Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
The recent stupidity nonetheless raised what could be an important issue: AFAIK, I don't think we have ever explicitly stated what we will and will not allow all and sundry to do with our IP (intellectual property).
Clearly, we generate forum posts and wiki articles for the common good, but in full knowledge that the stuff is "out there" and will be plagiarised to their hearts content; the CF is similarly "out there", but requires a little more skill and dedication to make anything of. We have practically no control over what happens to it all thereafter, but I think a statement of values would at least inform potential plagiarisers where they cross the line between fair use and unacceptable use.
I am no expert on licensing models. I've had a quick skim of GPL, Creative Commons, Share Alike etc, but found it (on brief reading) confusing and unnecessarily convoluted for our purposes. Maybe we can adopt an existing licence model, or perhaps we have to develop our own (or is this all shutting the stable door?).
These are the principles I (personally) think would be acceptable (subject to changing my mind in discussion):
Clearly, we generate forum posts and wiki articles for the common good, but in full knowledge that the stuff is "out there" and will be plagiarised to their hearts content; the CF is similarly "out there", but requires a little more skill and dedication to make anything of. We have practically no control over what happens to it all thereafter, but I think a statement of values would at least inform potential plagiarisers where they cross the line between fair use and unacceptable use.
I am no expert on licensing models. I've had a quick skim of GPL, Creative Commons, Share Alike etc, but found it (on brief reading) confusing and unnecessarily convoluted for our purposes. Maybe we can adopt an existing licence model, or perhaps we have to develop our own (or is this all shutting the stable door?).
These are the principles I (personally) think would be acceptable (subject to changing my mind in discussion):
- Unrestricted for personal use including adaptation;
- No commercial use of any kind (which could risk upsetting Humax even if not us!), including inclusion of any copyrightable element or subsection, except by the originator (maybe);
- All publication to be via this forum and associated vehicles, or if elsewhere must be referenced on this forum, with full attribution of sources for any non-original content;
- All voluntary gifts of appreciation shall be for the purpose of supporting the upkeep of this forum and associated infrastructure only. Any surplus may be distributed as beer money by af123 at his sole discretion, including (and especially) to himself.
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