Dear Peter,
Sorry, but in point of fact your actual membership criteria is regarded as
private - per your definition anyway - since without joining you can't
participate on the list - if that's not private......... You invite by
accepting in on request.
As to the publicity of messages: The intention of Britishmining is primarily
for IM and Chat, and secondly for direct inter-member email all of which are
not currently available anywhere, therefore the question of records of
communications (& it's copyright), belongs to the individuals having the
conversation - quite apart from the fact that you can't keep record of IM or
Chat conversations - or indeed other peoples emails since it is their
property - the Group runs in an entirely different way from mining-history -
it is up to Britishmining members to decide whether they want all and sundry
to see what they say and not me (I do not have the right). (All of this
should be obvious really). Indeed, allowing non members to freely view
mining-history members inter-member emails might even possibly breach
criminal or civil law in certain circumstances: content owners may even be
able to initiate criminal or civil action against you if the material is/was
sensitive in any way. Britishmining, via aol, is governed by and construed in
accordance with the laws of England and Wales, also, conditions of COS,
Member Agreement, and Community Guidelines - members also have the facility
to contact Aol direct to report anything they consider to be breaches of
anything. Any member of the public can use Britishmining, all they have to do
is ask. I further quote from part of the aol agreement:-
""""Some areas of AOL are generally accessible to other members (we refer to
them as "public"), like message boards, chat 'rooms', auditoriums and the AOL
Member Directory. By submitting content to a public area, you are
representing that you are fully entitled to do so, and that you grant to AOL
Inc. the non-exclusive right to copy, modify, distribute, show in public and
create derivative works from that content in any form, anywhere. You also
grant AOL members the right to use such content for personal, non-commercial
purposes.""""
So, in conclusion, Britishmining is intrinsically different: it does not want
a website since it's concentration is on information exchange.The
Mining-history List (I do not include the website obviously), has it's own
identity and has stayed exactly the same for a long time (apart from a route
change). New technology and developments have allowed new things to happen,
progress can't be ignored, movement is inevitable and must be made or.......
- a standard business principal anyway.
You initiated this conversation on list and forced me to reply on list, and
by your rules should not clog the list any further. It is now for the members
of the Britishmining Internet Group to decide what they think about
Britishmining.
Regards, Bernard
p.s. List Members, I have decided to sell from my collection Vol.1, No.1 of
the NMRS Bulletin - or what is now. If of interest please contact off line.
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