Using ideas found in Headscratchers...

Is there an unspoken rule about using ideas one finds in a work's Headscratchers section?

I'm assuming that common courtesy would be to get the person's permission before "taking" the idea, and explicitly giving them credit for it. Is going there being overly-cautious and ridiculous?

I'd ask beforehand as a matter of course, and may end up doing just that, but what do you think? Do those things even count as "intellectual property" or are they, so to speak, "free for the taking"?

I don't see for what possible reason you would do this to begin with.

Because some people come up with good ones in that or WMG pages. I know a number of ideas off the Nanoha WMG page have eventually manifested in people's fanfics.

Ah. Fanfiction. Never thought of that.

To answer the question, I personally would not care, but I don't know about others (not that I actually write WMGs or Headscratchers entries anyway...)

I wouldn't care either.

You know, if you don't say anything, nobody would know...

...but that would be dishonest...

Another problem is finding the person who wrote it. History gets wiped.

Anyone remember that huge shitstorm when it turned out we needed to track exactly which known tropers added what in order to comply with copyright laws? The history might not be publicly available, but it's got to be backed up somewhere.

If I need help with that, I think I could ask an Admin, after explaining why I need to see said backup/log. Good point, that.

Just wanna make sure that I'm not plagerizing anything, though the Headscratchers pages really do have some good ideas, as others have noted.

Acknowledging this wiki should be enough. Check the page history for the Username of whoever added it. PM the Username. If no reply then ask a Mod.