Very touchy. How did I mistakenly wander onto this site.

http://www.mentalhealth.com

Leave John alone. Since when did so many of you become self apointed regulators of the internet. This forum is every bit as much his as anyone elses. Get a life and leave others alone. If you don't like his posting than skip them but you are not the official forum's "Drivel Patrol".

IMHO, its ok that you did what's being discussed in this thread, John, I feel the net IS free, and people who want to use it for commerce can do what they please, maybe I like it maybe not. But, the Net is free. You have said the equivalent of 'sorry' when asked, but its obvious your initial intentions were to spread the info for helping others. That's what education is all about...and there are some of us who STILL feel that the net is more about learning than commerce. Not that I am opposed to either, but even if I'm opposed to plagiarism, John was not into deception with the initial cut/paste, merely education. John...Now maybe give us the full citation here, (since some people will drag this on forever, though I dont care personally), that way the writer will get credit?

Or, post the citation on the thread where you put the article?

You people really need to get a life!

I will give credit where credit is due.
AAA web site address:

www.csaa.com/

Trying not to re-direct business from Fodor's but my integrity has been challenged (sorry Fodor's I tried to keep everyone on you great web site). Lot's of good article's for travel in the west.

To all those to whom I have offended I am sorry. To those who feel the need to regulate idea's I am really sorry but not for neglecting to give credit where credit is due but for revealing how empty your lives must be. How tortured your so-called loved ones are. Your glasses of water are definatly half full.

Lets shake hands and continue to help people. And apox on youyr house if anyone else post on this thread.

Later Days

I think you may have missed the point here. This is their life. But we had best be moving along quickly now, I can hear the "police" coming already. There is certainly no shortage of people accusing other people of "policing".

I don't usually even read this forum, but I found this thread interesting due to the blatant disregard for the law and for intellectual rights by John, who has the nerve to criticize others for objecting to his behavior. John and others who support his unethical and illegal behavior are also ignorant in thinking that one can violate copyright laws and post other people's property on the internet because it is "free." John violated Fodor's terms of service (I suggest all guilty parties actually read the legal terms of service governing this WEB site that you can find on the front section), and no doubt the CSAA magazine's, who I am sure has copyrighted that material. He has violated Fodor's legal agreements which, if you read them, state that no one is allowed to post on this board material they have copied from another source. It is also conceivable that he has subjected Fodor's to possible litigation from the owner of that material. This is NOT trivial, as a writer and published author myself, it bothers me a lot the extent to which people think it is ok to steal something just because it is words, not an object; I can't imagine why anyone with even common street knowledge wouldn't know that copying an article from someone and posting it under your own name is illegal. It is not legal even if you do attribute it, unless you have the owner's permission; it's only legal to copy it for yourself alone, not to post it publicly on the internet. I personally am skeptical that the intent was benign, either, as I have never seen someone do this (print an entire article on an internet BB in response to a simple question); any person who usually knows of a good article or reference on a BB will simply mention it and refer the poster to the correct site/URL or whatever, they do not blatantly copy the article and post it under their name without attribution. The correct response would have been to refer the questioner to the CSAA URL.

John certainly has shown the ability to defend himself without the help of others; but Christina's post takes the cake. "UNETHICAL....ILLEGAL"? This forum is not rocket science nor representative of a scholarly journal...For pete's sake, John took an article from the California Automobile Association about San Francisco and thought it would be helpful. Gee, I bet that is contrary to the intent of the CSAA!

Christina is absolutely right and expresses the reality behind this debate very succinctly.

However, I think this whole thread is missing one big point: this John character is playing with you. He's cackling while he pushes people's buttons. No one's really that whacked.

I'm surprised that Fodor's hasn't wiped this thread yet. Don't they monitor this board anymore?

You idiots must not have anything else to do all day besides type all this garbage that makes no sense. Get a life!

Tammy--doesn't your description include you as well? I think that's a little harsh, calling yourself an idiot. Of course, you know you much better than we do. We have only your admission that you can't understand these fairly simple posts to judge your intelligence by. For my part, I would describe you as more of a moron than an idiot. But you may be right.