Parody
On February 24, 2003 at 18:22, someone@a wdvl.address.com wrote:
> …………..Landoverbaptist.org is a well known
> site full of racial bigotry and religious intolerance. It is
> irresponsible to promote such a site………..
I hardly think he was promoting it, merely showing us how parodies can be taken to such an extremes that they start to not become parodies anymore (he said it was wicked right up front, complete with examples). The landoverbaptist site is definitely extreme, I didn’t even get to the examples that BJ explicitly pointed out, obviously to warn anyone so they never actually had to visit the site like I did to get the idea.
rudy’s (funny/barely legal) example http://www.davezilla.com/index.php?p=1641
falls somewhere between Joseph’s ( IMHO – funny/but not legal) parody that may even amuse Amazon; and BJ’s (wicked/but legal) – site which definitely won’t amuse certain groups. Sounds like we are starting to get a cross section look at the whole issue of parody sites, which to a thinking person can’t be a bad thing and alternate thinking is what makes list-serves rock.
Seriously, give BJ a bit of slack here. Except for a couple really smart under-18 semi-lurkers that throw up a good post/code-example now and then when needed, we’re all adults here and able to decide for ourselves what our limits are.
And it definitely is a good thing for Joseph. AFAIK he values the opinions of everyone – think about his posts and replies for the time he’s been on this list. I think for anyone, when you are creating a parody of something like Amazon it’s good to know what kind of prior art is out here.
That’s the rub in this post as well though Joseph. You are selling something on that web page right? That makes it a commercial entity and puts you in the doghouse (IMHO/I am not a Lawyer but got a good one on retainer and no you can’t have him). In other words, even if it is a parody of Amazon, if you are realizing a tangible $ benefit (or even the future promise of such from that page), you are using Amazon’s prior art to reap your profits and I think they would have a case against you (as long as something is actually for sale on that page).
I really like the page though!