For my next installment of Elder Magi, I've come across a post on the forum that would fit in well.
Unfortunately, while i tried private messaging the user, both through this forum, and on Discord (hoping that the same user name works), I have not been able to get a response.
Would people here view it as ripping the poster off, if I go ahead and use his material, WHILE GIVING HIM CREDIT?
Please feel free to vote on the poll, and to write your thoughts on the matter.
Should I use a Forum Post even though I can't reach the author?
Yes, if you've tried your best to reach him, and there's been no response
Yes, a forum post is fair game, as long as credit is given
For an overview best study ArMDE p.536 The Ars Magica Open License.
Very brief and not lawyerly advice: if you quote ArM-stuff under the Open License, you need to refer to it and put your work referring to it under the same license.
Of course, most contributions in this Forum do neither explicitly refer to ArM nor are put under its license explicitly. But as soon as a conflict appears over such contributions and their reuse in a publication, their relation to that Open License matters. Would the initial contribution already belong under the Open License, so somebody's rights to it is limited?
Erring on the side of caution is my go to. But I still wanted to see what the forum thought. That's the reason that product has kinda ground to a halt. And I guess I might need to come up with my own take on this matter to move forward.
You might be able to make the case that it's legal: as you say, it would depend on the size of the material being used: ideas aren't copywritable, but paragraphs are (I think: IANAL).
But even if legal, it still feels like poor practice to me.
You know, if you can't adapt some of his things, I don't think it's a problem if you, say, link to his post for the stats of a Daimon in the middle of an adventure, for example. I would expect someone buying an open license online to have internet to access what you're refering to anyhow.
You shouldn't use it, because the commercial product will be under the Open Licence. Other people may then trust that, and use the content you borrowed. If that was not legitimate, then it taints everything downstream of your product.
If you can get permission, then obviously that's great — collaboration is what the Open Licence is for.
From a strictly legal point of view, it is copyrighted, even if he did not explicitly assert his rights to it. The fact that it gets used in a free or paid product is utterly irrelevant, except insofar as it is generally easier in practice to claim actual damages if the party at fault obtains money or some other utility from the violation.
Though it's one thing to copy it verbatim, another to just use the idea in the post - copyright protects the literary and artistic expression of ideas, not ideas themselves. That said, and speaking just for myself, I would not use even just the idea without permission, just out of quaint politeness.