Talk:Harrison Bergeron

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[edit] Licensing?

Is this story in the public domain? I don't think we can link to an unauthorized copy of the story if it's still copyrighted. -Branddobbe 07:54, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

• I agree, and I removed it. Notinasnaid 10:17, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
  • I disagree, and I put it back in. It's not true that we can't link to what might be a copyright violation. The whole web would shut down if that were the case. —Chowbok 16:41, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

How can an article have hundreds of edits and still be this bad? Ltbarcly 04:36, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, it's not a great article, but I can't agree that your rewrite was better. In particular (1) you removed a spoiler warning (2) you removed a relevant external link (3) your rewrite significantly increased the use of fair use quotes from the story, I think beyond a sustainable level (4) you removed italics from the formatting of quotes, so that it just looks like a misplaced paragraph. So, thank you for your work, but I feel I need to revert it. Notinasnaid 07:10, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Movie page?

Should there be a separate page for the Sean Aston movie of the same name that was based upon the short story? The movie is VERY different from the actual story, and only has two or so scenes from the story itself.

I would favour instead trimming the very detailed description of the plot right down. If someone wants that much detail, they can read the story. In my view, this reads like a high school book report, not an encyclopedia article. It is in the nature of Wikipedia that people visit and add stuff until articles become overburdened with useless trivia. I propose this as a starting point:

The title character has exceptional intelligence, height, strength and beauty. As a result he has to bear enormous handicaps. These include distracting noise, three hundred of excess weight, eyeglasses to give him headaches, and cosmetic changes to make him ugly. Despite this he is able to invade a TV station and declare himself emperor. As he dances with a ballerina whose handicaps he has also discarded, both are shot dead by the Handicapper General. Added poignancy is created by the framing story in which Bergeron's parents are watching the TV, but cannot concentrate or remember the incident.

Notinasnaid 17:07, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

No takers? Ok, done. Notinasnaid 19:40, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I signed up as a result of the original article. I'm very happy with your edit. It's concise and represents a great glimpse of the actual story. Personal and sociopolitical interpretation remains with the reader. Well done, and thanks. ×Naturopathetic 19:35, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removing link to full story

I removed the link to the story because of what is stated in Wikipedia:External links. That is: "Linking to copyrighted works is usually not a problem, as long as you have made a reasonable effort to determine that the page is not violating copyright per contributors' rights and obligations. Knowingly and intentionally directing others to a site that violates copyright has been considered a form of contributory infringement in the United States." So I think it was important to remove this link. I intend to remove it again, unless a discussion reveals we should do otherwise. Notinasnaid 07:11, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Huh. I didn't know about that. It's too bad it was brought up here, because we could have claimed ignorance before, but now it's obvious that we're "knowingly and intentionally" directing people to a copyright violation. Lesson for the future is don't say anything when you see these.

Still, it's hard to see how Google can legally link to that but not us. —Chowbok 15:25, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I am so sick of copyright BS.