I have remained silent so far because most of my concerns were already
addressed by others.  I am however, appalled about using people's
writings in any published form without proper attribution. THAT could
create huge problems at some future point.  To me this seems a form
of plagiarism!
 
I own several lists which are at least in part frequented by academics. Several
of us write posts that are (or can become) parts of future journal articles and
books.  The list is non-confidential but our notebooks are privater and only
listmembers are authorized to send mail.  When people ask if they my cite
something I have posted on the web I am delighted to give permission under the
condition that I am clearly identified to keep from being myself accused of
plagiarism at a later time.  Last year I presented a paper at a conference
based in part on a flame-war precipitated by a very hostile individual who had
joined our forum specifically in order to attack our fairly liberal idea of
Catholicim.  I subsequently decided not to publish the piece anywhere,
including the web, because she would not have given permission, and as the
author she holds the copyright to her words.
 
As for "fair use" it is limited to fairly small parts of written works which
must be cited in order to review or discuss the work.  Citation involves
name and date of publication.
 
Ingrid Shafer
[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
http://astro.temple.edu/~arcc
http://192.146.206.5/www/faculty/shaferi/index.html