Policy & Legal

Last updated 26 May 2016

ON THIS PAGE

1. Notice
2. WordPress.com TOS
3. Advertising
4. Articles: The writing process
5. Blog nature
6. Blog language & timezone
7. Blog name
8. Commenting
9. Contacting the Author
10. Copyright claims & takedown notices
11. Deletions, updates & retractions
12. Hate mail, death threats, etc
13. Links
14. Privacy
15. Representation & warranty
16. Reproduction & derivative works
17. Searching for old posts >Added 10 May 2014<
18. Service of process
19. Services available
20. Sources and citations
21. Submissions for publication
22. Subscription & unsubscribe
23. Typos & grammar

1 Notice

The Notice below governs and applies to all parts of this site:—

© The Naked Listener’s Weblog, 2008–2016. All Rights reserved. Rights not expressed herein are reserved and not waived. The Author and editor of this blog is Robert Lee (thenakedlistener@gmail.com) for the purpose of copyright and other legal considerations. This site is The Author’s non-profit/non-commercial site and is not an editorial product released to the public on a regular basis. Nothing herein licensed or released under Creative Commons. Some content governed by third-party rights. Excerpts and links freely permitted without advance notice to The Author, provided that a byline/hyperlink is given in your content back to the relevant page in this site. Commercial reproduction is strictly at The Author’s discretion. No representation made for the suitability or otherwise of any content herein for any purpose, nor for any expectation of accuracy or timeliness. Comments once published are non-removable even upon request. Use of this site is strictly at your own risk.

The above Notice operates in conjunction with the clauses below.

2 WordPress.com TOS

The WordPress.com Terms of Service [LINK] operate in conjunction with the clauses hereunder to the extent permissible in law.

3 Advertising

Any advertising appearing on this site has been inserted there by WordPress and/or its affiliates, not by me.

I have never monetised this site and run NO advertising or sponsored content (i.e. paid topic insertions). If there is to be any, the relevant post will indicate.

Read the official WordPress explanation for the ads: ABOUT THESE ADS. For matters about the ads, write to support@wordpress.com.

(Image via Found in Mom’s Basement)

4 Articles: The writing process

All my articles are “OC” (original content), and if not, they are substantially OC. Guestposts are the exception, naturally.

My M.O. is to write straight from memory as far as possible. I don’t have any other ‘writing process.’ I do make a sincere effort to try to read up and be “read-in” as much as practicable before the writeup. This is MY blog, and I like it to be “the essence of me” as far as I could possibly manage.

Obviously, writing from memory inevitably leads to some details being forgotten or warped. This is my automatic self-correcting mechanism to see how much (or little) I know or remember about the matter at hand. What I don’t do is to read and write at the same time — a recipe for plagiarism and other problems.

Since my habit is to write from memory, it means I don’t usually backtrack and fill in the gaps in the article. Indeed I prefer the gaps to remain, so that over time I (and my readers) can see what kinds of potholes I’ve tripped over (or into).

I have no inherent problem about being wrong or being corrected by others. I’m not a defensive person by nature — life is just too short to defend a position (especially on the Internet and not in court) because we all know all positions change over time. Anyhow, a person who doesn’t change his mind can’t be too bright. That’s why some people develop weak chins.

(Image by the author)

5 Blog nature

See the Notice given above.

This is a personal blog of The Author’s.

This blog is non-profit and non-commercial.

This blog has no particular editorial window or purpose.

This blog isn’t an editorial product released to the public on a regular basis.

Jurisdiction:—

This blog’s physical location is somewhere in the USA, where the WordPress.com free hosting servers are located.

This blog’s point of content origination is Hong Kong, where The Author is currently based.

Standing policy of this blog:—

The Author’s modus operandi is to to retain everything and delete nothing once published on the site.

Comments and other matters that are (or are deemed to be) in breach of the laws of the USA and of Hong Kong will without notice be archived for legal purposes and/or removed from public display.

The views and/or information expressed in the blog posts are The Author’s unless the relevant content explains differently.

The views and/or information expressed in the comment threads belong to the commenters themselves.

(Image by the author)

6 Blog language & timezone

Official language of this blog is English.

Official blog timezone is UTC +8 hours (Hong Kong Standard Time).

This is an English-language blog. The reason is that I’m primarily an English-language person. More specifically, I’m illiterate in Chinese whilst being a fluent speaker of it.

I don’t have the ability to blog except in English. Some posts may contain traces of German, French, Italian, Lebanese Arabic, Farsi or other unspecified languages — even heavily assisted Chinese — all outdated, pathetic and miserably inadequate.

Blogging is a lark for me. My background is in Law, so I’m uneducated by definition. I work 80-hour workweeks too. Make some allowances, please.

(Image via Wikipedia)

7 Blog name

The name of my blog (especially regarding the use of ‘naked’) came from a personal incident that happened a long time ago.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

(Image by the author)

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8 Commenting

WordPress.com permanently logs (records) the IP address of every visitor to its domain and subdomains (where all WordPress.com hosted sites reside).

The Author has no formal commenting policy — say whatever you like. Comments and discussion highly welcomed. I don’t censor comments or opinions, don’t ban commenters, and don’t do badly behaved things like delaying comment approvals on purpose just to punish. If a comment is on-topic, I let it through (even if I may not agree with it).

Please don’t use my blog to ‘break wind.’ I retain everything posted. Bad commenting won’t be removed but instead ‘graded’ out of 25 marks.

Comments close after 30 days of the article’s publication. — Commenting may be available only for some pages and posts.

Please comment in English. — Foreign-language comments are also welcomed but may be put to translation with no guarantee of accuracy.

Avoid using the comment threads to request or bounce off a new topic. — Use the CONTACT FORM to request a new topic coverage.

Comments are the views of the commenters themselves. — They are not necessarily agreed with by me or reflect my own views. I will remove comments that are unduly abusive to other individuals. Feel free to disagree with others, but please do so in a polite way.

Comments are non-removable:— Comments once made public (published) are non-removable even upon request by the original commenter. As a user of this site, you make comments strictly at your own risk, and you are solely responsible for the consequences of posting comments. However, you may request removal of your own comment while it is still in moderation (still unpublished) by using the CONTACT FORM.

Breaching and unsuitable comments:— Comments, spam and other matters will be removed without notice if they are (or are deemed to be) in breach of the laws of the USA (where the WordPress hosting servers are located) and/or the laws of Hong Kong (where I’m based). Such materials will be undisplayed and archived for legal purposes. Similarly, I may (or may not) remove comments and other matters even if they appear to be manifestly unsuitable (e.g. defamatory, offensive, obscene, insulting, insincere, tangential, etc). In case of doubt, ‘freedom of speech’ should win out — I shall decide and my ruling shall be final and conclusive.

Comments are subject to amendment:— I am in my right as The Author to amend or redact any comment for conciseness, clarity or language. I may append inline riders in the comment itself to give effect to this purpose. Foreign-language comments may be subject to a free translation by me into English without assurance of accuracy.

I welcome off-site (private) comments on my posts:— Use the CONTACT FORM. Understand that I have discretion to respond to your off-site comment in a dedicated post without notice. The option to identify you is also at my discretion unless you expressly ask for some kind of anonymity.

(Image via spinsucks.com)

9 Contacting the Author

Use the CONTACT FORM or email to thenakedlistener@gmail.com.

Please write in English for the quickest possible response time. I also accept messages in French, German, Italian and Chinese, but the response time will be longer.

If your message is about copyright claims or removal of an unpublished comment, you MUST state your location (city, state, country, etc) for legal reasons.

(Image by author)

10 Copyright claims & takedown notices

I don’t have a copyright ‘policy’ — but my standing habit is to byline and permalink to the source for anything used whenever possible.

I do this more for my own sake of knowing the provenance of the stuff rather than for legal reasons. Some items have indeterminate or undeterminable copyright or ownership status when I got hold of them.

I make a very sincere effort to avoid using manifestly copyright material especially without due byline or permission. Realise that I obtain images, etc, from various imageboards, discussion forums, free wallpaper sites and the like — some sources simply don’t provide any details of origin, copyright, etc, and therefore the ultimate status isn’t necessarily known or determinable by me. If you happen to know where an item originated, I welcome the information.

A legal grey area is where I personally and professionally prefer to keep this copyright business in. As I myself am legally trained (a non-practising lawyer), I advise people should heed this counsel as there are practical advantages to all parties in keeping copyright matters (and their potential costs) to the barest-possible minimum level.

Copyright status:— Not everything on this site is owned by me, naturally. Some things are indeed copyrighted by me. Some are copyright by third parties. Some others have unverifiable or unknowable status. Whatever the situation, somewhere in the post will indicate the source and/or status to the extent possible. Errors and omissions excepted, of course.

Copyright claims and takedown notices:— Send all copyright claims or takedown notices initially to thenakedlistener@gmail.com or use the CONTACT FORM. You may be required to send details to my lawyer, but I will advise. Owing to past hoaxes and trolling, all takedown notices left in the comment threads will be ignored.

Attribution:— If you discover something that is yours without being given due attribution, please inform me and attribution will be duly given, or the item removed or replaced. For your claim to be legally valid, please provide your full name, postal address, contact details, and some kind of proof of ownership (for example, the URL to your own site showing the work in question).

Site contains third-party materials:— Third-party materials appearing in this site may or may not be governed by third-party rights. Unless indicated differently, not all images on this site are created or owned by me. All images appearing are for the purpose of illustrative aesthetics and/or visual aid to discussion. All images herein are NOT being used for commercial purposes, nor are they being intended for commercial invitation or monetary emolument.

Nothing in this blog is produced or licensed under Creative Commons. Let’s leave it at that for practical pragmatism.

Now see the section REPRODUCTION & DERIVATIVE WORKS below.

(Image via thailandlaw.org)

11 Deletions, updates & retractions

Otherwise known as “removability of items.”

I try to keep this blog displayable (and readable!) at all times. Occasionally I fail in this effort (a practical human limitation). Sometimes it’s the fault of the Internet.

My M.O. is to retain everything posted and remove nothing. However, I may update or delete certain content at will without prior notice — most probably over some kind of operational issue. In the whole history of this blog, however, I’ve only ever twice deleted something posted — only because they were accidentally released.

Removable items:— Notwithstanding the above, I will remove items that are (or are deemed to be) in breach of the law (of both Hong Kong and the USA). And that situation hasn’t cropped up yet, I’m pleased to say.

Retractions:— Not once have I ever retracted an article written by me (printed or online). I take the line of least resistance if the removal order is lawfully made (from a court of law, for instance). Operationally, the particular article will be undisplayed. There will be a label stating:—

[Date]. Content removed per request or order stated in [link to the update post].
— The Management

Since the removal order will have been a lawful one, all concerned parties will be named as the order will also have been a matter of public record. This is for due diligence and transparency as much as it is for the reader’s benefit.

Reinstatement of deleted item:— Deletion isn’t always terminal. Like I said before, I’ve only ever deleted two pre-edited posts because of accidental release. If you have a need to read a deleted post (and you’d be hard-pressed to find that situation), state your case. All reasonable requests considered (though some requests may be denied). Use the Contact Form and provide the article’s URL that you have.

Request to remove blog content:— Sorry, you cannot ask me to remove something from my blog because it somehow displeases you — no site on Earth will entertain such a ridiculous and offensive request. Everybody has the same 24 hours in the day; the rest is up to you. I cannot possibly cater to the whims of various certain personages and sundry mewling quims whenever and howsoever they find something online that isn’t to their liking.

In other words, I can’t answer for (or be answerable to) those sundry others who have been brought up badly and behave like an odious little twat with no manners and a nuclear warhead shoved deep up their dry arse whenever they can’t stand the sight of something. I most certainly don’t behave like that, so why should anyone else get away with it? If you’re displeased with things here, switch to another channel, I guess.

(Image via eHow)

12 Hate mail, death threats, etc

Like all online authors, I too receive hate mail. Hate mail goes hand in hand with blogging territory. Send all hate mail and death threats via the CONTACT FORM.

I have twice received pseudo-death threats — presumably for my writing (though both of those threats didn’t quite make this clear). That fact actually puts me in a rather select company of distinguished writers.

For some strange reason, around 91% of the hate mail complain about the blog’s language (specifically that it’s in English) — that I’m in Hong Kong or being Chinese and that I ought to write in Chinese. Many also point out that my English is “not academic” in tone.

Honestly, I”m floored by all this. (And, yes, I’ve kept all the hate mail I’ve ever received.)

(Image via Digitaltrends.com)

13 Links

Some hyperlinks point to third-party sites.

I am not responsible for (and have no control over) third-party sites, which may have changed in nature, content or availability since the original time of hyperlinking.

My hyperlinking to third-party sites doesn’t necessarily indicate or imply my approval, recommendation or endorsement of them.

Equally, incoming hyperlinks that point towards this site don’t indicate my approval of those outside sites. Your discretion is advised, and your use of any hyperlink herein is strictly at your own risk.

(Image via seqlegal.com)

14 Privacy

WordPress.com logs (records) the IP addresses of all visitors to its domain and subdomains (which this site is a part of).

I have no control over this recording process. WordPress doesn’t release this information to me unless and until the visitor actually posts a comment on this site.

Owing to general privacy laws, I don’t knowingly publish or publicise details about individual visitors or commenters to my site. But I reserve absolutely the right to publish the names, email addresses, IP address, etc, of persons who leave comments that breach (or are deemed to breach) the laws of the USA (where the WP hosting servers are located) or the laws of Hong Kong (where I’m based).

(Image via current.com)

15 Representation & warranty

No one should rely on any information in this site to make any decision. Seek appropriate professional advice instead.

I make no representation or warranty expressed or implied of any kind as to the completeness, timeliness, factual accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of anything in the contents for any purpose whatsoever. I disclaim all liability for any loss or damage, lost profits, lost data or any other claims resulting or arising from your use of the contents. Your use of this site is strictly at your own risk.

The Internet is full of sites that offer all sorts of useful and useless (or damaging) content for over 20 years now. Please exercise due care and diligence as well as your own finer judgment, and always account for variable change.

(Image via survivorsucks.com)

16 Reproduction & derivative works

Anything from this site is freely usable without advance notice to me, but you are legally required to observe the basic requirements below if you do use.

(Image by author)

If in doubt about the points below, write to me before using via the CONTACT FORM.

Non-commercial use only:— You are bound by one overall legal condition — any form of reproduction, reuse, requote or derivative work by you of anything from this blog (text, images, etc) is strictly for non-commercial purposes (because this blog is non-commercial).

Commercial or other reproduction:— Commercial or other reproduction is strictly at my discretion on an individual basis. Please email me direct or use the CONTACT FORM.

For content owned by me:— For images and other graphical content created or owned by me (the page or post will indicate), you may freely use them in your work, document or website without advance notice to me. But you are legally required to use it for non-commercial purposes and to byline me with a permalink back to my relevant page/post. If my owned visuals are to be used (or have been used) in a printed or physical work, your use is considered to have allowed me one free physical copy plus the option to buy reasonable multiples of it (to be negotiated) at reduced or trade price. Commercial and other uses are strictly at my discretion on an individual basis.

Byline style:— either “© The Naked Listener” or “via The Naked Listener“

For text by me:— I welcome excerpts, quotations and summarisations my words in your work, document or website without advance notice to me. They should only be for non-commercial use. Please byline me and permalink back to my relevant page/post. I would appreciate getting your notification, perhaps even scans or screenshots of your work’s title page and/or the relevant page, and I thank you in advance for your interest.

Byline style:— either “© The Naked Listener” or “via The Naked Listener“

Third-party materials:— Your discretion is advised when using any third-party materials from this site for any purpose. They may be governed by third-party rights. The page/post will show the source and/or hyperlink. Attribution to me is optional. For commercial reproduction, please contact the third party directly.

Third-party materials licensed to me:— Certain third-party content herein have been specially licensed to me or released exclusively for this site. The words “Reproduced with permission” will indicate they are not for reproduction elsewhere. If you wish to use them, please contact me first.

Derivative work:— Derivative work or commercial use of my created or owned content (text, images, etc) will be considered on an individual discretionary basis. Write to me prior to use (stating “Derivative Request” or “Commercial Request”) and include your full contact details. The general guideline is that a non-commercial derivative work requires no advance notice to me, but does require (1) my byline, (2) a permalink back to my relevant page/post, and (3) a notification to me of the use.

Byline style:— “Original © The Naked Listener“

Republishing or reduplication:— No republishing or reduplication of whole pages or posts. Such requests will be considered on an individual discretionary basis. Please write to me (stating “Commercial Request”) and include your full contact details. Reduplication or republishing of the whole site will result in civil action for damages and criminal prosecution.

Now read the section COPYRIGHT CLAIMS & TAKEDOWN NOTICES above.

17 Searching for old posts

Can’t find that post? Had I deleted it? Not likely!

Use the search box at the bottom of every webpage. The free theme (Ambiru) shoves everything down bottom. Second-guessing the subject matter, article headline, category, tag, etc, definitely recommended.

You can also check the Archives A–Z page, which lists all articles in chronological order.

I keep everything and delete nothing from this blog once posted. If your search returns a 404, there are 3 strong possibilities:—

1. a mistyped URL,
2. it was moved to a different category, or
3. I’ve “reslugged” (renamed) it.

Those are the only realistic reasons for failure to locate an article. Realistic, because I’ve only ever deleted two posts that were accidentally published before their time.

(Image via eHow)

18 Service of process

Send all service of process to my lawyer:—

Mr K.B. Ho
HUEN & PARTNERS, SOLICITORS
22nd Floor
9 Des Voeux Road West
Central District
HONG KONG
Telephone (+852) 2219 7777
Fax (+852) 2105 6077
Website: http://www.huens.com.hk
Email: hkb@huens.com.hk

19 Services available

I am available for collaboration, for free or for money (I would prefer for money). Use the CONTACT FORM. Or contact my media agent:—

Miss Shirley Chuk
Email: shirleychuk@hotmail.com
Phone: Hong Kong (+852) 9162 6512 after 20:00 HKT (UTC 12:00)

(Image via factsanddetails.com)

20 Sources & citations

Some articles have an unpublished version that contains the sources. To request a copy of the sourced version, use the CONTACT FORM and make a case for your request.

Some people literally (not figuratively) forget that this is a PERSONAL blog and I wasn’t writing a normal academic research paper due for peer review.

That being the general case, you behooves (US: behoves) you to make allowances for the general lack of citations in my posts the likes of which we would normally expect to see in academic works.

I use a wide variety of sources to get information, but most of the time I tend to just work from memory when writing up a post. Sometimes it’s actually unwise and socially unacceptable for me to cite my sources.

This is my blog. To be perfectly honest, I’d rather want to have my own stuff here as much as possible or practicable.

Go to Copyscape or use various other anti-plagiarism tools, and you’ll find my content is almost entirely unrepeated anywhere. That is prima facie evidence of original content and not sponged off from somewhere. Regardless, the stuff that I put across as ‘fact’ are mostly verifiable with reputable sources, even if only on the Internet. Draw your own conclusions

(Image by author)

21 Submissions for publication

I welcome your unsolicited writings or images for possible publication on my blog. I would prefer it more if you’d start your own blog, however.

Please send submissions to to my email direct.

I am not actively engaging guest contributors or submissions at the moment. I have discretion to run or not run anything you send to me. If I do decide to run your stuff, understand it would be on a pro bono basis — meaning for free, without payment to you — because this blog is non-profit and non-commercial.

(Image via eHow)

22 Subscription & unsubscribe

You can freely subscribe and unsubscribe from this blog, or its official Facebook page.

Follow the steps in SUBSCRIPTION AND UNSUBSCRIBE PROCEDURES.

Please don’t ask me to subscribe or unsubscribe for you. This isn’t a self-hosted site, so WordPress.com hasn’t given me any technical facility to subscribe or cancel your subscription. There is simply no means for me to implement that for RSS, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You subscribed, so YOU have to unsubscribe by yourself.

(Image via Discogs.com)

23 Typos & grammar

Basic netiquette — the comment threads are not the place to point out copyediting mistakes such as typos or grammar.

Grammar queries will be ignored altogether since this is not a grammar-related blog.

Everybody makes these mistakes from time to time, and I have my own human limitations for making them and correcting them.

I’m not a mindreader either:— Please indicate the nature of your complaint or upset — instead of leaving just a single word in the comment box in the hope that I will figure out what it should mean. Some of my phraseology are in fact correct English usages that even some native English speakers aren’t aware of. There are only 24 hours in the day, so I must ask you to make reasonable allowances.

(Image via c4c)

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© The Naked Listener’s Weblog, 07 Dec 2013. Last updated 26 May 2016.

CHANGELOG (B13421)
Published 07 Dec 2013 (revised from B12291)
Updated 11 March 2014 (added ‘Contacting the Author’ section)
Updated 10 May 2014 (minor amendments, new sections)
Updated 09 June 2014 (new section: Articles)
Updated 13 May 2015 (formatting fixes and amendments)
Updated 01 May 2016 (link & date updates, minor amendments)
Updated 26 May 2016 (numbering sections)