# Etiquette / legality / morality of quoting posts elsewhere **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 7, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698 "2000-06-07T21:37:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/1 "2000-06-07T21:37:36Z")
What is the policy regarding quoting Dope posters elsewhere? I mean, if I were to use SDMB threads (minus any lengthy C. Adams quotes) as fodder for my upcoming book on web culture, would I be sued, go to Hell, or be considered a heel? Or would you all just think I was as a literary dude and think I was cool? I’m actually not writing a book on web culture, I’m just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2000, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/2 "2000-06-07T22:03:51Z")
Scroll down to the fine print at the bottom of this page. Read it n’ weep. Of course, they can’t stop us from using quotations in private conversations. I’m always saying “As my good friend **mega the roo** said the other day…” and “You know, my buddy **Canthearya** was just addressing this sort of situation…” Stops folks dead in their tracks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/3 "2000-06-08T01:46:11Z")
Wait a minute! You mean the little © at the bottom of the page applies to our posts? If anyone writes this sentence without permission, they have broken the law. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/4 "2000-06-08T03:29:55Z")
Here’s what it says at the bottom of every Straight Dope page: > [@](#): > > By posting on this board you grant the Chicago Reader, Inc., and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you. No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written consent of the Chicago Reader, Inc., except that message board users retain the right to republish or repost their own work. What does this mean? 1. The Reader can republish your posts (say, in one of Cecil’s books) without telling you about or compensating you for it. 2. No one may legally lift content from this site (like your post) and republish or repost it elsewhere without the Reader agreeing to it in writing. WITH ONE EXCEPTION! YOU, the author of your posting, may republish or repost YOUR post anywhere you like. Hope this clears things up for you. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/5 "2000-06-08T03:46:50Z")
Tuba, May I give someone permission to repost something I’ve written here elsewhere? ( WOW! What an ego I’ve got to even think that someone would want to!) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/6 "2000-06-08T05:22:02Z")
What if I post this on some other site that has similar rules. Then can you both use my words or can neither of you? This is giving me a headache. I gotta go lie down. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/7 "2000-06-08T15:49:22Z")
Oops. I know you’re always supposed to read the fine print, but whenever I do it just says, “Deliberately concentrating and inhaling contents may be fatal” or something. With an exception, apparently. So deduct 10 points from my reading comprehension score and let me break the news to my publisher. My new book topic shall be “ways I cope with never being able to match pairs of socks on all I criteria, including length, color, age, and pattern of the little vertical elasticky ribs at the top”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/8 "2000-06-08T16:34:23Z")
Minor legal technicality: Does this mean that we retain copyright, but by posting, we give the Reader permission to use the work, and agree to not grant that permission elsewhere? Or does it mean that we grant them the copyright, and they give us the permission to use the work for ourselves? Or are the two equivalent? The only thing I see in the fine print which explicity mentions “copyright” is the copyright for the vBulliten software. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/9 "2000-06-08T17:13:50Z")
It means the Reader can use your post if they wanna and they don’t have to ask you, tell you, or pay you. You can do what you like with your post, put it in a book, put it on another website, engrave it on your tombstone. No one else can do anything with your post without consent of you (in some cases) or the Reader (in others). Depends on the situation. your humble TubaDiva Administrator PS Dr. M, you think too much. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/10 "2000-06-08T17:15:23Z")
So I’m free to repeat something that I myself said here last year, as long as I mark it “copyright 1999 by the Chicago Reader” ? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/11 "2000-06-08T22:06:59Z")
I think I understand, but I have one question. If I want to post something from the SDMB to another forum, who do I ask? The author of the post, or the Reader? Or should I just post a link to the thread in question? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/12 "2000-06-09T00:55:27Z")
Depends on the situation, fog. (Nice to see you again, btw.) If you’re simply reproducing YOUR post on another site, you’re within your rights to do so. If the site wishes to reproduce whole threads or other portions of the SD site, they need express written permission from the Reader management. Write [MLenehan@chicagoreader.com](mailto:MLenehan@chicagoreader.com) to get such permission; that address also handles syndication of Cecil’s work. Linking to us needs no permission; make your hyperlink. In fact, if you want to link your site to us and want graphic elements to do so, look here: [Link To Us!](http://www.straightdope.com/badges/index.html) ([www.straightdope.com/badges/index.html](http://www.straightdope.com/badges/index.html)) Hope this straightens it all out for you. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-legality-morality-of-quoting-posts-elsewhere/21698/13 "2000-06-10T05:12:14Z")
Ok. But what if, say, **Pink Slinky** wanted to “put it in a book, put it on another website, engrave it on [her] tombstone” a post that was made by **Biggirl**. Would she have to … ::SMACK:: Hey, that _hurt._