I suppose the one thing that concerns me is a lack of an opt-out for the system. I understand how that could hurt all Katz-like in the future, but where can a content provider say, "I really don't want you guys to republish my stuff?" Then again, they could always get their own site and put their comments on there. So I suppose it's a moot point, but I spent 2 minutes typing it out, so I'm posting it anyhow.
Well, the point is that they're saying that opt-out is too administratively difficult for them to handle. If you don't want them to republish comments you post there, your option is not to comment. I can see that as a reasonable response if you don't necessarily want to be associated with other content on the site, or if you think your comments may have commercial value in the future, and, as you say, there's the whole rest of the internet out there to comment on.
And it's soon to appear, word-for-word, in "Unfogged! The Musical." Book by me, music and lyrics by Joe Drymala.
I want my royalties, damn it! I want my share of the proceeds from the book deal! (Just kidding, but I'm ornery enough not to comment there, for the principle of the thing.)
You all do understand that the Unfogged Creative Commons license likewise would permit Ogged (or, for that matter, anyone else on the universe) to reprint your comments here in any medium or language. The difference is that the TPM license restricts that right to (a) the author of the comment, and (b) TPM. Here at the Mineshaft, absolutely everyone has the right to republish. And nobody seems to mind this arrangement.
On a different note, BWI Airport sure is far from Washington! They might as well call it Baltimore-Philadelphia International Airport. Nice WiFi here in Terminal E, though.
I was hoping no one would bring up the CC license.
I'm exiling you to Iceland.
Yglesias should watch out for the Curse of the Impossibly Large Penis. Norse women are ruthless if they think they've been betrayed.
Matt-
The reprint rights seem perfectly reasonable to me, but the required copyright notice on any quotes of TPM content is a bit over the top. No one plans to try to enforce that, right?
Wouldn't linking back to TPM when quoting function as a legitimate citation, and get you off the hook for not including the copyright notice text yourself?
I've always wanted to go to Iceland on the ferry from Norway that takes multiple days, including a layover in the Faroe Islands.
But flying is good, too.
The TOS doesn't, I believe, say that that would be sufficient. Now, I'm morally certain that they don't intend to enforce the TOS as written, and pretty darn certain that if they tried, they couldn't to any significant effect, but I am Farberishly opposed to contractual terms that aren't intended to be enforced as written. If more people wrote contracts including only what they actually wanted, described in language that they personally understood, rather than cutting and pasting magic words from other contracts, we'd have less litigation and my hours would be shorter.