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General discussion

Why would a moderator remove a legitimate post?

Apr 26, 2008 10:02AM PDT

1) As I had posted to an earlier question. Nowhere did I circumvent licensing. The example that I gave is the same model that was used for building the current Mac OS X.
2) Cnet is supposed to respect all software licensing, including that of the GPL, BSD, Debian, CDDL, and other Open source licensing. References to a few of these was stated in the post; obviously, Cnet does not respect nor care to respect said licenses.
3) The sources stated in the post are open to the public for modification.
4) Nowhere did I state to modify the system- Mac OS X- but to create a legitimate clone of it based upon the OpenDarwin model.
5) If you are afraid to let people know what information can and can't be used, you shouldn't be doing this [moderating posts.]

Discussion is locked

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Prima Facie evidence tells me...
Apr 28, 2008 12:50AM PDT

...that the Moderators are the duly appointed representitives of the owners and managers of CNet and have the authority to delete or let stand ANYTHING they want...whether you like it or not.

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And legal evidence tells me
Apr 28, 2008 1:27PM PDT

That they have to respect all licenses on all software.

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(NT) Do you practice medicine without a license too?
Apr 28, 2008 10:45PM PDT
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Software license related.
Apr 29, 2008 4:17AM PDT

Read all three GPLs, the lesser GPLs, the BSD liocenses, the Debian standard, and call me in the morning.
If these do not work, please sip the Bell BSD settlement and take that with two shots of SCO.

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I disagree...
Apr 29, 2008 3:37AM PDT

First let me say I'm stepping in partially blind as I did not see the post you are referring to and therefore don't know why it was deleted or by whom.

However, your claim that Cnet must abide by all licensing agreements of all software, and does not care to do so, is severely flawed. Consider:
1.) The EULA must be agreed to by anyone using the software, not all individuals/companies. Thus, if you use the software and then post something in the forums Cnet is under no obligation to abide by the EULA since you are the user, not Cnet.
2.) Not all EULAs are enforceable. For instance, if someone wrote in a clause that stated you must give up your first born child if you use the program for more than 3 days a year it's not legally enforceable. It falls under the argument of being unconscionable and unreasonable.
3.) Posts are routinely deleted and threads locked due to EULA violations, including running Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware, so there is substantial support for defending the terms of licensing agreements.

Now, as Jack said, Cnet reserves the right to edit/delete any posts it wishes, and bestows that power upon the moderators to use based on their/our best judgment. You may have considered your post to be on the right side of the forum policies, but evidently that was not the determination reached by one of the other moderators. It may or may not have been based upon a misinterpretation, but the discretion is granted and its usage alone is not grounds for dismissal.

John

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Do you respect all software licenses?
Apr 29, 2008 4:14AM PDT

This includes GPL and BSD licenses and the operating systems and parts of the operating systems that fall under these or other Open Source license?

If a company uses any part of any software of these license, they are bound to the license for that part. There is no exception. If you copy software from a GNU project, a Solaris project, or a BSD release, you are required by law to provide a copy of that license agreement and to abide by the said requirements within that license. Those parts of the Mac OS system which have been copied from FreeBSD and GNU projects are bound by the BSD licensing and the GPL under which the project was esatblished.

If you wish, you can research this.

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No, I don't...
Apr 29, 2008 5:09AM PDT

Then again, if I believe the licensing agreement exceeds its bounds I simply don't use the product. Thus, I respect the licensing agreements of software I use, not all software licensing agreements.

But that's entirely irrelevant to your initial claim that "Cnet does not respect nor care to respect said licenses," which is likewise entirely irrelevant to your complaint about a post's removal from these forums. If you wish to debate the terms of various licensing agreements pick the appropriate forum and start a new thread. On the other hand, if you wish to argue your post's deletion stay on point.

John

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References.
Apr 29, 2008 2:06PM PDT

May I use this as a reference in the Open Source community, the Free Software Foundation, and for the BSD organizations?
I am talking about only your post above this one.

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On what basis?
Apr 29, 2008 9:10PM PDT

Your original post was about post deletion.

Why this change to comments and arguments about software licenses? On what basis are you now asking to quote a member's post about software licenses, and what would it prove?

The comment was made, "Then again, if I believe the licensing agreement exceeds its bounds I simply don't use the product. Thus, I respect the licensing agreements of software I use, not all software licensing agreements".

I entirely agree with that sentiment. Time and again I have refused to continue installing software because I did not like the terms of the EULA. Such things as, "You agree that, by using this SOFTWARE, you allow your personal details to be forwarded on to third parties", etc, is just an example of the things I would not accept from a license.

But as has been said already, what is the purpose of continuing this discussion about software licenses when your original post was about post deletion? I don't understand. You gave no details about the thread you had originally posted in, so it is impossible for others here to comment on the rights or wrongs of that deletion, and this discussion is fast going nowhere.

For my part, if you were to ask me permission to quote what I say or otherwise use it as a reference elsewhere, I would have to say No. Without knowing where you intend to use my words, or in what context, such a request would be unacceptable.

Please, think again about the purpose of your original post in this thread, and continue accordingly, or otherwise end this discussion now.

Mark

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Please start a new discussion.
Apr 29, 2008 11:33PM PDT

Your post and this discussion is about post deletion. If it goes far off track it could be locked to force a new post to be on topic.

I know you are itching to write an expose on running Macosx on non-apple hardware but as it stands you will find these are not the right forums for that.
Bob