Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Message Display

Richard Pyle writes:
> 
> I think that, as long as every message ever posted to this list is
> available via Aquanaut on WWW, this has to be considered a public list.

This isn't an issue of public or private, it's an issue of misrepresentation.

I believe that the readers of a magazine are expecting that "Letters
to the Editor" are just that: letters *TO* the editor of that magazine.

Letters sent to the editor are implicitly the property of the editor,
and the reader can safely assume that the writer intended his letter
to be publicly aired in the "Letters to the Editor" section of that magazine.
In this case, both writer and reader understand the context.

I believe it is improper to republish someone's words in a different
context without notifying that person _and_ the reader that these
words were taken from a different context.  Look at Newsweek's
"Overheards" vs. "Letters to the Editor" for the difference.

A magazine should give its readers and its contributors fair notice of
the context.  What should a reader believe if the upcoming issue of
DeepTech and ScubaTimes printed the same letters?  To which editor
were those letters sent?  Reader, and in this case author, beware!

Cheers,

David Story                        NAUI AI Z9588, PADI DM 43922, EMT
story@be*.en*.sg*.co*		   Better diving through computers.

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]