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

Sorry to bother you with this Jim, but I believe it in the best interests of those now offering to participate in QuadBee for me to effort a clarification on this now, before debate starts to get out of hand.

It has recently been brought to my attention that there is one vocal individual here in h2g2.com making accusations that the QuadBee project is 'cheating' and he personally finds it unfavorable.

I do not wish to silence such comments if they are actually legitimate. Criticism of the content of QuadBee can improve its future input. However, if the accusations are unfounded and unfair as I surmise, I would like that to be made very clear and unquestionable.

I have roughly a dozen or so other people who have spoken the exact opposite to me, both on the website and via email. The Big Bang Burger Bar project is a group collaboration designed to invent an apocryphal anthology of stories based loosely off the original series that THIS website is also based off of.

I have gone over the bewareoftheleopard.cgi with a fine tooth comb and as best as my layman eyes can ascertain, the QuadBee project is a tribute to DNA and not theft in any way. There is no attempt to steal from DNA or financially rip him off, and he does immediately retain all rights of any writings submitted to the QuadBee project.

I'm assuming if you had a problem with the project you would have stopped it before now, but in order to nip any potential future arguments in the bud, can you make some public announcement or denouncement of the project and let everyone in the h2g2.community aware of it?

If QuadBee is to be silenced by TDV, I would like to know that now, before the QuadBee participants go any farther in the project. I will honor and accept any decision or ruling that you, TDV and the Powers That Be of h2g2.com make official. In a worst case scenario you should be able to permanently delete the 39130 account without upsetting the ZachsMind account. I would LIKE fair warning before you did so, but of course you're not required to give any, as it's stipulated in the license agreement. You can remove any content on this website for any reason at any time. I'd be happy to voluntarily take down any content on any pages that you ask me to for either account.

If you'd rather respond privately via email, [email protected] or [email protected].

Thanks for your time, Jim.

I hope to have a decision on this subject tomorrow.

Alright. The project will await its fate.

I'll hope for the best but expect the worst.

To Jim and who it may concern:

I have posted the following statement to http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/h2g2 and afterwards decided to repost it here. This is where we are with the QuadBee project as of now. I have this thread directly linked to the QuadBee Project page, so hopefully all interested parties are now up to speed.

Forwarded message below this line:

"To QuadBee or not to QuadBee..

"I don't know if that's the question but it appears that's what we're waiting on.

"There was one individual in h2g2.com who started making unfair claims about the Big Bang Burger Bar project. Granted, in QuadBee's brief existence, a dozen or so people have already said they like the idea and are either actively participating or hope to soon when they can find more time.

"In my experience it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease and I've seen a snowball of negativity roll down a hill and gather momentum rather quickly if not dealt with immediately.

"I decided to nip any potential future problems in the bud by facing the music now.

"I wrote to Jim Lynn and asked him to see about having the Powers That Be in h2g2.com formally announce or denounce the QuadBee project. His response yesterday was that he'd hope to have an answer tomorrow.

"Granted, for England tomorrow has pretty much turned into the day after tomorrow. No response thus far. So at this point I'm tentatively putting QuadBee on hold, until the Powers That Be say yay or nay to it.

"If the one naysayer I've seen in h2g2.com happens to have spoken sentiments reflected in TDV's opinion, I have no desire to argue the point or fight it. One way or the other I'll concur with their decision and in a worst case scenario, QuadBee will simply be no more.

"If you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about and perhaps have access to where Jim (may) state yay or nay first regarding all this, here's the link to my convo with him.

http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?thread=9197&forum=432

"And if you don't know what QuadBee is, here's that link:"

http://www.h2g2.com/P79977

Jim... the suspense is killing me!! To "B" or not to "B"? I'm just sooooo curious

I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you an answer yet. As you might imagine, this is not simple. There are issues of copyright and protection of intellectual property that extend beyond even TDV.

By all means write what you want for the time being. However you should be aware that, at the very least, you cannot retain *any* copyright over material that incorporates elements from Douglas's writing. And at worst we would be required to remove it. I doubt it will come to that, but then, I'm not a lawyer. (You can tell - I can come out in the sunlight.)

Oh! Well the copyright thing has been a given from the start. I CREATED the project with that in mind.

The beware.of.the.leopard.cgi states specifically in the Copyright section that TDV retains "perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable (through multiple tiers) right and license to" use everything and anything in this website. It doesn't matter WHO writes the stories using DNA's characters or their own, DNA retains any and all rights to the words posted here at h2g2.com. And I repeatedly alude to that in the pages linked to the Project. I'm not sure how MORE clear I can make it. No one should walk into QuadBee thinking they're EVER gonna see money from the project.

In fact, as I understand it, as of the moment I posted it to h2g2.com, DNA automatically aquired legal right to the characters I made up like Jacob Sydney and Mannifred Taggart: even though they're MY characters, I posted them HERE first, so they automatically become DNA's property. Whether DNA wanted them or not. Free and legal. I mean (as I understand it) I can't now go write a book about Sydney and Taggart outside h2g2 and sell it to McGraw Hill without first battling it out with DNA's lawyers. Or at least first sitting down and having a spot of tea with DNA, who would then tell me exactly how much of my ass was his.

It's why I figured using DNA's characters was acceptable in DNA's webspace. Why would we create characters important to us and give them to DNA for free, when we could just use characters in his webspace that are already his?

Not that I can guarantee the final product of QuadBee will BE publishable commercially. I'd like to say it will be but that's not it's primary focus. If it is, DNA and TDV are fully within their right to pull the entire finished project off the Web, wrap it up in a leather bound cover and stamp Adams' name on it. AND you won't be paying royalties to me or anyone else involved in the project. AND DNA wouldn't even have to acknowledge WHERE the words came from.

It would be NICE. I mean it would be very improper and rude not to at least say a simple thank you in the acknowledgements. However, you're not legally bound to do so. They're YOUR characters.

That's what a fan-based project means. We're not in it for the money and we're not in it for the lawyers. It's a labor o' luuv!

Since we're doing this directly under y'all's noses, TDV can participate in the editing process. Or you can ignore it. Or you can delete the project outright. At any time. Again, it would be 'cricket' to WARN us first or let us in on the loop. However, again you are not legally bound to do so. You can choose to keep QuadBee participants on the same page or in the dark. It's bad P.R. to keep us in the dark, but it's definitely not illegal.

And TDV also retains the unwritten right as Executive Editors.

For example, If DNA is told that some QuadBee story had Arthur give the finger to Zaphod, and DNA is adamantly against Arthur giving the finger to anybody, then he can say so, and either through proper protocol we can have the writer rewrite his/her submission, or I could opt not to link to it, or TDV could just delete the page outright and the heck with protocol.

I understand how difficult it must be to get it from the proverbial horse's mouth. I'm trying to be patient. It's just that we're all in a state of limbo over here right now.

I just need an answer. I'm getting some unhappy emails from some confused people over here. Can we tentatively continue on as planned, or would it be best to wait until we get official word from you guys?

If you guys would like changes made to the present project, I can do that. I just need to know what is intolerable so we can come to some arrangement.

Nothing is written in stone. If you don't like the eviction idea, or you don't like the use of the Big Bang Burger Bar, or you think there should be a little more Trillian or a little less Marvin in it, or if you want input on the editorial process (how I choose what gets linked to the QuadBee page and what gets rejected), or if you want the project to focus on the NEW characters created for h2g2 (like Jack Shannon and Toobitz Chaluka) just lemme know and we can hammer out the details together.

Just let us know when we can go play, mommy.

"By all means write what you want for the time being..."

And in a worst case scenario y'all will just delete it w/o warning, which is FULLY within your rights to do (tho a headsup first will be courteous). Okay. TENTATIVELY I'm going to go on with business as usual. PLEASE email me or leave a note here if the weather changes.

I still feel like I'm jumping the gun here, but I got people chompin' at th'bit. So just pull on my leash if I'm going in the wrong direction.

I don't believe I used the word "cricket" properly in the above post. I believe the proper use is to say something to the effect of "don't do that, it wouldn't be cricket" or something. Not being english does put me at a disadvantage regarding the english language. Few Americans would readily admit that, but I would like to apologize for that faux pas. *smirk*