"Hello, Jimmy."
"Good afternoon, Mrs. McCorkle."
"My, what a lovely toy fire engine you have there."
"Yeah, isn't it great?" he said holding it up for her to see.
"It looks just like the one David was playing with yesterday."
He quickly turned sideways, positioning the truck as far from her as he could without taking an actual step away from her. "But this is a different one from his."
"Really?", she said, arching an eyebrow at him, having spotted some writing that didn't look like "Jimmy" on the bottom as he turned. "Then, why does it say David on the bottom? It's really his firetruck, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, I guess. But he wasn't using it," he added defiantly.
"Does he know you have it?"
"No, but he's in class right now, and this is my playtime, so I figured he wouldn't mind if I played with it for a while and put it back before lunch." It seem perfectly sensible to him, but the teacher looked unconvinced.
"So, you took it without asking. If you're using it and he didn't say you could, that's stealing, and you know it."
"But I was gonna put if right back," he protested. Why didn't she understand?
"That doesn't make it okay. Why don't you go put it back now - right now. Then come back here and we'll have a little talk about this."
"O-kay." He turned to go, dragging his feet, knowing he wasn't going to enjoy this. All of the sudden his foot caught on the carpet and he collapsed to the floor, landing on top of the toy, snapping the ladder off like a dry twig. He looked from the broken toy to his teacher and back. "I can still just put it back in his cubby, right?"
Mrs. McCorkle gave him a wan smile. "You stay right there. I'll go get David, so you can apologize. Then, you'll be having a talk with the principal."
While he waited Jimmy pondered how things could have gone so horribly wrong. Soon, he figured it out - it was all Mrs. McCorkle's fault: if she hadn't told him to put the engine back, he wouldn't have fallen on it and it wouldn't be broken now.
Addendum:
Before you go and msg me with an all-caps "Fuck You", take a minute to reread the FAQ in question. Read the whole thing. Ponder how we might claim copyright protection for our writing when we don't respect the copyrights of others.
If that doesn't give you sufficient pause, then try this second excercise.
Take the policy stated there, and apply it to each and every one of your wu's. Yes, I mean all of them. On one list put the writeups that are unaffected, on another put the ones that are affected. Odds are the first list is much longer than the second. Keep that in mind as you make for exit.
Next, for the ones that are affected, evaluate them for fair use. Honestly. Just treat them like someone else's writeup for a second and ask yourself, "Does this qualify as fair use?" If you think they do, check them off the list. Do the same for writeups where you've gotten permission from the copyright holder. These are in the clear, we're done talking about them.
Now, how many are left unchecked? Pretty small number, isn't it? Have you tried getting permission from the copyright holders on these? Lets say you have, and you were denied or (more likely) got no answer. Let me refer you back to the FAQ (emphasis is mine):
Since it ultimately comes down to the user's responsibility the user's word will be taken.
So, on the items that don't qualify for fair use, if you're so attached to them, why not just fucking lie and say you got permission!! At least then you're going all the way: lying and stealing.
Ooo, I gained a serial downvoter! Anyone else?