Ian

I was contacted this evening from the owner of a site of which copyrighted material was being cut and pasted here. I'm posting this to remind people that this practice is not permitted, and there will be penalties going forward if it happens again.

You'll receive a warning, and your next offense is an automatic 5-day suspension, with the second offense being your removal from the forums. I know this may seem harsh, but considering the fact that I'm the one who has to deal with it directly I'm hoping you understand the reason this is necessary.

Thank you all for your cooperation. Mods this will be a sticky once it runs its course and will be modified to further act as a reminder going forward.

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PATRIOTSFANINPA

Have you sent a warning via PM to the person who posted this?,I think a warning that way would be appropo in case a person like myself overlooks the copyright notice by mistake and has no idea they violated a rule.

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Ian

I did - I don't think that person understood the severity of it, but hopefully everyone is aware now that you have to be careful when it comes to that stuff. It's ironic because I just had this discussion last night with someone else, so please - everyone be aware of this going forward.

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jmt57

I'll never understand how certain other sites blatantly permit forum members to copy and paste entire articles. Ironic that this site seems to do as good a job of any fan forum I've ever seen in policing copyrighted material, yet those other sites never seem to get bothered at all. Many seem to be under the delusion that it's okay as long as they post a link - though I always shake my head when not only is the entire article copied, but also the disclaimer at the end that points out it can not be copied without permission. Maybe the complaints are because this site has more activity than most - or maybe there really are a lot of Pats hater out there!

Perhaps when somebody becomes a forum member an e-mail be sent to them, with the copy and paste rules in bold? I'm guessing it's new members, or members that haven't posted in a long time that assume they're doing the rest of the forum a favor by copying an entire article.

Ian

To clarify you'll receive a warning - with the next offense being a suspension. Again, other people work hard to write their content to grow their traffic and readers - having that cut and pasted elsewhere is something that really frustrates site owners. Needless to say please be aware of that going forward and realize that it's O.K. to quote a couple of sentences, but that along with a link is what's permitted.

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Ian

You're right - it happens a lot elsewhere and people don't realize that just because no one who owns the content is around to notice doesn't make it OK. I'm actually building a rules area that will outline the forum policies - it's going to take some time to finish and I'm only about halfway through it. New members will receive a "welcome e-mail" which will mention that they need to review them prior to posting. I'll put something together.

Also - if anyone notices please hit the "report button" and if you're friends with that person please also suggest that they should edit the post immediately before a mod or myself has to step in. I know mistakes happen - but I'm asking that everyone here try and refrain from this practice so I can avoid evenings like tonight.

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tanked_as_usual

can we have the names of the sites in order for us to be able to intentionally avoid them?

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Leave No Doubt

I'm sure the copyright rules are posted somewhere in the site but it might be helpful to remind everyone what they are exactly. It's no more than 3 paragraphs right? And you have to include a link?

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PATSNUTme

This time of the year is when the draft starts getting under way. The Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly, Ourlads, ESPN,Kiper, and many others are paid subscription sites.

Some pay for those sites but it's not OK to post that info here just because you paid for it. Last year I was guilty last year of posting Pro Football Weekly's player rankings and insider info because I pay for their draft guide. I won't make that same mistake again.

Now the Huddle Report and some others have free info on their site such as a value board and draft board by teams. I assume it's OK to post links to those areas as they get publicity and it's not giving out information from their paid membership sites.

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jmt57

From one of the threads stickied above:
New Forum Guidelines - **Please Read Before Starting a New Thread**

Article Posting - Please post a link and limit whatever you post to a couple of sentences or quotes, but don't post the whole article. Failure to comply will result in an infraction, the second of which will result in a permanant ban. Contrary to popular belief while it may occur in other forums, reposting articles in their entirety is illegal and is absolutely not permitted here. If you don't approve of this rule, please include your name and address so I can send the notice to your house and let you personally pay the fine for violating it.