{original post had no questions}

Wes, you have still not replied to the main point of my
message.

You say you are following the CIS rules, which will determine
whether or not sfmedone is placed on the Parental Control List. But
the rules you quoted indicate that in fact this sort of language is
PERMITTED, provided that it does not happen more than once every 50
messages.

You have still not shown to me that this was the case here. On
what basis do you decide that it happened in 49 messages or 51
messages? You have completely ignored my request for you to show me
the figures you used to make this determination...figures without which
you could not have made that determination...unless you just did it
arbitrarily. Which is it?

As for the quotes...every first year journalist understands
what Fair Use is, and what constitutes Fair Use. Surely CIS can afford
one lawyer to consult for one hour to tell you what every journalist
knows...that to a large degree it's a matter of the extent of the
material quoted, its proportion to the original material, and whether
or not proper attribution is made. If a book is at issue, quoting
several paragraphs certainly falls into fair use...while quoting
several paragraphs of a one-page poem would not, again due to the
proportions involved.

I'm still waiting for you to show me the basis on which you
made your decision. If you cannot provide it, you leave only the
impression that it was made arbitrarily, and that you *yourself* stand
in violation of CIS rules, and should be reported as such.

However, that you are "rethinking" the policy is certainly a
good thing...in a way, it's not so much the policy as the *method of
implementing* that policy, and the extremes used, that may be most in
need of attention.

BTW, I was interviewed just this afternoon by a reporter from
SciFi Entertainment on the online world, and went into this at some
length; it will likely show up in the next column there. I'll be sure
to update her on further developments.

jms