Clarification; continued.

Shalom uBeracha from Milano,

This is the continuation of my correspondence with wordpress, which has not yet responded nor reinstated the blog, nor even put a link to this new one or quoted the offending (so they say) post, which they could have just removed and told me about, instead of destroying hundred of hours of my work and smearing me without giving me a chance to defend myself, with an
accusation of theft.

I would appreciate your reaction to the following correspondence I have had with Wordpress which shut down my blog (whose ratings were decently rising) with a spurious claim of copyright infringement after two articles on Obama were hacked and graphically scrambled.

Please note that I tried to email this message also to David Brown and Lee Feldman but as soon as I typed their URL as specified in the Incisive Media website I got the "Address not recognized" message and the computer froze, in a way which makes me suspect an active intrusion.

So here is my censorship case:
Hi,Your blog consists entirely of scraped content. Providing a by-line and a link an unspecific link does not permit your blog to simply post content taken from other sources. We had a WordPress.com user (who you stole content from) report your blog, and as such, it was deactivated.Best,AnthonyAutomattic WordPress.com

Shalom Anthony, Nice to find out after the fact; should I not have been asked first by you or whoever complained? (90 % of the blogs I see are aggregations of items first posted elsewhere, and many of them are on Wordpress.

I am learning as I go along, and for instance a few hours before the deactivation, I sent the following letter to another blogger, asking for such a clarification: cflanagan@businessinnovationfactory.com

dateMon, Sep 15, 2008 at 8:47 PM
subject Shalom and Blessings from the Pizza Rebbe
mailed-bygmail.com 8:47 PM (13 hours ago)

Reply
Peace and Jerusalem's Blessings Chris, I am happy that you got in touch, even as I postpone the pleasure of reading the story about someone I honestly admire, in order to catch my plane to Italy.
Will be all over European Union, including ECOC in Brussels; had to miss IBC in Amsterdam for lack of available time.

I just want to tell you that I really enjoy your blog, and would like to know what is your copyright/straight/left about its contents; unless it is clear to me that it's OK to repost, for which I always quote the source, I generally post the first two or three paragraphs and end with a link to the rest of the story at its source.

As you might know by now, I am an inventor and social activist, artist, etc...so if I find myself near Providence, I would really like a chance to say hello in person; likewise, should you plan to visit the Holy Land, please allow me to properly welcome you by giving me a bit of advance notice.
So in the meantime I will post your comment as it is, and when I hear from you again and am more informed, will parse your blog's content for items o share with my readers.

Lately, I posted a number of articles to support the McCain/Palin ticket, and in those pieces, where I felt that the writer's intention is the same as mine, rather than just sell the stuff, I chose to quote in full, to spread a message I rated useful.

But I'll be so glad it's over when it finally is; the whole world is holding its breath at the circus instead of mending the nation's trousers' torn back seam; and in the meantime those who understand what is really going on in the economy have the mike cut off.

Warmest regards,
Eliahu Gal-Or - The Pizza Rebbe:

So why should I not know what mistake I made in order to rectify it?

the unspecific link is meant to generate more traffic to the source's homepage and show more content, but is generally followed by a specific link at the end of the article; I said generally because I may have missed it sometime.

Still, if I had known that I should not have posted the content in question I would have not posted it, and I feel that if not then, at least now I should be informed of the content's source so that I will not use it again.

So in the meantime Pizzarebbe will be at a new address, and as soon as I can, since I am now traveling, I will take my wordpress content and clear each item with its source before reposting it in its new home, as I will with every new item follwing this ugly experience.

The very purpose of a blog is, aside from personal musings and, where the setup allows, being a vehicle for paid ads, to share and publicize content one agrees with, and whose impact one wishes to increase.

In my case, as I said in my previous response, it is to see McCain/Palin elected, therefore I will continue to blog in their favor, which may lead to complaints by Obama supporters as well, but if a blog is closed another will open, so the losers are only those who toss the traffic out the window out of excessive zeal, AKA asskissing; due process is a keystone of American Justice, and I did deserve at least a warning and a request to remove the offending post, which could in any case have been withdrawn in the meantime by wordpress itself.

Having said theat, I would still prefer to remain on wordpress and make whatever due amends are required, besides scrupulously abiding to a policy of prior verification of content's source's reposting rights policy.

Please answer soon.

Best regards,

Eliahu Gal-Or - the Pizza Rebbe