> From:    Dan Lester <[log in to unmask]>
>
> I know everybody has their own rules.....but on lists I manage this would
> get you a first and last warning for the blatant copyright
> violation.  Posting the URL is fine, posting the whole article isn't for
> two reasons:  First, copyright law violation.

There is no difference whatsoever between loading the article in your
Web browser (which duplicates it, even in Lynx) and reading it in a
mailing list (which duplicates it). The fair-dealing provisions of
Canadian copyright law (since I am not American, I do not care about
U.S. law) would make quotation of this sort quite legal *if* the
original poster had cited the source and reiterated its copyright
notice.

>  Second, filling mailboxes
> with stuff that a relatively small number of listmembers want to read.  A
> second violation would get you zapped.

Bah. This is a mailing list, not an exercise in clairvoyance. The
article absolutely *was* on-topic for Lstown-L, and besides, in
*every* mailing list there are occasional posts that person X or Y
doesn't give a damn about. However, an article on, say, growing
tulips would clearly be off-topic.

Moreover, desubscribing people summarily like this is
totalitarianism, not listmanagement. Nopost and Review settings are
much more appropriate punitive measures, not that I concede that
there was any cause for punishment at all.

--
                                        Joe Clark
                                   [log in to unmask]
                            <http://www.interlog.com/~joeclark>