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

Thankyou, I now understand

Any future buyer will be looking for good reasons to spend X amount of cash on a second hand website.
To name but a few :
1. The site has to be 'alive' to represent any value at all, meaning that if one would buy only the site with the content as-is it's value will be severely limited because anything on the site can mostly be found elsewhere on the web *cough* WikiAnything *cough*.
The added value to the site as-is comes from the ladies and gentlemen that add content in the form of Entries, Conversations, etc. on a regular basis in a consisted and coherent manner.
Without it's Community the site is just a collection of data gathering dust on the harddisks.

Having said that, the second point follows near automatically:
2. The Community/visitors keep the site 'alive' and providing additional value by attracting more Visitors (Readers/lurkers/browsers) by keeping it interesting to visit the site. The prospective buyer might want to capitalize on that by placing ads or something else.

Accepting both statements above it is (imho) in the best interest of the prospective buyer to at least consult with "The Community" as to gain their trust and support for the h2g2-dot-two-point-oh/noohootoo.

Putting myself in the imagined shoes of the possible prospective buyer, I would not want to start a free-for-all open Conversation where everyone-and-his-critters can fling whatever misgivings they might have in my face. I would like to talk with a limited number of persons that represent "The Community" because these persons know what issues live within "The Community" and are articulate enough to state their points.

To conclude my -in the least incomplete- rambling...

YES, we need representation and I think the Consortium is doing a fine job so far, keeping in mind that most of them have a regular job and families and such they also need to spent time on.

So CHEERS/Applaus/Kudos/Active Support from me.

Cheers!
Martin
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Free?! Does that mean I can't get a Discount?
I thought I heard a Dolphin Wistle ...

This is also part of the reason I do not Write: My typing is horribly slow, in fact, it's so slow I lose the rails my train of thought was before I get to the end of my...

eh...

What were we saying again?

mmm...

Ah, yes.


Cheers!
Martin
---
Free?! Does that mean I can't get a Discount?
I thought I heard a Dolphin Wistle ...

Articulate? There's me out, then.

if the writers still own their entries???

what happens in the case of researchers who have died??

if an old old researcher does not agree with the new owners and wants to pull their piece, how would they do that, with all the closed accounts due to single sign on and the recent BBCiD, how would they be able to acess their entries??

how would they prove ownership??

no answers to this then??

I did draft something, but didn't ever get round to posting it. Here's the gist of what it was...

'What happens to researchers that have died?' - The copyright would have gone to whoever inherited the rest of their possessions, or been split, according to a will. It'll still exist, but it may well exist as effectively 'hidden' property that no one knows about, as it isn't a physical thing.

'if an old old researcher does not agree with the new owners and wants to pull their piece, how would they do that, with all the closed accounts due to single sign on and the recent BBCiD, how would they be able to access their entries??' - They'd have a great deal of difficulty I'd imagine. Don't forget, they've granted an enduring licence to use, eat, print out and waft gently, and generally do whatever the BBC pleases with the Article. They still 'own' the piece, and can do whatever they wish with it. The BBC have, and the purchasers of Hootoo will have, however, that licence which allows use of the piece. Access to the entry is simple. They can simply go into it, and copy it. No-one else is allowed to though, that's Intellectual Property theft apparently.

'How would they prove ownership?' - The same way as you'd prove it's you writing these entries in a conversation, by linking the entry to the persona, the persona to the E-mail address, and the E-mail address to yourself.