Posted by Alex on September 28, 2000 at 02:06
In Reply to: Re: A snag posted by Wet Set on September 27, 2000 at 15:48
Hi Paul,
As I said yesterday in response to rAndi, I take your point. But perhaps you can also understand mine. I seem to be speaking for others too, to go by some of the responses in this thread.
My more substantial posts to WetSet (basically, the stories) each took some time and effort to compose. This was voluntary of course, and I even enjoyed writing them (naturally). However, they were undertaken on certain assumptions, and one of those assumptions was that my contributions would remain freely available to anybody reading the board. Whether or not it was reasonable of me to assume this, my expectation was based on the status quo - the existence and functioning of the WetSet board in its present form, which seemed to carry an implicit promise of continuation.
I fully recognise that your generosity was responsible for that status quo, and, speaking not only for myself but for all of us, I am duly and truly grateful. Now I feel that something is being taken away from me. I guess that's what you get for being so generous :-)
I haven't even kept copies of most of my posted stories on my own computer. That is how confident I was that my material was "in good hands" on the board and its archives. Also, I admit, because I was happy not to have the "incriminating" material on my own hard disk, just in case I am "busted" one of these days. So even though it may have been quite a gratuitous supposition, I tended to think of WetSet as a convenient repository for my own productions. Once again, I hasten to admit that I was lulled into this trusting attitude by your generosity.
You are not indebted to us, it is we who are indebted to you. Nonetheless, the "privatization" (for want of a better word) of the archives puts one in a little bit of a dilemma, and I would like you to be sensitive to that.
I could put my point a number of different ways, but I would end up boring you. However, consider that from our point of view at least, it is perhaps fair to say that, while you have provided the material and technical support (out of your own pocket, I know) for this board, it is we the contributors who have provided the content which, collectively, has filled the archives with such good material, and without that content, there would hardly be anything worth arguing about right now. From this point of view, we are all surely entitled to some degree of consideration when the fate of that material is being debated, or so I would argue. In one sense, those archives "belong", morally, to all of us - not the technical infrastructure of course, but what of the intellectual content?
Well, that sounds a bit like a legalistic argument, and that's not really the way I want my reasoning to go. What I want to say is simply that, even though you probably have a right to "privatize" the archives from a business perspective, as one of the "authors" of the archive content I have another viewpoint which I hope you are considering. I think both our viewpoints are legitimate. I comprehend your position (now, when it has been explained to me). I would like to think that you will comprehend mine too.
I don't know what can be done, other than what you propose. What would you think of applying the measure you suggest (placing archives in the members' area) but not retroactively? That is, leave the old archives where they are, but state that from now on when new posts are archived they will be removed to the members' area. That way, when I and others decide to continue contributing to the board we will have been informed beforehand of the final destination of our materials. It's just an attempt at a fair compromise. Maybe someone can think of a better solution?
Anyway, I don't want to come across as sour-faced, I'm just trying to argue a point here and help work out all the implications and options. And to state clearly what I see as the contributor's perspective on this. Whatever happens, thank you (once again) for what you have been doing for us over the past years - I hope you realise how much this means to many of us - and I wish WetSet an even more glorious future in the new millennium. With all sincerity,