Being "Fair Use" proactive - A method?

[a_lost_packet_]

Lots of articles get copied and pasted into forum posts. Mainly, they serve to establish talking points for the thread. Sometimes, they're used as support material for a claim. Often, they're used to rebut controversial statements and, sometimes, they're just darn funny.

But, there isn't really a generally accepted guideline for quoting them. I've been on a number of boards and very few have strict guidelines for quoting third-party information.

I generally establish my own policy, making sure to separate copyrighted text/articles, link the source and clearly indicate it is not my own work. But, that is sometimes problematic.

I've started to "try" to use our quote system. Specifically

where this is the hotlink for the quoted article[/url]":3iksqtlu]

And this is a small or significant portion of the copyrighted material.

But, there are problems with that, sometimes, as some urls cause the quote brackets some trouble.

So, is there a possible solution available? This is, after all, teh intranetz. Anything is possible.

Something to pass on to developers/admins: A special "Quote" feature that parses out urls correctly, allows a title of the url to be entered and is markedly different from quoting a user's post.

For instance, it could be a "Quote Reference" button. In it, a popup would arise which would ask for the url, the title of the url and the text to be quoted. The quoted material would then appear inside a slightly different colored quote box with the title "Source Reference" (or something marking it clearly as third-party material instead of just a Quote. It could be allowed the same format restrictions as are available in any regular portion of a post.

I don't mind quoting articles by using the existing quote feature or simpler means. However, because of url formatting differences, the quote feature doesn't like them all and, frequently, disallows some titles for me. I could continue using the old "italics" method but, that doesn't always look very neat. But, not many forums that I frequent have a set, built-in feature for their software for quoting articles/references/etc.. A quick little addition that formatted the quotes appropriately would be nice. (Or, if the quote feature allowed more characters without causing it fits in attributing the quote, that would be most welcomed.)

It's important to pass on to ..whoever, that such a feature would not legally obligate the forums for following any copyright law. They would not be establishing a "Standard" but, on the contrary, trying to protect the integrity of a current practice. Their current stance on Copyright Infringement would not change in their EULA/TOS and they'd be under no obligation to change that standard as long as they did not make the use of any "Quote Reference" feature mandatory.

Anyway, it's just an idea. It's frivolous and, most likely, unnecessary. But, then again, lots of ideas are frivolous and unnecessary. That doesn't mean we don't like them.

 

[Shpaget]

A dedicated BBC would be nice.

This is how I do it.

From The Name of the Site :

bla bla bla

Than something I write myself, or if it is a very short text that fits in a sentence and it's obvious where I got it from I "put it between quotation marks".

 

[doublehelix]

Thanks for your feedback, alp. I think a popup would be a lot to ask of the developers, so I'm going to see if some already existing BBCode might work. There's code out there for horizontal lines, text alignment, colored backgrounds. Would any of this be of help?

-dh

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Thanks for your feedback, alp. I think a popup would be a lot to ask of the developers, so I'm going to see if some already existing BBCode might work. There's code out there for horizontal lines, text alignment, colored backgrounds. Would any of this be of help?

-dh

If there was a way to standardize the practice of differentiating an article quote from other quotes, it would help. A button or a UI interface just streamlines it and makes it easier for users to manage. If a button was there, people would use it. Managing nested BBC commands can be problematic, even for those used to them. That's why I suggested a popup/dialogue box where information could simply be pasted in. As it is, UI buttons are just shortcuts for BBC.

The suggestion is just a thought on how to help comply with the spirit of Fair Use standards and alleviate problems with article quotes without refs, uncertain attributions, etc..

However, not just "anything" would do, I'm afraid. For instance, an "article quote" button that wasn't clear enough in how it was used and could be easily goofed up could end up causing lots of posters headaches as they tried to fix their mangled, italicized, mega-url'd, pink background, posts.

For instance, let's say we had a UI button that pasted in the following code for use in article quotes:

[quote="[url=PASTE URL HERE"]PASTE ARTICLE TITLE HERE[/url]"]PASTE DESIRED QUOTED TEXT HERE[/quote]

Would that make sense to a novice user? What if they had to debug it? One deleted bracket or mistype could end up with users being frustrated and not feeling good about their experience and their ability to quote articles properly. That wouldn't be good for SDC so, I wouldn't suggest it. You guys (TPTB) would have to decide if you could introduce it so it would actually be a "value added" user experience instead of a negative one.