A matter of ethics...

[spiderbraids]

In this post, the ethics of quoting, and the ethics of reviewing.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I was banned from winx_club for quoting others in my podcast without permission. There are other things that I'm being dinged for, but this one stands out the most for me. (Especially that I'm trying hard to stay away from those other things... hello, 4Kids bashing!)

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is about quoting people. I mean, unless I'm twisting their quotes around for malicious purposes (which I'm NOT), and if I give credit where credit's due (which I AM), I don't see why I would need permission to quote anyone. I've always considering quoting fair game. At Toon Zone Forums, you can automatically quote the previous post to make a point, and if you know the code ([quote][/quote]), you can quote anything from anywhere. Permission? Who needs it?

In fact, I've always thought that if someone saw their quote being used straight, they'd be a bit flattered. Instead, one group moderator actually told me not to use his quotes without permission, and he even emailed me, with not so kind words, over my use of a quote of his, plus an excerpt from another mod's fic, in a podcast... two weeks after it had been released. I stopped making direct quotes in posts (instead settling for links to the relevant discussion), but apparently, direct quotes were also not fair game in podcasts either. And so... DING!!! (Since then, I've edited out the "offending" comments. Actually, I edited them out before I got banned.)

However, and if this puts me back in good faith with the community's moderators, I'm willing to bend over backwards and ask for permission for each and every quote from now on. Starting with any comments that are posted in this journal.

Quoting isn't the only "fair game" I've had issues with, however. Making an honest-to-goodness review of a fanfic has gotten me into trouble as well.

About 1 1/2 months before the controversy above, I had gotten into trouble with one of the prominent members of that community over reviewing fanfics that had been sent in for a contest. I subsequently asked him, a few weeks later, that if he didn't like the idea of me reviewing the fics, maybe he should review them himself. In a nutshell, he replied that just because he gets a fanfic doesn't mean it requires a review. (He also barred me from posting reviews of fics that were on his site again.)

I will admit that he's had problems with me pointing out all the negative aspects of the fics (and all the fics in the contest had many flaws... even the winning fic had a HUGE flaw). But why preclude any kind of review altogether? What about the positive aspects that should be praised? Surely there should be room for reviewing. I mean, doesn't FanFiction.net have feedback forms for reviews? So, why does he think that the fics on his site shouldn't be reviewed? I just find it weird...

Your two cents, anyone?

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