Talk:Footprints (poem)

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Is it Stephenson or Stevenson? —preceding unsigned comment by Mhari (talk • contribs) 21:29, Sep 19, 2005 (UTC)

Good call, seems it is Stevenson - will correct it now. (source) -- 81.99.181.231 11:13, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Dispute on Page

The page seems to be arguing with itself about authorship. This is inappropriate for an encyclopedia format.

Agreed. I took it out. Miss Dark 01:25, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Neutrality

This article should not be used as a platform for arguing one claim of authorship over any others. Wikipedia places heavy stress on neutrality, and is therefore not the place for airing such matters. Ben Parsons 08:02, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Poem?

This "poem" is typically four or five paragraphs long. There's no meter, rhyme, or rhythmic intent. There are no well-placed line breaks, no toying with language, no artful structuring. It's obvious that this is more of an essay than a poem. Should it be moved to Footprints (story) or something similar? Dyfsunctional 13:56, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I agreed with this concern, but google revealed that at least one person who asserts authorship calls it a poem (http://www.footprints-inthe-sand.com/index.htm), and other results have more along those lines. For more input, i'd suggest listing this at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Poetry. "alyosha" (talk) 20:35, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can we reproduce the text of the poem?

If there is no recognized author, there is no copyright on it, right? I have a store-bought cross with this poem written on it hanging on my child's wall. May I copy the words from it onto the page for this article?

David —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.121.120.227 (talk) 05:41, 4 February 2007 (UTC).

  • The problem is that there are at least three copyright claims to the poem by three different people, and maybe more. Probably at least two of those claims must be unjustified (and maybe all of them are). But there might be one claimant who does hold a valid and justifiable copyright in the poem, even if we don't know which one that is. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 00:51, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Removed text of poem

...and left this on the talk page of the person who added it:

Hello. Thank you for adding the text of the "Footprints" poem to Footprints (poem). I have removed it for three reasons:

1) The page says elsewhere that the author is unknown; if you add a paragraph stating who the author is, you would need to change the other part of the page as well.

2) You make a claim as to who the author is without giving any sources where that claim can be verified.

3) If, as you claim, this was written in 1963, then as you say it is almost certainly still in copyright. Therefore, it cannot be reproduced in Wikipedia without a specific set of rights being given away by the copyright holder.

I hope this explains my changes; feel free to come and discuss it at Talk:Footprints (poem). Marnanel (talk) 17:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] wikilink of "The Lord"

I wondered whether to make "The Lord" a link; The Lord goes to a page discussing what a lord is. There's obviously also God, YHWH (of which "The Lord" is a very common rendering in English, representing "Adonai"), or I suppose God of Israel, since YHWH is a page about the name and not the being, though I'm not sure everyone who uses this poem has that particular deity in mind). Marnanel (talk) 17:47, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] claims to authorship

The poem titled FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND has been claimed by many persons over the years since it's release, however two of the named individuals that you have included never actualy claimed to author the poem. Haussing is being held up by Carty in some obscure roll to bolster Carty's claims to authorship and Mary Stevenson is being held up as author by her step son. Both of these represent unsubstantiated allegations which are inappropiate for inclusion in an encyclopedia format.

According to American copyright law copyright is automatic to the author so no one but the author can legaly register copyright. Since the copyright office does not verify nor authenticate applicants for registration, anyone can purchase a copyright registeration. Such registerations are not legal but represent theft by the purpetrators.

As long as there is doubt as to the author of the poem it seems improper to credit it to any other than "Author unknown" as it was origionaly released. 12.73.18.153 (talk) 07:58, 6 March 2008 (UTC)