Thank you for the heads up @tanza and @eeeefarm! I didn't think of that... I found the area mentioned in our Read First Guidelines. After reading it, here is my interpretation of the intent of the legalize (I hope it makes sense):
FORUM CONTENT
(My interpretation: I am not an Attorney)
If the owners of the forum select content (written or an image) for use in an advertisement, brochure, fundraising campaign, etc., the original poster will have no recourse. No permission to do so will be required on the part of the forum's owners. And, the forum owners are not obligated to pay, or make any compensation for the use of the materials posted on the forum. This eliminates problems like:
- Trying to track down a member to gain permission, which could be anywhere from difficult to impossible.
- Forum members come and go. Some stay for a single post, others are here for years (yay!).
- Email addresses become obsolete.
POSTING CONTENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE OR WEBSITES
(My interpretation: I am not an Attorney)
Members are not supposed to post materials from other websites for the same reason as above.
- To avoid any legal issues should the forum owners decide to use that content in advertising, a brochure, fundraising campaign, etc. And,
- To avoid any legal issues that might arise if someone found their material on the website, but didn't put it there themselves, and really didn't want it there in the first place.
example:
Think of all the Disney related memes online. Only Disney has the right to post their content, and if they do... they have to let the forum owners use it in their promotions without any sort of payment. If Disney finds material that they didn't post themself, they could legally pursue action to have it removed. Which could be costly.
[note: I used Disney as an example because they actually have employees whose sole job is to make sure no one is using their copyrighted materials without permission.]