I just found this thread via mention of a TalkMail archive on :
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/003236.html
Well, Doc's posts are often VERY interesting to me. And VERY useful. I certainly do not read 20 news websites a day to pick up on all this stuff, nor does anyone else except him methinks.
That's my 2¢ worth. If the heading line does NOT interest me, I simply do not click on to it. All of us clearly has that option.
If Randy had to pay a staff member to glean all these news type posts relating to airlines, aviation, hotel chains and rental car firms etc,
I am sure he would prefer not to. The fact he appears to have no problem with Doc posting them, and the fact Randy alone is paying for the use and bandwidth of this board indicates to me his clear approval and endorsement of the postings.
Randy Petersen is of course the host of this board.
We are simply guests in his house here, and he calls the shots. This is a community, and we all gain something from being here.
Some provide input, others simply take that input and contribute nothing. And others for some reason unknown to me seem simply to delight in b!tching about the input of others which clearly takes 100's of unpaid hours a month and which is of interest to MANY.
That is what communities are about. We are all different.
Vive the difference, and my compliments to Doc (and many others) for their amazing efforts to share knowledge and news.
I too have always worked in newspapers and publishing magazines. And do so to this day. There is a small range of my copyright articles published here:
http://www.GlenStephens.com/column.html
I feel certain the news journals mentioned or linked in Doc's posts will have NO copyright or legal objection whatever to a non revenue raising use of their own topics they themselves post on web pages for that reason. There is NO legal restriction IMHO on doing this to my knowledge, PROVIDING you do not charge a fee for the information or otherwise try to profit from it.
That reason being to advertise their journals and sites to as many persons as possible AND to have you click on the numerous advertising Banner links theron.
Those links generate BIG revenue.
Why are those sites free? For that reason and that reason alone basically. NO poster above seems to have stumbled across this clear reality of the year 2000. They WANT you and me, and others to visit their site.
The WSJ site I click onto via Doc's link begs me to sign up for a trial subscription. If I do not click on that link on FT I will never see their offer for WSJ. Do you REALLY think CNN or WSJ etc will sue Randy coz I took a subscription to their services?
Go to
www.Google.com or any other decent search engine and type in "United Airlines" or "Hilton Hotels" or "Hertz Rent a Car" or "Boeing Corporation" etc. You'll will get
several 1000 web "hot links" to sites and news articles about these publicly listed companies.
Do you suppose for one second that Alta Vista or Google or Yahoo pay one CENT in user fees or copyright or licence fee to any of these newspapers or journals? No way. This is the web ..
FREE exchange of useful information.
That is what it does, and that is why it was set up. And long may it prosper. And Randy, and Doc and all others who assist in making THIS site a wealth of fabulous information for people all OVER this globe.
And on the "plus" side I personally have never seen any news items in my time here about cats, or "man bites dog" or whatever appears to have been the norm 6 or 9 months back, so self-policing DOES seem to have worked pretty much after all?
