The HE-UK list, again

I have once again been reproached for quoting posts from the HE-UK list. When I wrote those two notorious articles I was careful only to quote from public sections of EO's website and also from published books and Blogs. I included nothing from either the HE-UK or EO lists to which I then belonged. Imagine then my surprise, when Mike Fortune-Wood himself put up one of my posts on the Times Educational Supplement website. Since then, posts of mine made to this list have appeared all over the internet and are frequently quoted, as for example in submissions to the select committee.

People on the HE-UK list have also announced their intention of showing my posts from there to MPs and anybody else they feel might be interested in seeing them. See Wendy Crickard's threat to wave one of my posts under Lynda Waltho MP's nose! I can only assume that messages posted there are to be regarded as public property rather than private communications. After all, if everybody on this list, including the owner, behave like this with posts made there, what else can one think? I must also point out that despite my retaining the copyright of all material published on this Blog, a number of individuals from the HE-UK list plunder it at will for quotations. Of course, I have no objection to people using small quotations, but it is generally considered courteous to ask first. I am quite happy to come to some arrangement about this whole matter, just as soon as Mike Fortune-wood has apologised for starting the process by putting my messages into the public domain.