by David Cox, Webmaster
In general, I try to look for older works that are out of copyright. In the case of these older works, some editorials (publishing houses) make reprints, and place a current copyright date on their work. This is understandable, but to be honest they should place a "reprint date" followed by the original publication date. In doing it this way, it is clear that the work is not under copyright. Any changes that they make to the work would be a new work with a recent copyright date, but they do not publicly inform the user of their changes because then it defeats the purpose of making a reprint of an older work. By not informing the user they assume it is true and original (therefore not under copyright).
As a webmaster, I wish no problems with anybody. If you have any problems with any works here, please email me your concerns, and I will take steps to investigate and correct the matter. In good faith, I understand that all the works on my website is free of copyright concerns.
There are a few exceptions. The first exception is where I have found a work by a modern author which has clearly put out his stipulations in the reproduction or reposting of his works. In some of these cases I personally email the author asking for permission to republish his works and he has granted me that permission. In a few others they have not, and in that case I will as a rule link to his file instead of placing a copy on my website.
Changing the Author's Original Work - My general rule is that I do not change what other people write. In a very, very few cases I do make some changes to other people's work, and these are the cases:
(1) I catch an obvious spelling error while reading and in a phase of moving the work to my website. For example, if I see a "ot" instead of "to", I may change it. In general I leave all British English spelling "errors" or differences because they are not errors to me. If you cannot understand British English, sorry. In general I do not proofread any of these documents. When I stumble upon a work in html pages, I set Adobe Acrobat capture to download all the pages automatically. Then I have a program that converts the resulting pdf file into a Microsoft Word file, which I take out the line breaks, and reformat the paragraphs as a continuous flowing paragraph. This removes lines where it is not at the end of paragraph, but only one word is on the line.
From there I also remove the html URL stamp that Acrobat stamps on each page which has the URL and date and time. This I usually leave one with the URL only at the beginning or end of the file. Once in Word, Word's autocorrect feature underlines (in Word) the misspelled or none recognized words. Here I may correct obvious spelling errors, and sometimes hyphenation that is not needed in a reformat. I then print it back to a new pdf file and post it on my website.
(2) In most cases I convert html files into a single PDF file. In this case as a rule I do not make any changes to the text except to add the Author's name, title of the work, and where I got it from (URL) if they are not clearly in the file. I will as a rule add pdf bookmarks, hyperlinks from the table of contents to the corresponding section, and many times destinations (so that a html page hyperlink can jump to specific place INSIDE a pdf file), as an aid for the user to navigate the document. This is especially true of larger files. In a very few cases where there is no table of contents but clear chapters, I will make a table of contents page for the pdf file. In all of these cases, I am only arranging the content of the original author, and I am not adding anything that is not already in the original file, so I feel I am honest and true to the original author.
UNKNOWN WORKS - In some cases the website webmaster has so hidden the author of an article so well that I cannot with normal looking find it. These are then designated by me as anonymous works "UNKNOWN". If you are the author, write me and I will credit you for your work.
Short Articles and works - In general I feel it is reasonable to repost short articles and works by modern authors. By copyright law you can quote a modern work as long as it is not a major percentage of that work. For example, taking a quote out of a long book is within the copyright law. You do not need permission, but you should footnote correctly that quote. I feel short pieces out of much larger works (in this case a large website of material, I take a short article of a few pages to 30-40 pages) is allowed. If you are the author and you disagree with my use of your material, please write me and I will remove whatever is yours.
Public Domain Works, and Free Distributed Works - In a few cases, I have come across modern authors who write things and clearly put them in the public domain, or in a limited sense make them freely distributable works. Public domain means I can sell your book and make a profit off of it. Freely distributable works under conditions is what many (wiser in my opinion) people do. They release the copyright considerations for their work as long as you do not sell it or include it in something else (a set of works) that is for sale. In this case I feel it is fair game to put up that kind of material on my website. Note I am paying for web hosting fees for your work to be accessible to the world. You should thank me and not get on my case.
If you are very particular about other people putting up your material, you should clearly put "not for distribution or reposting". In such cases I simply link if I feel it is worthy. In this case it better be very convicting to me that is worth messing with. I usually do not link to such works as a rule. An example is David Cloud's works. I refuse to even link to his works. His material has so much junk at the top to protect his copyrights (when he takes wholesale from other people, reposts it, and puts his copyright on it). I leave that junk alone usually.
My Comments about your position - I am a fundamental, separated Baptist. If you are not, you may find some of my comments about your position disturbing. You may write and complain, but that is generally useless. They are my comments about your work, and I am entitled to my opinion. If you think I have accessed your position wrongly, please correct me. Usually my positional comments on a work's author come from what I clearly see stated in the website where I took it from, or from the work itself. In some cases I access a position from the doctrines stated within the work, for example, Church of Christ generally hold to baptism as necessary for salvation. They do not wish to state it like that, but the truth is that is their position. Many disagree with their church's position on baptism and should leave that church, but the concern is still valid, and comments in a work would reflect a concern when touching on those doctrinal areas.
In general, if you have any problems with something you wrote or own the copyright to being on my website. Please write me first before doing anything else. Express your concern, and I will address the issue. Email: Please note that I am a missionary, and in general I have certain times in my life when I am traveling and it is difficult for me to even read my email. So please be patient.
Also please note that my website is publicized, so I get somewhere around 1000 emails or more per week. Out of the 1000, about 50 are from things I have asked to receive, and around 5-8 from "real people". I have to filter out these few from the great bulk of junk email. If you wish formally to contact me, please consult this page: How to contact me. Please do not feel bad about sending me multiple emails. Please be very clear in the topic (Re:) line, because that is all I see in these emails. If they look like they are from somebody, I read the rest and don't delete it. Also, if you put "missionary", "church", or "supporter" in the Re: line, I always read those.
In general I will remove the work from my website if the copyright owner does not want me to post his work. Other restitution I cannot make. Sorry.