I articulated a very time-consuming post on the "Classified Ads" section with the name of "Project: Ultima Online!", only to have an administrator hastily delete it. I spent nearly an hour working on that post, and now it's just been simply deleted just like that.
I can assure you there was NOTHING in that post that said that I would steal copyrighted work from Ultima Online. The ONLY reason why I named the project that (and mind you it's only a TEMPORARY name), is because I more importantly wanted to model my game after it. No pieces of artwork, sound bits, or programming would be stolen. I specifically mentioned this in my post, if you cared to read it.
And also I would like to inquire if you even read my post. With all of these points being made, if all you had was beef with the name, why couldn't you just change it?
ID:182517
 May 17 2008, 12:05 am
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May 17 2008, 12:12 am
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DivineO'peanut
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Damn, that must be annoying. You should keep a backup next time.
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There can't be any references to copyrighted material. I think it would be alright if you named the project "Untitled ORPG" rather than "Ultima Online."
It's just a legal technicality, nobody has anything against you. | |
SuperAntx wrote:
It's just a legal technicality, nobody has anything against you. I would say that's inaccurate. Foomer does have something against anybody who aligns themselves, in the slightest, with fan games. He has taken over Classified Ads moderation and people seem to be pretty happy with the job he's doing, so he'll happily pull the trigger on posts like yours which make some reference to Ultima Online. Next time, as suggested above, don't give a title to a game that's not made yet. | |
If they spent time reading all the posts that had any indication of being copyrighted content, they would waste far too much time, alongside going insane or become extremely hateful/spiteful (if they already aren't).
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I undeleted your thread since you say it has nothing to do with the original Ultima Online. But believe me, there have been plenty of people who tried to start a "BYOND Ultima Online" game, and it wouldn't surprise me to see another one.
For anyone who scans your post briefly to see if its basing itself on Ultima Online or just choosing its name poorly, your post DOES look like it was based around Ultima Online. At the time I was visiting via a laptop and an internet connection that might have quit on me at any time, so I wasn't taking a lot of time to read every post. If you could view the moderator records, you'd be amazed at how many ads for copyrighted material get posted in CA, in spite of the new rules. Most of us aren't going to spend our day analyzing each one to see if its REALLY breaking the rules, or if they're just randomly talking about copyrighted stuff in their ad. I'd say just pick a better name next time. | |
PirateHead wrote:
I would say that's inaccurate. Foomer does have something against anybody who aligns themselves, in the slightest, with fan games. That's not true, there were a few ads that I'd been hesitant to delete because I kind of liked the idea. But the rule for no copyrighted material was added to keep Classified Ads clean, and it seems to be doing a good job, so I'm not going to start making exceptions. I am totally and utterly anti-anime though. | |
Foomer wrote:
I undeleted your thread since you say it has nothing to do with the original Ultima Online. But believe me, there have been plenty of people who tried to start a "BYOND Ultima Online" game, and it wouldn't surprise me to see another one. That is absolutely WONDERFUL logic... | |
Foomer wrote:
I undeleted your thread since you say it has nothing to do with the original Ultima Online. But believe me, there have been plenty of people who tried to start a "BYOND Ultima Online" game, and it wouldn't surprise me to see another one. Will do, I'm certainly glad you undeleted my topic, at least :D. | |
I'm not sure if you got the message. Your post sounded an awful lot like "I don't know what this says--I think I'm just going to delete it."
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CaptFalcon33035 wrote:
I'm not sure if you got the message. Your post sounded an awful lot like "I don't know what this says--I think I'm just going to delete it." I got the message, and I'm countering it because I don't think you got mine. The fact is, when you have to delete several of the same kind of posts every day on the same forum, they all start to look alike, and when you briefly look at a posts and it suggests that its based off of copyrighted material which isn't allowed, then it gets deleted. No, I don't dedicate my time to reading every ad in detail and scrutinizing whether or not its acceptable. If it looks like an obvious infringement, its going to get deleted. In this case, it might as well have been called "Project: Naruto Shinobi Wakizashi Legend", because when I see something with a project name based on copyrighted material, I automatically assume that the content of the game is going to be copyrighted material. Go figure that P:NSWL has nothing to do with Naruto. | |
Don't you think that as a moderator, it is your duty to read and evaluate EVERYTHING before you take administrative action? I got your message and it doesn't really matter how you word it, it's not an acceptable excuse.
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For what it's worth, I agree with Foomer's actions here, for several reasons.
1) An issue came up, a user explained themselves, the action was reversed. The situation is a total success for both moderation and community involvement and I don't even see why this warrants such a hissy fit. 2) Moderators are people who have lives. They are not being paid and their time is precious. Moderators absolutely should not be required to look into everything at the deepest level of detail. Granted, as a general rule it's preferable to look into something rather deeply, but when a post has an obvious title like "Ultima Online", odds are that it's contrary to the policy and that there's no sense in worrying more than a few seconds over it. In this particular case, the post turned out to be something completely different than the title implied, so the moderator nixed it, and then -- after having it explained -- fixed the mistake. It's win-win so far. 3) Every time a moderator makes a judgement which turns out to be reversed is not the end of the world. We have neither the patience nor the time to debate each and every time something comes up which one or two people disagree with. Please take the time to do something more constructive, like working on a BYOND game! | |