User talk:Calan

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You don't appear to be blocked according to the block log, can you copy paste the block message exactly, maybe its an autoblock -- Tawker 22:53, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for looking at that. The block seems to have been removed. I'm not sure who or why. I did email the administrator who put the block on and maybe he fixed it.

All of us in Dubai live behind a "netnanny" sytle firewall and that causes us endless problems. I'm guessing that was it. --Calan 05:27, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Welcome to Wikipedia

Welcome!

Hello Calan, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome!  Scott5114 07:35, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Short quotes from copyrighted material

I saw your post just after you removed it-- you're right about the draconian copyright laws, and we all chafe under them, but I think an ethic has developed here that we should go out of our way to avoid copyright violation (maybe just because we know so many cut'n'paste additions go unnoticed). Anyway, I think the best policy is to rewrite, at least slightly, anything you take from a copyrighted source. I find that following this approach, I can generally improve the text somewhat, and you'll often learn more, both about the subject and about writing, in the process.

And BTW, your question was a perfectly reasonable one-- no need to remove it. Questions on Talk pages often take a while to get answered, or even go unanswered altogether; they arent't watched all that closely.

Happy editing! -- Mwanner | Talk 13:52, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

One other thing-- I see that you've added some photos, and I assume you took them yourself. It's a good idea to say so on the image page (just "Taken by me" or "Taken by User:Calen") because that makes it clear that you didn't lift it from some website. If you do take an image from a website, list the url of the source page. Feel free to ask if you have questions-- Wikipedia is a huge place, and there's more policy than one can well imagine. Cheers! -- Mwanner | Talk 14:01, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


I'm relatively new to Wiki but I have worked in print media for a couple of decades and we quote copyrighted material CONSTANTLY. I've written for newspapers and published/written for magazines and academic journals. It is not an exaggeration to say that I've quoted copyrighted materials THOUSANDS of times. So why is there an "ethic" here which says that short quotes are better re-written?

I'm not asking this to be quarrelsome although I confess that I was initially irritated that Herostratus (unfairly, I think) flagged my post as a copyright violation.

In my industry we ENCOURAGE attributed quotes because it is more transparent and honest than re-writing/paraphrasing, which runs the risk of plagiarism. Why is Wiki different?

As for your photo suggestion... that's a good one. That should be mentioned on the upload page. (or did I miss it?)


--Calan 15:14, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] re: Jones Radio Network

OK, OK, calm down -- you're right, probably. I shouldn't have said "copyvio" in the edit summary, they are probably fair use. AND, I agree that the changes I made are not an improvement. But I figured I better make them, because:

  1. I figured if anyone else saw the phrase "self-promotional quote" they might flat-out nominate the article for deletion, because "self-promotion" is a red flag for many. Because we get so many articles written by company flacks which often contain gross exaggerations.
  2. I didn't think that "Americas leading independent radio programming company" could stay when the source for leading was the company itself. Properly, I should have researched Arbitron ratings and such to determine if it's accurate but, not having the will to do that now, I thought I had better take it out.
  3. Same for "The company serves over 5,000 radio stations with a full menu of radio programming solutions.". I believe that they probably do serve over 5,000 stations, but I'm not satisfied to leave it in when the only known source for that is the company itself. They do have motive to exaggerate. Also, there is the questions of the meaning of "full menu". I think that could be seen as subjective and possibly POV. Rather than say "full menu" I would prefer to describe the services and let the reader decide if that constitutes a full menu or not. Also,"solutions" sounds like PR flackery. Is "solutions" really the most accurate neutral word to describe what they provide.
  4. I'm also not sure about fair use rules when, even if the quote is fairly short, if it constitutes the bulk of the article. I'm not saying it's a problem, I just wonder if it might be in that case.

Herostratus 16:13, 19 December 2005 (UTC) P.S. Don't forget to sign your remarks with "~~~~".

Note about your professional practice of quoting copyrighted material -- I wonder (not knowing of course) if that's in the context where you pretty much have control over the entire content of the piece, so that the piece was such that the owner of the material would have no motive to object to it. We can't do that. Right now Jones would have no reason to object to the article. But suppose, for instance, that there was a terrible scandal at Jones Radio Network. Of course we would have to describe that. Then Jones Radio might no longer be happy with the article. And if the copyrighted material had remained in the article (even, I think, in the historical versions of the article), they would have possible legal leverage over us, possibly, I think. Herostratus 16:28, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
You know, now that I think about it... I bet the main reason we have to be hyper-vigilant about copyvio is this: 99+% of any copyvio complaints we might get can probably be resolved just by removing the material. But what if we get into a dispute with an entity that 1) wants more than that, and 2) has deep pockets. What if, for some reason, Microsoft (say) gets so mad at us that they want to really cause pain? They could say that removing the material is not enough, the damage has been done. (A really devious enemy could easily use a catspaw to insert copyvio material themselves.) In that case, our best defense to the judge is that we have as strong a program as reasonably possible to avoid copyvio. And believe me the judge would have expert Special Masters to determine if that is true, so it would have to BE true. Herostratus 05:53, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] re: Jones Radio Network

I have calmed down. (I was feeling crankier than usual, that day) In any regard, it's less about what you did than about my general irritation with copyright law. In my profession, we take copyright violations very seriously and it is getting ridiculous how oppressive it has become.

Thanks for your comments, I take them seriously as a newbie to Wiki. It's a shame, though, that we have to CYA even in perfectly legal and moral behavior. The threat of lawsuits has become an abridgement of free speech.

I have to say, though, that after working for twenty years in publishing, I have never been sued, (nor ever heard of a law suit) for a short quote like I did. The quote fell within fairuse rules and there was no libel.


--Calan 14:33, 21 December 2005 (UTC)


[edit] You're welcome Calan !

Well you thanked me for my pictures of Dubai

Image_talk:Burjjum.jpg

Image_talk:DubAymx.JPG

so "You're always welcome"

Aymx (Don't imitate, innovate) 01:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Taj Mahal RFC

I've filed an RFC relating to the Taj Mahal at Talk:Taj Mahal#Request for Comment: Inclusion of minority points of view. Your comments would be welcome. Joopercoopers 18:15, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Neighborhoods in Dubai

I noticed that you have made major changes to Template:Neighborhoods in Dubai. I added a message to the discussion page about a week ago, but there has been no response since then. Please read it so we can decide on the future of the template. Thank you. Leitmanp 18:35, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject Dubai

I noticed that you have contributed to several articles about Dubai. If you are interested, a WikiProject Dubai is currently being proposed here. Feel free to add your name if you would like to participate. Thank you. Leitmanp (talk | contributions) 19:19, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

A temporary page has been created at User:Raime/WikiProject Dubai. You can go directly there to add your name, if you would like to be a member. If you do not want to be a member and do not wish to be notified of further updates, just leave a message on my talk page. Thank you. Leitmanp (talk | contributions) 06:40, 19 January 2008 (UTC)