The MN Mail Column - what we think, and what we plan to do next... part 2

[whataboutthisone]

Firstly, I am a regular but have created a new name for this.

My thoughts about what I know so far:

1. In a much earlier post there was a discussion about a change in T&Cs and whether they are valid or not. Several years ago I took a company to court for a breach of their T&Cs. Their argument was that they had changed T&Cs and my complaint was therefore no longer valid. However, the judge said that because I had not specifically been asked to accept the new T&Cs, I was entitled to rely on the ones I had accepted and therefore I won my case.

1. I choose to post on MN in the knowledge that the details I give are probably just obscure enough to anyone I may know in RL who also posts, so that what I say still effectively remains private. However, that doesn't mean that the same could be said of, for instance, my mother, who reads the DM (!) There is probably just enough about my circumstances that would enable her to put 2+2 together. I would like the option to choose whether or not I let my Mum ( or anyone else in RL) in on certain areas of my life, and there is a real possibility that this hack, has taken that choice away from me.

1. I have never ( and now will never) post asking for advice, but I will also be very careful about offering advice in the future. I, along with many others, occasionally use examples from my life to explain where I am coming from. If I continue to do that, as I said earlier, it is possible that some people would be able to work out who I am. Now, I am not so big-headed as to believe that any advice I offer is worth taking, however, there are many fantastic posters on here who do give amazing and insightful advice based on their own experiences. It would be a real shame if that was to stop because they, like me, do not want to share some of those experiences with the folk they are close to in RL. It would also be a real tragedy if others were prevented from asking for help for the same reasons.

I am very disappointed that any MNer would feel it is acceptable to violate the trust we place in each other on this forum. I do not know who she is. I do not want to know who she is. But I hope she is hanging her head in shame for breaching the trust that has been placed in her by everyone whose words she has stolen to make a few bucks!

Actually KingCanute, I am the most important person here...you wanna take it outside?

it sounds like a done deal to me though.

waiting to here which way they want to go with this weekly column...

and what they think about the whole copyright issue. Do I own copyright to my posts, does MN? etc....it seems a bit unclear at the moment.

I am personally less concerned about the privacy bit of it, but do appreciate that for some it is important.

Oh it feels so wrong.

Mumsnet, brought to you in one weekly easy to read column by the DM.

It makes me shudder.

Tell you what MD, how about we split it? After all the whole problem would fall apart and disappear if we went outside - being as we are clearly the only ones holding the argument up at the moment.

I have always thought mn owned the coptright to anything that appears in talk. That was an assumption I made.

I'm not sure that MN have solid grounds on which to challenge the DM doing this column. There's plenty of precedents of media feeding off content in similar ways. There are various 'media watch' columns/segments/shows in which content is reproduced in order to be analysed or commented on. The amount of comment tacked around the content often doesn't exceed the amount added to the Mail column.

It's more common, actually, for the internet to feed on established content in this way. Many sites, blogs and aggregators take conventionally published material and reproduce it with minimal comment attached.

As for MNHQ not being entirely clear on copyright and the internet, I think many of you are expecting too much. Nobody is entirely clear on copyright issues on the internet at this stage, it's still a relatively new medium and there are test cases in many countries at the moment that may begin to help clarify the legal issues surrounding it. The right to anonymity online is one thing that's entirely uncertain, for example. There are two recent cases, in two different countries, where anonymous bloggers have been forced to reveal their identity.

The level of discomfort felt by some cannot necessarily be answered by MNHQ deciding that the DM can't do the column (assuming for a moment that MN had the power to effectively do this). There is an inherent risk of exposure every time you post something online. You might feel more exposed by the current development, but that doesn't mean that you actually are.

MotheringHeights - Yes, but it's one thing for MNHQ to say "We aren't at all happy about any association with the DM or the use of our material in this way but we are unable to do anything about it at this moment" and what they are saying. They like it.

It's a deal KingC. we can take turns in being the only self-important engaged folk interested in these issues.

Just marking my place so I can read Carrie's post later.

Schubert, they've said many things about the issue, one of those things was that they could see a benefit in being exposed to a wider audience.

Justine began by saying she didn't think they had grounds to stop it, now she's said she's looking in to it.

Would a denunciation of the DM make a difference?

has anyone said what the topic is tomorrow then?

Lunchboxes, thanks to Hamgate.

I beleive the topic tomorrow is the nanny state saying don't put processed meats in lunch boxes.

Oh it horrible. I'm now thinking of searching to see if I posted in that thread. I do not want to appear in a national paper, even just as a posting name. I didn't sign up for this! Not knowingly at any rate.

I wouldn't trust the DM to take any post in context. I wouldn't trust them not to mis qoute or bend a post to suit their aims.

So now I'll have to avoid any threads that thw DM might find juicy. This is all such a shame.

The Daily Mail promises to 'empathise' with modern mothers?

Really? The same DM whose headlines today include "My daughter cheated her children by going out to work...and the saddest thing is, part of her agrees with me"...?

I am f**king disgusted, Mumsnet Towers. If you let this happen when you had a chance to stop it, you are sell-outs, pure and simple.

It's a vile f*king rag, and I'm livid that this site - which has meant a lot to me - is going to be the official fking web partner of this vile f*king rag.

I will not be around to see this happen. Good luck with all your nice new Femail readers (although the fact that the Mail's coming to MN for material suggests the convo quality isn't going to improve).

I would just add - OF COURSE this week's topic is bloody lunchboxes! They were trying to placate you (which does rather suggest that they think you had a case for stopping it outright ).

Now they know you'll roll over, I give it six weeks to the first DV thread.

Give it a couple of months, and they'll have Mum of the Year Kerry Katona doing her own version of it

It does seem as though either MNHQ have either bent over to allow themselves to be shafted by the DM, or, that they've already made their decision long before this, and are just after a bit of distance (aka waiting till justine gets back) between the furore and stating their final 'decision'.

I can't help thinking that it's quite a snub to morningpaper too

crumbs

barrels and scraping

still frazzled is right, it's the thin end.. it will move into more personal stuff

i think there'll be a cost to mn but it won't be financial

'They have also assured us that there will be no threads taken from the Special Needs section or threads about Domestic violence. A quote from an email from their commissioning editor received today:'

yuh-huh. Unless its interesting.

I am not sure it is a snub to MP - afterall the DM do not owe her anything, however I am certain MP would do a much better job of it - and be a whole lot more easy to trust too.

YES THOSE BASTARDS

If only I'd known it was allowed, I'd have pitched the fucker myself

However I hope you all won't mind being featured in my new best-selling novel "My Adventures On Mumsnet"

Sadly I am ACTUALLY writing a speech about Excellent Workplaces to delivery to a workshop tomorrow