Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Do not disturb

So about 10 months ago, while working on B&G II Special Ops Command, I posted a poem I found on a special ops website, because I liked it.

While I knew posting the poem itself was a slight breach of netiquette (I should have just linked to it) I thought I was being helpful. It was good stuff, why not share the love right?

Well the other day I received this in my email (I'm only posting the highlights here).

Charles Rice?     hmm?
Nope, I don't recall giving you permission to re-publish
my work.

[Snip]

But, as a "writer" you
must know the big chunk of "you" that comes out and
onto the paper when you write something like this.
So sorry. I thought people wrote things, then posted them on public websites because they wanted them to be read.

Now I realize that, as a "writer" the "you" that comes out on the page really just wants to be left alone.

Happy to oblige.

2 comments:

Walt said...

Wow... Attack of the net nerd.

You say you found the poem on a special ops website? The problem with stuff like that is they are most often posted by "groupies" who have never been and will never be.

I used to be an operator back in the day. I am a writer now. A little exposure would have gone a long way and this person is being up tight.

My next battlefield haiku is for you sir!

Chuck said...

Lol, yeah.

When I first got the email, I frantically went looking through all the B&G II books, thinking I had accidentally quoted this guy's poem in one of my books without permission.

Then I realized he meant my *blog*.

In other words, I was posting it in one imaginary box, rather than the imaginary box of his choice.

So then I got ticked lol.

Still, if he doesn't want it here, that's his decision, which is why I removed it before I vented (complete with John Cleese apology).

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