Giving credit where credit is due.

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

I hope people don't think I am on a soapbox today, but I have another comment I would like to share with the group.

I have seen a few jokes, puns, and other stories posted on the forum that I recognize from emails and other sources on the Internet. Rarely, does the post include any reference to the source of the story or that someone else (maybe unknown) created the story and that the poster is just sharing it.

I would like to recommend that the members take a few minutes when they post something to indicate if it is a story they created themselves or if it is something they found on the Internet. If it is something that I am going to incorporate into my act, I would like to know where it came from.

What do you think?

[pixcoco]

why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side.

Author unknown

[Fifi D. Clown]

I've heard, read, made up, and regurgetated many jokes and puns over the years and I can't honestly remember where they came from. Jokes are made to be retold over and over and it is impossible to know where they start. I'm sure the chicken joke was made up by King Tut's court jester, but I don't know his name.

[Mr. Dazzle]

"What did the little Black bug say as he crawled down the zebra's leg?"

???

"Now ya see me! Now ya don't! Now ya see me! Now ya don't!!!"

-from a lady that came through the pharmacy line today

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

OK, yes some jokes are as old as dirt. But, there have been stories and jokes posted here, that are clearly a cut and paste from another source. A one liner is fine, but when it is a four paragraph story, I think that it would be at least nice to say, "A friend sent me this story, I think you will enjoy it..." before pasting it into the forum. I would give specific examples, but I don't want to call anyone out.

[Jolly Well]

Giving credit for every joke is good in theory but no so much in practice. I imagine I, like most, get several of these emails from mass emailings from a friend of a friend's contact list. I honestly don't know some of the people I get them from as they are replying to forwards and I happen to be on the mass contact list...

I completely agree credit should be given if the joke has an author signature or if it is made known in some way; but don't see where giving credit to some guy who happened to email it to me is necessary (unless he happened to create the joke)... It just seems like a waste of words to me to give credit to someone who just copy & pasted a few lines of text...

[tim]

I would tell you a joke, but I'd have to charge ya a buck three eighty for the licensing rights.

[Darrell]

What difference does it make if someone says, "a friend of mine sent this to me, etc."? I post jokes that I hear on the radio, read in newspapers, etc and none of them ever reveal where they got them from. They are for the reader or listener to enjoy.

I suggest if you are going to use a joke and are concerned about the material being copyrighted, you should take the time to do the research on the Internet.

Darrell

[tim]

How good can a joke be if it isn't worth stealing, anyway?

[Snugglesnort]

Its all apart of folklore once it gets in the e-mail circut. There are whole web-sites dedicated to sorting it all out if possible.

The only information I would like to see is "I heard/read this from somewhere else" or "I made it up." I am a big fan of original (and actually funny) humor. I call everything else "borrowed cleverness" and sometimes it gets on my nerves, but then again I do it too.

Coming up with something funny out of nothing is hard. Really hard. Most all people, even pros take old stuff, give it a new paint job, twist it a bit and put a bow on it then resell it. But for the people that can make a new gag, tell a knew joke, the world is at their feet.