h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't see the problem in keeping things short: long posts just get tedious, considering this is supposed to be a poetry CONVERSATION and not a series of monologues. Besides, the extra challenge might be fun, and force us to be creative.

Having said that, two lines or fewer is a real bind. In the case of long poems, it's legally fine to use extracts of more than two lines, but you have to careful, and it's not always easy to judge. I guess that's why we are being asked to keep it to two lines. Which might, sadly, be the death of this thread, but I hope not.

By the way, h2g2 Team, Post 13 did not break any copyright rules or laws.

(Should we start again?)

They should be, as should be the Lewis Carroll and the John Clare

I wasn't referring to your posting, Pedantic, I was reacting generally to the copyright restrictions.

Jab

Shall we start a new thread with the new rules, then?

Jab

I'm game. (Whether I'm able, we'll have to see!)



What if people have written the lines themselves, Jab? Are more than two lines allowed in the game's posts then?

(Presumably, the BBC allows it, despite the accidental hiding of Post 13.)

Hi Snails,

I've written to the italics to clarify the position about what we'd be a ble to do and what we wouldn't be able to do, just to make sure. Then we can start a new poetry game, with the rules at the beginning and not halfway down.

Can you wait a bit as I have to be offline now. Then if I get a reply when I return I could let you know and we could start again.

One benefit might be that we get more original stuff than we otherwise might have done, including silly verses etc.

Sorry for the mess. ...it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Jab

OK then, two lines, well out of copyright but how do you interpret them today??

Long years ago the Dong was happy and gay,
Til he fell in love with a Jumbley girl,

...who lived in the lkane with the Gingerbread Man,
And dreamed of butterscotch-mango-peach flan.

(original)

Jabberwock...

Snails...here's the report.

They want 2/3 lines only, from old poems as well as new. The 70 years counts from the author's death for a start and I think that copyright law is a minefield they don't want to get into. They don't mind links though.

Like all BBC services, h2g2 is under threat at the moment - do you get those regular assessment questionnaires about it when you log in like I do? - because of the general cuts in BBC budgets. Do you know Liquid Warrior? He's been forced to retire after 33 years with the beeb. So I think we need to support them as much as we can.

Original stuff would be unlimited of course, but I don't think it would go together with the above. So I can't decide whether to have 2 games, one for originals and one for 2/3 - liners. Or one or the other or just one combined or none - not one of these options would be as interesting as reading whole stanzas from published poetry IMO, and each would be subject to being undermined by ultra-silly and/or smutty stuff, which would turn me right off.

What do you think?

Jab

Or anyone else for that matter? What do you think about all this?

Jab

Let's start a new thread that combines 2 line quotes with original poems of short to moderate length. I think they'll fit together okay. Go to it Jab.

The British 70 years copyright law means "70 years after the death of the author" i.e. poems written by people who died before 1936 can safely be used.
Let's make a fresh start. Keep adding a suitable verse to create the h2g2 unique poem. You should put the source, and date of death (pre-1936) at the end, as shown below -

The h2g2 Unique Poem

Yes. I remember Adlestrop -
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
(Adlestrop - Edward Thomas rip 1917)

The actual reply from the italics was:

The two-three lines idea is probably safest. The specifics on copyright are that they expire 70 years after the death of the author, not the publication of the piece, although even here there are exceptions (Disney have a miraculous way of extending the copyright of their works…).

We'd also like to avoid people just copying and pasting material because it begins to get tricky if we! , say, allow one entire copyright -free poem but don’t' allow an entire passage from the Koran or the Bible. We don't want to become a receptacle for pasted-in material, so the link idea is also a good one.

PedanticBarSteward, Paul H, Lucky, please
Sit straight and pull your socks up to your knees.
Have you guys forgotten how to read?
This game's a conversation--give and take
And all that jazz. I'll tell you what you need,
You need a clouting with a battered hake.

This isn't Clarence. Sit up straight,
Pull your socks up, and communicate!

Original work can be any length but best to keep it short like this. However, the present situation isn't satisfactory. It's chaos! Can we have agreement on a new thread? Of course, it's always open for someone to start a thread of their own.

Jab

A new thread--absolutely! Sign me up.
My trochee stamps its hoof, my iamb stands
And flaps its wings in metaphoric glee;
New stanzas struggle underneath my hands
to be released. Go, Jabber, sign me up!

Hi,

I'm unsubbing from this thread in favour of the new POETRY CONVERSATION at F2137311?thread=2507569&post=28890618#p28890618

I hope you'll come over and join me.

Regards,

Jab

And just a quick thanks to Jabberwock for handling this for us - it's very much appreciated.