psyke83
July 22nd, 2009, 01:02 AM
Hi,
A certain website has come to my attention (which shall remain unnamed) which is focused on how-to articles for Ubuntu.
From a cursory examination, it appears that this site hosts some articles that are original submissions (or at least the original attribution is missing), but many of these articles originate from posts on Ubuntu Forums - usually copied verbatim, or with some sections edited out.
Two of my guides have been submitted to this site without my permission. Although these guides link to the original content on the forums, the attribution is at the very bottom of the post. I find this rather concerning because:
I did not agree to have my posts reproduced on this, or any other website besides ubuntuforums.org.
The articles copied from my forum posts are based on earlier revisions (so their content is outdated and possibly contains errors).
The website has implemented a comment system for each article, and users are posting support requests, apparently without realizing that it is not the original source.
The website is ad-supported*.
*I am not against websites using an ad-supported revenue model, but I take issue with the use of other people's content to increase revenue without permission.
While I understand that people may not take issue with their content being reproduced in this manner, I do. I often make corrections and updates to my guides, and the threads themselves serve as an appropriate way for users to request support.
Is there a document or policy I can read that explains the rights of authorship and redistribution of content posted on the Ubuntu Forums? I feel that the reproduction of content by third parties should only be done with explicit permission (opt-in), rather than without permission as is the case now (forced opt-out).
Regards,
psyke83
A certain website has come to my attention (which shall remain unnamed) which is focused on how-to articles for Ubuntu.
From a cursory examination, it appears that this site hosts some articles that are original submissions (or at least the original attribution is missing), but many of these articles originate from posts on Ubuntu Forums - usually copied verbatim, or with some sections edited out.
Two of my guides have been submitted to this site without my permission. Although these guides link to the original content on the forums, the attribution is at the very bottom of the post. I find this rather concerning because:
I did not agree to have my posts reproduced on this, or any other website besides ubuntuforums.org.
The articles copied from my forum posts are based on earlier revisions (so their content is outdated and possibly contains errors).
The website has implemented a comment system for each article, and users are posting support requests, apparently without realizing that it is not the original source.
The website is ad-supported*.
*I am not against websites using an ad-supported revenue model, but I take issue with the use of other people's content to increase revenue without permission.
While I understand that people may not take issue with their content being reproduced in this manner, I do. I often make corrections and updates to my guides, and the threads themselves serve as an appropriate way for users to request support.
Is there a document or policy I can read that explains the rights of authorship and redistribution of content posted on the Ubuntu Forums? I feel that the reproduction of content by third parties should only be done with explicit permission (opt-in), rather than without permission as is the case now (forced opt-out).
Regards,
psyke83