# sig permission **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097 "2003-01-16T23:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/1 "2003-01-16T23:40:53Z")
Do you really need permission from a poster if you want to use something they said as a sig? ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/2 "2003-01-17T00:24:32Z")
From the copyright section at the bottom of each page: > [@](#): > > 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. It seems to imply that if you want to use someone else’s work then you actually need CR permission. I would think that the last line about the users retaining the right to republish their work also gives hem the right to proide permission to you to use theiur work. Remember that as soon as you publish something original, it is yours. If you would like to use something that someone else has published you should seek their permission. IMHO (which this forum is not). ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/3 "2003-01-17T00:28:01Z")
I think it’s just a polite rule of thumb that people follow out of a desire to be courteous. None of us hold any copyright over anything we post here, so from a legal standpoint no one can complain about someone reprinting their wit as a sig. The Reader may be another issue, I understand that they hold exclusive rights to anything published on this board. I’m not sure how that copyright would apply to text that is solely reprinted ON this board. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/4 "2003-01-17T00:43:58Z")
So **White Lightning** assume I get CR permission (which in all likihood wouldn’t occur), I can take great swathes of posts and repost them elsewhere. I would have thought some form of original posting copyright would have existed and you would have to get the original posters permission. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/5 "2003-01-17T00:47:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I would have thought some form of original posting copyright would have existed and you would have to get the original posters permission. Well, take a look at this text at the bottom of your 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. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/6 "2003-01-17T00:50:49Z")
**Caught@Work** , while I think your questions are valid, they don’t really address what the OP is asking. **vanilla** wants to know if, for example, he needs to ask your permission before he puts the line “I can take great swathes of posts and repost them elsewhere” in his signature _on this message board_ (where I have – currently – a quote from _WarGames_ in mine, for example). **vanilla** , I agree with **White Lightning**. It’s polite but not required. I mainly gives the quoted person a heads-up and ego boost. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/7 "2003-01-17T01:52:11Z")
“Fair usage” would imply that if you wanted to quote something that someone has said as your sig line on these boards (where you are not making any profit from it), it would be OK to quote them and attribute the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/8 "2003-01-17T02:51:33Z")
Yes, thanks. Fair use and great swathes are not the same and I apologise. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/9 "2003-01-17T14:28:18Z")
I am a she. (and anyone may use that as a sig!) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sig-permission/149097/10 "2003-01-17T16:09:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > I am a she. Oh, good! Now I am karmically balanced for **yosemitebabe** ’s waffling on my gender in the Pit! 🙂 Sorry, **vanilla**!