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[TooMany2cvs]

How does copyright work on forums?

You own the copyright in your posts.
Clearly, that - alone - doesn't exactly work well for the forum owner, who would have no rights to duplicate/display/etc your content. So, by posting on the forum, you permit - or licence - the forum owner to use that content. We're just starting to see decade-old content on forums, but Usenet and bulletin boards have been around for longer. No content's ever "timed out", so that licence really has to be viewed as perpetual, no expiry date. If you post, and I quote your text, then I'm making a derivative work. For me to do that legally, you have to grant me - via the forum owner - permission to do that. Which means the forum owner has to be able to grant a licence to me.

Few amateur-run forums bother to look into the precise legalities, so the Ts & Cs tend to be lax and implicit.
Professionally-run forums can't afford to do that, so they have to make the implicit explicit.

If that forum is run by a company who run umpty-seven other forums, they just plain can't guarantee that your text won't ever appear under a different URL under their umbrella. Or they might, perhaps, use a snippet in some marketing material. So they have to have some catch-all that they can use the content elsewhere, not just on that forum.

IANAL.

People are starting to ask why some pictures are no longer showing up.

Since the specific instances I've seen mentioned are just IMG tags to external photo-hosting, gawd knows why... Nothing goes through the forum owners, other than a link which your browser uses to download the pic from the original source site. It's just a glitch, folks. They happen... No conspiracy. Move along.

[Hirsch]

Actually Adrian, some people have gone so far as to delete pictures from their respective hosting sites.

[TooMany2cvs]

Actually Adrian, some people have gone so far as to delete pictures from their respective hosting sites.

I'm sure they have. But there were images that were definitely still extant being reported as AWOL. Like in that 9-3ss sill trim part number threads. Which showed up just fine when I followed the link. And - trust me on this - they could not possibly have been cached here...

[Hirsch]

You're probably right, we're both right in ways.

I don't want to start out on the wrong foot with you on Wulfs site.

Truce?

[TooMany2cvs]

<lightly baffled> Is there one needed?

But, yes, if you think there is... <proffers hand for shaking>

[Hirsch]

Well, we've sort of been having a go at each other on SC.

We don't need to carry that over here.

[nordwulf]

Well, we've sort of been having a go at each other on SC.

We don't need to carry that over here.

At some point, it seemed everybody was going against everybody. Like a bar fight where you start to hit each other and can't figure out the good guys from the bad guys.

[TooMany2cvs]

and can't figure out the good guys from the bad guys.

Well, when the other guy is swapping masks back and forth...

Hirsch and I have had a couple of PMs, I now know who he is - and it makes no difference, because I've (as ever) been playing the ball not the man.

[Hirsch]

Yeah, I guess I should have said at some point that on SC I'm Cincy_Snaab. I can see how that would be confusing.

[nordwulf]

This was a crazy week and I am glad it is over. Well, for me at least. As they wouldn't delete my account, I removed all my details and contact options in my settings on SC so not much is showing when you view my profile. I also added a signature saying Deactivated user account. It won't show up in all of my posts but at least in some. I respect anyone who still visits SC but I just had to leave.

My eyes started to water a bit when I typed the last few lines.. Seriously. I don't want to sound too sentimental but 5 years of many daily visits is a long time. Perhaps someone else will take the "Where the F is this place" thread beyond 10K posts.

Last year, I was asked to become a moderator for SC and was very excited about that. I jumped in and offered many suggestions for new features and offered assistance in helping out the Admins with management of the site. And perhaps take the site of their hands so the members and mods would have more control.

They choose not to accept that. I was frustrated but fine with that decision. It's their site. Period.

I did have a choice to start a new forum which I did in July of last year. I really wanted a new home for my Saab Archive materials and make it more than just a forum. I didn't openly recruit or try to steal away members from SC or other forums. I let some know about an alternative forum with different and new features. I definitely made some mistakes in the beginning and learned from my experience. So the other forum was long in place before the events of this week. It was not set up in an attempt to steal members from SC after change of ownership.

I don't like the way the sale of SC was handled. I don't agree how a large corporation financially benefits from the contributions of members trying to help each other. I do understand and agree why previous content can not be deleted. And everyone has a choice. I can't tell you what to think, what you should do or what forum you should participate in. Leave the past behind and look to the future. And decide for yourself where you'll be happy.

I never meant to turn members of our great community against each other. Perhaps I overreacted on some issues or with some of my posts. But that was because I am passionate about being a member of the Saab community.

I have no hard feelings against Yungster or Helena. They are just doing their job. I hope everyone will treat them with respect. You don't have to agree with them but respect doesn't require much effort. There is no reason for name calling because angry discussions just aren't effective.

My "Goodbye" thread and account deletion request yesterday wasn't meant to start another discussion. I just wanted to have the chance to announce I was leaving SC. Clean out my desk, thank everyone, say goodbye to my friends, have a last chat and let them know I wouldn't visit the place anymore. I think that was well within my rights after 5 years of being an active member.

You know where to find me. Thanks for everything and no hard feelings to anyone.

Goodbye!

<clears out drawers, turns off lights in office, shuts door, looks back to wave goodbye to everybody, starts up the Saab and drives into the sunset looking for new adventures>