phywriter.com|Prone to occasional grandiloquence

In what is possibly the weirdest twist for us at Ray Gun Revival magazine yet, one of our issues, #16, was wrongly added to the two copyright violations groups yesterday afternoon.

I first sent in-Scribd messages–if that’s not a feature name, it should be!–to the Admins for the two groups. I also copied an e-mail to Jason Bentley, Director of Community Development.

What he told me mirrored what Jared wrote:

For example, it would not take long at all for some joker to add every document on Scribd to the copyright violation group. What would we do then?

As the document owner, I should have theoretically been able to see all the groups the document belonged to, and removed it from groups where I didn’t want it to reside. However, I didn’t see the X by the two copyright violations groups.

Jared wrote:

I have since been contacted by users who asserted that some of the documents which were in the group were their intellectual property and were not infringing.

Once again, one of our documents was caught up in shenanigans at Scribd, and once again Scribd worked with me quickly to rectify the situation. Jason responded to my e-mail immediately–from his iPhone!–and worked with me for the better part of an hour to rectify the situation. It is nearly eighteen hours later and I have not heard back from either of the two group Admins in question. In their defense, they may have gotten a flood of such messages, and when Scribd stepped in, I was satisfied, so no message was required after that.

When our RGR Issue 16 was removed from the offending groups, it was a gesture of goodwill to us, if nothing else, and I thank Scribd for continuing to stay on top of a spunky young community that still appears to be flexing its abilities and limitations.

Johne Cook
Overlord, Ray Gun Revival magazine

In my editorial in Ray Gun Revival, Issue 29, I wrote that SFWA president Michael Capobianco did ‘too little, too late’. I spoke too soon.

Mr. Capobianco posted an announcement on the SFWA Livejournal blog that the SFWA ePiracy Committee has been suspended and disbanded. It is also forming a new committee to take a fresh look at SFWA’s position on electronic rights issues going forward, and John Scalzi has made himself available for that new committee.

Will Shetterly, who was critical of the way this affair was handled on Friday, applauded the announcement:

Hurrah!

I would only ask SFWA to consider one other possibility: Perhaps copyright concerns should be addressed by an independent organization that wishes to police copyright. The issue is not unique to f&sf, and some writers of f&sf think it is, at best, a waste of time, and at worst, detrimental to their interests. I firmly count myself in their camp.

In the same thread, VP Dr. Andrew Burt was also in favor of the move.

For those who may be curious, I was a wholehearted Aye on this motion. It seems that SFWAns’ feelings about the risk tolerance for fighting piracy have shifted, and we need to assess what those now are before we proceed.

This looks like a positive step on the part of SFWA. Mike, bravo!

Ray Gun Revival Issue #29 has eluded fraudulent DMCA takedown notifications!

27 pages

The Pasadena Rule by Lawrence Buentello
Jack and Katya are part of a space exploration team, out where ‘science’ and ‘adventure’ are the same thing. But ‘danger’ wants in.

The winners of the Ray Gun Revival Space Monkey Flash Fiction contest! Plus a special mention story, just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

The Adventures of the Sky Pirate, Chapter 14, “Alacrity Under Way by Johne Cook
The Sky Pirate takes off—literally.

Deuces Wild: Chapter 15, “Strange Bedfellows” Part Two by L. S. King
Tristan fights his old nemesis, Myers. Myers cheats.