[uf-discuss] Re: Getting legal help (was: inappropriate behaviour)

[Manu Sporny]

Scott Reynen wrote:
> The microformats admins have decided to ban Andy Mabbet from this
> community (both email lists and wiki) for one week, due to continued
> failure to adhere to the "be nice" guideline [1] after a private warning.

I don't condone Andy's tone when replying to the thread that started all
of this. I think it is important to note that he is one of the more
frequent contributors to this community and constantly challenges the
ideas and concepts that are just accepted around here without explanation.

While I don't always agree with Andy, he does have a knack for making
logically sound arguments. It is vital to have people that can challenge
the status quo, people such as Andy, involved in a community such as this.

His replies reflect reservations that several members of this community
choose not to express out of fear of retaliation. In this case the topic
is: the insistence that we should not raise legal matters on the mailing
list.

The reasoning for not discussing legal matters on the list is not clear.
It is ironic that in an open community, such as this, that we have any
taboo topics... but here we are.

The only attempt at explaining this why we cannot speak about legal
matters is that nobody on here is a legal expert, including the admins.
If that is the case, I think there is something that we can do to solve
that issue.

I propose that we get the Electronic Frontier Foundation involved. If
not the EFF, then Creative Commons. Each of those organizations believe
in the open exchange of information and have lawyers on the payroll.

I volunteer to get the ball rolling if necessary. Thoughts and suggestions?

-- manu