Rheged's declaration .............

[Rheged]

On another  forum I occasionally visit, several unhappy, remarkably strident persons have  recently been most concerned about "maintaining ownership  and control of their own intellectual property".  I , on  the other hand,  have absolutely no desire to place  any  restriction  whatever on the soaring imagination and ambition of any forum members  who wish to build on the foundations of my  "intellectual property".    With that in mind, I have made Rheged's declaration,  below:-
 

Fellow members  are cordially  invited to use, modify or amend   any  idea on this site that  has the name Rheged  on it.  Any backstory  etc   that I have written,   idea taken from any  model  I have constructed   or plan or picture I have drawn  and displayed  on this forum is available  to all members of the forum, for whiffing  in any way they see fit. 


Rant mode engaged
Given the self-satisfied stridency of the  joyless, small minded  individuals who started this thought running in my mind, I felt that I needed to make a clear "please help yourself" statement somewhere, always assuming that anything of mine is of any use whatever to you.
Rant mode terminated.

(Administrators, please  move this to another thread if you feel appropriate.)

[kerick]

You should make a Declaration of Independence out of this and supporters can add their name to the bottom. Mine would be first.
If people are worried about their "intelectual property" they should copyright it before posting it.

[Rheged]

It has been  gently and politely suggested to me that my comment  could be  read as  advocating plagarism.   If this is how it  came across, my apologies. This was NOT what I was suggesting. I do agree that if one has worked hard to produce  an excellent result  one deserves the credit and praise. One should always recognise the work of  fellow Whiffers  as it would be  most discourteous to do anything else.

It was a "real history" forum elsewhere that  upset me,  where other members were attempting to establish  personal ownership of widely held and frequently discussed  opinions   and then "shutting down"  any further comment. I'm delighted to say that  I have experienced  nothing but friendship, courtesy and good humour on this "What If " forum.

Thank you for  putting up with   my rant, I'll go back to stripping wallpaper and redecorating  the dining room now!

[martinbayer]

Rheged,

I'm completely with you, and frankly I'm mystified how your declaration could be misconstrued by anyone as an invitation to plagiarism. You made it perfectly clear that this was your personal opinion, and that you granted license to use works published under your name only.

Best wishes,

Martin

[Mossie]

You should make a Declaration of Independence out of this and supporters can add their name to the bottom. Mine would be first.
If people are worried about their "intelectual property" they should copyright it before posting it.

I'm not getting involved in the wider argument, just clarifying the legal situation as my work used to cover intelectual property.  You don't actually have to register copyright, just the creation of work acts as copyright itself.  I understand that the system is slightly different in some countries (the US is one such if memory serves me), although this usually applies to some level at least.

[perttime]

For drawings and such, whatifmodelers urges us to put our names on what we do. That is a sort of a declaration that "I made this, nobody else can say that they made this."

I think some of my drawings have at least amused others here, and it has been mentioned that some could be done in plastic. For my part, in the context of models, I'd be thrilled to see someone pick up and further develop an idea that I put out in the open. If that someone consciously uses my idea, it would be nice of him or her to mention where the idea came from.

[andrewj]

I'm with Rheged , support his veiws completely, if anybody thinks any of my ideas are worth anything , then the're welcome to use them

Andrew

[kitbasher]

Couple of conversations with SIG members at Telford sort of ties in with this thread.  All agreed that:

• Whiffing restores enjoyment to the hobby.
• I think we all find each other's efforts entertaining, impressive and inspirational in varying (although probably equal) measures
• The high level of originality shown on this forum is amazing. 
• Even when two or more people whif a particular subject, the results are never the same.  In fact they can be very distinctive - look at all the Spitfire and P-40 whifs.
• I think we all respect other people's profiles, back stories, general ideas, etc.  On this latter point, we probably have far more whif ideas than we have the time, money, space an life span to execute them all!
• That's it.

[deathjester]

Amen to that!!

[Jay-Jay]

If newbee may add, no need to put it black on white in any declaration, what is important here is to keep and to nuture the Spirit you call for.

What appeals me in this forum is that modellers SHARE a lot of ideas and this sharing opens multiple ideas which each one opens others ideas and so on and so on...
I had some concerns that some modellers "copyright" their creations but people here gave me kind words and invited me to go on even if "idea" I am interested in has been reviewed...
That is what I enjoyed when starting building kits (couple of years ago) and what I was looking for a couple of time since then until I discovered WhatIf universe: Enjoying building funny models with others ...

I am dreaming to be able to reproduce some profiles I see here in 3D.
But should I make one of them, I promise mention its origin (think about Spinner's "eyes-blower" profiles for examples)

If some wants to "copyright" and to forbidden others to be inspired by their models, this is sad for these people and I will not go against this....
There is a saying I know which translated gives roughly that "Sky seems narrow to who looks at it from the botton of a pit"

[PR19_Kit]

• I think we all respect other people's profiles, back stories, general ideas, etc.  On this latter point, we probably have far more whif ideas than we have the time, money, space an life span to execute them all!

Oh YES!

And as you all get older the latter point has more and more emphasis placed upon it. I may have to leave some of my ideas to the SIG in my will as I won't have been able to build them in time! 

[Mr.Creak]

I may have to leave some of my ideas to the SIG in my will as I won't have been able to build them in time! 

A will?
You don't need a lawyer to say: give it really long wings! 

[Daryl J.]

Rheged,
You are not only wise, you have helped anchor the main point of hobby forums, that being the sharing of ideas for their enjoyment, amendment, and expansion.   

[kerick]

Very thoughtfull responces on this thread. It seems that this issue comes up once and a while. Personally I feel that since this is a public forum (anybody can read it), when an idea is posted here, the poster is sharing their ideas with us. The poster should not be surprised if someone is inspired by that idea and takes it further. That said, it is common courtesy at the very least to give credit for the ideas of others. Its the simplest thing in the world to do.
I've seen numerous examples on this forum and SSM of people either asking permission to use an idea or giveing due credit. Since no one is making gobs of money off this or other forums I see no reason for people to get upset. Unless, of course, someone is recasting someones GK or taking someones art work and calling it their own. Such people deserve a swift kick in the _________.
I don't mean to throw fuel on a fire, its just my $0.02.

[albeback]

On another  forum I occasionally visit, several unhappy, remarkably strident persons have  recently been most concerned about "maintaining ownership  and control of their own intellectual property".  I , on  the other hand,  have absolutely no desire to place  any  restriction  whatever on the soaring imagination and ambition of any forum members  who wish to build on the foundations of my  "intellectual property".    With that in mind, I have made Rheged's declaration,  below:-
 

Fellow members  are cordially  invited to use, modify or amend   any  idea on this site that  has the name Rheged  on it.  Any backstory  etc   that I have written,   idea taken from any  model  I have constructed   or plan or picture I have drawn  and displayed  on this forum is available  to all members of the forum, for whiffing  in any way they see fit. 


Rant mode engaged
Given the self-satisfied stridency of the  joyless, small minded  individuals who started this thought running in my mind, I felt that I needed to make a clear "please help yourself" statement somewhere, always assuming that anything of mine is of any use whatever to you.
Rant mode terminated.

(Administrators, please  move this to another thread if you feel appropriate.)

Absolutely agree!

I would take it as the finest compliment and, indeed flattery if any fellow whiffer felt inspired to build his/her own whif(s) using any of my ideas!  Albeback respectfully requests that he may put his name also to the above declaration!

Allan