About copyright... READ THIS
Last weekend, it came to my attention that users of the Roller Coaster Tycoon forum over at danimation.com provided direct links to images from Guide to The Point, i.e., the images appeared in-line with a forum thread. The moderator later changed the in-line image to a direct link to the image.
Both scenarios are a federal crime, because by displaying or linking to the image outside of its original context, namely the Web page it is supposed to be in, you're removing the copyright notice that appears at the bottom of every page, or simply stealing the image.
Case law aside, it is also wrong for other reasons. First of all, this situation causes images to be served by my server in someone else's page. This is called "bandwidth piracy." It means that I'm paying for an image to be displayed in another page.
The second reason it's wrong is because you don't see the advertisement on the page with the image. If you don't see that ad, I don't get paid, and I don't recover the cost of producing that image (film, camera, software, etc.), which causes a financial loss. Yes, this site does cost money to produce, and I will likely take a loss until some time early next year.
I don't want to sue anybody or be preachy, but rather I want to educate people on the implications of bandwidth piracy and copyright infringement. The Web might be "free," but like any other kind of media, there are laws and rules that have to be followed to protect the rights of the people who create content. So in a nutshell, please do not commit these acts. Not only could the provider be held accountable, but so could you under the terms of their user agreements.
The folks at Danimation decided to shut down their forums, citing that they didn't want to "be abused" for providing a free service. It's unfortunate because their forums really are outstanding, and also unfortunate because the owner is a graphic artist, who I would think would certainly understand the i???????? ?? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????? ????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?? ??? ?????
Both scenarios are a federal crime, because by displaying or linking to the image outside of its original context, namely the Web page it is supposed to be in, you're removing the copyright notice that appears at the bottom of every page, or simply stealing the image.
Case law aside, it is also wrong for other reasons. First of all, this situation causes images to be served by my server in someone else's page. This is called "bandwidth piracy." It means that I'm paying for an image to be displayed in another page.
The second reason it's wrong is because you don't see the advertisement on the page with the image. If you don't see that ad, I don't get paid, and I don't recover the cost of producing that image (film, camera, software, etc.), which causes a financial loss. Yes, this site does cost money to produce, and I will likely take a loss until some time early next year.
I don't want to sue anybody or be preachy, but rather I want to educate people on the implications of bandwidth piracy and copyright infringement. The Web might be "free," but like any other kind of media, there are laws and rules that have to be followed to protect the rights of the people who create content. So in a nutshell, please do not commit these acts. Not only could the provider be held accountable, but so could you under the terms of their user agreements.
The folks at Danimation decided to shut down their forums, citing that they didn't want to "be abused" for providing a free service. It's unfortunate because their forums really are outstanding, and also unfortunate because the owner is a graphic artist, who I would think would certainly understand the i???????? ?? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????? ????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?? ??? ?????
I didn't make a rebuttal. The e-mail they posted in the link above is all I said. My site is not the first to be pillaged, either. The simple solution, and responsible thing, is just to disable the "IMG" tag in their UBB (that's why it was never active here or on CoasterBuzz).
Like I said, it's unfortunate they decided to just close the forums, but with success comes growing pains and you just have to deal with them and move on. I can name at least a half-dozen times when I was ready to pull the plug on this site.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Like I said, it's unfortunate they decided to just close the forums, but with success comes growing pains and you just have to deal with them and move on. I can name at least a half-dozen times when I was ready to pull the plug on this site.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Yea that is a shame they had to close the forums. With the amount of abuse that the users were giving the moderators, I don't think they really had a choice. Maybe after everyone "cools off" for a little while they will reopen it.
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-Chris
"Any day, is a great day, to ride a rollercoaster!"
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-Chris
"Any day, is a great day, to ride a rollercoaster!"
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