You remember that list…

You remember that list of writing books I thought about starting? I've set up a draft page for it here. More comments welcome -- I'm thinking I'll limit it to 3 comments per book, and use the most informative ones that come in, with a credit to the commenter, and a link to their web page if they have one. Incentive to send in info. :-)

4 thoughts on “You remember that list…”

  1. Apropos of nothing: settle a debate for me. If I emailed you a comment regarding something you’d said in your journal, would you feel it appropriate to post that email in rather large part, removing my name (or even while quoting it), on the grounds that once I send it to you it’s your property? Or your journal’s property, whatever that means?

    This happened to me – and I’m a bit peeved. In large part because they didn’t bother to remove the other identifying comments other than the name, but also in other ways. It’s a private email and if said person wants to respond to the issues I raise in public rather than in the forum I presented it (privately), that’s not under my control.

    I understand that I have no legal grounds, but it’s mostly an “ick” factor. First, he doesn’t have the guts to respond to me, and then he basically tries to attack me in public?!

    And even when I exclaimed “hey, I didn’t put a disclaimer but I would have…” – how hard is it to remove the direct quotes? Am I living on another planet? What you have here, the comments section, is obviously public. I type it, it goes up unless/until you remove it.

  2. Mary Anne Mohanraj

    I would say that legality says they can publish whatever they want of it, including your e-mail address. I would generally prefer to retain direct quotes to respond to, if possible, as it makes it less likely that I will be misrepresenting what you initially wrote. Courtesy would dictate that they write back to you first, state their intent to publish, and ask whether you wish to emend your comments for publication, or suggest ways of better preserving your anonymity.

    But all bets are off if yours was a hostile/attacking letter to begin with; if it wasn’t courteous itself, then you have no right to expect courtesy in return.

  3. I’d call it pretty courteous. I seem to have said some things that pushed some buttons, but primarily I was talking about myself.

  4. Thanks for your input!
    Especially coming from you – I imagine you get some fairly sensitive responses to your stories, far more personal than what I wrote – those are illuminating words.

    Well, courtesy is often in the eye of the beholder.
    Another one to chalk up to experience.

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