Admin Attention Copyright and stuff

Mugz

Mugz

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Messages
15,449
I'm planning on writing a book about my time on bluelight, something like "Mugabe/Mugz" The view from the Blue Light.

In writing this book I'm going to be digging up my old threads and talking about them and stuff, I was wondering what the policy is on copyright on other peoples posts. If I'm posting about a thread that I created or posted in then other peoples posts are going to most likely be included too, it would be hard to write the book without that. Since this is a public forum and information from it has been taken without permission and posted other places before I would assume there would be no issue with this but I just wanted to check.

I know this is a bit of a legal question but could I potentially get sued for publishing someone else's posts in a book?

Also, what is the opinion of the Admins of Bluelight on me writing this book in general, are you against it because it could draw more attention to the site, it's going to be written as tastefully as I can, and as you know I do love the site so I wouldn't do anything intentionally to harm it.

You know me aswell though and it is probably unlikely that the book will ever get finished, but if it does these questions are important to me before I start so it would be nice to have some answers. :)

Thanks

Mugz
 
Feel free to post any of mine..

My old name is rickolasnice.. might start using that account again actually.. *please don't close it just yet mighty bluelight gods!*

I'm pretty sure you are legally allowed to use them.. nobody copyrights their posts and they've submitted them to a public forum?

I'd definitely read it :)

Thanks for the happy birthday the other day btw.. Merry unbirthday to you :)

<3
 
voila!

To the almighty mods: I'll delete my other account soon.. <3

Tried to delete my account and found out you couldn't.. ban it if you like i'm gonna stick with this one.
 
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I'd be very interested in reading your book! I reckon you could do legally, but maybe just sending out a general PM to everyone whom you've once its finished saying is cool if I quote you?

@rockolasnice

Why'd you start a new account to only to go back to the old one?
 
^ Was worried about a future job prospect finding out about this account.. but i'm not that worried about it anymore.. especially seeing as all my posts come up on google anyway and there is no way im goin through deleting 3,500 posts..
 
Mugz said:
I'm planning on writing a book about my time on bluelight, something like "Mugabe/Mugz" The view from the Blue Light.

In writing this book I'm going to be digging up my old threads and talking about them and stuff, I was wondering what the policy is on copyright on other peoples posts. If I'm posting about a thread that I created or posted in then other peoples posts are going to most likely be included too, it would be hard to write the book without that. Since this is a public forum and information from it has been taken without permission and posted other places before I would assume there would be no issue with this but I just wanted to check.
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anything somebody writes - even a post on bluelight - is immediately protected by copyright unless it has explicitly been placed into the public domain or some other licensing agreement.
Mugz said:
I know this is a bit of a legal question but could I potentially get sued for publishing someone else's posts in a book?
Click to expand...
in theory, you could.

alasdair
 
Thanks for the answer that I was actually needing alasdair :) will help me out. I guess I could just obscure the names of the other posters but mine if I was referencing a thread.
 
Sorry.. turns out i was completely wrong.. but again.. feel free to include my name / posts if needed.
 
who are you going to be? rickolasnice or naughtynicknails, you cant be both you naughty boy. I guess when I've written parts of the book I can just post in the forums and ask people if they mind their username being used.
 
^ Sorry it's just i am having PM conversations on my other account and forgot to change before posting..

I just been PM'd from someone claiming to be from the BBC wanting to interview me about GBL for a legal high programme :\

So mods.. please don't ban my other account just yet I wanna see where this can go.
 
Mugz said:
Thanks for the answer that I was actually needing alasdair :) will help me out. I guess I could just obscure the names of the other posters but mine if I was referencing a thread.
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obscuring their name doesn't solve the problem. why not just ask their permission?

alasdair
 
that's true. I guess I'll have to do that, I haven't decided exactly how the book is going to work yet anyway, it might not include exact posts of others, but emy esxact posts and then a summary of replies so no copyright is broken that way.
 
All posts made by the person tambourine-man™ are the sole copyright of the author, with all rights reserved.

©
MMXIII
 
Bear in mind that while BL posts are certainly covered by copyright, that doesn't mean you can't quote them. There are exceptions in copyright law for this purpose: in the USA the term is fair use, in the UK it is fair dealing. However, these are defences to accusations of copyright infringement - so you can only use them once someone is suing you. There's no way to ensure, ahead of time, that what you're doing is fair use/dealing.

In practice? You're probably going to be OK if you only quote short extracts from individual posts, with attribution. You probably won't be if you copy every post someone made :). But it's impossible to judge definitively. If you were ever at the point of selling this book, you'd probably want to talk to a lawyer.
 
rickolasnice said:
^ Sorry it's just i am having PM conversations on my other account and forgot to change before posting..

I just been PM'd from someone claiming to be from the BBC wanting to interview me about GBL for a legal high programme :\

So mods.. please don't ban my other account just yet I wanna see where this can go.
Click to expand...

GBL isn't legal?

That's anyway people being unable to search my normal account name to find this is the precise reason I go by a different name here as opposed to all other internet things.
 
the legality of GBL varies from county to county. however, this is not the proper place to discuss GBL. there are several threads dedicated to the subject elsewhere on BL.

as a reminder, the BLUA forbids discussing any sources or how to score drugs.

i've cleaned this thread up of various off topic chitchat.
 
Before you go through the trouble of writing the entire book; you might want to obtain a publisher first. Send your idea and a sample chapter to possible publishers and see who is interested.

Unfortunately many publishers will cringe at the thought of your "harvesting" an online community's thoughts... but good luck to you in any case.
 
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