Ah, here we go

[branchandroot]

I was wondering when the comment-importing skirl would start.

And it's true, the transfer of content such as comments lies in a rather strange and precarious area. There are two major competing precedents I can see.

One is the correspondence precedent, which says that comments on a blog are as personal email--they are personal communication whose copyright is retained wholly by the originator and which may not be transferred or copied without permission, beyond such quotation as may be covered by fair use. This is complicated by the public nature of a comment and the fact that acceptance or rejection of its publication is in the hands of the blog owner as well as the comment author.

The other is the contributor or submission (or even 'letters to the editor') precedent, which might consider comments to be as articles or notes, contributed or submitted to the 'editor', that is the blog owner, and subject to publication, deletion and republication at the editor's will, though only under the original terms of access/remuneration/etc. This is complicated by the personal nature of a comment and fact that no blog/journal site I know of has any explicit statement to the above effect.

Personally, I think DW has struck about the best balance that can be struck in this push-pull, by ensuring there is no content alteration, retaining all original access and terms and providing (currently in the works) a mechanism for mass screening by the comment author.

Comments

[branchandroot]

Sure seems that way! *shakes head* I honestly don't get the extent of the DW hate-on, at this point. When it was "oh god don't mention it to me again" I could understand it as part of that knee-jerk anti-new-popular-fandom reflex; which is still idiotic, but at least somewhat comprehensible. This? This is just hysteria.

[ranalore]

I think the kneejerk anti-new-popular-fandom reflex is part of it, but I can't help feeling that a lot of people are still erroneously equating DW and OTW. It would not surprise me if someone were deliberately spreading that misinformation, as well, though that may be too conspiracy theorist of me.

And, of course, fandom is not free of Luddites. Some people regard anything new, especially new technology, with fear and suspicion. I don't get it at all, but it happens. I think there's a good chunk of the anti-DW contingent who are comfortable where they are, but have that extra layer of entitlement that means they not only don't want to move, they don't want anyone else to move or change things either.

[branchandroot]

*rueful* Well, if there's anyplace to find conspiracy to theorize about, it's probably fandom. The reaction really is astonishingly similar, isn't it?

[ranalore]

The reaction is definitely similar. I can't help but wonder how much the fact that both OTW and DW are fronted by women plays into the anti-sentiments too.

[watersword]

I can't help feeling that a lot of people are still erroneously equating DW and OTW. It would not surprise me if someone were deliberately spreading that misinformation, as well, though that may be too conspiracy theorist of me.

WHY? WHY? They are totally different. They use none of the same tools. They are written in different LANGUAGES, for fuck's sake. OTW is a 501(c)3! (I mean, you're totally right, I think people are conflating them, I am just....baffled about how you can do that. Take five seconds to look at the two homepages, they look nothing alike.)

And I would bet MONEY that some of the anti-OTW crowd (*rubs scars*) are fomenting the issue, because that is what they do. There are Certain People I Suspect. /conspiracy theorist

And now to go do my OTW work, because I have done my DW work for the day, and OH LOOK, I can tell the difference between the two.

Um. I have kind of been awake for twenty hours.

[branchandroot]

Yeah, I honestly don't know. *wry* Unless people really are spreading disinformation, which I would totally not put past some of them. Especially since one of the things suggested for OTW early on was some kind of blogging platform associated with the archive. I bet that's making nice ammunition.

[ranalore]

This was a beautiful mini-rant, I just thought I should tell you. *G* And I am growing more convinced that the conflation of OTW and DW in order to whip up hostility toward DW has been deliberately pushed in certain sectors by certain people who thrive on wank and disinformation.