Dumb question time: I was e-chatting with a colleague and I mentioned
that IMO it was impolite and improper to forward a person's postings
in one forum to another forum without their knowledge and consent.
He argued back, in essence, that "public is public", and it wasn't
like he had divulged private correspondence or anything, and I should
just chill out...
So I poked around a bit at a bunch of online netiquette resources and
I was rather surprised NOT to find support for my position. I still
think it is reasonable and polite, but apparently the net-standards
for behavior don't agree. For example, RFC 1855 says...
- If you are forwarding or re-posting a message you've received, do
not change the wording. If the message was a personal message to
you and you are re-posting to a group, you should ask permission
first...
And clearly by implication if it was *NOT* a personal message that
asking permission is not necessary...
Am I off base here? It seems that way ... [I'm a bit more disturbed
than I ought to be about something relatively minor like this mostly
because I've played this game for a LONG time now and it is always a
bit unsettling to learn that something you took for granted not only
wasn't "obvious" but might even be against-the-flow].
Also, it would have implications for the "copyright" crowd: if the
long-standing internet standard is "public is public", then one would
have a much weaker claim [if anyone actually dared to bring such a
suit] to claim copyright restrictions in blocking further-propagation
of postings to new/strange forums --- it would seem to be pefectly
adequate to reply that the implied-license of sending a submission to
a public list is broad, indeed].
/Bernie\
--
Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Pearisburg, VA
--> Too many people, too few sheep <--
