The Future of the Daily Zone **** PLEASE READ ****

[Reality]

As most of you have noticed, the Daily Zone has been missing from CowboysZone for a while now. The reason for this is due to a dramatic shift that recently occurred regarding the legality of user posts containing copyright content belonging to other sites.

With the state of our economy being so poor for a while now combined with many printed publications attempting to transition from print to online publications, a lot of content sites are struggling heavily to offset their lost revenue. Most of these companies have had token websites for years but in most cases, they expected the market or larger publication sites to develop a legitimate revenue-based business model for them to follow. It is quite possible that had the economy not taken such a dramatic downturn in the last couple of years, that may have actually happened. However, it did not work out that way and most news and content publications are frantically searching for a solution.

The internet works much like a free economy in that it is based off supply and demand. As the internet becomes less of a "cool thing to do" and more of a tool in our everyday life (consider transition of cellphones for example), we are finding that there are literally too many content sites available. The ratio has gotten so bad that the same non-syndicated articles appear on countless sites each day creating the impression of a redundant vacuum of our time that we spend online. For example, I used to visit ten or more sports news sites multiple times per day and now I rarely go to more than two including CowboysZone.

This evolution of the internet from end to means is leading to less demand which affects most internet markets. In the past, new users were still entering the internet market each month and that helped offset (or rather delay) the inevitable point we have reached. There will be a thinning phase for the internet in the near future (some say it has already started) that will see many sites on the internet either consolidating or shutting down (the internet's version of going out of business).

Like most internet markets where sites are struggling to find revenue, law firms are no different and it appears that a hot new business model has developed which has been getting more and more exposure over the last few months (Read Here (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/copyright-trolling-for-dollars/) and Here (http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2569583/posts)). This new model involves law firms purchasing limited ownership rights to content created by news sites. While I have not seen the details of such agreements we can assume the deals work sort of like this. A law firm contacts a news site and tells them, "Other sites are reposting your content without permission and potentially costing you considerable loss in revenue." Of course the content sites are desperate for revenue and to hear such things would appeal to both their old print world mentality and their desperation to obtain additional revenue from their online division so they fall for it completely. It is the equivalent of people with bad credit falling for credit repair agencies spewing promises of salvation.

So the content sites agree to some sort of limited transfer of copyright ownership to the law firms most likely does not include any republication rights. In return, the law firms promise to help remove their unauthorized and republished without permission content from the internet. The law firms then troll the search engines looking for content posted on other sites and then send those sites letters of their intent to sue as the owners of the copyrighted content (since they are now "technically" owners of the content) instead of traditional Cease and Desist orders or DMCA take down requests. In the past, forum sites enjoyed a legal buffer of protection against content sites primarily because they were not direct competitors to the original content sites. Content sites viewed forum sites as an extension to their market reach and also knew that going after forum sites for user posted content would be hard to justify cost wise when compared to the negative publicity and marketing exposure they would receive from such action. However, with law firms now entering this process it changes things considerably.

What the content companies do not realize is they are being used. It will not lead to additional revenue and in many cases, the negative publicity and sentiment created by the law firms, who have their own agenda and have absolutely no concern for the content sites' reputations or their future, will lower their chances of success with their online ventures. However, desperation tends to make us throw out logic and common sense and content sites are no different.

This brings me to where we are now ..

I created CowboysZone because I wanted Cowboys fans to have a centralized place to meet and talk about our favorite team in a family-friendly environment protected from obnoxious fans from other teams. CowboysZone costs me thousands of dollars each year even with donations because I use high-end servers and hosting. Even with that investment, it takes a great team of moderators who work well together and volunteer a lot of their time to help run this site.

I know a lot of Cowboys fans come to CowboysZone primarily to read the latest news and rumors about the Cowboys. That is why I created the Daily Zone forum even when many users resisted it in the beginning. Over time, I think most of our users have realized there will be days or periods throughout the day where we cannot spend a lot of time on the site and having the latest news in one forum makes it a lot easier to read.

In an effort to prevent future legal issues but also continue to provide the Daily Zone forum, it is necessary to change our policy on content posted that is from other sites. We are currently in the process of drafting the new forum guidelines regarding content posted from other sites and will make an announcement once those changes are finalized. It will involve smaller summaries or snippets of articles rather than the full articles, but our goal will be to encourage users to post summaries or snippets that include the real meat of the articles minus the fluff rather than the first part of the article then a "continue reading" link.

While I know all of us will dislike this change (myself included), it is something that will happen on other sites even the ones who will likely boast of "never giving in". That may have been a viable stance to take in the past because sites, especially forum sites, assumed we had protection via DMCA and/or the "a user posted it" defense. However, with the huge increase in law firms obtaining content copyright ownerships, sites who continue posting or allowing users to post full content will most likely get sued quite possibly by multiple law firms for tens of thousands of dollars or more in the near future.

I prefer to keep CowboysZone online and avoid any legal headaches so I hope all of you understand why this change is necessary. In the future, it is my hope that we can establish some partnerships with content sites that will lead to better news integration on CowboysZone.

For now, I would ask everyone please stop posting full or nearly complete articles on CowboysZone. Please limit articles to no more than one paragraph while we work out the details of the new policies. Summaries are fine but again, limit them to one paragraph. No matter which method you use, please include a link to the source article.

Thanks!

-Reality

[Romo 2 Austin]

How about this idea:


Post a topic, only including a link to the source and install a mod that when hovering over the link it opens up the site in a previewtype screen, therefor the site gets there view and ad money, and you dont have to go through the hassle of leaving the page, coming back to the page and then posting a reply. There are surly mods for VB that allow for page previews on links that you hover over. This solution surely is not the best one, but it is an acceptable one IMO.

[LeonDixson]

To paraphrase Shakespeare the 1st thing we do is kill all the lawyers! :D

[Reality]

How about this idea:


Post a topic, only including a link to the source and install a mod that when hovering over the link it opens up the site in a previewtype screen, therefor the site gets there view and ad money, and you dont have to go through the hassle of leaving the page, coming back to the page and then posting a reply. There are surly mods for VB that allow for page previews on links that you hover over. This solution surely is not the best one, but it is an acceptable one IMO.

That may be something we look at ..

-Reality

[Romo 2 Austin]

That may be something we look at ..

-Reality

Awesome, I don't think discussing a article is off limits right? so that shouldn't really cause any problems.

[Reality]

Awesome, I don't think discussing a article is off limits right? so that shouldn't really cause any problems.

Absolutely not .. just the posting of the full articles cause an issue.

-Reality

[Romo 2 Austin]

Absolutely not .. just the posting of the full articles cause an issue.

-Reality

alrite so then that solution does make sense. Hopefully you can find a better longterm one, maybe a partnership with a news place, and something like flagging all topics with content from them ads that support then comeup or something.

[ZeroClub]

Thanks for all you do!

[utrunner07]

To paraphrase Shakespeare the 1st thing we do is kill all the lawyers! :D

Amen and amen.

[WoodysGirl]

Because I don't know if this was made explicitly clear, DMN content can now be posted again on the Zone.

And I just wanted to add, this will be as big a change to the staff as it will be to the members, so we would really appreciate everyone's patience as we transition to a new way of doing business.

[burmafrd]

Amen and amen.



Ol Will knew what was coming 300 years ago.

[Gemini Dolly]

To be clear, because I enjoy posting articles from other sources.

I cant post the full article with the link at the bottom??

But, I can post a few lines from the article and then a link??

Or can I no longer post anything from the article and just summarize and provide a link??

[WoodysGirl]

To be clear, because I enjoy posting articles from other sources.

I cant post the full article with the link at the bottom??

But, I can post a few lines from the article and then a link??

Or can I no longer post anything from the article and just summarize and provide a link??You can post a few lines from the article with a link...OR...provide a summary with a link.

Whole articles will not be allowed anymore.

[Hostile]

To be clear, because I enjoy posting articles from other sources.

I cant post the full article with the link at the bottom??

But, I can post a few lines from the article and then a link??

Or can I no longer post anything from the article and just summarize and provide a link??
We always want a link from now on and no full article. Either a snippet, or a paraphrase of your own making.

[theogt]

Thought this might be the issue. No big deal having to click a link to read an article, IMO.

[CowboyFan74]

We always want a link from now on and no full article. Either a snippet, or a paraphrase of your own making.

Yeah I just want the cliff notes anyways..:D

[Phoenix]

Well written Reality!

Hope you didn't have that excellent write-up copyrighted, because I reposted all over the internet :D

[Hostile]

Well written Reality!

Hope you didn't have that excellent write-up copyrighted, because I reposted all over the internet :D
That was funny.

[Doomsday101]

This should make for some good bantering as people will be accused of cherry picking parts of the article they agree with. :D

[Joe Realist]

This is all Brett Favre's fault.

[BehindEnemyLinez]

Thanks for all you do!
Agreed! Not sure if you guys hear it enough but we (I'm sure I can speak for most of us here) appreciate all the work that goes into keeping the Zone the best Cowboys forum on the 'net!

[StanleySpadowski]

To further protect yourself, I might suggest deleting any links or references to sites that show live games that users may post.

I've heard rumblings that those types of sites are going to be hit hard as well as talk of going after sites that promote them.

[RW Hitman]

How about this idea:


Post a topic, only including a link to the source and install a mod that when hovering over the link it opens up the site in a previewtype screen, therefor the site gets there view and ad money, and you dont have to go through the hassle of leaving the page, coming back to the page and then posting a reply. There are surly mods for VB that allow for page previews on links that you hover over. This solution surely is not the best one, but it is an acceptable one IMO.

i was gonna say that with the abilities of most browsers today having tabs and all that, I have no problem clicking a link and thought that should be just standard practice.

I still think using links is ok, but I really like this idea above.

[cowboyjoe]

That may be something we look at ..

-Reality

totally agree, with what austin says, sounds good

most of my sites are used via one posted below, so if you get into some type of cooperation with them, let me know reality, so can post full article later or whatever;

www.draftdaddy.com
www.espncowboysblog.com
www.fwst.com/sports/cowboys
www.cowboys.scout.com but i hardly use that anymore
www.trueblueforum.com
www.couchscout.com
www.cbssports.com/cowboys
dallasmorningnew blog but only for posting headlines from todd archer, etc
www.tfydraft.com
www.dfwsportsbeat.com
www.fssw.com channel 676 fox sports southwest
www.footballfuture.com
www.1660espn.com


those are main ones i use to get cowboys info and draft stuff

so let me know what you come up with, thanks joe

[newnationcb]

Thought this might be the issue. No big deal having to click a link to read an article, IMO.


Except you work at a place where everything gets blocked but cowboyszone magically remains uncensored

[dargonking999]

I say we just let WG do all the article posting and we just continue to praise :)

[Vintage]

So DMN now is allowing us to post there stuff?

What gives?

[adbutcher]

Well written Reality!

Hope you didn't have that excellent write-up copyrighted, because I reposted all over the internet :D

:laugh2:

[kapolani]

So this is the result of one of our users running to a site and 'turning' us in, eh?

Hope the ******* got banned.

[CowboyMike]

Reality,

There is actually a way to do exactly what you're asking without anyone having to worry about posting it that way.

You can turn turn the Daily Zone into an RSS feed from the various news sites. vBulletin has that feature that will link the feed to a specific forum. It will literally post a snippet of the article for you with a link to the rest of the article. They would appear as threads as each item is posted on the news sites. It might be beneficial because it would post as the articles come up, rather than someone having to search for them. (WG might appreciate it.)

Most news sites actually provide an RSS feed now, so it wouldn't be that hard to set up. I'm not sure which version of vBul you're running, but I'm pretty sure most of them have now. I can show you how to set it up or even do it for you if you decide to go this route.

[Primetime42]

The legal stuff behind it all sucks, but I don't mind this move.

In fact, I think I might actually prefer it in my own perverse way.

Thanks for the heads up.

[WoodysGirl]

So this is the result of one of our users running to a site and 'turning' us in, eh?

Hope the ******* got banned.That's not the case, at all.

Reality,

There is actually a way to do exactly what you're asking without anyone having to worry about posting it that way.

You can turn turn the Daily Zone into an RSS feed from the various news sites. vBulletin has that feature that will link the feed to a specific forum. It will literally post a snippet of the article for you with a link to the rest of the article. They would appear as threads as each item is posted on the news sites. It might be beneficial because it would post as the articles come up, rather than someone having to search for them. (WG might appreciate it.)

Most news sites actually provide an RSS feed now, so it wouldn't be that hard to set up. I'm not sure which version of vBul you're running, but I'm pretty sure most of them have now. I can show you how to set it up or even do it for you if you decide to go this route.We're aware and was one of the things we researched while the Daily Zone was down. There were time constraints involved, so in order to get the Daily Zone back up, we're going this route.

We are open to ideas, like the one R2A proposed.

[SA_Gunslinger]

I had no idea any of that was going on, so this was a truly educational mouse click. Very well written, and easy to understand. Kudos! Definitely sucks, but it beats getting sued.

:starspin

[Phoenix]

I do want to add that /. (that would be shashdot.org) has followed this model for YEARS, only allowing summaries of articles, for which links are provided to the articles.

Unfortunately, a lot of those sites experience what is known as the "/. effect", meaning too heavy traffic, crash of web servers, etc....

But, wow, they actually had the "new" model hands down YEARS ago.

[CowboyMike]

That's not the case, at all.

We're aware and was one of the things we researched while the Daily Zone was down. There were time constraints involved, so in order to get the Daily Zone back up, we're going this route.

We are open to ideas, like the one R2A proposed.

Well, the rss thing was the idea I put forward like what you're asking for. I didn't know you had already considered it. I've used it before in vBul at another site and it seems like a practical solution.

[Hostile]

Reality,

There is actually a way to do exactly what you're asking without anyone having to worry about posting it that way.

You can turn turn the Daily Zone into an RSS feed from the various news sites. vBulletin has that feature that will link the feed to a specific forum. It will literally post a snippet of the article for you with a link to the rest of the article. They would appear as threads as each item is posted on the news sites. It might be beneficial because it would post as the articles come up, rather than someone having to search for them. (WG might appreciate it.)

Most news sites actually provide an RSS feed now, so it wouldn't be that hard to set up. I'm not sure which version of vBul you're running, but I'm pretty sure most of them have now. I can show you how to set it up or even do it for you if you decide to go this route.We have been experimenting with exactly this and still may use it. Thanks for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

[Hoofbite]

I'm in favor of lighting torches and grabbing pitchforks.

Lets storm those news sites and take some people for ransom.

[Funxva]

Hey man,

You guys need to do what you need to do. I don't think this will change the enjoyable experience of coming here to read and enjoy other Cowboys fans views and takes on America's Team.

[DanteEXT]

Interesting, had not heard of this law firm doing this.

Googled Righhaven and read about some other lawsuits. I didn't know you could actually be sued for posting an article on your blog from a newspaper that contains 'borrowed' content from your own blog that you published?

And some crazy conspiracy theories about the place.

[Primetime42]

I'm in favor of lighting torches and grabbing pitchforks.

Lets storm those news sites and take some people for ransom.
I'm down.

[Chocolate Lab]

The New DZ with just links is fine.

One thing, though -- can you add it back to the Forum Jump at the bottom of the page? Now when you get to the bottom of the page to that Go button, the default is User Control Panel (since the DZ is no longer there).

[Reality]

The New DZ with just links is fine.

One thing, though -- can you add it back to the Forum Jump at the bottom of the page? Now when you get to the bottom of the page to that Go button, the default is User Control Panel (since the DZ is no longer there).

I fixed this .. in the future, I highly recommend you use the Support Zone to post bugs like this as it was extremely lucky I noticed your post in this thread.

-Reality

[cowboyjoe]

We have been experimenting with exactly this and still may use it. Thanks for the input. It is greatly appreciated.

whichever you use, like what romo2austin suggested or mike, let me know, so i can start posting cowboys news again

just dont want to post something i shouldnt and get cowboyszone into trouble

but i do miss posting

[Hostile]

whichever you use, like what romo2austin suggested or mike, let me know, so i can start posting cowboys news again

just dont want to post something i shouldnt and get cowboyszone into trouble

but i do miss postingWhy are you missing posting? The original post of the thread tells you exactly what you can do. Others are posting the snippets and providing links.

Why can't you?

[DallasCowpoke]

Why are you missing posting? The original post of the thread tells you exactly what you can do. Others are posting the snippets and providing links.

Why can't you?

Ughhh, you did look at the name of the poster you were responding to before posing that last question, right?


:muttley:

[cowboyjoe]

Why are you missing posting? The original post of the thread tells you exactly what you can do. Others are posting the snippets and providing links.

Why can't you?

i guess im an old foggie hostile, and sometimes, in not a techy in computer stuff, and takes awhile for me to figure out how to do it;

like for instance, i just got through posting an article on bloggingtheboys

and it posted full article, with everything else, not just the one article i wanted to post

so thats why i was asking for advice and help in posting

like romo2austin suggested, using a MOD whatever that is, so when you use mouse over the link, whole article pops up, without you having to click, leave site your at, and etc....


some snippets i did post worked, but some didnt;

so i was waiting; :cool:

[cowboyjoe]

Ughhh, you did look at the name of the poster you were responding to before posing that last question, right?


:muttley:

:D He got you there hostile,

again, im not a tech person, in computers, and takes me awhile to figure things out;

im sure there is a way, you can take an article your reading, cut out a section of it, along with the link and then post it,

like remember hostile way back when you tried to get me to use
[] and it took me like 3 weeks to get it down

:cool:

only way i know how to do it so far, but im sure there is an easier way
is to copy paragraphs i want, post that, then copy lnk, then post that, then post headline,

so thats why was waiting for confirmation if there is an easier way to post articles,
:cool:

[DallasCowpoke]

again, im not a tech person, in computers, and takes me awhile to figure things out;

im sure there is a way, you can take an article your reading, cut out a section of it, along with the link and then post it,

like remember hostile way back when you tried to get me to use
[] and it took me like 3 weeks to get it down

only way i know how to do it so far, but im sure there is an easier way
is to copy paragraphs i want, post that, then copy lnk, then post that, then post headline,

so thats why was waiting for confirmation if there is an easier way to post articles,


Someone needs to come up with a posting "fitness test" for you Joe, a'la Albert Haynesworth style, and until you pass it, you're barred from participating with the rest of the group activities here.

:p:

[cowboyjoe]

Someone needs to come up with a posting "fitness test" for you Joe, a'la Albert Haynesworth style, and until you pass it, you're barred from participating with the rest of the group activities here.

:p:

:laugh2: lol thats a good one dallascowpoke

[tupperware]

I don't necessarily disagree with it, but why the thought process going this way as far as literature or news is concerned and not the same level of precaution with posting links to various media showing full games or members who are broadcasting or showing full games. Even users who are re-posting images in the media area.

It has been show in cases such as that of newzbin (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/19/newzbin_shuts/)

And other sites, such as torrents or other indexes that you don't necessarily have to host the content yourself but serve as a resource for finding it.

Any idea why this isn't being given thought?

[Reality]

I don't necessarily disagree with it, but why the thought process going this way as far as literature or news is concerned and not the same level of precaution with posting links to various media showing full games or members who are broadcasting or showing full games. Even users who are re-posting images in the media area.

It has been show in cases such as that of newzbin (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/19/newzbin_shuts/)

And other sites, such as torrents or other indexes that you don't necessarily have to host the content yourself but serve as a resource for finding it.

Any idea why this isn't being given thought?
With CowboysZone, we do not host any videos nor can we control what users do away from this site. I am quite familiar with several cases like you referenced and in every situation, the sites put themselves at risk because they were primarily focused on indexing or linking to illegal content and were usually profiting from it in some way.

Why hasn't anyone gone after Google, Bing and other search engines since there are millions of direct links to copyrighted content found within their search results? Simple .. it's not their focus and they will remove any links if they receive DMCA Takedown notices for them.

-Reality

[tupperware]

With CowboysZone, we do not host any videos nor can we control what users do away from this site. I am quite familiar with several cases like you referenced and in every situation, the sites put themselves at risk because they were primarily focused on indexing or linking to illegal content and were usually profiting from it in some way.

Why hasn't anyone gone after Google, Bing and other search engines since there are millions of direct links to copyrighted content found within their search results? Simple .. it's not their focus and they will remove any links if they receive DMCA Takedown notices for them.

-Reality
Because it's not something they're going to do. Google and search engines like it were commonplace before piracy or DMCA violations were widespread. Though this kinda thing even existed on local BBS it wasn't really widespread.

The same applies here in the sense that the site was created for the Cowboys and their fans but as long as there is a media section devoted to that kind of content I don't see the difference really. Any works that are not your own you do not have permission to use freely or post wherever you want unless you were given the consent by whoever holds the copyrights. It's not at all different in my opinion to that of news which was written by sporting networks and sites, it's just not media related.

Truly I don't care either way, because I like watching all the videos here, just curious how the discrepancy is being made.

[Reality]

Because it's not something they're going to do. Google and search engines like it were commonplace before piracy or DMCA violations were widespread. Though this kinda thing even existed on local BBS it wasn't really widespread.
It is naive to think that companies won't go after people simply because it is commonplace. Peer-to-peer file/music sharing was common for years before the music industry went after them and I regularly see DMCA takedown notices at the bottom of Google search result pages and that's while looking for general information about music and movies.

The same applies here in the sense that the site was created for the Cowboys and their fans but as long as there is a media section devoted to that kind of content I don't see the difference really. Any works that are not your own you do not have permission to use freely or post wherever you want unless you were given the consent by whoever holds the copyrights. It's not at all different in my opinion to that of news which was written by sporting networks and sites, it's just not media related.
There are writers, reporters and management personnel from several of the news/content sites whose content has been posted on CZ that have active user accounts on CowboysZone. We help protect their anonymity to keep them free of harassment. The Daily Zone changes were made to protect CZ from litigation law firms that have no personal interest invested in our relationships with news/content sites. Going after sites whose users post (aka: host) content is a lot simpler and easier than going after sites whose users link to that content. Even if they won a judgement on a linked-content case, appeals would drag on and on causing their costs in time commitment to greatly exceed any judicial restitution they would gather should they win in the end. The litigation based law firms are primarily hoping for settlement offers that require very little of their time (costs). Sure they will go to trial on a few of the cases simply to use them as examples but in the end, it's all about quick money to them as it always is.

As I said before, CowboysZone does not create, host or have any partnerships or affiliations with other sites that choose to host and/or publish audio or video files linked to by users on this site. There is a huge difference between hosting content and linking to it. While there have been some mostly non-US cases filed against sites, those sites existed primarily as a conduit to illegal content. There is no way we can police the internet nor can we vet every single destination link to see whether or not it violates the laws of some states or countries. There are way too many factors that keep it from being a cut and dry process since there are fair use laws to consider as well as some of the media sources may have given special permission to some of the people who choose to host that kind of content. All we can do is focus on content that users post on CZ since that is something we can control.

Truly I don't care either way, because I like watching all the videos here, just curious how the discrepancy is being made.
You obviously do since you are carrying on this conversation and will likely continue doing so.

-Reality

[tupperware]

It is naive to think that companies won't go after people simply because it is commonplace. Peer-to-peer file/music sharing was common for years before the music industry went after them and I regularly see DMCA takedown notices at the bottom of Google search result pages and that's while looking for general information about music and movies.


There are writers, reporters and management personnel from several of the news/content sites whose content has been posted on CZ that have active user accounts on CowboysZone. We help protect their anonymity to keep them free of harassment. The Daily Zone changes were made to protect CZ from litigation law firms that have no personal interest invested in our relationships with news/content sites. Going after sites whose users post (aka: host) content is a lot simpler and easier than going after sites whose users link to that content. Even if they won a judgement on a linked-content case, appeals would drag on and on causing their costs in time commitment to greatly exceed any judicial restitution they would gather should they win in the end. The litigation based law firms are primarily hoping for settlement offers that require very little of their time (costs). Sure they will go to trial on a few of the cases simply to use them as examples but in the end, it's all about quick money to them as it always is.

As I said before, CowboysZone does not create, host or have any partnerships or affiliations with other sites that choose to host and/or publish audio or video files linked to by users on this site. There is a huge difference between hosting content and linking to it. While there have been some mostly non-US cases filed against sites, those sites existed primarily as a conduit to illegal content. There is no way we can police the internet nor can we vet every single destination link to see whether or not it violates the laws of some states or countries. There are way too many factors that keep it from being a cut and dry process since there are fair use laws to consider as well as some of the media sources may have given special permission to some of the people who choose to host that kind of content. All we can do is focus on content that users post on CZ since that is something we can control.


You obviously do since you are carrying on this conversation and will likely continue doing so.

-Reality
Well if you're bothered by it I'll just be quiet. It doesn't take tons of effort for me to type up a half a dozen sentences to figure something out or to be genuinely curious about something. I still am a bit confused on what is really different between the two outside of text and actual content (Video, Pictures) Both can be controlled or disallowed as you've done with the news. An example would be to disallow linking to NFL related videos on youtube and instead linking to the NFL.com site for a particular highlight. Or, rather than allow full games to be linked to, linking to NFL.com Game Rewind. It's principle more than it is your ability to be able to realistically police it. Anyway, I'm done I'm not trying to talk you down or pretend I know best. I was simply under the impression there wasn't much of a difference between the two. Thanks for the answers anyway.

[GimmeTheBall!]

In a perfect world, CZers would be a bit more original.

There are some here who only post full articles or give only links.

I already know what the mainstream media are saying and writing.

I am primarily interested in what the average Joe or Jose or Josef are thinking.

Originality. And personal views and thoughts. Not regurgitated stuff from the media.

That is what draws many here, not articles and links that anybody can read in other venues.

Also, when did moderators start killing posts, particularly posts that disagree with what they say?

[GimmeTheBall!]

Well, the rss thing was the idea I put forward like what you're asking for. I didn't know you had already considered it. I've used it before in vBul at another site and it seems like a practical solution.


Possibly because it came from you.

Anybody else, the suggestion would carry currency. :D

[GimmeTheBall!]

You can post a few lines from the article with a link...OR...provide a summary with a link.

Whole articles will not be allowed anymore.

Well, there goes your raison d'être.

[fan62]

I get a lot of my links from http://sportspyder.com/teams/nfl/cowboys/main

Isn't there a way to to use the ideas in the widgets tab to get the news here, somehow. Haven't had time to do the research yet, but it looks as if others are using it.

[CATCH17]

Sounds good to me but I will never click a DMN link.

[jterrell]

I 100% support whatever it takes to keep CZ online and Reality free from lawsuit.

All that said, I rather wish we didn't see this snippet model used in the fan zone area as well. I can just avoid the daily zone or only read the "headlines" as I have no desire to see even 1% of the re-directs.

Is it possible to push all the snippets to the Daily Zone?

[WoodysGirl]

I 100% support whatever it takes to keep CZ online and Reality free from lawsuit.

All that said, I rather wish we didn't see this snippet model used in the fan zone area as well. I can just avoid the daily zone or only read the "headlines" as I have no desire to see even 1% of the re-directs.

Is it possible to push all the snippets to the Daily Zone?
Well not every item produced by a news organization is Daily Zone worthy, especially some blogs.

So you might have to skip over some of the snippet-type threads in the Fan Zone occasionally.

And actually the snippet-model is CZ-wide.

[jterrell]

Well not every item produced by a news organization is Daily Zone worthy, especially some blogs.

So you might have to skip over some of the snippet-type threads in the Fan Zone occasionally.

And actually the snippet-model is CZ-wide.

I'd urge a review of that process.
Blogs or anything content protected enough to require snippets imho is in fact Daily Zone worthy.

The fan zone is for non-copyright protected material imho.

It is a rather large model change and I see no reason to expose every thread to it. NFL and Daily definitely make sense.

Anyways, just my .2 cents as a regular reader. FWIW I have actively flamed DMN for their inane links to themselves via snippets in every blog imaginable on their own site.

[WoodysGirl]

I'd urge a review of that process.
Blogs or anything content protected enough to require snippets imho is in fact Daily Zone worthy.

The fan zone is for non-copyright protected material imho.

It is a rather large model change and I see no reason to expose every thread to it. NFL and Daily definitely make sense.

Anyways, just my .2 cents as a regular reader. FWIW I have actively flamed DMN for their inane links to themselves via snippets in every blog imaginable on their own site.The Fan Zone is for everything, copyright protected or not. The Daily Zone is for news, not every fluff opinion piece that can be found on the 'net. That's why some blog entries will stay in the FZ and some go in the DZ.

It's a big change, but a necessary one to protect Reality. And whether a thread contains a summary or snippets, a link will have to be provided, regardless of where its posted on the Zone.

[CowboyMcCoy]

Thought this might be the issue. No big deal having to click a link to read an article, IMO.

I don't think so either. Clicking an article can go right back to thread discussion. People go away from the site, and then come back. They're paranoid about traffic backlash from users wondering away from their sites or getting their content from another. But the ones that come here, come right back. So they shan't worry.

I get the whole traffic/content thing. It's just not as big of a deal. If someone wants to post a link, fine. Nothing says the user can't return to the site and click, click, click.

I disagree. It won't consolidate, it will just work differently--as in there are rules for content. People like content. It's knowledge that makes the world go around. I don't see it being an issue. To me it was sort of a legality issue from the beginning. That is, if I am to believe anything I learned in English 101.