[Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"

[Lanny]

On Dec 20, 2007, at 6:33 PM, OnyxCollector at aol.com wrote:

> PawPawTiger  said Rockhounds is a "list where  the knowledge of many is
> shared freely". A furious debate is raging on the  LARocks discussion 
> group about
> sharing the locations of places to collect rocks  and minerals at, and 
> I'd like
> to see some opinions of the rockhounds on  this list.  Do you think
> rockhounds should share the location of collection  sites, or should 
> people have to
> earn the right to this knowledge by going out  first with someone else?

Rockhounds should share collecting sites; that's how most learn of many 
of the locations. I find it really galling to listen to someone tell me 
how I have to keep his "secret" location quiet when I know he only 
learned of it because someone freely told him, or it's something I've 
known about for decades.

> Is the
> knowledge of a collecting site  "intellectual property", and thus 
> should be
> paid for?

There is no way by any definition that knowledge of a collecting site 
is "intellectual property." Knowledge of a collecting site is nothing 
but scientific data which cannot be copyrighted, patented or 
trademarked. There is no rule or law that says intellectual property 
has to be paid for either, only that you have exclusive right to its 
use if you so choose, you may be able to make money off intellectual 
property, but a lot of it is given away freely. Some people may make 
money off such knowledge (such as those of us who write guidebooks), 
but the money is made off the convenience of the information being in a 
book with maps and a description, not because the knowledge of the 
locality is the author's property. Looking at it from a different 
viewpoint though, if it is a discovery that someone recently made and 
they want to make money off of it somehow, why not? I believe in 
capitalism and this is a country based on capitalism. Sell the 
information if you can. Write a book and sell it. If it truly is a new 
discovery, stake a claim or get mining rights and mine the specimens.

> Is it wrong to post  GPS coordinates for others to use?  I'd sure like
> to hear what you have to  say.

If the location is open to collecting by others it is no more wrong to 
post GPS coordinates than to post any other description and access.

I have on occasion limited what I've written in articles and guides 
about some locations to "keep the peace" amongst those who didn't want 
certain information revealed. I also keep secret information about 
other's finds of new locations when they shared with me but didn't want 
it to become widely known. I'm not against that, I've even kept secret 
some locations I've discovered until I've throughly checked them out. 
In the long run though, I only keep secrets that others have entrusted 
to me and most of them have eventually become "common knowledge."

Share you information, right down to the GPS coordinates if you please. 
Doing that is a lot more human than keeping a location a secret to your 
death.

Regards,

Lanny