published. That was sort of the point. On the law, you are wrong. The questioning of ID sources doesn't apply at all here.Since many of the posters were kids, their privacy needs to be protected...especially when you read some of the posts that appear on Threads.
I don't know. IT's not an OS issue, that I can see, but one for
Repeating a point: More than 20,000 probably people in all have e-mailed Slashdot or me about the Hellmouth series and Columbine. The vast majority of these were from kids who were asking me to get their messages out..to contact media, schools, publishers anybody..Not only were they offering permissiion, they were begging to get their stories out. Many of them did talk to reporters
I understand the noise-making dynamics of Slashdot's Teen Hate Squads, but there is no issue of who owns comments here. The comments were sent to reach the world,a nd thanks to Slashdot, a handful of them will.
I don't think one can make that judgement without reading the book, frankly. It's not in any way tacky, in my view, nor do I think anybody will see it that way.
I think this is appropriate time to publish this book, for many reasons, but it wasn't my decision. I do support it though. And I totally disagree. It is not the same as the media hounding students. Columbine affected many kids adversely in American schools, and it's fitting that this book be published today.
I have permissions from thousands of posters -- many of whom sumbitted their comments to be passed along to media or included in any public discussion or book, but I didn't put this book together, so I don't know.
..didn't prepare the book or select the comments, nor communicate any of them. He has about 5,000 posts in his e-mail folders though, from people, who have asked their comments to be distributed to media or any book or article, if it came to that. But I didn't put this book together.
Definitely an evil conspiracy..(but nobody's making you read it, right?) I like the boldface. It's kind of artsy.
No, the book couldn't possibly include all of the posts. There were thousands posted to Slashdot, many thousands more posted to me over the year. Many are not in the archives, and I lost two computers which crashed during the volume of e-mail. There could only be a fraction chosen..
P.S. I don't use any moderating system. I consider it self-censorship.
I think it's very appropriate to remember the kids who were killed at Columbine..and you will see them remembered in every newspaper, magazine and TV show in America all week. But the killers were victims of a different sort, as are the many kids for whom school is a nightmarish experience. They include some geeks and goths but are by no means limited to them. There are way too many victims in American schools these days, certainly including the kids killed at Columbine. They would be foremost among them.
I didn't publish or edit it, or assemble it. I'm not making any money off it. I hope people buy it for the sake of the people messaging, but it's not my book. I am proud of it, though and very happy it's being published.
I didn't pick the posts or put the book together, so I can't answer all of these questions, and I don't know whether the comments included were after people were asked or not..they may have been..but I believe people are not ID'd by e-mail or name, and as public posts in a public forum, they are reprintable. I don't know if people were consulted or not -- many probably were not available, but I don't know the answer to that.
I think there isn't much new material, apart from one of the Wave America columns. I have no idea about the cost, except it must be the production cost, since nobody is making a profit. There's no way to add "new" material to a discussion that was centered on specific columns and responses.. A lot of people have been asking for the columns and responses to be gathered so they could get them more easily than can be done on the site. Kids wanted them. So did teachers and parents. Good for
This book isn't being published by me, so I'm not taking anybody's comments and publishing them. It's being published by Andover. I didn't select the postings in it.
But as a matter of law, comments posting in public for public dissemination can be reprinted, since they were posted for public discussion. The comments in this book are excerpts from among the many thousands of e-mails, and people are not identified by e-mail or name, so their privacy is protected. It's also a non-profit book, so there is no question of anybody's getting money. Nothing is paraphrased, though, as I understand it.
There were thousands of pots, both to
I respect Rob's attitude about hype, but actually this isn't self promotion. That would be making the book for profit, and neither he nor anybody else is doing to many any money from it. He's being overly modest. It's a neat thing he's doing by publishing it. Nobody else would. If you want to get into self promotion, imagine what a commercial publisher would do with it.
The columns and responses (those that could get posted) are still archived on
...but a lot of kids, parents and others have been e-mailing asking for it in print form. Nobody has to buy it, and nobody is making any profit from it.