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A Note To Commenters

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on October 19, 2011 - 5:49pm

Folks, we cannot, and will not, allow copyrighted material to be posted in comments to articles. If you want to put a link in to a story in a specific newspaper or magazine, that's fine, but please do not post stories from other publications in their entirety.

Also, please keep your comments germane to the topic at hand.

Comments that stray from those guidelines will be deleted.

Comments

Submitted by y_p_w on October 19, 2011 - 8:40pm.

Do you have a threshold for "fair use"?

I know I've used short segments of stories - often when they directly quote or paraphrase an interview subject.

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on October 20, 2011 - 7:45am.

Fair use is fine, y_p_w. Wholesale cutting and pasting of copyrighted articles is not.
Libelous material is not, either, and that's a whole 'nother can of worms. While we tend to give folks lots of rein in their comments, if something gets close to being borderline in that area we delete it. Constructive criticism is perfectly fine, but casting aspersions usually won't get past us.

Submitted by Gary Slider (not verified) on October 20, 2011 - 10:28am.

Posting whole articles will only lead to trouble and this site being shutdown. I would hate to see that happen as this site is very informative. I have seen dozens of sites disappear because someone posted copyrighted material and then the Laywers swooped in. Do post a little blurb about the story and then a link to it. That is totally legal and gets the material out to those who may be interested in reading it.

Submitted by y_p_w on October 20, 2011 - 11:33am.

I would note that pretty much anything posted to a government-run website is considered in the public domain unless otherwise stated. I know a lot of NPS websites have images that were taken by private citizens and hosted by the NPS, but with notices that they consider the images copyrighted.

I believe the wholesale cutting and pasting of an NPS press release is considered OK.

http://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm

Ownership
Information created or owned by the NPS and presented on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by applicable law.

The arrowhead symbol is the official insignia and registered mark of the NPS. As such, it is protected by trademark laws and by 18 U.S.C. § 701, which provides for criminal penalties against non-governmental use of Government marks and other insignia. The arrowhead symbol may not be used without prior written permission from the Director of the NPS.

Not all information on this website has been created or is owned by the NPS. If you wish to use any non-NPS material, you must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources. NPS shall have the unlimited right to use for any purpose, free of any charge, all information submitted to NPS via this site except those submissions made under separate legal contract. NPS shall be free to use, for any purpose, any ideas, concepts, or techniques contained in information provided to NPS through this site.