Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : Copyright question regarding user-submitted content

[Zopester]

OK, here we go...

I run a few sites. One of which is community-fed, ie we rely on the visitors and members to submit content to keep the site fresh.

This has been working out well - until recently.

I have a strict editorial policy - I approve it or it doesn't go up, but I'm pretty easy-going about it. However, one of my members has taken umbrage to my editing her "masterpiece" short story, by my adding a concluding line. Without it the story felt unbalanced and decidedly unfinished.

Here's the question. She has now decided that due to my having the SHEER NERVE to edit one of HER pieces of work, (apparently she has NEVER been edited on any of the OTHER sites she has been published on.....ooook love, suuure), she wants all her work to come down.

I'm about ready to say fine. But then I notice another of her stories. It's a piece that she submitted ages ago, and it barely resembles the poorly-contructed, plot-hole filled piece of junk it was when it first came in. So I'm wondering, I'm aware as author she has the right of ownership, but what right do I have as editor and site owner? Especially over this one piece of writing which is now more my work than hers!

Probably none, but maybe someone here knows better than I...

[anlene]

don't you have any TOC to practice on?

[Martie]

Originally posted by Zopester
Here's the question. She has now decided that due to my having the SHEER NERVE to edit one of HER pieces of work, (apparently she has NEVER been edited on any of the OTHER sites she has been published on.....ooook love, suuure), she wants all her work to come down.

I'm about ready to say fine. But then I notice another of her stories. It's a piece that she submitted ages ago, and it barely resembles the poorly-contructed, plot-hole filled piece of junk it was when it first came in. So I'm wondering, I'm aware as author she has the right of ownership, but what right do I have as editor and site owner? Especially over this one piece of writing which is now more my work than hers!

Probably none, but maybe someone here knows better than I...

IMO....take it down. You state the obvious right above. SHE, is the original author and it sounds as though you "edited" her work and Im sure now she is probably angry in reading your edited versions and I dont blame her.

[Lesli]

In the publishing world, editors make changes to authors' books before publication. The editors don't own the copyright to the content - the authors do.

If you did major major MAJOR overhaulage, I think that the most you'd be able to get away with was saying that you wrote a derivative piece. The author still retains copyright to the original story.

If the owner of the copyright wants her work to come down, it comes down. If she doesn't agree with your editorial policies, then that's fine. She doesn't have to have her work posted on your site.

I don't think that you could get away with trying to keep the various articles / stories / whatever up, and claiming them as derivative works. That wouldn't hold in the dead-tree-edition publishing world. Whether you could keep them up because her submittal in effect declares that she agrees with the editorial policies...that's another matter. What does your submission agreement say?

[Zopester]

it sounds as though you "edited" her work and Im sure now she is probably angry in reading your edited versions and I dont blame her

Whoa hang on...all editing is done in consultation with the original author.

And in point of fact, this one piece of work that has undergone significant editing is NOT the one she has a problem with. Ironic really. Maybe that's because she agrees with my editing on that one....ahh, the vagaries of authors.

[Zopester]

Originally Posted by living_media

I don't think that you could get away with trying to keep the various articles / stories / whatever up, and claiming them as derivative works

More or less what I thought.

Down they come!

I think I'll be rewording the submission agreement though.

[Chicken]

There has to be some standards regarding this. Writing, editing, and publishing happens all the time. I'd talk with someone who has more knowledge on the subject (an editor for another on-line web site).

[adorno]

I would advise that you approve it as submitted or don't allow the posting. Once you make a change to an original it ceases to be the original. The originator has a right for her work to appear as submitted. Unless your TOC indicates that you have the final say before a work becomes public, that work should remain as submitted. In a newspaper or magazine environment there are editors who review and suggest changes before anything is published. If you're not that type of environment, then allow her work to be published as submitted.

While not an exact analogy, think of this:

Say, somebody submits a work of art to a museum for review before the general public sees it. If the museum makes changes to the art and then opens it to the general public, it ceases to be the original and the artist has the right to gripe.

Unless the contents are offensive to the general public and you're not taking on any legal liability, you should leave her work as submitted.

[Zopester]

Originally Posted by Chicken

I'd talk with someone who has more knowledge on the subject (an editor for another on-line web site)

And for the future I certainly will. This is my fault for not having a half-decent editorial policy in place to begin with. Too caught up in the actual RUNNING of the site to see where it could potentially fall down round my ears.

However for now I'll get this woman off my back (without sounding completely mysoginistic!) and let it go.

Life's too short, and all that. Cheers for everyone's help.

[Martie]

Originally posted by Zopester

More or less what I thought.

Down they come!

I think I'll be rewording the submission agreement though.

Yes, good luck.

[madmouser]

The work belongs to her.
In the future, add a line to your submissions policy saying that management reserves the right to edit any material submitted without consultation with the author. Any materials submitted become the property of xxxxxxxx.
Most sites/publications that accept freelance work have something to that effect.
You can further refine it by defining what rights the author gives up: first web publication, all rights, use, etc.

[JYC]

Personally, I hate to have my writing editted (excluding gramatical mistakes and spelling). If you change the style of the writing... then all the sudden it's not the author's piece anymore... it's not yours either. So now you have a work that belongs really to nobody, leaving nobody happy.

Of course, if I see that the editted version is better than mine, then I would agree with it. But, if I don't like the edit, I hate to have my words changed around.