Copyright protects the author's intellectual property.  Whether or not the
author's work is posted on a public bbs or list (in this case, which has
more limited distribution) the work remains the author's.
 
It is more than courtesy to seek permission and to attribute the source.
 
Nothing could dry up the internet as a fountain of information more
quickly than the practice of cribbing other folks' work.  I can assure you
that profeesionals in all disciplines would be much less likely to share
their work in open forums.
 
Your present practice certainly seems appropriate.  But I'd err on the
side of acknowledgement even when it appears that material was passed on
to the list from a third source.
 
Based on an online "course" I participated in several years ago (it was
called Cyberlaw), I don't think this is unexplored territory at all.
 
>Truth is we are in unexplored territory in using posts in newsgroups in
>newsletters...especially since copyright law seems to be for the monetary
>protection of the author.
 
>And if someone posts in a forem, such as this, are they giving up such
>rights?
 
No!  And you don't want them to - their clear choice then would be to not
respond on the net and this would be a poorer place for the loss.
 
> But for out Maine State newsletter, I send an email to the poster, if I
>use the post as an article, and ask permisson. I have never been turned
>down. I also send a copy of the newsletter with the article to the author
>when I publish it.
 
>But there are times when I use parts of a post in an article, usually
>dealing with different ways to do something. Then I sometimes attribute and
>sometimes not, depends if the comment is common or uncommon and new-...
 
Citation of some sort, particularly in a case where the anecdotes are
sourced from many places in the world, would be at least instructive and
would certainly take you off the hook if you were ever questioned about
the use of what someone else considered copyrighted or original material.
 
>I will have an article in the next newsletter on bee excapes and the results
>of my trials. I will probably use a few quotes- all non-attributed, just
>taken from the internet- because it is not new, just the different opinions
>of beekeepers around the world.
 
On this point, I think you have it entirely backwards.  As soon as an
author writes something, copyright exists and is lodged with the author,
whether professional or not.
 
>My guess is that posts to newsgroups on the internet will probably not be
>covered by copyright law unless so noted in the message, not the other way
>around. But courtesy should always be the guide. Not the law or lack therof.
 
>Bill Truesdell
>Bath, ME
>
>
 
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