Re: Dedication to the public domain

At 12:03 PM 2/23/94 -0500, ROAKLEY[_at_]guvax.acc.georgetown.edu wrote:
>Bruce Hayden suggested that one could formally dedicate a work to the
>public domain by filing an affidavit with the copyright office. ...
> There has to be a simpler way. And it seems to me that the
>release, even if it does not constitute formal abandonment, achieves
>the same result.

[nb. a portion of the new signature follows]
> Unless otherwise indicated, I make no claim of copyright in
> messages I write for transmission over the Internet. I
> hereby grant permission to all others to reproduce, retransmit
> or copy such messages, subject only to the request to retain
> the signature line or to give appropriate credit for the use
> of any such material.

Bob,

Perhaps you missed Michael Winkelman's message. I've included his suggested notice below. It seems to me that his suggestion does exactly what you say that you want with no fuss, no bother, and in far fewer lines (your entire signature, btw, is exceedingly long -- 17 lines is far beyond what netiquette considers acceptable). Your most recent attempt above still is ambiguous, unclear, and is in essence a license. If you REALLY just want to license every posting, that's fine, but please don't keep suggesting that you want it to be  in the public domain if you do not.

What's the problem with the following?

At 4:10 PM 2/19/94 -0500, mlwinkelman[_at_]dow.com (Michael L Winkelman Patent-Midland 517-636...) wrote:
>
>No copyright claimed for this message. Feel free to reproduce,
>retransmit, copy or quote it, *but please*, retain signature line or
>give appropriate credit.

Personally, I'd much prefer something like the following (if you want it to be P.D.) since Michael's does not clearly say that you place the message into the public domain:

  I dedicate this on-line message/posting to the public domain and do not   assert any copyright. Feel free to reproduce it, but PLEASE retain this   complete on-line signature including this notice and my name for credit.

---
Glenn Tenney
tenney[_at_]netcom.com   Amateur radio: AA6ER
(415) 574-3420      Fax: (415) 574-0546