I saw the link you posted earlier and removed. I knew about that case years ago. Our rule is to generally let posters post what they want where they want. If some 3rd party has a reasonable complaint, we remove the content in question. I only remember that a 3rd party has complained 2 or 3 times to us since 2007. We know CSN doesn't want us posting full articles, so we won't. Find the relevant parts to what interests you and quote it and cite it.
I remembered that case but like I said, it didn't really apply it didn't seem. Was wondering if it had ever been revisited
All I hear is "I don't know the copyright laws, but this big company is intimidating me so I'll do as they say"
Or he thinks if someone does not want traffic coming from our forum talk, he has no problem accomodating their wishes. They would only be hurting themselves.
Maybe Kevin is just involved in content, not corporate policies, but he should go back and tell corporate that they have totally alienated Portland fans and that if they actually want to change to a customer-friendly culture, they might get some interest from the board in supporting this initiative. When they signed the contract with the Trailblazers, they assure everyone that they have a history of working with DirectTV and Dish and others and would do so to share the otherwise "exclusive" Blazer games. * They have never done that. * I live just an hour outside Portland and Comcast is not available where I live even if I wanted to switch from DirectTV. * Nevertheless, League Pass blacks out Blazer games to me, because of my proximity to Portland, even though I cannot get Comcast. I have been screwed. I cannot watch most Blazer games even if I was willing to pay for them. I didn't even know what Lillard looked like for most of his first season! Fuck Comcast. Pass it upstairs.
I know enough about copyright laws. Copyright infringement penalties are per instance. So if we had 5 posts that a judge found to be in violation, we'd have to pay tens of $thousands x 5. CSN is a legitimate content creator and provider. I really don't see a point in trying to take some costly legal stand.
Fair enough, I wouldn't argue that stance. However it is kind of odd for Comcast to be displeased with us posting links to their content, but at the same time want is to be involved with their website. If that is the case then we would not be able to link to content WE CREATE.
This is what happened in regards to Chris Haynes, CSNNW, the Blazers and this forum... I really enjoyed Chris Haynes' coverage of the Blazers. He wrote about things not covered by the other Blazer beat reporters, he broke a few stories, he was positive yet objective about the team. If there was something that he had written that I liked I would start a thread and post the first few sentences of it along with a link. But because he wrote for Comcast there was always a vocal group of you who would not read the article, not click on the link. I thought Haynes was worth reading so I started copying and pasting the entire article because it was the only way that some of you would read his stuff. I would always include the link. CSNNW saw this and complained to the Blazers. The Blazers complained to Denny. Denny complained to me. I admitted to it and said I wouldn't do it again. But I thought it was a little odd that CSNNW complained to the Blazers about this instead of reaching out to someone here directly. I wanted to apologize, explain why I was doing it and try and build a relationship with CSNNW. (Actually I wanted to see if there was a way to stream some of their content on here like Talkin' Ball. Similar to how we are able to stream Courtside.) I didn't have any contact information for CSNNW but I had spoken with Chris Haynes in the past and had sat next to him on press row a few times so I emailed him and explained to him that it was me who was copying and pasting his articles. He said if it were up to him he wouldn't care and appreciated me trying to get more interest in his coverage. He said he would talk with his editor about this. Then it got brought to my attention that CSNNW had complained again to the Blazers. But since their first complaint to the Blazers I had not copied, pasted or linked to anything from CSNNW nor had anyone else from the forum. I wanted to settle any misunderstandings and apologize so I went to CSNNW and wrote to the only email address that I could find on there.
It seems they've come around to wanting to partner with us. We are partners with the Blazers, so are they. It's a good fit. Sly has met Chris Haynes in person and I think he was pimping his work as a show of respect. After the treatment we've given Kevin, they may think twice about wanting to deal with us. But I think there's a lot of potential good that can come from working with them. FWIW, he just gave us permission to post a few paragraphs and a link to articles on their site. Right in this very thread!
Repped. I'd love to hear their response. Also some one working for Comcast should get a stern talki g to for this. You've got a forum of members, the majority of which despise this company. Then you come along and try to find a bridge between the two, and you are shunned by said company for it. In my eyes you tried to help them out and didn't deserve being complained about for it.
Alright Kevin but one of the main topics could also be getting some kind of help with the Comcast issues. Obviously there are problems. What have the Blazers done to help the situation and where exactly does Comcast stand on these issues. We are talking about not only educating the fan base but also giving Comcast an opportunity to help it's overall public perception. You will not get a more knowledgeable group on this team anywhere. Even you so called experts do not have the kind of insight available here. But that insight comes with a cost. What would be in it for us?
I don't think he means any harm but it doesn't you just a smidge that he has walked into your house trying to recruit your members away?
Can you PM me any details about this email (if you have/remember who you sent it to or when)? Thanks.
Ok, I'm going to attempt to answer a handful of the questions that have come up and while the answers might not be what you want to hear if you people here claim to be as savvy as you all say, perhaps you'll understand where we are coming from. There was never an issue of LINKS being posted. The issue was Chris Haynes' content being posted in full. I understand why Sly did it, but that doesn't make it OK. If board members here are so bitter about the TV situation that they won't click on our links, that is their choice. That does not make it OK to copy/paste our content. Especially as the official board of the team, our partners. Exactly. I'm here for this reason. Here's some more info/tidbits that will maybe clear some things up: 1. No one at CSN works for "Comcast." I know that's weird based on our name. We work as a division of NBC Sports under the NBC Universal parent company. 2. Every single person at CSN would LOVE to see a DirecTV or Dish deal done. I can't even begin to explain how much easier it would make our life. You'll think it's BS but it's not: We want a deal done as much as you guys do. 3. Our local CSN group here has nothing to do with the TV situation. It's all handled by corporate folks back east. Here in Portland, we have all the normal departments you'd expect and we handle the daily operations of the network. So, no, I cannot "walk up stairs" and explain something to someone. For better or worse, it just doesn't work that way. 4. I've personally been with CSN since launch in 2007. I've been through all of this. Those of us here at CSN truly work hard to bring you guys great online and on-air products on your NW teams. That's why this thread got started in the first place. Passionate Blazer fans reside in a lot of places. On twitter, on facebook, in the arena and among other places, here on this board. It seemed like a smart place to get some feedback. 5. With each passing year, we do more and more partner work with the Blazers for on-air/online content (you'll see some new stuff launching in the coming weeks as Jabari Young gets on-board). As the official board of the Blazers, it made too much sense not to see if there was some cross over content possibility. If there isn't, then there isn't and that's fine. No stone left un-turned though. 6. "Comcast" or "CSN" doesn't black out your league pass. That's all mandated by the NBA. We can't have a meeting and decide to not black out the games. It just doesn't work that way. I'm happy to answer any other questions people might have. I don't know what sort of traffic or membership you guys have here but it seems like a CSN feature on our site that promoted and pushed viewers to join this community would be a good thing. It also seems like there are some smart Blazer fans here that might enjoy seeing their thoughts in a Roundtable type feature on our site. Partners being partners. That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure there is plenty more to come.
How much is the hardball that has gone on in relation to CSN and Directv's negotiation due to Directv's grip on the Sunday Ticket? How much information is filtered down from corporate to you folks? BTW, I appreciate the creativeness the network has come up with some of their Blazer related programming. Talkin Ball, The Pulse, Replaying some of the classic Blazer games. I think CSN is doing a pretty decent job in this area.
