Re: ethical considerations

From: Alan D. Bulley (s458507@aix1.uottawa.ca)
Date: Fri Oct 20 1995 - 13:33:54 EDT


On Fri, 20 Oct 1995, Will Wagers wrote:

> I will defer to any copyright lawyers on the list.

It seems to me that ethical questions often veer off too quickly into the
legal realm (this isn't by way of a swipe at Will Wagers, it just happens
that his is the latest post I've received on this topic)...

The concern over reproducing the text of discussions on B-Greek is surely
not due to copyright restrictions.

There are other good reasons for not copying and distributing e-mail
discussions, and I think the most important among them are social (as are
a good number of the issues to be settled regarding the exploding use of
Information Technology). B-Greek, like most e-mail discussion groups,
depends upon a climate of good-natured exchange in order to function
properly. People feel free to express themselves on issues in a much
more rapid way than they would if they were preparing an item for
publication (hey, just look at the kinds of discussions we keep having here!
:-)). This freedom keeps the exchange moving along at a good clip.
I am concerned, however, that if group members fear
that their off-the-cuff remarks are likely to be "written down and
[potentially] used against them," people will be much less likely to
participate in free and open debate.

If other people are so interested in the fruit of what goes on in the
B-Greek discussion group, let's encourage them to become participants
themselves.
                                                                                
Alan D. Bulley
Faculty of Theology/Faculte de theologie |s458507@aix1.uottawa.ca
Saint Paul University/Universite St-Paul |abulley@spu.stpaul.uottawa.ca
Ottawa, Canada
                                                                                
Fax: (613) 782-3005



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