> It seems to me that posting messages to mailing lists, web forums
(such
> as the Forge and RPG.net), Usenet groups, etc. is publication. It
also
> seems to me that discussions here, such as the recent discussions
of
> Carmanian Humakt, could easily count as Derivative material, and
would
> therefore each posting on the topic would require explicit
permission
> from Issaries before it can be made public.
Folk - please check out Section 2.F. I think it is safe to say that nearly all the Digest discussions I've seen over the years counts as Interpretation of Published/Official Sources (check out the second bullet - "Alternative viewpoints of published materials, such as changed cults, modifications to published information for game use, explorations of motivations or history, etc."). Although I haven't seen Appendix A (I assume Nils is working on it), I suspect the Heroquest-RPG digest and the other major digests will be operating pursuant to the Policy.
The long and the short of this is that the Issaries Fan Policy should have absolutely NO IMPACT on your posting to the Digest. If I post violates the Fan Policy (say by posting a full chapter verbatim out of Thunder Rebels), I'm sure the List Owner can handle it.
> Even if things aren't that extreme, any posting on a Gloranthan
subject
> to any public forum (e.g. the RPG.net forums) is going to require
all
> the disclaimers be included in the posting. This is going to be a
> hassle, and may well end up stifling public discussion of
Glorantha/
> HeroQuest.
Again, most read of the fan policy suggests taht most of those postings would be covered by Section 2.F. If there is a RPG.net forum dedicated to Glorantha the forum ought to have the disclaimers. But none of the posts I've seen on forums like Forge appear to go beyond Section 2.F. Now, that section does allow Issaries to conclude at some future date that the Informal License policy isn't working and require review of all such material. But it doesn't appear that is the starting point.
I know this sort of legalistic stuff worries most non-lawyers (although from my legalistic vantage point, this language is almost dangerously permissive of fan activities - it has clearly been written to accomodate the digest and most of the personal websites out there), but if Issaries is to minimize the chance of having to litigate its IP rights (or worse having to defend its IP rights against someone claiming that some aspect of Glorantha belongs to them and that Issaries is the transgressor), Issaries needs something like this in place. One IP lawsuit would likely bankrupt Issaries (and Greg), and probably end Glorantha.
Jeff
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