JPF Home Page Forums Southeast US Chapter Message Boards Tampa Chapter Message Board Unethical Behavior on the Lyrics Feeback Board

Dear Brian,
I hope you're standing by to closely mediate the board here, but today one of the people who posts lyrics regularly posted an 8 time Grammy winning Norah Jones song up on the board.

She didn't list herself as the author, nor did she put a copyright symbol or any of the like, but the implication upon reading it was that it was her own song....especially for those who are not familiar with Norah Jones. I wrote this lady a letter and told her I thought she should clear things up and maybe write an apology, not only for the possible incorrect implication of authorship to the readers but also to those who she might have made feel stupid for not being aware that this was Norah's work. I realize that it can be fun to play a game such as this just to see if the "experts" who've decided what songs should win awards are really right and that the material would hold weight with other writers. But since material is all subjective to the listener and/or reader it shouldn't matter. These boards are designed for all of US to become better songwriters and help eachother. There's a couple of angry people debating it up on the board and some heated words have been exchanged between them and this is disheartening. That is NOT the purpose of JPF. WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. That means we're here to network and help eachother.

Anyway, it's totally your call since you're Bard of the Boards here, but you may want to think about having rules about people posting material such as this unless they specifically state that it's an award winning song or something of the like. I wrote this lady named Dixie a nice letter without wanting to hurt her feelings or make her feel worse than she might already, but maybe you should look into it so it doesn't happen in the future. (P.S Since I initially wrote this post, Dixie has apologized and I think things are all worked out up there. She reposted the song with the correct authorship, etc. and I'm sure there's no hard feelings.)

Very Best Regards,
Cindy LaRosa


[This message has been edited by Cindy LaRosa (edited 02-27-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Cindy LaRosa (edited 02-27-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Cindy LaRosa (edited 02-27-2003).]

Cindy...

I'm going to assume that I am one of the angry people you are referring to.
In my almost two years here I have come to know JPF as a family.
Families bicker and snipe at each other occasionally...
I have made wonderful friends here and several among them were folks with whom I've had heated disagreements about matters of music to gun control.
That's how families work...

We can be contentious and argumentative and still all be in this together.

Last year 40 or 50 of us flew in from all over the world just to hang out together in Nashville for a few days.

You may see me say things I shouldn't...read my posts and see that I am ready and willing to apologize when I do.

Thanks...

(don't be disenheartened)

Bob Young

Thanks, Bob.
And no, you were actually not one of the ones I was talking about. Actually it was simply between Dixie and Mary Gardner who got into some name calling i.e. calling eachother bitches and the like.

I felt that had crossed the line just a bit beyond "heated disagreement" in my book. There shouldn't be any viciousness (as JeanB put it) up on the BB. I think all is fine now as I said in the post --- Dixie DID apologize for the mistake and like I also said on the post right there at the song in question, people are usually pretty forgiving if someone just steps up to the plate, realizes they made a mistake and says "I'm sorry." You live and learn and then we all just carry on and keep doing what we do best.

Anyway, thanks for writing. We're all holding no grudges of course. I just wrote this up here because I didn't know if the whole thing was appropriate behavior for the BB. (I'm relatively new here). JeanB (who's lord of that board) stepped in, said her piece and I do believe everything is just fine. All in all, we still love Dixie!

Best,
Cindy

Cindy, and all who see the title "Lord of the board." Lord of this board is just a title you get when you moderate a forum. I don't moderate the lyric forum. Brian does. I moderate the Orange County Forum.

Unfortunately, whenever people see that title they logically assume we are Lord wherever we post. The moderator is listed at the top of the forum they moderate.

Gee, maybe that's why everybody is being so nice to me. They think I'm somebody. LOL.

JeanB

Thanks Jean for letting me know.
Like I said, I'm fairly new to this game.
I've immensely enjoyed my few weeks here though...made a lot of new friends and met some terrifically talented writers.

As I said, this whole thing seems to have worked itself through with not much more ado.

Thanks for the input though!
Best,
Cindy

Jean.....

You mean.....You're NOT somebody ?.......

All that kneeling and kissing the ring stuff....that was just for nuthin'....?

I feel so "used"

Bob Young