do we need a new rule?

[reprise]

For the last several days I've considered whether I should email the admins with a personal concern I have about a growing trend.

I've decided to raise this issue here because it is pertinent to SDMB as a whole and it doesn't relate to a specific poster or to mod/admin actions - if I've posted in the wrong forum, can a mod/admin please move this thread.

I have always understood the "don't be a jerk" rule to cover some things by implication. ie - don't use the boards as a place to air your personal crap, don't quote personal email without permission etc.

My current concern relates to livejournals. While part of me says that anyone who chooses to make their journal available to the world at large shouldn't complain if what they have written in that journal is used against them, another part of me says that if we have a "don't quote emails without permission" rule, then that same rule should be extended to livejournals.

I guess what I'm asking for is a clear statement of whether the mods/admins believe that quoting the contents of someone's livejournal is a legitimate means of defending an argument on this message board. I personally don't believe it is any different than quoting personal emails, and therefore don't think it should be allowed. Other people's mileage may vary.

I'm not looking for a justification of a pro or anti stance, I'm just looking for clarification of how the practise is regarded at admin level.

[Duck Duck Goose]

Not an admin, but hey, you posted this in a public place...

And that's the key, IMO. Live journals (you're talking about things like Open Diary, right?) are posted in a public place, whereas e-mails are not. Therefore, I would think that it would be OK to quote from a live journal but not an e-mail.

[wring]

allow me a dissenting voice, however, if you please DDG (if I throw in some GoodNPlentys):

I've always felt protocal here is that we keep in 'in house' so to speak, that if you had a problem w/someone in chat, in email, IRL, at other boards etc, you should resolve it in the same arena.

[Coldfire]

Originally posted by reprise
I guess what I'm asking for is a clear statement of whether the mods/admins believe that quoting the contents of someone's livejournal is a legitimate means of defending an argument on this message board. I personally don't believe it is any different than quoting personal emails, and therefore don't think it should be allowed. Other people's mileage may vary.Well, my take on it is this (and that's by no means a final answer - we'll just see where it ends): Provided the copyright rules of the Livejournal.com site (rules with which I'm not familiar) aren't violated, I don't see how someone could be slapped on the wrist by the Straight Dope Administration for quoting a small paragraph (the fair use caveat) out of someones LiveJournal. If the owner of said LJ would not like his words out in the open, he or she would not post them on the Internet.
If a quote from a LiveJournal is, however, used as a stick to beat a poster with, we shall put an end to it. Just like we've closed threads about people fighting in chat rooms, calling each other names per e-mail, et cetera.Now, let's see what my other colleagues think about this.

[dantheman]

IANAM (I am not a Moderator), but I think Coldfire absolutely right (and sensible, too). The issues are of relevance to the SDMB and copyright, and not in that order. If there's no copyright issue and it's relevant to a discussion - not being used as a weapon but as a reference, perhaps? - why not use it?

[Kat]

Being one of the folks who posted a link to their LiveJournal, I would have to say that they are in no way a private communication as an email is, but more like a public website. Anyone can read a LiveJournal of someone they've never met: by going through a link, by reading someone's "Friends" pages, by using the "random user" function, by typing in a LiveJournal URL with a possible username. The only exception I would request is that people not post anything from entries that have been restricted to those on someone's "Friends" list without permission.

[pepperlandgirl]

But how is LiveJournal any different from #straightdope, 3F, The Unaboard, or any other seperate but somehow related website? AFAIK people are strongly encouraged to keep everything that's outside of the Straight Dope off of the SDMB.

[Arnold Winkelried]

pepperlandgirl, I think we're trying to keep fights about unrelated stuff out of the SDMB.

[pepperlandgirl]

Oh. Well that makes sense.

[UncleBeer]

I think Coldfire absolutely right (and sensible, too).

Ha. Hahah-hahahahahaaaahaha-ha. HAH!. Mark May 31 in your calendars, folks. The first and last time that'll ever be said about Coldfire.

[dantheman]

I think Coldfire absolutely right (and sensible, too).

Ha. Hahah-hahahahahaaaahaha-ha. HAH!. Mark May 31 in your calendars, folks. The first and last time that'll ever be said about Coldfire.



Man, could you at least have the decency to quote me directly? Now people will have to scroll up to see who said that about him. And some won't bother, and I'll labor in prolonged obscurity!


;)

[Coldfire]

Bastard. See if I'll be getting YOU any beers at the Company Picknick in July, Unc.