Re: Judges-L FAQ

[jrochkin@cs.oberlin.edu (Jonathan Rochkind)]

At 3:43 PM 02/08/95, Craig A. Johnston wrote:
>It has come to my attention that the Judges-L FAQ is being distributed
>by someone who obtained it on this list, and being sent to people made
>to look as if it has issued from David Stodolsky.
>
>I must inform you that this FAQ is copyrighted material, and
>you are requested not to distribute it.

Huh?  What kind of an FAQ is it, that can't be freely distributed?  If you
don't expect people to redistribute the text, don't call it an "FAQ".  The
phrase "FAQ list" is understood internet-wide (or at least usenet-wide) to
mean a freely distributable list of information someone might want on a
certain topic.  (It doesn't neccesarily mean "Frequenty Asked Questions",
literally, these days.  Cause there are often FAQs distributed that just
contain general information on a certain topic, but not actually questions
that have ever been asked before.  The Judges FAQ might be a good example.)


If you don't want people to redistribute the thing, the really should
change it's name.  And write very explicitly at the top of the document
that no one should copy it without permission of the author.   These things
just aren't generally supposed to be true of FAQs.