I have been quite upfront about my use of this second account, from day one. I am not changing that. My two accounts will not mix here on Steemit, nor will I begin self upvoting from either account. No, the not so easy choice to make is changing direction for this account.
When I signed up with this account the intent was to make available content that is in the public domain and available for free to anyone that wishes to use it, view it, do whatever with it.
Image still from Captain Marvel trailer
As you can see from my posting history here, it has been extremely slow and very far between posts.
This is because of the sheer amount of time it takes to vet something as truly public domain. This was something I should have seen before making this account but it slipped by due to me wearing rose colored glasses at the time.
I reached out to a few sites that make available public domain content and inquired about using it in articles here. Almost all replied with a resounding “no” and that they have altered the content in some minor way to verify someone stole their version.
Much like map makers will add a fake street, change an address or something as an undeniable proof of ownership, these sites were making similar claims. Maybe it was one frame of video in a two hour movie. Maybe it was a small group of pixels that would otherwise go unnoticed. Maybe in one of Shakespeare’s plays it was the swapping of two letters randomly on page nine.
That left me with no real way of knowing if the version I was making available here was the actual public domain version or if it was now a version that featured this undetectable copyright information.
Even sites such as Project Gutenberg, who make content available for free, often have text files in the back that matter of factly state that the content can be used for free as long as there is no monetary gain. Considering Steemit offers monetary gain, I would not be able to technically use a Project Gutenberg version here.
Considering the name of this account is “PDE” it somewhat limits what I can do with it. Initially those letters stood for “Public Domain Entertainment”. Now I am forced to figure out something else for those letters to refer to.
I settled on Pretty Damn Entertaining as the new meaning behind those letters.
Basically, I am going to work to turn this account into an entertainment content creator - who knows, some of the stuff might be public domain and freely available.
I know the way it is going right now, it is not working and I can either rework the account or let it become one of the many dormant accounts that pop up whenever the value of Steem and Steem Backed Dollars drops (but miraculously reappear when the value goes back up). I am not that type of person so I chose to rework the account.
For transparency, my other account is triverse
Will you join me on this journey?
Alt idea that is all yours, no charge. A SFW site, pics of dudes with pants or shorts on, no nudity, but they are clearly chubbed up, and now you can call yourself "Public Displays of Erections"
You're welcome.
If only I had thought harder about those initials...
You may be interested to know that in 1992 a U.S. federal court found "[t]o treat 'false' facts interspersed among actual facts and represented as actual facts as fiction would mean that no one could ever reproduce or copy actual facts without risk of reproducing a false fact and thereby violating a copyright ... If such were the law, information could never be reproduced or widely disseminated."
Nevertheless, I understand your decision as such a potential legal battle as might emerge would be costly and pointless besides.
That is the main problem I was in fear of. Legal disputes. Even if I was in the right, it would require money to prove in a court of law. If the notice came after the seven day period that I could edit the content here on Steemit then I would have no way to edit the content (such as removal by order of a court) and could potentially face even more legal troubles.
At the end of the day, it simply was not worth chancing it.