Bondwriter

A vast majority of readers would say NO! I think three chapters of trial in which all his crimes are exposed and telling of his first few months in prison would bring the author lots of sympathy, and, to Eric too, since he's had very little "screen time" actually; the bad consequences of his nefarious actions have been more lengthily told in the story than his actions themselves. And his being in Piedmont, or running away, added to the first-person narrative, prevented the reader to see him under a favorable light. (Had there been a pool party at Sheriff Johnson's, and a web cam planted by Chris and Steve ...) Besides his free enterprise skills, that only have to do with crime and misdemeanor, what good can you actually say of him?

Yes, rule number one: Know Your Foe. And we know quite well one sleazy, vomit-inducing, stealing, blackmailing, conspiring, drugs dealing, murder-attempting sibling of one of the lead characters, that some keep defending despite the accumulated evidence against him.

This thread had flown under the radar for me. As I first read the title, I thought "well, another annoying celebration of quantity." Hence I was pleasantly surprised that quality was praised so much by posters. Then I reached Nick's postthat got me puzzled. After 13 seconds thinking, my conclusion is: "Build your own legend. Only you can."

He! He! I'll tell you the sites once the case is settled, I don't want to see the problem solved in three minutes by someone else who'll then be coming to rub my nose in my ignorance! I still see the small tripod site that has collected stories and poorly assembled them as rather pathetic, and since the story is already on three sites, two of them free and well-known, I don't feel as strongly as other people. I doubt anyone will ever buy the story anyway, I think I'd even have granted authorization to the site owner had I been asked. Update: 1/ Still no news of the original site (I'll check for other email addresses and get back to them today). 2/ I filled in a form at Lycos/ Tripod. Here's their reply: Dear bondwriter@walla.com, This is an automated message to advise you that a technician has responded to your question. You can view this response and track the progress of your inquiry online, or see the included reply below: Ticket Ref : 9405-UHLV-2350 Ticket Subject : Copyright infringement Reply: I am writing in response to your e-mail regarding content hosted through Lycos on one of our free homepage services, Tripod.com and Angelfire.com. You should understand that the content to which you have referred have has been stored on the Lycos system solely at the direction of a Lycos user and has not been initially reviewed, monitored, or edited by Lycos employees. Lycos users bear sole responsibility for such material, and Lycos, Inc. has no knowledge of the specific contents of member directories. Lycos, Inc. fully complies with all intellectual property laws. In particular, when the owner of an exclusive right is concerned that this right is infringed by material placed on a provider's system or network by a subscriber of that provider the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") provides certain procedures to ensure that infringing materials are removed without wrongfully injuring the ubscriber or unduly burdening the provider. In such instances, the owner of an exclusive right should send to the provider a notification containing the following information: 1. A physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. 2. Precise identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site. 3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material including exact URL's and references to specific files. 4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party (the copyright and/or intellectual property owner, not the alleged infringing party) may be contacted. 5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. The phrase "good faith belief" must be used. 6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right is allegedly infringed. The phrase "under the penalty of perjury" must be used. If you are able to provide the missing information, please submit an appropriate notification meeting all of the above requirements to Lycos Inc.'s registered agent for receiving such notifications: Registered Copyright Agent Lycos, Inc. 100 5th Avenue Waltham, MA 02451 Facsimile: (781)-370-2990 Upon receipt of a proper notification, Lycos, Inc. will respond expeditiously to remove or disable access to the materials properly identified in the notification. Lycos, Inc. will provide a copy of the notification to the subscriber and give the subscriber an opportunity to respond. This letter is written without prejudice to any right, remedy, or defense that Lycos, Inc. may have which has not been asserted in this letter. All such rights, remedies, and defenses are expressly reserved. If you have any questions about this letter, please do not hesitate to contact Lycos, Inc's registered agent. For legal advice, you should consult an attorney. -- Lloyd D. Customer Service - Lycos This is exactly the kind of message that makes me happy in the morning. So, basically, they say I should send a letter asking to remove the file (if I understand the legal/ cover-your-ass mumbo-jumbo). It doesn't matter for them apparently that ALL the site is made of material borrowed/ stolen without asking. OR, this is (as is stated), the first automated reply, and real life people will actually look into the problem later on.

A Happy Birthday (though the board doesn't say it is, but I'll trust CJames to have loads of inside info. )

OK, I took the advised course of action. It's now been two days since I emailed the site that had its stories plundered and posted with a lousy index, not all chapters, etc. 1/ I haven't heard from the webmaster/ administration. 2/ The said copy site is still up. Personally it doesn't make me utterly angry. If people like a chapter, there's my name and the title, and they may easily find a good version. I just don't see the point in duplicating (poorly) content that already exists. But well, people are weird. And BTW, Nexis leaving the site has nothing to do with this thread, but with feedback he got he deemed insulting. From what I understood, it's the whole "posting stories on the Internet" that he gets out of.

Let this "the End" get written many decades ago, after you've managed to add many paragraphs full of success and happiness. Glad James offered for maths and calculus, I would be quite helpless.

Because you're bad with computers and haven't spent the last ten or fifteen years online. Because you don't feel too good for writing stories with homoerotic content. You will certainly not call your lawyer friend over such a matter. Because you've been writing on your own for years and would like to give a try having people read it, and take the first site you find because you act on impulse. (I'm guessing the first applies to Nexis, and maybe 2 and 3, which apply to me indeed; 3 was not GA in my case, but when I first posted a couple of years back, I knew nothing about copyrights and stuff, I just wanted readers) I've learned something today. Having noticed a few weeks back a lycos site that had parts of a story of mine along with others, all taken from the same site, I did email the site's administrators, and will see what happens. I did not get a reply within ten minutes, though. I might be biassed towards Nexis, but I didn't read a "nothing can be done" comment. Well the fact he deleted his post won't help to settle the matter, and so, so be it. I think that something really basic can be done also in the line of posting a message on a board that gathers people who are experienced with posting stories on the internet. I'm just sad the writer who impressed me the most over the last few months (and there are quite a few excellent authors here) didn't get the same nice sense of community I did, especially since I got him to come over. I'll still get to read his stories, in text format on Nifty. And advertise them in the Story Caf

I guess when you're new to the game it's not this easy to solve such a case. This is precisely why a forum like this is useful. Taking action, sure, but which one? I have stories on sites where it's almost impossible to get in touch with the paople who manage it. What I mean is that Nexis' question didn't need the (hopefully unintended) scornful tone in the replies.

Though I don't really feel like rejoicing or mourning, I doubt the sincere sympathy from the "gay community" would deeply touch his family. Let us not argue over this bigot, that's what he would have loved!

Happy Birthday!

One question: by blowing up the sheriff's house, did Chris destroy some important incriminating evidence? The meth lab theory seems to have been swept aside by CJames, but it's his job to mislead people who're on to something. See the positive side for Eric: his broken nose will give him a tough guy look that will prove useful in jail.

Agreed, exactly my view on this chapter. As for the title, it made me think of the Clash song Guns of Brixton. "When they kick out your front door How you gonna come? With your hands on your head Or on the trigger of your gun When the law break in How you gonna go? Shot down on the pavement Or waiting in death row"

Darn! Coming in late... Happy Birthday!

First ones popping to my mind: Nostalgia, by the Buzzcocks I always used to dream of the past But like they say yesterday never comes Sometimes there's a song in my brain And I feel that my heart knows the refrain I guess it's just the music that brings on nostalgia for an age yet to come Ah nostalgia for an age yet to come Nostalgia for an age yet to come About the future I only can reminisce For what I've had is what I'll never get And although this may sound strange My future and my past are presently disarranged And I'm surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come I look I only see what I don't know All that was strong invincible is slain Takes more than sunshine to make everything fine And I feel like I'm trapped in the middle of time With this constant feeling of nostalgia for an age yet to come Ah nostalgia for an age yet to come About the future I only can reminisce For what I've had is what I'll never get And although this may sound strange My future and my past are presently disarranged And I'm surfing on a wave of nostalgia for an age yet to come I look I only see what I don't know All that was strong invincible is slain Takes more than sunshine to make everything fine And I feel like I'm caught in the middle of time And this constant feeling of nostalgia for an age yet to come Ah nostalgia for an age yet to come

I already wondered where you got this info from when you posted in the other thread, but after a little research, I found that though Bulgaria tightened a bit their traffic laws hence complying with UE guidelines, you get charges pressed in Bulgaria once you go over 1.5. Which is pretty high. And no country in the European Union has a death penalty sentence, especially not enforced by traffic cops. As for the topic, who's Paris Hilton? (Just kidding!)

Happy Birthday!

OK, maybe doing the police's job is what you've got to do in the Rural West (are wa gonna get a showdown at High Noon in Mainstreet?), but then you may think it over and have some backup. Playing the meddlesome snoop against people who steal parts and pile up carburetors can be dangerous. Betty, who's still a kick-butt character, is as guilty of dumbness as the boys. And nothing has been planned for a retreat or in case anything goes wrong. So will Eric, the non-adopted poor misunderstood little worthless pile of crap save his brother's boyfriend? Stop using drugs? Stop cussing all the time? Go to jail and stay there?

Come on guys, play nice!

And now, Conner, you understand the need for the 12-person crew behind CJames' writing. Of course, we're not even referring to the salt block caterer, the horn sharpener, the hooves trimmer, without whom all of this wouldn't be possible. And Jack, I'm wondering if there is any possible innuendo in your comment about CJames' cranial capacity.

OK, OK! I take this back! Make it cute and cuddly egg-laying mammal with spines from the southern hemisphere. Rejoice for having the undisputed number one give you praise! As for the living in the desert par, I agree with Jack that it is well told here and there. Though my experience of deserts is small, lots of habits of our locals seem to be fairly embedded in their way of life.

Anyone doing a PhD on denial? Here is one of the most interesting cases I've ever come across. And blaming a poor little hedgehog from the southern hemisphere. You've been hanging out with Sheriff Johnson too long, CJames, though only in your mind! As for my hair color, yup, I'm rather on the fair side. My Flemish ethnic background. I wouldn't mind being called Blondwriter; not any stupider as my current alias. Do not yield in this silly competition, Jan! This is the slippery slope the goat is trying to lure you to. Do you think I'm even aware of having an average of 3.23 posts per day? Good job, CJames! It was high time this guy from the hills with trees got an education!

I thought I'd hijack this thread, in which the info will be found by the goat with sunglasses and the echidna, and hence avoid to clutter the lounge: CJames: 3,500 posts Graeme: 1,500 posts Just a little coincidence, these 500 endings?

No congratulations to the LVPD

Wisely said. And this "study" (but it's likely to be total BS anyway) must have been done by interviewing ten people in gay clubs in San Francisco in the late 70s. If you look at the maths, as Lugh does, it starts being obvious such a figure is ludicrous at best. And 70 partners for an heterosexual? That's 69 too many, since the Catholic doctrine still doesn't allow sex before marriage, divorce and adultery. So are gay people ten times more sinful than an "average" heterosexual who's 69 times more sinful than a righteous, pious Catholic guy? You might try to get your point across to this pastor in a one-to-one meeting in which he won't have to "keep face in front of kids", or in writing if you deem him able to consider your POV. This would be a nice lesson in tolerance; from my experience, though most Catholic priests I got to meet in this type of settings were not too bad, I remember a couple who were so stuck up in their prejudice and misconceptions that I soon learned discussion was impossible.