Will they notice

[Origisaurus]

Yucky, that is.

It would be just like them to notice changes on the board, and at the same time not notice bad performance, bugs, etc, that are their responsibility.

[The Gorn]

I reviewed the TOS agreement on Yuku. About the content, all they demand is that if you use their service to post messages, you agree to allow them to republish your content electronically (which is what a BBS is all about.) They don't seem to say anything about transporting content with the permission of the creators. They basically say that aside from that license, the copyright to all posts is the property of the creators of the posts.

I intend to make any transferred posts private until I have erased the same content over here. So that will minimize the probability that matching content can be found.

I will also make it possible for anyone who posted stuff here to request that it be removed. 

Here is the TOS, correct me if I am wrong: http://www.yuku.com/homepage/terms/t/Yuku-Terms.html

They say nothing about scraping, exporting messages, etc.

There are much larger activity communities on Yuku, like biddingfortravel. OpenIT is poorly indexed on the internet. I am sure that since we're all geek and most of us ad blocking software, and we haven't paid for hosting since 2006, hosting this board is probably a money losing activity for them.

The content here hardly gets indexed. See this: http://www.google.com/#hl...=&fp=c5aa4278f68e4a4

27 hits. What are there, 10 or 20 thousand messages here? We're invisible to the search engines.

[Origisaurus]

[Richardk]

Without reading the whole thing (TOS), section 3 concerning Content seems to say that it's ours to do with as we please.

It's also interesting that they make no statement concerning backups so a site with more traffic (and generating more ad revenue for them) could disappear overnight if they really screwed up. Without guaranteed service (backups) and no way for you to save your own content, why would a large community exist here (assuming that the community "owner" has a financial stake)?

[The Gorn]

Without reading the whole thing (TOS), section 3 concerning Content seems to say that it's ours to do with as we please.

It's also interesting that they make no statement concerning backups so a site with more traffic (and generating more ad revenue for them) could disappear overnight if they really screwed up. Without guaranteed service (backups) and no way for you to save your own content, why would a large community exist here (assuming that the community "owner" has a financial stake)?

You got me, and that's an excellent point. Like I mentioned, the biddingfortravel.com web site is actually a Yuku site, and it is a huge site traffic and visibility wise. I expected that site to go with private hosting a long time ago. The ad revenue has to be significant.

The content here is copywrite the respective posters who authored it. Not me, and not the collective "we". It appears to me that anyone who doesn't like their stuff being here would have said something a really long time ago. But I have always provided the ability for users to go in and edit their stuff out so it gets erased.

[Origisaurus]

The content here is copywrite [of course, you mean "copyright"] the respective posters who authored it.

IOW, the default under the US Copyright Act of 1976.  It would be very difficult for a BBS operator to assert rights over posts in view of that Act.  Besides which, attempting to exert control lays you open to legal liability for slanderous content.

[pxsant]

"Besides which, attempting to exert control lays you open to legal liability for slanderous content."

That is exactly why no BBS system will ever attempt to exert copyright control over any posts.  They would open themselves to all sorts of legal liabilities and responsibility for post contents.  Nobody wants to be the first in that boat.

[The Gorn]

The content here is copywrite [of course, you mean "copyright"] the respective posters who authored it.

IOW, the default under the US Copyright Act of 1976.  It would be very difficult for a BBS operator to assert rights over posts in view of that Act.  Besides which, attempting to exert control lays you open to legal liability for slanderous content.

What about posts that are authored essentially anonymously? Like where you have lost the knowledge (email address, name, anything) of the persons who wrote them?

Where does that fall?

[Origisaurus]

The content here is copywrite [of course, you mean "copyright"] the respective posters who authored it.

IOW, the default under the US Copyright Act of 1976.  It would be very difficult for a BBS operator to assert rights over posts in view of that Act.  Besides which, attempting to exert control lays you open to legal liability for slanderous content.

What about posts that are authored essentially anonymously? Like where you have lost the knowledge (email address, name, anything) of the persons who wrote them?

Where does that fall?

As you say, interesting.  My gormless, WA guess would be that since the board "owner" asserts no control, he has no liability.  Regardless of the anonymity issue.  Just because "Anon" (or Origisaurus) fails to assert his IP rights doesn't mean they go to someone else.

[The Gorn]

"Besides which, attempting to exert control lays you open to legal liability for slanderous content."

That is exactly why no BBS system will ever attempt to exert copyright control over any posts.  They would open themselves to all sorts of legal liabilities and responsibility for post contents.  Nobody wants to be the first in that boat.

That makes perfect sense.

But Yuku, formerly Ezboard, has revamped their TOS and has backpedaled on some aspects of ownership over the years.

I first looked into this issue four or five years ago. At that time, Ezboard asserted ownership of the structure and the composition of the message base. I think they called it a "compilation" or something like that. They had it worded so that all individuals who created posts on a board had to unanimously agree to the board being extracted and used elsewhere, or something like that.

They have definitely loosened up on what they claim ownership to. All they assert now is a license to republish via the web.

[The Gorn]

As you say, interesting.  My gormless, WA guess would be that since the board "owner" asserts no control, he has no liability.  Regardless of the anonymity issue.  Just because "Anon" (or Origisaurus) fails to assert his IP rights doesn't mean they go to someone else.

One thing we (or I) lose in making a move of this content is the IP addresses of the posters.

So I lose one important piece of evidence in ascertaining ownership (or denial of ownership.)

Of course, it's not like the individual posters have one over me in this regard.

Effectively (even if IP rights are permanent) such material becomes "abandoned."

[Richardk]

"IP addresses of the posters" - I'm guessing that most have dynamic IP's but they probably fall into a "range". Can you take a current snapshot for reference?

"IP rights" - Ownership goes to the poster but from Yuku's point of view they have the best of all worlds - they didn't have to author it, they have no liability but they can republish on Yuku. The license is actually quite limited so there won't be any RR style of books.

Reading on they state "This license will       terminate at the time you remove your Content from the Service. The license does not grant Yuku the right to sell your       Content, nor does the license grant Yuku the right to distribute your Content outside of the Yuku and its sublicensees       Services."

So once we move and this "disappears" from Yuku, that will be the end of it.

[The Gorn]

So once we move and this "disappears" from Yuku, that will be the end of it.

When I mentioned IPs it was more in the vein that if I ever was sued or made a target of legal action due to content here, I could point to IPs that were not in the range that I have access to in order to assert that I did not create those posts.

The export script I have does not copy IP addresses. That's not a normal thing to want to preserve, IMO.

I guess some individual who posted here could come out of the woodwork and claim that my copying their post to the new forum was a violation of their copyright. That appears to me to be the only possible blow back.  I am not certain where Yuku would stand in this except to say "what the hell do you expect us to do about it?"

I am giving all current users here the ability to edit anything they posted here on the new board.