Before getting all excited about the legal phraseology to which Phenom has taken exception, there are a few points that must be taken into account.

First, the language was not whipped up in 35 seconds on somebody's whim. Second, it was not adopted to create problems for the members of AW nor was it adopted so that Jot can steal your work and disseminate it all over the internet.

Upon advice of counsel, the language in question was drafted by a group of attorneys several years ago in light of a specific problem that arose at another community website that has no affiliation whatsoever with either Jot or with AW.

There are a few technical problems that have arisen in the wake of the effective date of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). AW, like every other website, has to take into account "how computers work" with relation to cache files and how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act specifies that things must be done in order to obtain protection—for the creator of a copyrighted work and for the site on which such a work is posted. (And for the internet service provider too.)

There is no intention by Jot or by anybody else to "steal your work." Nor do the demis or Jot or anybody else want to aid other people in stealing copyrighted works. Admin at this site does the best it can to handle situations as they arise. But none of them is psychic. (Or if they are, they have not so informed me.)

If you have a specific problem with how an image that YOU created is being used by somebody else, then you need to report the problem. The same goes for textual matter like poems or fiction or historical articles and posts. I'd suggest that you report your problem to Cornellia in the first instance because she's the one who has most generally handled copyright issues at AW. But any of the demis can help you. And any of the scribes (sucky as we all are) can notify a demi on your behalf if you prefer to handle things that way.

If anybody has any questions about the DMCA and how it works, please feel free to leave a message for me and I will attempt to get an answer for you. Please note, however, that I can't practice law on the internet and I can't handle legal issues for which you need to retain local counsel.