On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 19:57:13 GMT, Bry
wrote:

Pat, perhaps I should have been clearer, www.gardenbanter.co.uk is *not*
my site and I do not own, manage or even claim to fully understand how
it works.

It is an HTML reader for several newsgroups, I simply use it to read
and post here. I also have no idea about the copyright issues regarding
this, in fact I hadn't considered them untill I read your post. Either
way, I'm not responsible for them. The only thing in this site I can
claim ownership to is my posts, and I suspect I gave away copyright to
some extent when I pressed submit.

I'm also under the impression it is provided by the people/person who
set up these newsgroups, or with their permission, although I
unfortunatly can't prove this.

I'd urge anyone to do some research and find out what is going on
before they start writing complaints, otherwise it could cause unfair
problems for the person who does manage this site, something I believe
they do as a helpful service to visitors.

I did the research before I complained. I know more than a
bit about newsgroups and how they work (that I haven't
posted here.) You can do the research too, or you can take
my word for it.

In this case, I didn't need to do awfully much research
about how Usenet newsgroup work as I have been participating
in them for well over 15 years and my husband has for well
over 20 years: long before a World Wide Web existed.

Being a possibly helpful service to visitors does not
justify the theft of intellectual property nor the violation
of copyright.

I could take the writings of others without permission too,
and put them on a website, and lots of people might find it
helpful. It would still be unethical and illegal (in the
USA at least).

As someone who does run a
site (which is of course *not*, www.gardenbanter.co.uk), I know that
unfounded or mistaken complaints can cause trouble with some hosts that
do more action that research.

That's the risk that Middleton (if indeed it is he, which I
believe to be true) runs when he takes the writings of
others without their permission. Live by the sword, die by
the sword.

I'd also be grateful if someone could step foward and explain what the
connection between this site and the newsgroups are before this gets
any further confused.


There is no connection between the newsgroup and that
website. So that one is easy to answer.

I'm glad it's not you, anyway, but it's still unethical and
illegal in the USA.

Pat
--
To email me, remove the trap and type my first
name in its place.

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry