[wlug_org] First draft of WellyLUG rules and guidelines

[Edmund A. Hintz]

On Thu, May 6, 2004, Ewen McNeill thus spake:

>IMHO that's a recipe for arguments about what is and what is not
>acceptable, particularly what is and is not a profit.  Especially if you
>start rationalising advertising a distribution in exchange for N*2 media
>as "not profiting from the trade" (there's 100% profit, if you discount
>the time).
>

    We seem to be on the same page here-I'd call that profit as well (as
would most tape traders). There's not a whole lot to argue about;
anything (cash, goods, services, whatever) in excess of 1-1 replacement
blank media is profit and unacceptable.

>IME "No advertising.  At all." is about the only policy (other than a
>free-for-all) which can be defended without extensive arguments (and as
>might be obvious I'm really not keen on a free-for-all).  
>
>With respect to the Grateful Dead, I don't think they were trying to
>keep a mailing list from being overrun with advertising; they were
>simply trying to enocurage people to listen to them, while protecting
>their ability to eat.  So somewhat different criteria are likely to apply.
>
>FWIW I'm happy with Damon's wording (including the bit I elided to save
>space).

    As am I; I'm not suggesting a modification to Damon's wording or
intent, just that we can borrow the experience from another community as
to where the line is drawn wrt profit and enforcement. It seems we've
already pretty much independently come to the same conclusions anyway.

    FWIW, at the link below, section 5:C:1, under profiteering, it lays
out general accepted practice, which IMHO makes good sense and does a
fair job of defining profit. Substitute cd/dvd burner for DAT recorder,
remove the sentences about legality and stealing from artists, and it
works verbatim.

<http://www.spfc.org/tradingfaq.txt>

    What all this comes down to in the end is a suggested method for
defining Damon's original usage of the word "swap" in the event of conflict.

Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org