Copyright Violations

[Admin]

I need to remind everyone of the importance of observing the RWD copyright. The Terms of Service are very clear as to ownership of copyright, and obligation of copyright ownership - and each page of this site contains an explicit reminder of the copyright protection of the site.

The reasons for protecting the copyright include the fact that RWD members post information and photos here - and they expect that information to remain here. If the originator chooses to post information and photos elsewhere, that is not a violation of the RWD copyright - but if a third-party, with or without the originator's permission, copies and re-posts that information elsewhere, they are guilty of copyright infringement.

As a direct result of copyright violation and of RWD Terms of Service violations, I have taken the step of banning a former RWD member permanently.

This is one of a handful of bans in place at RWD and is a rarity, but I feel the protection of RWD members is paramount.

I have also alerted authorities and noticed those who are involved, and perhaps complicit, in these acts.

Please note that I am not an attorney, and my comments in this message reflect my understanding of the relevant laws.

- Dan

[jb]

Dan,

Is this possibly related to Manchester's lifting a post from our FAQ section and posting it on RWG?

[Admin]

Dan,

Is this possibly related to Manchester's lifting a post from our FAQ section and posting it on RWG?

jb,

The person I banned was guilty of multiple violations of copyright infringement and ToS issues.

- Dan

[prince_alfie]

Oh, there goes a few of those guy's limewire subs 

[RacerX]

Dan,

Sent you a PM about the point jb referenced.

[Admin]

Dan,

Sent you a PM about the point jb referenced.

Replied immediately.

- Dan

[tbelknap]

If someone violates the rules of RWD will they get a PM to make sure they know they violated them or be banned automatically?

[Admin]

If someone violates the rules of RWD will they get a PM to make sure they know they violated them or be banned automatically?

Naw, I think I will set a board policy to be arbitrary and capricious in my banning tactics.

I will ban members if they sneeze and fail to cover themselves.

I will ban members if they belch and do not have the common decency to say, "Excuse me."

I am thinking, particularly heinous, will be those acts where someone fails to include a damn comma in their sentences! Those will be banished for life!!

- Dan

[tbelknap]

Naw, I think I will set a board policy to be arbitrary and capricious in my banning tactics.

I will ban members if they sneeze and fail to cover themselves.

I will ban members if they belch and do not have the common decency to say, "Excuse me."

I am thinking, particularly heinous, will be those acts where someone fails to include a damn comma in their sentences! Those will be banished for life!!

- Dan

Thanks for not answering the question.  I thought it was a legitimate question in case I was to accidently violate the terms of this board.

Your board and I guess you can act like an idiot in your responses if you choose to.

[Admin]

Thanks for not answering the question.  I thought it was a legitimate question in case I was to accidently violate the terms of this board.

Your board and I guess you can act like an idiot in your responses if you choose to.

Have you read the Terms of Service?

- Dan

[tbelknap]

Have you read the Terms of Service?

- Dan

I did look at them awhile back.  I will make sure to memorize them otherwise if I make a mistake I will be banned.  I don't recall the "Excuse me" terms but I will make sure everything is memorized before I post again.

[Admin]

I did look at them awhile back.  I will make sure to memorize them otherwise if I make a mistake I will be banned.  I don't recall the "Excuse me" terms but I will make sure everything is memorized before I post again.

They really are not all that difficult. Most, or all, are simple common sense that rational people will recognize and follow under normal circumstances.

OK - the sparring aside.

I have run RWD for a while now - couple of years. In that time, I have had occasion to ban a handful of people. Most were obvious troublemakers who were seeking a thrill or intent on disruption. I feel no obligation to announce my actions in those instances either proactively or retrospectively. The only time when I feel an obligation is when action is taken with a more established member of our community - and even then, it depends entirely on the situation.

In most instances, I do my best to warn people prior to taking further action. In this instance, I felt the actions were so egregious, and malicious, that I acted on that quickly. As it turns out, I should have acted sooner - and had the actions been brought to my attention sooner, I would have acted earlier.

So... the summation is - the decision to warn or not is situational. If I feel the situation is sufficiently serious, I will take immediate action and may, or may not, choose to announce my decisions/actions to the board. In a couple of years now, the bans can be counted on one hand. You can draw your own conclusions from those facts.

- Dan

[tbelknap]

I wasn't referring to this banning situation but what to expect in general.  I am new to this board and wanted to know the specifics of banning since this post came out.  There was no need for sparring regarding my question.  IMO it showed a very unprofessional manner regarding you.  Like I said it is your board and you can act anyway you want and I can always leave and share my experience with others. 

With that in mind, it would have been a funny post have you meant it in jest.

[BillyB]

tbelknap,

Dan's a cool guy, he was having fun with you. The other board does more banning than here so don't worry about getting banned if you didn't dot all your i's and cross all your t's.

[Turboguy]

Dan meant it in jest and I thought it was funny.  I would not loose too much sleep worrying about getting banned.  Dan is very fair in how he does things. 

[Bruno]

What mean banned ?

In the topic http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=2398.0 , Manchester was able to post yesterday at 19:18 after the ban !!!

Is it a glitch in the ban system ?

[Maxx2]

Dan meant it in jest and I thought it was funny.  I would not loose too much sleep worrying about getting banned.  Dan is very fair in how he does things. 

It's lose not loose. If I was runnin things round hear youd be plassed on probashun for that their.

Maxx

[andrewfi]

You are going to have to excuse my blind old eyes here.

I decided to have a look at the T&Cs.

I looked on the home page. I could not see them.

I looked on the forum home page. I could not see them.

I looked in this thread. I could not see them.

I looked on this very page. I could not see them.

They may be somewhere but they are well hidden.

It does seem a little strange that something regarded as so unimportant as to be invisible to the interested eye should result in a banning when the the words in question were given freely away by the owner (jb).

Now, if the T&Cs were available to be seen in normal use, perhaps by dint of a link in the footer on the site's template/pages, it would seem to be less capricious and more justifiable to take drastic punitive action.


*** And yes, I did find the words. They are spread through several documents in one section of the forum. It is not likely that a casual visitor would find them, nor is it likely that a user making use of the normal navigation of this board would find them.

IMHO, in the circumstances of which we are aware, Dan, you made a poor choice.

[Bruno]

*** And yes, I did find the words. They are spread through several documents in one section of the forum. It is not likely that a casual visitor would find them, nor is it likely that a user making use of the normal navigation of this board would find them.

Andrew, try to log out... and select "register" like will make a new members... The text quoted below will appear on your screen... Every new members need to agree with these rule for become members. If some people don't remember the "contract" that they have "sign" a few month ago, Dan is not responsible...

Of course, these rules don't count for me, i have never register on RWD... loggin and password was send to me via e-mail 

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[Admin]

What mean banned ?

In the topic http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=2398.0 , Manchester was able to post yesterday at 19:18 after the ban !!!

Is it a glitch in the ban system ?

No, it was a glitch in the guy using the ban system. I have used it so rarely, it took me a little time to get it to work properly.

- Dan

[Admin]

You are going to have to excuse my blind old eyes here.

I decided to have a look at the T&Cs.

I looked on the home page. I could not see them.

I looked on the forum home page. I could not see them.

I looked in this thread. I could not see them.

I looked on this very page. I could not see them.

They may be somewhere but they are well hidden.

It does seem a little strange that something regarded as so unimportant as to be invisible to the interested eye should result in a banning when the the words in question were given freely away by the owner (jb).

Now, if the T&Cs were available to be seen in normal use, perhaps by dint of a link in the footer on the site's template/pages, it would seem to be less capricious and more justifiable to take drastic punitive action.


*** And yes, I did find the words. They are spread through several documents in one section of the forum. It is not likely that a casual visitor would find them, nor is it likely that a user making use of the normal navigation of this board would find them.

IMHO, in the circumstances of which we are aware, Dan, you made a poor choice.

Andrew,

To clarify a couple of important points.

The ToS have been announced, by me, in email and using the announcement system here, on numerous occasions. I have made a point of alerting people to their existence. They have been the topic of several open discussions in the past. They are a part of EVERY new registrant's introduction to the site and they remain prominently posted in the RWD Announcements forum. In terms of copyright, there is a reminder at the bottom of each and every page on this site - as well as other protections built into the site material. These are more than legally sufficient to protect the interests of the site - and the copyright provisions extend to those who are NOT registered members.

You state; "It does seem a little strange that something regarded as so unimportant as to be invisible to the interested eye should result in a banning when the the words in question were given freely away by the owner (jb)." You raise the question of "ownership" and you apparently suffer from some misinformation. You also fail to recognize that I explicitly stated the person involved has been guilty of multiple infractions - in one case, copying a photo of one of the RWD members here, and posting it elsewhere for the sole purpose of ridicule.

It is not going to do any good to rehash this incident. "Poor choice" or not, it is done. The ban was/is justified. I only wish I had known of the infractions sooner, so that I might have acted more quickly to prevent any embarrassment which was caused by some callous, insipid twit.

- Dan

[SANDRO43]

Dan, how about including an icon and link to T&Cs in the top & left-side menus, calling it, say, "The  60 Commandments" ?

[Admin]

Dan, how about including an icon and link to T&Cs in the top & left-side menus, calling it, say, "The  60 Commandments" ?

Yeah - will probably do something like that, HOWEVER, in this particular instance, it was much more the copyright violations, than it was the ToS violations - and there is a statement of copyright on each and every page. Hard to miss those, I should think.

- Dan

[SANDRO43]

Yeah - will probably do something like that,

Good, I suggest a "guillotine" as attention-catcher icon 

[BC]

Good, I suggest a "guillotine" as attention-catcher icon