Legal Question

[ezdays]

Just to chime in here, as a matter of course, we take copyright protection very seriously on Big Blue. Our rules do specify that you do not post or copy anything that you don't own or have permission to do so. Fortunately, most people adhere to this policy and we rarely have to remove material, but make no mistake, we monitor everything closely and have deleted things when necessary. If there's any doubt, we will move a post to another area until we get clarification. I've seen other forums where the administration is not so diligent and members seem to freely post pictures and articles they've found elsewhere without regards to their source. They don't seem to care that they are jeopardizing their reputation, the existence of their site and perhaps financial damages if someone can prove that it is routine on that site. There are site owners in jail right now because of things like this and Mikey and myself are not going to put ourselves in any of these positions.

Regardless of how diligent we are, some things will inevitably get past us. Frequently we do not know if someone has taken a photo or has just copied it form somewhere else. We need to rely on their judgment most often. Still, we will deal quickly with anything that we see or that is brought to our attention. The basic rule to follow is, if you don't own it or have permission from the owner, don't post it. That includes sketches, photos, articles or anything else either in you post, avatar or signature. If in doubt, ask or better yet, just post a link to what you want others to see. Giving credit without permission is not good enough.