Posts by Patrick Miller3

Hahahahaahahahhaaaaa...

steelskipper5 said:Kenneth Cruz2—once you grasp the distinction between a documentary and peer-reviewed scientific papers, you might finally see why the natural science moderator acts so "dogmatically."

Before 1995, you could have published a "peer-reviewed paper" arguing that planets didn't exist outside our solar system in the Milky Way—but today? You'd be laughed out of every academic circle in the country.

Religions cling to dogma like a drunk to a lamppost, whereas science remains stubbornly resistant to anything labeled an "unproven possibility."

rustydrifter10 said:I’m totally on board with the moderator here—there really isn't any reason to change the thread title. Saying that someone is "screwing us over" is such a common, everyday expression, and I'm positive our younger generation has heard it a thousand times; honestly, half of them probably use it themselves! In this specific context, it just adds that extra layer of drama and feels completely authentic to what we're actually discussing.

We might have a conversation about things being "inappropriate" if the entire PDF was filled with nothing but explicit anatomical terms, but let's be real: the Psychology subforum is such a well-run, high-quality space that an occasional thread with a slightly edgier title can absolutely find its place there without anyone batting an eye.

You women tend to be sensitive whenever a title uses certain colorful language—like saying "well, damn, I totally blew it"—and those get deleted for being inappropriate. It feels like certain anatomical terms are treated as sacred while others aren't, even though they're all part of everyday American vocabulary. ☕

I've been tied up lately, so I haven't had a chance to respond to your educational posts sooner.

Michelle Evans said:We decided to let it stay because, as long as our users aren't disrespecting one another in thread titles (or in the posts themselves), we see no reason to step in. Even though the title is a bit much, since there wasn't any profanity in the actual post, we felt the dramatic wording was acceptable for emphasis...

What exactly is "dramatic," "pragmatic," or "educational" about using profanity?
Do you have any idea how many minors browse this site?
This is a perfect example of what we're teaching kids.
Just lovely.

I drop by Reddit occasionally—though I used to be on there much more often—and I constantly run into thread titles like "Everyone around me is driving me insane"
.
In my view, these titles are inappropriate and fundamentally disrespectful. I honestly don't understand why the moderators don't rename them or at least issue a warning to the users involved
!
What exactly are all these administrators and super-moderators doing 🤷?

loneraven25 said:...it’s kind of like when someone puts a snippet of another user's post in their signature without permission?

If I recall correctly—and it's been a long time—this is actually covered by the forum rules.
It is perfectly fine to use a quote in a signature, provided the original author doesn't object. If they do, the user who used the quote is expected to remove it—otherwise, the site admins will step in and handle it.

goldengull3 said:Registering with ASCAP exists to ensure authors receive their royalties—and to make proving ownership much simpler.

It isn't just about making proof "simpler"—it’s about providing absolute proof.

Vojko said:That said, copyright is established the moment a work is created, which includes reproduction rights. The question of registration was historically vital in the USA—which developed its own Copyright system, distinct from the continental European model of protection.

On paper, that is legally true—but you probably haven't drafted these types of legal filings or handled these specific cases, so you might not be fully acquainted with how musicians actually protect their work.

If I upload a full music video featuring a song titled, say, "my future" to YouTube, I am—legally speaking—the owner and author. However, we have already discussed what "registration" actually accomplishes and the steps required to make that musical work truly valid.

If I don't register that composition with ASCAP, someone like Miro Buljan could walk in tomorrow (please, sir, don't take offense or sue me for mentioning this in a post 🤣 ) from Tonio Cetinski's crew, completely rip off the melody, lyrics, and arrangement, and I would find myself standing in court with absolutely NO way to prove I created it.

Who came up with the composition first?
How can I prove authorship if I haven't registered it with ASCAP?

In that scenario, all those legal regulations on paper fall apart. ☕ (Theory is one thing; practice is quite another.)

I could even end up being sued by them, claiming that *I* was the one who stole it from them. 😂

steelskipper5 said:If I claim I wrote them, the burden of proof lies with someone else to prove otherwise.

Honestly, you aren't even relevant here—courts don't waste their time on trivialities like this.🤣

lastan said:I don't even need to be present. An original work is protected simply by the act of publication. Period.

That isn't true.
For instance, I have about twenty musical compositions registered with Sony Music; if I want them officially recognized as "original works," I have to submit a CD of the recording, the basic sheet music, and fill out the proper paperwork.
If I write a killer rock song and just upload it to YouTube, for example, without registering it with Sony Music, I have zero legal standing to sue if someone else records my song and makes money off it.

That's my experience, and that is how the law actually works.

amberdriver17 said:If someone publishes one of my posts from this forum without asking me (like a newspaper or something), do I have the right to sue and seek compensation?

Probably—if you were, say, a scientist quoting your own research paper or an excerpt from a published work.
Otherwise, no; courts don't bother with trifles from an online forum—regardless of what the ego-trippers on here might think regarding the "cultural or historical value" of their posts. ☕

Kate Ward16 said:Exactly—to publish anyone's post, which is essentially someone's opinion, you must obtain permission from the author themselves. Doing so without consent is plagiarism and theft. Additionally, you are required to credit the source of the thought, or at least where it was taken from, once permission is granted.

Pointless and insignificant.
I explained it above. I'm not even sure why I was quoting you in the first place.

steelskipper5 said:Where on earth are you getting that nonsense?
Just because someone is (ostensibly) anonymous doesn't mean they’ve waived their copyright. That logic might fly on 4chan, where everyone is just Anonymous—but here, every single one of my posts is signed. It’s a pseudonym, sure, but it's a signature nonetheless. Under the Copyright Act Section 8, protection begins the moment you publish.

I'm telling you again—it’s going to be incredibly difficult to prove in court that those texts weren't written by your mother, your brother, or some random fifth person. Having a login for Reddit doesn't actually prove that you were the one behind the keyboard.
You aren't even legally registered on Reddit as an author—whether it's for articles, columns, or academic papers... blah, blah, blah.
It’s all regulated by law—I know that much—but if you want a real breakdown, Dr. Vojky would be the one to explain it best.

Take a look at everything that falls under "unprotected copyrights"—specifically what's covered by Copyright Act Section 8.

Copyright Act Section 8.



2. Daily news updates and other reports—essentially just your standard media briefings.

steelskipper5 said:If you use my post in one of your works without my permission, I have the right to seek damages. And no—a judge isn't going to kick me out of his office for saying so.
If you do something like that in an academic paper without citing your source, it's blatant plagiarism—the kind that can cost you your degree. It might not be common practice in this wild west (looking at you, Smith), but it’s absolutely possible.

That's not to say the entire copyright system doesn't need a complete overhaul, but that's the reality of things right now.

Your argument would actually hold water if you were writing under your full legal name and a registered SSN on Reddit.
Using a pseudonym—like steelskipper5—for published work like a newspaper article or a website is legally recognized because there's a clear paper trail linking that alias to a specific employee. On Reddit, that connection doesn't exist, which makes your post essentially worthless from a legal standpoint.

The Academic community. You can't compare plagiarizing someone's published, printed, or registered work to some blogger or Redditor scribbling thoughts online—someone who has essentially waived their copyright by choosing to remain anonymous.

It would be incredibly difficult for you to prove authorship in court since you're posting as Anonymous. How are you going to prove those posts weren't written by your dad, your mom, your grandma, a coworker, or even your partner?

Get it? 😉

Btw:

To me, America isn't some "lawless wasteland"—and if it is to you, there are plenty of other countries where you might feel more at home, right?

loneraven25 said:...it’s about the Editing of posts—everyone knows which users the moderators favor, right?
...the bottom line is that posts belong to the author, provided they weren't lifted from some unknown source,
unless proven otherwise by the Rules or the Law...

And what exactly are you going to say in court!?

@loneraven25/">@@loneraven25 stole text from @steelskipper5/">@@steelskipper5 on Reddit in the Formal debate thread.😂

Come on, people—a judge would just laugh you out of the courtroom. 🤣

Who even are you people!?
Just fictional characters from a fairy tale, right?

lonebadger6 said:The second half of what you said is just your own opinion, but the first part is a flat-out lie...🙂

But bluemason3 is ultimately right about this. The owner isn't bothered, the admins and mods aren't bothered, and the vast majority of people on this forum aren't bothered—just you few. Of course, you're entitled to your opinion, but I think you should be sober enough to accept the fact that forums (especially ones this size) can't function by catering to every single individual whim...

Users from Mexico use the Latin alphabet, so they write comments that everyone here can understand perfectly well...

I actually corrected those awkward word constructions imported from the East right there in your quote.
That's why I don't want my kids on this forum—so they don't pick up those Serbianisms that frankly make my blood boil. 🙂

lonebadger6 said:1. Correct.
2. Incorrect, and here is why...

The points that are looking pretty shaky are:

1. The idea that if I understand Language X, it’s fine to use it (but if someone else understands Language Y, they should get the same treatment).
2. The notion that this forum is a private playground where we can do whatever we want (just because everything in the US is private doesn't mean people are exempt from following the law).

It might be about time we started drafting some actual concrete rules for the forum.

1. This just doesn't track, because we aren't debating whether Flemish is allowed while Urdu is banned. Language X—in this case, Mexican—is understood by every single person on this forum, from start to finish. If anyone claims they don't understand it, let's be blunt... they're lying. That makes it incomparable to those languages that "someone out there" happens to understand. Everyone understands "some" language. It's nonsense to compare a language that every American here fully grasps with the fact that there might be one random user who understands Mongolian.
Your argument actually carries much more weight when you're talking about English, since there are certainly plenty of users here who don't speak it fluently.

2. Forum.hr isn't breaking any laws by allowing other languages, and a few people have already tried to explain that to you. You seem to have fundamentally misunderstood what "official language" actually means.
Besides, regardless of that, even in the United States, we have public media outlets that publish or broadcast in other languages—like minority newspapers or news segments in English or German—and they aren't breaking any laws either...

You completely miss the point of this discussion.

I don't want my kids reading either Mexican dialects or Mongolian on an American forum—not because I'm being difficult, but because they'll pick up linguistic structures like this example:
"I would like to go into the world and engage in the construction of airplanes at an angle of 60 degrees."

In plain English:

"I would like to travel the world and build airplanes at a sixty-degree angle."

Children absorb incorrect grammar and spelling incredibly fast—something that is becoming painfully obvious on this forum.

lonebadger6 said:Furthermore, regardless of all that, there are public media outlets in the United States that publish or broadcast in other languages (minority newspapers, news on the radio in English or German, etc.), and they aren't breaking any laws.

That is exactly what we have been discussing this whole time.
We should simply open specific sub-forums for minority groups—it doesn't really matter which of those languages is better or worse.

Nicholas King said:So, what exactly are you suggesting we do in a situation like that?

Google Translate.

Here is an example using Mexican:
English:
I wish all the forum members all the very best in life—good friendships, plenty of flowers, beauty, laughter, and joy.

Google Mexican:

Желео бих свим форумским члановима све најљепше 🤣 у животу, лепо пријатељевање, пуно цвећа, лепоте, смеха и весеља.

Google English:

I wish all the best Pamphlets everything in life, good friendship, lots of flowers, beauty, laughter and joy. (understandable)

Google Chinese:

我希望所有的生命中最好的小冊子一切，良好的友誼，很多鮮花，美容，歡笑與快樂的。 🤣

analogwalker5 said:Honestly, I feel like my grasp on Mexican is actually way stronger than my Mexican-to-English translation skills, so I went ahead and tried to "fix" the text into what I personally consider to be proper, authentic Mexican based on how I know it.
I’m out here doing my absolute best to write in proper American English whenever I can, but man, even when you're trying your hardest, things can still slip through the cracks. It’s not just about those little grammar tweaks or how you structure a sentence—it’s way more complicated than that, especially when you're constantly trying to navigate all those subtle linguistic differences between various regional dialects and styles.

Well, I did exaggerate certain words just to make sure the Mexicans on the forum found them funny—though, honestly, what I was actually trying to say came through perfectly fine.
I have to hand it to you, though; the fact that you make such an effort to write in proper American English shows real respect for the country and the majority of people posting here.

If I were posting on a Mexican forum, I’d go out of my way to write in Mexican—or if it were a Mexican forum, I’d write in Mexican.

To me, that’s just the only logical and decent way to handle it. It isn't about racism, nationalism, or any kind of chauvinism; it’s simply about basic etiquette for participants from different parts of the world.

Actually, it would be quite interesting if some "pure" Englishman logged onto the forum and started "chatting" in English—since that's the globally accepted standard, right? That would be perfectly acceptable, wouldn't it? 😁

bluemason3, come on now—don't try to spin this. This entire forum has felt hollow and lackluster for the last two or three years. Both younger users and the old guard are jumping ship from Forum.hr because the topics are just too diluted, bluemason3—really, it's been a long time coming.
There was a certain charm back in the day within the science section, Politics, and Informatics—but those subforums eventually fell apart because everything got spread too thin across endless sub-sections.
The whole of Forum.hr needs a complete overhaul—a proper reconstruction—and then maybe we'll see more high-quality contributors again. The better posters are leaving in droves because the site is cluttered with kids who are frankly difficult to engage with.

(since it's permitted to write in Mexican, I'll be doing that from now on—it’s much easier for me to express myself clearly without worrying about those specific vowel nuances)

Let’s be clear: this isn't trolling—it's simply my democratic right, and I think you all know what I mean.

Best regards!

Daniel Ward87 said:As far as I know, this is a private forum owned by Internet Monitor, not some national platform. Just because the domain ends in .us doesn't mean everyone is forced to write exclusively in American English. There was actually a huge debate once that shook up half the Politics section when Anderlon mentioned that posts could be written in English.

Since this is a private forum, the owner gets to call the shots on the house rules.

Daniel Ward87

Yep!
I’ve been around this forum since 2006 under a handle I haven't used in ages—and even six years ago, Saturday nights at 9 PM saw about 1,000 "active" users, just like today.
It’s sad, really; Forum.us should be growing proportionally, but it isn't.
Something that is unhealthy simply doesn't grow—that's a rule in both medicine and horticulture.

So why attach the us suffix to the domain?!
I think it would be fair if the owner, Željko, just removed it—because us is the international designation for the United States in economics, politics, law, and the judiciary. That domain carries certain legal implications, one of which involves the use of official American English.

If this were called ForumExYugo, or Forum.world, Forum.biz, Forum.info, Forum.me, or any other type of domain, I wouldn't have a single complaint—because then it would be perfectly logical for users to write in whatever language they choose.

The Internet is a global heritage.

Maybe the user base would actually expand—maybe we’d see more users from places like Mexico or Canada—because quite a few people don't want to post here simply because the forum carries that us domain.

On this specific thread, I am standing firmly behind our old friend, brightcrane56. 😉

Nicholas King said:In other words, are you telling me there's a rule in place that nobody actually bothers to follow? 😕

Well, you've given me a good laugh tonight.
Good answer. 😂

Sandra Gonzalez3 said:That's basically why we allow Mexican, Mexican, and Canadian on here.

The other reason is just pure numbers. There are way more users who speak those languages compared to the folks using Canadian or Mexican in their daily lives... plain and simple.

Forgive me, but that is blatant discrimination against Canadians and Mexicans on Forum.hr—and this isn't some attempt at trolling (as Ryan Vaughn7 puts it), it's just a fact.

Should everyone from the former America—Mexicans, Mexicans, Canadians, Canadians, Mexicans—be expected to adapt to official American English as much as possible!?

On the BUG forum, there’s been a Mexican user since the beginning who actually writes in American English better than most of us. Through his expertise in the informatics section, he eventually became a moderator—but he didn't force his native tongue; rather, he adapted out of respect for the country where he created his profile.

So why do Mexicans insist on writing in pure Mexican?

That is the fundamental question.

Sandra Gonzalez3 said:And hey, let them complain if they don't get it—we can just ask our neighbors to translate their posts for them. 😁

Otherwise, I only allow that in the thread about Canada (which isn't even active) under the assumption that maybe some Canadian visitor might drop by and isn't exactly "fluent" in the local language, so they can't express themselves "perfectly" in American English like they could in Canadian.

We should be welcoming and hospitable if we can actually make sense of what they're saying. 🙂

Right?
That logic should apply to those writing in pure Mexican, too.
If people are free to write in Cyrillic when they're on the Mexico thread, shouldn't their posts be deleted everywhere else on the forum—or am I wrong?

Why would Canadians be considered any less valuable than Mexicans on this forum?

I am giving my full support to the moderator Brian Edwards6! 🙂
Just keep going after those notorious trolls and flame war starters—honestly, they’re usually the ones filing the most complaints.