Yesterday was an exciting day in the Columbus blogosphere. My friend Andy, who blogs at Fine Repast, blasted (ill advised I might add) Columbus Underground, alleging that it steals content from him and other sites. Comments were exchanged. I tweeted the exchange. Walker put up a forum post on CU.
Then it got interesting. Lawsuits were threatened. Fair Use was claimed. Andy was called a douchbag (not by Walker). Hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you. The fur was flying. Then, as soon as it started, it ended. Both took down their posts. And unless Google or someone else cached it, the exchange was lost in the ether.
I’m not trying to fan any more flames (becuase I like and admire both Andy and Walker), but now that the issue has raised its ugly head, is it gone?
If you goto the Columbus Underground homepage, you’ll find a WordPress blog with posts that consists of original content and snippets of blog posts from other blogs or news articles from the media (I’ll call these snippet posts). Walker takes great care in not posting the entire article in the snippet posts and only publishes one or two paragraphs. Often he’ll post a picture from the article or blog. And if you catch CU on the right day, well over half of the posts on the front page consists of snippet posts.
Is this Fair Use as Walker contends? Or is Andy right? Give me enough time, and I’ll craft a legal argument for both Walker and Andy. But that’s not the point of this post.
The point is: Is Columbus Underground the 800 pound gorilla in the main street media’s room? Let’s not kid ourselves. The Dispatch has attorneys. So does every other media outlet in Columbus. And with media dying, I have no doubt that the Columbus Underground has been vetted by one or more of these company’s attorneys. That’s just the world we live in. We want an open web. But the ones in control, well want control.
So Walker said that Andy’s the first that has ever made a stink about copyright. And for Walker’s sake, I hope it will be the last. My personal theory is that Walker has built sooooo much goodwill within this city, that any media company would be foolish to try to force him to change his ways.
But while threatened lawsuits from Andy might not change CU, increased competition from the likes of Indie Columbus might. As far as I can tell, CU and IC reach out to the same audience. Posters on CU also write for IC. But IC relies on original content to spur discussion. CU uses other sources to spur discussion (although there’s plenty of originally spurred discussion on the message board).
So I guess what I’m saying, is that I’d like to see CU move in the direction of providing more original content on the main page. Move away from the snippet posts. If a post anchors on an article from the media, write content that links to it rather than copying and pasting a couple of paragraphs. CU has the readers and contributors that will continue to make CU the vibrant community that it is. But with more original content on the front page, CU will be seen as more than JUST an aggregator from outsiders and its detractors.
There. That’s my non-legal analysis. Even though I am an attorney. 
Now Walker and Andy, kiss and make up.
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