We had a fellow explaining in bold lettering in his mod's OP that he has written permission from every member of the Aether collab to make his mod. He showed us all the proof and explained it in his OP and the reports would CONSTANTLY pour in telling us to take it down. That kind of harassment is part of the reason why we're only accepting plagiarism notices from original authors.
I completely understand what you mean, and I agree to an extent.
It IS problematic when people fake permission-- unless the artist who GAVE the permission also posts in his own thread that he gave permission to the redistributor. If either the redistributor or the original author don't post the conversation which gave permission, then it's probably safe to assume that it's a hoax. Both should be in agreement.
Which is fine up to a point I suppose. I guess the concern is that the renouncement seemed to indicate that if a Mod were to run across a blatant theft he/she wouldn't do anything about it unless the original creator reported it.
Another point is that if the people reporting this couldn't read huge bold text, what makes you think they'll bother reading that part in the rules that states they should only report if they made the textures/mod?
It's a long shot that this rule change will help to that end.
Sorry...I think that Alexia's (and/or who ever came to this conclusion) interpretation is just that...and interpretation.
The laws in place, as I have seen them cover all the bases. But I guess the lawyer types can always step around the lingo or back door it. Seems that a ton of people are trying really hard to turn texturing/modding a game into some deeply involved "work". Some make money doing this for a living, so they should go as far as getting everything square. But for those like me, who are just having fun and don't want to make my head spin just cause I wanted a new cactus for everyone to use, but don't like it pirated all to hell, it's just too involved now.
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"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to...."
When people see theft they usually post in the thread about it, what if the moderators could try to contact the person others are claiming to be the original creator for confirmation of theft?
I mean, if you see a pickpocket take someones wallet in public, the very LEAST you can do is tell that person their wallet just got stolen instead of walking away and ignoring it
Due to the difficulties related to determining permission (trust us, it's complicated), we unfortunately can only accept reports of copyright theft from the original owner of the content. If you wish to report the theft of someone else's work, please contact the creator of that work. That way you can know from the creator if their work was stolen or used with permission, and the creator can report it.
It'll need some editing, but I always appreciate it when rules come packaged with an explanation of why they're needed.
However, requiring a copyright notice is a bad thing, since under U.S. law it's copyrighted to begin with anyway and that's where the forums are hosted. Encouraging a copyright notice, however, is a good thing. Just as long as you don't require one.
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"That's not how things work. You stand up for what you believe in. You don't just silently choose the easy road." -Notch, on twitter.
We had a fellow explaining in bold lettering in his mod's OP that he has written permission from every member of the Aether collab to make his mod. He showed us all the proof and explained it in his OP and the reports would CONSTANTLY pour in telling us to take it down. That kind of harassment is part of the reason why we're only accepting plagiarism notices from original authors.
Would it be too difficult to have some kind of approval system within the forum where approved derivative works have, lets say, an icon that shows they've gone through the process and are legit? Something that shows up in the thread title, because otherwise it can be faked.
Would it be too difficult to have some kind of approval system within the forum where approved derivative works have, lets say, an icon that shows they've gone through the process and are legit? Something that shows up in the thread title, because otherwise it can be faked.
Like I said:
I completely understand what you mean, and I agree to an extent.
It IS problematic when people fake permission-- unless the artist who GAVE the permission also posts in his own thread that he gave permission to the redistributor. If either the redistributor or the original author don't post the conversation which gave permission, then it's probably safe to assume that it's a hoax. Both should be in agreement.
Okay, for anyone who hasn't read the newest announcement at the very top of the forum, go read it now.
While these new rules may seem like a good idea, they have a few very harmful side effect for us texturepack makers:
1) The burden of proof is now on US. That means that we have to PROVE that any pack that uses our work without our permission is doing so illegally. Am I the only one who sees how easy it would be for a thief to say, 'I didn't steal so-and-so's textures, I made them myself-- they happen to look EXACTLY THE SAME with one pixel changed'?? With these new rules, it would be almost impossible to prove that someone stole your artwork.
2) Essentially, these new rules are screwing over artists who no loner visit the forums, because THEY THEMSELVES have to report the theivery and prove that it happened. Sorry, no more good samaritans protecting your textures from being whored out!
I say we should immediately call for a revision of these new rules. Who's with me???
EDIT: I'm strongly considering removing my packs from this site unless these rules are changed. I see no reason to distribute my artwork in an environment where thieves are protected.
Good point, I know nobody would want my noob textures but this is just unfair. I won't remove mine, unless something gets extreme.
If I were to let someone use my work I would be sure to post on their thread. Maybe that is just me but I like to let the community know that the person has my permission.
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"Look, I don't care if your 8 or 20. If you can't take criticism or opinions, then get off the internet." -Stronghold257
There is a very easy solution to this, as both Kabonos and I have proposed.
To protect artists who will be away for long periods, there should be some kind of passive system in place for verifying permission-- such as a line in the OP giving permission/demonstrating permission (for both the creator and the distributor), or some kind of stamp, or something of that nature.
That way, it will be easy to spot when something is stolen, and the artists won't have to be constantly looking over their shoulders.
This is precisely why all the work I create is public. I personally would enjoy seeing what others do with my work. If they want to be shartsuckers and claim it as theirs, then so be it. That's their lies they have to sleep on.
Here are some ideas for solutions that help address the causes of the problems:
Get a bunch more moderators. I know there isn't a shortage of people vying for the job, and understaffing is a serious problem. I have participated in discussions elsewhere with complaints of too few moderators, and the first mod to post on this thread said that no content creation mods were online at the time. On a forum this huge, that's something which should never happen.
If you are a texture pack creator, your pack's thread needs to include a list of every single texture pack, link included, which has permission to use your textures.
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"That's not how things work. You stand up for what you believe in. You don't just silently choose the easy road." -Notch, on twitter.
If I were to let someone use my work I would be sure to post on their thread. Maybe that is just me but I like to let the community know that the person has my permission.
Maybe if the rule required the person giving permission to post an official notice on the thread of the person being given permission
Ok, now that an admin has actually added to the thread, I must add my current thoughts:
I still reject very heavily to threads being deleted should they have no licence, for reasons I mentioned earlier. If you must close them off, please just lock them or something, don't do anything that removes people's access to the content -- as people want to use them for what they're intended for!
If you fear the reports from people who can't read, I don't think closing off infringement reports to everyone except the author is the best idea... naturally, the reports will still roll in from those who are completely incapable of reading. It's a sad life. But still... In the cases of obvious infringement it would be blind to ignore reports from people who aren't the author, especially if the author happens to be on a three-week vacation without internet access -- then, the infringement has the capability to continue uncontrolled, and to be honest, I don't want to constantly be scouting out other things looking for people who are violating my licence...
Adding licences isn't really a bad idea to be honest, as there are a large amount of licences one can use, and they can add their own terms if they must. I put my two mods under what basically equates to the WTFPL (but this will not be the case for any larger projects). It's just the way threads without a stated licence will be handled which trips me off.
There is a very easy solution to this, as both Kabonos and I have proposed.
To protect artists who will be away for long periods, there should be some kind of passive system in place for verifying permission-- such as a line in the OP giving permission/demonstrating permission (for both the creator and the distributor), or some kind of stamp, or something of that nature.
That way, it will be easy to spot when something is stolen, and the artists won't have to be constantly looking over their shoulders.
Good Idea. Something like this wouldn't be to hard to code either.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Look, I don't care if your 8 or 20. If you can't take criticism or opinions, then get off the internet." -Stronghold257
There is a very easy solution to this, as both Kabonos and I have proposed.
To protect artists who will be away for long periods, there should be some kind of passive system in place for verifying permission-- such as a line in the OP giving permission/demonstrating permission (for both the creator and the distributor), or some kind of stamp, or something of that nature.
That way, it will be easy to spot when something is stolen, and the artists won't have to be constantly looking over their shoulders.
Yeah that seems like a reasonable solution. Especially people who have a lot of things going on in their lives and are too busy to constantly check the forums.
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The name's Hyp, and I am trying to become a better artist!.
In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a rule in place that requires anyone giving permission to use their textures to list that permission and who has it in the thread where the textures are originally posted.
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"That's not how things work. You stand up for what you believe in. You don't just silently choose the easy road." -Notch, on twitter.
Ever since this 'BlueSteelAU' guy came along, the forums have been declining rapidly. First Broville gets removed, now creativity is being crushed. I am beginning to lose all respect for our new admin overlords. Argue with me if you want, but the admins have gone too far.
Gotta agree there.
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Quote of the Day: "If you think you're gonna snap, or be rude, here's an idea: Don't post." - Theevilpplz
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Retired StaffI completely understand what you mean, and I agree to an extent.
It IS problematic when people fake permission-- unless the artist who GAVE the permission also posts in his own thread that he gave permission to the redistributor. If either the redistributor or the original author don't post the conversation which gave permission, then it's probably safe to assume that it's a hoax. Both should be in agreement.
Another point is that if the people reporting this couldn't read huge bold text, what makes you think they'll bother reading that part in the rules that states they should only report if they made the textures/mod?
It's a long shot that this rule change will help to that end.
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Retired StaffThe laws in place, as I have seen them cover all the bases. But I guess the lawyer types can always step around the lingo or back door it. Seems that a ton of people are trying really hard to turn texturing/modding a game into some deeply involved "work". Some make money doing this for a living, so they should go as far as getting everything square. But for those like me, who are just having fun and don't want to make my head spin just cause I wanted a new cactus for everyone to use, but don't like it pirated all to hell, it's just too involved now.
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Curse PremiumI mean, if you see a pickpocket take someones wallet in public, the very LEAST you can do is tell that person their wallet just got stolen instead of walking away and ignoring it
(To some extent anyway)
It'll need some editing, but I always appreciate it when rules come packaged with an explanation of why they're needed.
However, requiring a copyright notice is a bad thing, since under U.S. law it's copyrighted to begin with anyway and that's where the forums are hosted. Encouraging a copyright notice, however, is a good thing. Just as long as you don't require one.
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Curse PremiumWould it be too difficult to have some kind of approval system within the forum where approved derivative works have, lets say, an icon that shows they've gone through the process and are legit? Something that shows up in the thread title, because otherwise it can be faked.
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Retired StaffLike I said:
I completely understand what you mean, and I agree to an extent.
It IS problematic when people fake permission-- unless the artist who GAVE the permission also posts in his own thread that he gave permission to the redistributor. If either the redistributor or the original author don't post the conversation which gave permission, then it's probably safe to assume that it's a hoax. Both should be in agreement.
Good point, I know nobody would want my noob textures but this is just unfair. I won't remove mine, unless something gets extreme.
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Retired StaffTo protect artists who will be away for long periods, there should be some kind of passive system in place for verifying permission-- such as a line in the OP giving permission/demonstrating permission (for both the creator and the distributor), or some kind of stamp, or something of that nature.
That way, it will be easy to spot when something is stolen, and the artists won't have to be constantly looking over their shoulders.
Get a bunch more moderators. I know there isn't a shortage of people vying for the job, and understaffing is a serious problem. I have participated in discussions elsewhere with complaints of too few moderators, and the first mod to post on this thread said that no content creation mods were online at the time. On a forum this huge, that's something which should never happen.
If you are a texture pack creator, your pack's thread needs to include a list of every single texture pack, link included, which has permission to use your textures.
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Curse PremiumMaybe if the rule required the person giving permission to post an official notice on the thread of the person being given permission
"sometimes, wizards are so awesome, it hurts"
Good Idea. Something like this wouldn't be to hard to code either.
Yeah that seems like a reasonable solution. Especially people who have a lot of things going on in their lives and are too busy to constantly check the forums.
Gotta agree there.
Quote of the Day: "If you think you're gonna snap, or be rude, here's an idea: Don't post." - Theevilpplz