"CM's edit: The link above loads a page with some profanity."

I love this.

I think we should invent some CM's edit: blogstickers.

Something along the lines of:

"CM's edit: The link above loads a page with some irrelevant self-indulgent bullshit by a cheap technocrat whore."

"Ignore this author."

Thanks, Jim Lynch (Community Manager) and Jeneane! Who knew it could be this simple? Having selected the surprisingly comprehensive "ignore" option, henceforth JCD my doorstep will darken no longer.

From: JOHNBEANS 6:32 pm
To: JOHNCDVORAK unread (59 of 60)
4681.59 in reply to 4681.57

Thanks, but I've always thought that writing a column would be like someone who loves to travel opening a tour-guide company -- that doing something for pleasure occasionally and doing it for a living would be radically different experiences. I would expect that most peoples' sense of humor couldn't survive either the deadline or the inevitable criticism. Agree?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, it certainly seems so in this case.

Per Denver, I went and checked out Prof./Doc. Lomborg's site. Lawsuits are less fun and more expensive than an abscessed molar, and the definition of fair use is as lucid as a Dvorak article. It looks like Lomborg copied and displayed the whole Scientific American piece, thus making a fair use argument much tougher. Here's a nifty reference to help illustrate: the "fair use checklist" that Indiana University provides its researchers.* It lists the factors a court is likely to consider in determining whether the copying is a fair use. Note that using a whole work and making it available on the web are big "cons." A case study from the same source also is informative, as it works through hypotheticals involving a professor's reproduction of a magazine article. Where the use is non-profit and the purpose is sufficiently worthy, even wholesale copying can be a fair use - you'd have a tougher time convincing a court, but it could be done. Even so, Being Wrong Loudly can be a remarkably effective legal tactic, especially before a court is involved. The Prof./Doc. probably decided this was not the place to plant his flag and squander his resources. He still gets his digs in without using the whole article.

(*Here are similar faculty guidelines from Bryn Mawr and Vassar.)

now this is stupid.

since when is being "shrill" a reason to close a discussion thread? Eeeks, these guys really are nerdy whimps. John, Clokers, and Enorlin, ya better watch yourselves. The great and powerful CM is not pleased.

Blogging the Cat

This cat blogs his dog, a fabulous beast! He's also blogged his cat - dead at last. Mundane matters as commonplace and annoying as gum on the shoe in a hot parking lot seem to annoy the salaried critics. So let's look inward again and work on the voice thang. That's what many of us are surely about: finding and expressing and exposing and knowing and allowing ourselves to be known.

Oh! Hernani?

Dvorak is a nobody, a man who believes (as already alluded to below) that because he knows something about how computers work he must therefore know that they *mean*.

A hopeless nutter, in other words, since the conclusion simply cannot be drawn from the prior established facts.

Be Suspicious.

For you cannot go about the public pursuit of passion without being seen as hopelessly romantic and naiively sentimental by those who want to affect a more sophisticated air of "professionalism."

And speaking of sophistication, see its roots in sophistry, for example, to understand that it doesn't mean what sophisticated people think it means. An unintentional and uncharacteristic honesty on their part?

As Jeneane says (sort of) Wear your pathetic romantic unsophisticated labels with pride.

As the Good Book says: you cannot serve God *and* Mammon.

You have both right and obligation to be suspicious of those who claim that you can.



For Denise and Kevin: Scientific American (I think) recently published an executionary diatribe against Bjorn Lomborg, the ex-GreenPeace turned skeptic environmental scientist.

Bjorn used the article to publish (on his own website) a rebuttal, for which SA threatened to sue him for copyright infringement, and he removed the offending piece simply because he can't afford the defense costs.*

Question: Would his use be acceptable under the terms you described, below?

Seems to me that it would, but . . . . .

* Several other publications have since made his response available on their own sites, affectively daring SA to sue them, and thus to confirm their deliberate abandonment of any search for truth, in favour of more mercenary ambition.

BTW... who is Dvorak? I don´t give a shit for this bastard. We just have to thank him to show us the meaning of his life. I´d just like to be apart. "We can't go on together with suspicious minds."

The Axis of Manic Cussing

The battle between Rageboy and Dvorak continues, with RageBoy's most recent retort to John's name calling. John has labeled us "Very Creepy People," and I for one feel good about it.

Again it comes down to the fact that many blogs are conversations. The office where I work has around 20 people in it. Many of them check out my blog everyday and wonder down the hallway to finish the comments in real time (as they don't converse online). People confuse a blog with a online or offline magazine when they are two different things all together. We need divergence, not convergence with the MSNBC's of the world. Dvorak and other over-touted articles forget that. Canada's National Post waded into the blogging debate last week with this less than profound article. The article misses the point completely. I blogged it and tossed in my two cents here.

Where's the Real Threat?

While this idiot was busy garnering undeserved hits yesterday, a more omonous-to-blogging and over-touted article was busy climbing its way to number 2 on daypop (now at 7). What felt really wrong about this article was what I observed to be its aim: to deter "amateur" writers from blogging. Read my take on the article and my own advice over on allied (after the dorkvak post). Thanks to Mike Golby for being a sounding board and editor.

Propogate if you see it as I do.

Jack Valenti needs a clue

While we're roasting old media types, have a look at what Jack V has to say. I waded in at some length on my blog, but I'd like to hear what the rest of you think.

And I haven't forgotten that blog archiving tool - I may have something tonight.

John C. Dvorak: Cult of the Cluetrain Manifesto

When you go to a circus, does anyone really care what the clowns say? Dvorak confuses writing about computers to actually understanding how the network has changed the ways that a society interacts. That being said, it was a horribly written column. Someone is slacking this week.

No Piscean Plot

Sorry, Marek. While your Dvorak analysis is both amusing and mostly accurate, I need to set you straight on one point. Maybe you're under thirty-five and therefore don't remember, but there was a time when the Business-as-Usual crowd was swooning over the Erhard Vector, and Dvorak is old enough to have known it well. In fact, some high-tech circles of the day were particularly susceptible, believe it or not.

And the ad scene! My God, the guys in charge of the American Express account AND the US Army account, to name two examples I knew about, were spinning the shit out of said Vector. "Be all that you can be." had EST dripping all over it.

So John C.D. need not have been coerced by any sneaky Pisceans to have played the Werner card. He knew what he was up to. You are too kind to suggest otherwise.

Ah, now we're getting somewhere!

What? Dvorak didn't invent the keyboard!?!

My friend just informed me of the bad news today. For over 60 years, our keyboard cult worshipers have supported the guy who we believed was a godhead and keyboard savior --- then we unearthed this bit:

Concluding that there is some sort of conspiracy afoot among the obviously grass-roots 60-year support for the Dvorak is paranoia, not academic theory. ~ thisistrue.com

Are the Rageboy groupies really cult worshipers? We're not just postmodern cult leftovers, are we? Aren't we really more like monks? Do only the heretics consider us to be like members of a monastic order, devoted to the practice of a recusant hagiology? Others may mistakenly see hints of a quest for a divine theologue or theogonic pursuits and hear what seem to be confessions of fabulous deities and mythological powers. However, some of us just like to screw around a bit and poke fun at a few odium theologicums every now and then. Is this wrong?

I'm normally too timid to post to this group, but the recentMarek J and Sandhill really struck a nerve --- with their unfounded claims about a particular Polish history and talks of a weasel coated Norwegian judge.

In our defense, an essay by Chris Redmond, reprinted from The Sherlock Holmes Review in 1989 clearly states that "the puzzle … is in its last sentence" and … "my address will be in Norway - I'll send particulars later. He does not say why he is going to Norway"… but I think that WE ALL UNDERSTAND WHY HE WAS GOING THERE! This reference in and of itself is conclusive and refutes any of the non nostrum tantas componere lites (what does that mean?) of Marek and Frank.

Sandhill Trek Expresses Solidarity with Polish Ventriloquist Bloggers

In a fraternal expression of solidarity, Johnny Ace - the chief Trekster and power behind the blog - was seen tonight with tears of gratitude in his eyes as he sobbed his heartfelt thanks that perhaps somewhere there is justice in the sport of Olympic BlogSledding. "You'd think the dumb fuckers could use a stopwatch or something. What is this holding up little cards with subjective numbered scores from 1 to 6? And where did the Norwegian judge get that new weasel coat? And if they are going to hold up little cards, why don't they hold up little cards with fishes, say from one to five fishes, with five fishes being the best? And couldn't somebody automate that for them?" There was a lot more mumbling before Johnny passed out, one too many 8 ounce tumblers of fine Polish vodka having been consumed.

Polish Ventriloquist Bloggers Federation supports Jamaican BlogSled Team

'This is an outrage' - was heard from the Polish Ventriloquists Bloggers Federation camp at the Olympic Blog Village in Salt Lake City, referring to Jamaican BlogSled team for having not been considered for '5 Fish Blog' Award. 'This is an outrage and we stand by the Jamaican BlogSled team. Those lads are great. We protest the machinations of the one they call Fishukyamuni. This is an outrage and we side with Sandhill Trek. We hope this matter will be resolved soon. The investigation continues. Stay tuned.

Dvorak: Fishakyamuni's Norwegian Connection

In the latest development in Figure Blogging controversy we have chanced upon an article written by one they call Dvorak, John C. The article is an 'asp' page wich immediately raises a red flag. Dvorak begins with strange words 'review of the book that won't die'. Chris Locke, the first to ever complete a famous Triple Salchow Blog Jump, has crafted a well-reasoned response: 'Blow me, you dumb mothefucker'

What we don't understand is why would Dvorak, a well respected computing guy who doesn't know shit about Figure Blogging, want to review the book they call 'Cluetrain Manifesto?', I ask you dear reader. If he hopes the book to die then why would he want to pen a shitty article about it? Would it not start a conversation about the book right back? (Chief Archeologist note: Since Dvorak doesn't 'get it' about conversatons we need to rewrite this sentence for him: Would it not start people talking about the book again?)

It is at this point that our Chief Archeologist interrupts with these important words: 'Maybe Dvorak is a Fishakyamuni's spy?' - I mean, since Fishrush has advanced the Figure Blogging arena and brought the sport to the eyes of millions, at this crucial moment Dvorak seems to have been used by Fishkyamuni to say some really stupid words to avert our focus from the real thing; namely that Figure Blogging originated in Poland in Kleczwowo village. Maybe Dvorak was drugged? Kindapped? Forced to write this crap by Fishakyamuni? We don't want to quote much here for we fear that reading Dvorak's crap will cause further damage to our brains. However may we say that Dvorak knows how to use theatrical props well. In his piece he reaches for the favorite: Werner Erhard of EST. This, my dear readers, is a sure clue that Dvorak is in fact Fishakyamuni's spy. No one in their right mind would ever envoke the Erhard Vector to score points witht the Business As Usual people. We will investigate furhter. Stay tuned.

And if that isn't what free and protected speech is all about, I'm off to join the Poles :^).

Got it. Go Rageboy.

Then there is Chris's approach: Escalate and eviscerate.

Disintermediation Marches On

Interesting piece by Tig Tillighast in ClickZ about some of the possible effects of Google's new do-it-yourself, cost-per-click advertising:

The implications are huge. In traditional media, the brunt of spending is done by small companies in media such as newspapers and local radio. We tend not to talk much about that kind of stuff in marketing circles, because we have a bias against small advertisers and because online media haven't been transactionally efficient enough to bother with them. But, by opening the door to small advertisers, Google may be multiplying available marketing dollars for everyone online.

. . . and,

Another interesting aspect will be the implications these systems have on people who buy and sell ads. One could argue that with this type of system (especially if it spans multiple sites), the need for a lot of the work an agency does would become moot. Likewise, the sales force might become superfluous to all but the very largest and vainest accounts.

Will this leave those big, vain accounts more isolated and irrelevant? It's nice to contemplate.

John C

I don't think there's any question that your example in all its forms is criticism and fair use. Now, parody, for example, can be a more difficult beast. The estate of Margaret Mitchell did not take kindly to Alice Randall's "The Wind Done Gone" last year, calling it a derivative and infringing work, but an appellate court disagreed and said Ms. Randall's work was a not only a fair use but an appropriate exercise of her first amendment rights (more here). Justice Potter Stewart famously said of obscentity that it was difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. This kind of ad hoc approach creeps into the way the courts analyze copyright disputes as well, as they try to strike an appropriate balance and prevent the wholesale misappropriation of protected materials.

By the way, just what has become of the Klingon figure bloggers? Google has a Klingon interface, after all, and I do note it is impossible to make out the features of the pair on the IBU home page.

Hmmm...

So, to take a topical example, Dvorak is trolling for pageviews today by quoting the first 10 Cluetrain theses and making banal but inflammatory comments on them. If I quote his article in its entirety here, interspersed with my commentary, is that fair or not?

If I elide his more boring comments, does that make it fairer?

If I elide his comments to the emphasise his fatuity?

John Dvorak writes:
But, of course, "I don't get it." I imagine all these folks holding hands in a large circle, rolling back and forth, with some in the middle of the circle, spinning and chanting and hugging, all naked. How about this for a thesis: "People walk on two feet."
I'm waiting for a blog written in Klingon. That would be something. People are changed fundamentally? Third eyes? Extra toes?

Don't feed this troll.

When blogs cry

Wow.

Before I can be accused of putting myself too frequently under Lee's care, let me clear up the nature of my practice. I actually am an appellate lawyer, and so get involved when someone has won or lost at trial and the case goes on to the next level(s) of judicial review. This means I handle many business law issues, but intellectual property is near and dear to my heart. I work with several copyright law gurus who eat, drink and sleep the stuff, and ride in like the cavalry whenever needed. To answer Kevin, though, your first assumption is not quite right. A copyright violation conceivably can occur whenever a copy of a protected work is made. This is because copyright holders have certain exclusive rights in their works: the rights to copy, modify, publicly perform, distribute and publicly display. The kinds of acts you mention in your second paragraph fall within the "fair use" exception - they meet the test for something the law might consider infringement, but for public policy reasons we (through our legislators and courts) have decided certain types of uses, within reason, should be encouraged and not prevented. Copyright holders thus are "deemed" to consent to use by others for research, teaching, comment, criticism, news reporting and the like. Whether something is a "fair use" depends on considerations like how much of the copyrighted work is used and for what purpose (e.g., does the use detract from the commercial market for the copyrighted work). (You also gain certain rights when you own a copy of a protected work - a book, a cd, etc. You can re-sell the item - think half.com - and publicly display it "at the place where the copy is located.")

The DMCA was Congress' attempt to refine and clarify general copyright principles for the digital arena, and impose stricter penalties for certain kinds of copying. (An overview of the Act is available here from the UCLA Online Institute of Cyberspace Law and Policy.) The DMCA primarily is concerned with means of making a copy which did not exist before powerful computers and internet use were commonplace, or which can only be accomplished by circumventing the manufacturer's built-in copy protections. The DMCA also makes certain activities a crime, and thus provides a whole different type of remedy than those available in a private infringement lawsuits. For example, under the DMCA criminal penalties may be leveled against someone who cracks encryption software. ISP's also are shielded from liability for simply transmitting copyrighted material, but made more accountable if they are notified a user's web site may display infringing works. The DMCA is careful to preserve the fair use exceptions discussed above. The end result for your purposes is still the same: exercise caution and common sense. If in doubt, don't do it or definitely consult a lawyer. Your commentary and limited quotation of another's copyrighted work probably would be a fair use. But if you're using a great deal of the work, without the author's permission, in economic competition with the author - have a care. The reason so many copyright cases are in the news these days is that rights holders and users are trying to fit new practices into the old legal structure and see what the courts will go for (consider what *fun* someone could have, for example, with the rule that you can publicly display your copy of a book or a cd at the place where it is located). No one here wants to be the next headline I assume(?), but in fact that's how the law in this area develops. People on either side of the issue decide something's too harmful or just wrong, and turn to the courts for guidance.

WE WUZ ROBBED!!

Sandhill Trek, proud sponsors of the Jamaican BlogSled team has lodged a protest with the IBU regarding the recent sleigh(t) of hand associated with the omission of consideration for a 5 Fish award for the plucky lads from the islands. The closest we can come to understanding this situation is that perhaps they didn't win a Figure Blogging award because they were entered in the BlogSled competition. Regardless, the Sandhill Board is meeting soon to decide whether or not to return the 5Fish award we've so proudly displayed since our early days of bloggery.

Selling links?

I can't even sell a TV & Video cabinet. (Does that count as Gonzo Marketing? Any micromarkets looking for furniture in the SJ area listening?)

Backing up a bit, as we have a copyright lawyer in the house, can you confirm (or refute) my understanding of copyright law and the DMCA?
As I see it , copyright law is concerned with publication - showing things to people. Copying from one form to another, editing and quoting is not a breach of copyright; it is the act of publication that is. This is a sensible framing that makes it immune from technological innovation (until we get machines that can be classd as persons, I suppose).

The DMCA is all about copying data, whether or not a human ever sees it, which seems to extend the bounds of copyright much further, and to strongly limit the ability to edit and thus read only a subset of a work. Do I have this right, or not?

Norwegian Figure Bloggers conspiracy to silence Polish Ventriloquist Judges

Our first post generated a lot of responses. One of them came from a woman who shall remain AnnOnymous. Let's call her CilAnnTro or AnnDroid to protect her identity for she fears the Norwegians wrath. She asks a thought provoking question which we'll expand upon in this installment of our investigative report into the origins of Figure Blogging.

"Did you ever wonder why there are no Polish judges in Figure Blogging?"

That very notion has been addressed by Fishrush himself, to the blogging world known as the Chairman of Figure Blogging Olympics. It's no wonder that Polish judges have been denied participation in any international level of blogging competitions since, of course, they maintain that Figure Blogging origins are falsly attributed to Norway. Could it be perhaps, that there is some Norwegian generated consipiracy going on? Could it be that the Norwegians, headed by Fishakyamuni, are in collusion with the Chinese and the Russian judges but distance themselves from the French judges, since the free world knows that the French can not be trusted. Could it be then that it was the crafty Norwegians that set the French judges up to take the fall as as to remove the focus from themselves? Perhaps it is the classic 'Fire and Motion' strategy as recently being displayed by Microsoft in the business world with their latest .Net initiative. Who is learning from whom here, huh?

I mean, did you notice the Norwegian spy disguised as a 'man as a woman in figure blogger's dress' representing Russia at the current Winter Figure Blogging Olympics in Salt Lake City? Were the Russians even aware? I mean, no self-respecting Russian female would tolerate that 5 o'clock shadow.It was clearly one of the men from the Fishakyamuni's village that infiltrated the Women Russian Figure Bloggers ranks, as any Polish judge would tell you, but of course they were not permitted to be judging anything outside of Poland, much less the Olympic events. We will investigate further. Stay tuned.

Figure Blogging Origins Questioned

Fishrush is pointing to Figure Blogging's origins to Norway however it may not be entierly true that Figure Blogging was started by a band of nomads in Norway in 1996. Our Chief Derailment Archeologist has a different and quite possible explanation on how Figure Blogging came to be. To our surprise he points to a small village in Poland in the Kurpie region named Kleczkowo which in Polish means 'approach the blog' or so could be loosely translated into English but we know that that in fact Kleczkowo is Polish term for Figure Blogging.

We do not deny a Norway connection; a Kleczkowo villager named Winczeslaw emigrated to Norway in search of a better method of potato picking and chanced upon summer solstice celebrations taking place in Fishakyamuni's village. Winczeslaw, enamored with the display of artful rituals of Norwegian villagers, tried to demonstrate his own village rituals to Fishakyamuni but he was unable to fully explain the meaning behind them since he lacked a crucial skill of Norwegian language. The only way to communicate for him was to move about his legs and hands, here and there jumping up and down to somehow distinguish the finer points of Kleczkowo rituals. He was completely misunderstood further by Fishakyamuni who got drunk and stoned that night and woke up the next morning fully convinced that the gods of his fathers visited him in his sleep and instructed him to start a worldwide movement of Figure Blogging.

We are dispatching our finest team of archeologists to the village of Kleczkowo to further investigate the origin of Figure Blogging and set the record straight. In the meantime Polish Ventriloquist Bloggers Federation has filed a lawsuit with the International Bloggers Union to recognize Figure Blogging as having its origins in Kleczkowo village. We will update you on the above mentioned topics soon. Stay tuned.