More Awesome Than You!

So, apparently we can haz legal threats (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/legalthreat1.pdf). Some monkey over at EAxis seems to believe this site has pirated Store Content. Of course, we have no such thing here. In fact, not a single URL given in that message even comes from this site. I have no idea what they expect me to do, since they have not given anything for us to remove. So, uh, I guess, whoever owns those mediafryer URLs, which ain't us, had best re-move them? I dunno what else to say.

Have you replied to them?

At least they could have the decency of sending those links by email, instead of faxing them. Now what, am I supposed to type those URL's? ::)

Pescado won't have to worry too much about it, but Mediafire is well within reach of the copyright gestapo. I guess the next step might be torrenting...

Before they get on to MediaFire about it, they should download the fixes.  They might learn something.

I have pointed out the error in sending problems with Mediafryer to us, yes. Not a single one of those listed URLs is even *ON* this site, so there is literally nothing I can even do!

Possibly, but that's not MY problem, now is it? I don't own Mediafryer. Their problems with Mediafryer are not relevant to my interests.

I bet the Lawlyer who wrote that has no idea the mysterious working of the internets and has no good understanding why "linking" is different than "hosting"

Thanks, this is great.

P&L@Eaxis lolyer going all Nelson: Na hah!

Now I am imagining them trying to even *find* you to serve you for something you are not doing.

ETA: Aw, no music. I was rooting for some nice "Turkey in the Straw" or something seasonal like "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" since I hear you liek Mudcrackers.

"the world's leading interactive entertainment software company'

.......... just 'EA' would have done.

I dealt with intellectual property issues in my past life as a software development manager, and based on my own experience, here's an interpretation of that letter:  Apparently, EA's legal department is going after mediafire.com   So somebody directed an intern to do google searches for sites with links to mediafire and this site (MATY) came up as well as a zillion other Sims 2 forums and fansites.  Then MATY along with who-knows-how-many other Sims 2 websites were sent a threatening form letter.  (It doesn't appear that the letter was written specifically for MATY.)

I did a google search and it turned up a number of mediafire links on MATY web pages.  Here's an example:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=13036.0  (edit: better example)

It appears that EA is trying to pressure you to remove all of the links to mediafire which appear on this site.

About a week ago, EA issued an earnings and sales warning for the 4th quarter.  So it may be that they're trying to shore up Q4 sales by putting the squelch on pirated content.

That letter doesn't even has grammar, quite apart from its lulz in the hyperbolic description of EA. "offers...users to upload"? What do that even mean? And it accuses you of letting people look at images? It sounds like the lolyer isn't entirely clear about what this stuff you allegedly have IS.

The grammar is atrocious. The flip-flopping between "images" and "files" is just baffling, and they certainly aren't "the world's leading interactive entertainment software company". Plus, they're talking about "The SIMS". The Sims™ is a completely unrelated game.  ::)

Is this going to be like the time TSR threatened to sue the Malaysians?

I kind of feel bad for whomever got stuck with the task of writing that letter. Clearly the poor retard hasn't been on the job long.

It kind of surprises me that EA, "the world's leading interactive entertainment software company" doesn't have lolyers on retainer who are a bit more savvy about the internets.

Dear EAxian LAWLyer:

U R DOIN IT WRONG.

STFU & GTFO, Attorney at LOL..

Also, HA ha!

Love & glomps,
MATY, the world's leading website for hax and modz that fix the game-borking retardery created by the world's leading interactive entertainment software company"
xoxo

P.S. Have you heard of TSR, which SELLS the intellectual property of EA? I thought not.

Well if they are monitoring this site, then they could also read this: if they start a store, where all non-US/Canadian customers are not welcome, they WILL provoke file sharing. When you at least welcome customers that want to pay but aren't allowed, then come back.
And also, what about improved versions of the faulty stuff in the store? (There is a LOT of faulty stuff there)  And recolors?

The store items aren't available to those outside the Americas? That's just stupid. Many people of different nationalities go to www.thesims2.ea.com rather than their 'local' site. I myself have only been to the UK site a couple of times.

The store items are also unavailable to Mac users.  When I tried to download the free items, I got a sims-store-not-supported-on-Mac-at-this-time message.

My favorite parts of this letter:

1. It is addressed to "More Awesome Than You".

2. "...your website www.moreawesomethanyou.com ('the Site')..."  WTF?  Do people refer to MATY as "the Site" now?

3.  It's signed "Very truly yours".  How inappropriately personal of them.

Edit: Doh!  My ignorance, let me show you it.  I still say "very truly yours" is silly, though.

2. Standard thing in legal documents "blah balah long ass description of things that have to be referenced more than once in a letter" ('xyzzy'). Now they can just say xyzzy and everyone who reads it knows what they are referring to.

3. Also common closing by lawyers. There's nothing personal or impersonal about it, it's just standard language.

So, how much did this letter cost EA, and are they going to send one every time a new link is put up?

I ask because evil people might be tempted to put up a link saying:  Here's some great EA store stuff, and then link to mediafryer with an "image" file that said something like "these are not the droids you are looking for". Falor, no doubt would tell me that that was illegal, since he maintains that as a US citizen it is illegal to smoke pot in Amsterdam.

I think this probably says more about what we can expect when Sims 3 comes out and that the EA legal department are just testing the water in preparation. Most people who receive a letter like that will panic and remove any and all 'questionable' links.

Like Maygus, I understand them to mean that not deleting links to those downloads is 'allowing' and 'encouraging' copyright violation.  As you're not posting in the thread egging people on, that's a bit of a reach for me, but I'm not a lawyer.  Isn't posting about whatever you want a freedom of speech thing anyway?

Do they really believe that dealing with those particular downloads is going to fix anything?   Delete one and another 5 will pop up elsewhere.  The stupid thing is that the Sims2 community is almost certainly the least geeky and most law abiding game community in existence!  Going after us with Securom and antagonistic legal stuff like this just sets more people on the road they want us to avoid!  I'd never even downloaded a hack until I hit headmaster bug & I didn't know what nocd cracks were until EA went over to Securom.

I'm another non-US customer who can't buy this stuff anyway.  Not that I actually want more of their junk - there's better stuff on fansites.  But if I did buy any, I'd go straight out and look for fixed versions on the internet!

Actually, there is something else you can do: reply to them with the letter Lorelei wrote above:


Pretty please?

EPIC win!

That would be orsum!

EA has intellectual property?  I always thought they were intellectually vagrant?

EA:  "You, there!  You are doing nothing, and we want you to stop it!  Cease and desist doing nothing immediately or we shall be forced to write to you a second time!"

Obviously EA contacted some high school debate club member & offered them discounted credits at the EA Store in exchange for writing that. 

This site don't host store item. Giving a link has nothing illegal. But a judge could decide that simply linking to pirated content is encouraging piracy.
Here we have more restrictive laws than in USA for internet, and some sites are filtered. It is difficult to explain because the laws are different in different countries and it is difficult to translate specific legal language when it is already difficult to simply write english but the internet providers went to the supreme court and lost. They had to restrict access to some websites. In the future we can expect this trial to serve as an example to get even more restrictions for political or other reasons
As you are not located in USA there is probably little they can do against you, but perhaps some day your site will be unreachable for some of us because they can turn against our providers for allowing access to a "pirate" site.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I got. All they gave me was a bunch of Mediafryer URLs, which falls entirely outside of my control, and in any event, are completely non-readable, given that mediafryer does not use human-parseable URLs and the document supplied is not readable by the computer, so none of those URLs can actually be used. So I have done the only thing I can: Suggested nicely that if anyone happens to ACTUALLY control them, that they might want to re-move them.

That's weird. One of my posts disappeared from this thread.

I think I tried to quote it, and it got mangled.

Ah. It said pretty much what you said anyway, oh ebil twin.

But how would any of us know if we control those URLs?  EA did not address any letters or faxes to us, and I can't see how we are to decipher any of our handles from those URLs, such as they are.

I have no idea. I'm just posting it as a public service announcement.

Do you think it could be a Walt trick? After all, you did pwn him :P

Naw, based on the headers and whatnot, it looks like a real EAxis message. Except they should be bothering Mediafryer and not us.

Not our problem then. NEXT!

This sucks!

I know that there are probably many very good arguments why, as Emma says, this is "not our problem". The problem is that if it ever gets to presenting these arguments, EA probably has more money to spend on lawyers than moreawesomethanyou. It probably won't get to that though.

I hope that the issue gets resolved.

I think you are missing the point, dear noob.
Who are they suing, a phantom?
For what, allowing people not under his control to link to a site not under his control so that other people not under his control can download things he has never seen before?
I don't think anyone is worried here.

No worries here.

All in all, there's no issue EA is mentioning.

No worries.

Maybe they're trying to make themselves look like less of a failure, after that Maxoid posted that PMBD has store stuff.

To me it looks like a fake.

The head of the letter is not very professional, missing many parts of usual business letters.

I would not contact that Vineeta Gajwany but someone "above", and show them what is circulating pretending to be EA.

If that letter IS real, than a reply like I suggested would fit, too. ;-)

I don't get why they're only after Mediafire, do you think they don't know about any other file hosting sites?

Perhaps the country that Mediafire is located in has more easily enforcable copyright laws thus making them an easier target.

Falor is correct, at least insofar as the US has this rather endearing view that its laws and jurisdiction extend to other people's countries.  Thus, if a crime is perpetrated against a US citizen or company in another country, the US still feels justified in prosecuting the crime under US law, even if the "crime" in question is not illegal in the other country.  Take travel to Cuba, for example.  I believe the US prosecuted USians for travelling to Cuba, even if they had dual citizenship and used their non-US passport and a non-US airline to travel there, and there was no law against travelling to Cuba from, say, the Empire.

Anyway, I think the correct response to EA's lawlyer in the current instance would be simply to smile and wave.

It is probably because Mediafire allows users to upload files anonymously, if desired.

Gamecopyworld have this great disclaimer on the front page - maybe whoever is putting up or linking to these fixed items should explain that they are putting up fixed items as a public service for those who bought the glitchy stuff from EA in good faith and tell people not to download unless they already have a copy. ........ 

I M P O R T A N T   N O T I C E
GameCopyWorld only supplies Information and Tools necessary to make a PERSONAL BACKUP of legally owned Game CD/DVD's.
GameCopyWorld in NO WAY links or makes it possible to illegally download or acquire any copyrighted game(s) or Serials/Keys (including CD/DVD & Activation Keys).  GameCopyWorld cannot be held responsible if any of the information and/or files contained on this site are used in the pursuit of illegal activities, such as copyright infringement or piracy.
Keep the following in mind when making a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD:

    * You are LEGALLY ALLOWED to make a personal backup of an Original Game CD/DVD as long as you are the owner of the Original Game CD/DVD.
    * You are NOT ALLOWED to sell, rent or give away any backups of copyrighted Games CD/DVD's, as this is not allowed by Copyright Laws.
    * You MUST DESTROY any backups when you don't legally own the Original Game CD/DVD anymore (e.g. selling or giving it away)
    * Before making a backup, check in the supplied manual or on the back of the CD/DVD, if there are special conditions or provisions for making a personal backup.

You are ONLY allowed to ENTER GameCopyWorld if you need information to make a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD of which you are the legal owner. By Clicking the ENTER button you agree with the above Notice!
If you do not agree with the above notice then close your browser now!

This is a very troubling trend, the confusion of information and pointers to information. Yes, pointers is a geeky programmer concept, but the address of a brothel can be public information while the brothel remains a private residence for ladies and generous gentlemen. When trouble happens, you don;t eliminate the address, you close the brothel.

Here the concept of requiring links to child pornography be removed is attempting to be extended to links to examples of copyright violation. While you can make an argument that there is an overriding social purpose for obliterating mere references to child pornography, you cannot make the same argument in what is a property rights issue. But it appears that EA would like to do so.

Sounds like you'll have to get your links to EA Store stuff through #grah. Or people need to start sharing links in a way that searches cannot detect it. Y'know. Lots of spaces or missing the .com or something.

Doesn't the whole issue with Napster set a precedence in the U.S. that links to copywritten material are illegal?

There are still some working links in there.  Vineeta wasn't very thorough. ;)  It's impossible to tell which links were listed or why, so I'm not sure what measures would be useful, if any.


It's illegal if you, Mootilda, were to put up a link to store stuff for anyone to take, and of course, it would be illegal for me to take it from you.  It would also be illegal if Pes invited a bunch of people to put up links to content he would host.

However, if you were to put up a link to stuff and ask me to fix it, that would not be illegal.  If I put up a link to the stuff I fixed for you to take back, that's also not illegal.  If we do all this on JMP's forum, but host the files somewhere else, there's nothing illegal about it.

And in any case, all this illegality may exist in USerica, but the internets are not just USerican anymore.  What links a Malaysian site has on it, may turn out not to be in this lolyer's area of expertise.

That's good to hear.  I have a theory that EA is trying to set a precedent (TS3?) for charging outrageous fees online for buggy and incomplete objects with little information about what you are purchasing, no after-purchase support for buggy and incomplete objects, and no ability to return objects which have problems.  Perhaps they intend to increase their "partnership" with TSR, but don't want to have to support those objects?  It would be horrible if we weren't able to fix those objects ourselves and share the fixes.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know what stance Canada takes on intellectual property?

I don't know Canada's current stand on links to copywritten material.  In general, the U.S. puts a lot of pressure on Canada to follow the U.S. laws.

I corrected it for you.  :)

I'm wondering about EA's intentions for the store, too.  I don't think they'd want to cannibalise EP sales for TS3, but maybe they want to keep milking money out of TS2 now that they're done with EPs?  Maybe it's just a hedge against sluggish adoption of TS3?

I agree the percentage of broken objects is astounding.  The Store makes TSR look good.

Not really sure with regard to filesharing etc. what Canada's current legislation permits, or doesn't permit.  My understanding is that it is somewhat more lenient than the US.  For example there are important questions remaining regarding filesharing of music files.  Additionally, at the time that the US was pursuing demonoid, Canadian police indicated that this was not a priority for them.  The position appears to be that, while it is technically illegal to download a lot of content (including music and games), it is impossible to track all downloaders and to try to do so would be a waste of time and resources.  As of 2007, the RCMP (mounties) indicated that piracy for personal use is no longer targeted by the police.

Currently, Canada's laws regarding electronic copyright are extremely lenient. However, new legislation has been proposed in the form of Bill C-61 (http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3570473&Mode=1&Language=E) which would tighten up Canadian copyright law even more restrictively than the DMCA in the US. Fortunately, with a completely dysfunctional Parliament this bit of legislation has fallen by the wayside--for now.

Wait there - the objects are only available to Americans AND they're broken? WTF? There was me thinking the store was just money-grubbing... Now it turns out to be both money-grubbing and incompetant.

And just out of interest, are there any amusing examples of broken objects?

Pescado, perhaps it's prudent to kill a few remaining attachments in those Store threads, just in case? Unlike MediaFire links, they ARE stored directly in cheezeserver, after all.


Browse through any of Store threads in Peasantry, and you'll find plenty of examples.

My personal favourite:

Huh.  There's a quandary.  Would the copyright law be upheld if the copyright violated was that of child porn?

Pescado should be flattered. Apparently, they think he controls the Internet.  ::)

Present perfect pet peeve?
Alliteration is awesome.

I'm interested to see what the lawlyers do now. <waits impatiently for an update>

Why thank you, most kind. I am just trying to learn teh grammarz like a proper student. That will inevitably include some sort of rehashing of others posts, which by some could be considered to be a pet peeve. To me, it is a calling.

Edit: And my special thank you goes to Callista!

actually, "precedence" isn't the right word; it should be "precedent".

See? It's fun!  :D

and the "that" is a bit clumsy ("that links"), but there's nothing wrong with the present perfect. The action was started in the past (with the Napster issue) but continues to have import today (being how precedents work and all).

I've no idea what would be considered 'most kind' in that post...

Sure you can protect your interests with copyright. Just mail copies of your kiddy porn with the registration form and fee to:

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20559-6000

After doing so, you probably have a couple of days while your package is in transit to practice some good rectal stretching exercises. Just do them diligently; later, when you meet Tiny, you'll be glad you did.

Canada's Privacy Commissioner has expressed concerns about DRM that spies on people's browsing or other behaviours.

This video has some interesting infos: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3547/406/

It looks like they have a scab lawyer doing this, anyway. I haven't heard back from them, and even IF they wanted to file anything, they haven't actually made a properly formatted claim in any event, and the DMCA is definitely the wrong law to be trying to attack us with, as it explicitly absolves us, as a service provider, of any liability for user behavior, anyway.

Is it just me or does that lawyer's name sound suspiciously like one of the NPC names from Sims 2?  :^\  X^D

Very good! Have a slice of delishus & moist caek! ;)

Is there an inscription on this caek of yours, by any chance?  :-X

You might want to add: We'll remove our illegal files when you remove your illegal software.
Or alternatively: We'll remove our illegal files when you make paysites remove theirs.

Yes.
Happy Birthday, Adolf Hitler!

DAMN IT!  I wanted to say "Happy Birthday, Adolf Hitler Campbell!"

Ugh.  One of those threads is 28 pages long.   :(   I'll make sure it's clean.

Pffft. As if I'd shop at Wal*Mart.

No, it says:
E.T
Epi Breth Day &
E.T
Congardulation's,
"TiNgLeIng" that that that
WahoO!
E.T .

What is chezeserver ?
 

Your mom, who is also a log. Read the FAQ, NOOB.

ETA: ilu. Yeah, I said it.

Oh son of a Knob Jockey, I just spat Mt Dew all over my lap.

BE MOAR CONSIDURIT FOR MAH INUHABILUTIEZ TO CONTAINZ MUHSELF, MITTEN.

Yay! *munches on moist, Adolf caek* Mmm, yum!

Meh! Sorry Pescado.

They have alot of frickin' nerve seeing how EA is being sued for copyright infringment. It's old news, but still... http://www.nothingbutsoftware.com/blog/tag/ea-lawsuit/ (http://www.nothingbutsoftware.com/blog/tag/ea-lawsuit/)

I still believe the files we linked to here are different to those offered by the Store! Theirs have glitches but ours haven't. Maybe just like someone mentioned early, we just add in the declaimer that thoes links are only for people who have owned the properties already and are willing to fix those stupid glitches that EAxis brought to them. If under that circumstance those EAxis jackasses still bother us, then does that mean Sim players can no longer make any custom contents based on stuff made by EAxis? Does that mean even a recolor of their* objects is illegal? WTF... Sims 3 gotta suck if that's the case! To be frank, I have no interest in Sims 3 at all, thanks to those uglier Sims in Sims 3, EAxis's intervention of my collecting of exclusive stuff and also those "only-3-installations" or SecuRom! BTW, anyone thinks sims in Sims 3 are way uglier than Sims in Sims 2?  >:(

Now I am wondering what will happen when Store come out with new contents next month. They will definitely be milking the Store even after Sims 3 has been released. I really hate that when I fail to find the exclusives I want. I have failed to find the Elle Woods NPC for Sims 1 Superstar. Now they are telling me I will not have those Store exclusives for Sims 2 (I am outside US or Canada). Once, I really enjoyed completing stuff for Sims provided that I would find them in the end. If now it is for sure no matter how hard I have been trying, I won't find what I am lookind for, I would rather not play Sims anymore. Since 2000, I have been paying for every genuie copy of Sims 1 and Sims 2 franchises. Alright, EAxis, you are losing me as your customers for Sims 3,4,5..., and I believe there are many like me who will be making such a judicious decision too (and indeed I have also given up to play many other EA games like Need For Speed, Medal of Honor... because of SecuRom) :-\

My last reply is just there to tell Electric Arts Inc. ("EA") how I feel personally and now I want to tell Vineeta Gajwani the followings and I believe as you mentioned you will be monitoring this *site* (indeed, this is a forum and I am not sure what the law in US states but I strongly believe a website and an online forum are different, please refer to the Law and check the difference!) and so I guess you are reading this thread too.

1. People here only *linked* to those files in Schedule 1. Those files were uploaded to a hosting website or server owned by MediaFire but not More Awesome Than You.
2. Moderators or Owners of this online forum did or do not encourage any infringement upon any copyrights owned by Electric Arts Inc., no matter it is about The SIMS or not.
3. Moderators here can delete posts suspicious of infringing upon intellectual properties but they cannot stop people from saying they may have discovered those supicious contents on the web and posted a link to them.
4. When EA produced the game and in many of the commericals by EA about The SIMS, they have stated clearly the ability of customization of any content of the game is a feature of the product. EA also further stated clearly in their EA TOOLS END USER LICENSE that end user can create custom contents using any content from the game or any associated The SIMS intellectual propety, including The SIMS 2 Store. Members of this forum have posted customized contents, including fixes of the bugs that EA has included in their The SIMS content, of The SIMS but not for commericial purpose shall never be considered to be infringing on EA's intellectual property rights.

I am not a moderator or the owner here in More Awesome Than You and I am not writing on behave of any of them. But you better get to know more about EA's policy about The SIMS in the past, the player community of The SIMS and the web before issuing that letter to More Awesome Than You.
When EA stated the EA TOOLS END USER LICENSE, they are indeed signing a contract about what to offer to The SIM players when these players come to make the offer of buying the game. When EA suddenly changed the EA TOOLS END USER LICENSE, it is indeed EA themselves breaking the law. And the all The SIM players reserve the rights to claim their damages through any legal procedure.

Plz to not double-post and to correct the use of grammar. Kthxbai.

Remember that the Sims Store is a beta, which means that EA is still testing it. Although the Store can only be used in the US and Canada at the moment, I expect EA to expand availability to the rest of the world if the beta proves successful (read: profitable).  If the Store isn't profitable in the US and Canada, then EA will probably drop the whole idea.

The letter from EA to MATY is clearly an attempt to increase the profitability of the Store, by ensuring that people cannot obtain these objects except by paying EA.  If EA cannot force people in the US and Canada, with relatively strong copywrite enforcement, to buy these objects from the Store, then they are unlikely to give access to other countries which may have less stringent copywrite enforcement.

Yep, and that really bugs me about it.
Since when did beta testers need to hand over their credit card details?

I think the last update they did to the site (not content) was back in July.
One thing they changed was to 'fudge a fix' for people accidentally buying stuff that they had already purchased in an EP or SP.
What was the fix?  Those little EP/SP icons on the thumbnails of the links.  Clearly they want people to make mistakes.

Apart from seeing how many people they can screw over, what exactly are they still testing?
If the items are in beta, do they actually have a returns and refunds procedure for the broken objects?

Mootilda, I think you hit the nail on the head in that it's just the profitability that is in beta.
If it was going to make money, then surely they'd know by now.  Legal threats at this stage seem like futile attempts to save a sinking ship.

Also seems to display a general lack of understanding, since the usual response we have to threats is obstinacy and defiance. We're not exactly composed of cowering sheep here, and any attempt to force people here to do anything becomes an exercise akin to herding cats.

The second post was about an hour after the first, which means lots of people would have already read the first post and would miss reading anything added to it later.  It makes sense to "double post" under those circumstances.  The entire reason for posting at all is to impart information.

Oh, my god, why must you contradict and test every established rule we have? We have them for a reason, and your offering excuses to tards does nothing but erode standards.

Would you like a cup of tea Inge?  ;)

I believe that you're wrong about this, Inge.  As far as I know, editing your post will make it re-appear as a new (unread) post, so there's no need to double post at this site.  You may be thinking about the MTS2 behavior, which leaves the status of a post as "read", even when it's been edited.

Just chiming in to confirm that editing does make the post appear new again. This has confused me in the past.

The whole point of not double posting is that IF no one has responded to your AMAZING BORING post, you can edit it. If they have, reply to their reply. Double-posting assumes that everyone rushed to read your words of brilliance irrelevant drivel and simply could not find words eloquent profane enough to express how fucking impressive stupid it was.

Inge, as a Senator, you need to read the FAQ and uphold it. "No double posting" isn't a suggestion, it is a forum guideline. So far you have professed ignorance, real or feigned, about Senate proceedings, several rules covered in the FAQ, and multiple cultural standards of MATY. You've also encouraged other MATY people to act like retards and to flout the rules. If you're trying to be controversial or to shit-stir, UR DOIN IT WRONG, and you haven't seemed to be particularly dense in the past. In fact, I would have said, a few months back, that you were pretty smart and "with it."

For SRS, if Senators can't be arsed to do their homework, perhaps their position is too much responsibility or strain on them, and perhaps they should offer to be be delaureled until they have time to put the minimum effort forth to keep up with even the slowest kids in the class. This is why we wait a while before offering positions to new people, even those who seem to grok how MATY works.

Are you using aluminium cookware on a frequent basis? Just wondering.

Thank you my Mistress for making me spit water all over my keyboard. It needed a clean anyway.

Oh good. I double-posted the other night for this reason. Now I can stop double-posting and attend my 12 step meeting with a clear conscience.  ;D

On my forum, also SMF, editing a post does not make it appear as new.  I support double posting, whether by senators or peasants, and I will continue to post my opinions unless or until I am banned from posting. 

The rule has no practical basis, as the same amount of space is occupied by the text added to an existing post as the same text held in a new post.   Editing a previous post also causes extra work for the database server, as data must be inserted and any newer data moved.

Double posting does not make the information harder to read like some other proscribed acts such as textspeak.  In fact lolcatspeak, which is encouraged in this forum, *does* make the posts harder to read.   I therefore consider the no-double-posting rule to be a rule without logical foundation.  Just another tedious obstruction.

Catois is typically not employed in posts intended for serious reading.

Although the "new" icon does appear when you edit your post, edited post will not appear as a new post when you click "Show new replies to your posts" or "Show unread posts since last visit". People may not know that your post was modified until another person responds.

You can make a new post and delete your previous post to avoid double-posting, but I believe that this trick should be reserved for when it's important to notify people of something, like fixed download links or Peasantry updates. This is clearly not the case here.

All the same, no-double-posting is merely a shibboleth to seperate newbies from old-timers, and has no practical basis, other than to discourage the occasional impatient person who posts a question and five minutes later adds a "Hello?" and again posts "is NE1 gonna anser me?".  But those individuals are hardly likely to be discouraged by a mere rule, anyway.

Double posting in a discussion thread strikes me as attention-seeking.

"Look at me, my last post was just so awesome it took your breath away.  This is the only possible reason that nobody replied.  I know this because I are a speshul snowflayke.  Now here's another post of awesomeness from me, and I know you're all waiting with bated breath!"

Um ... no.  If nobody replies, maybe it's because nobody is interested in the discussion.

Threads at MATY can derail fairly quickly, so I think it's a safe bet to say that most of the threads in the Podium and RL end up as discussion threads.

Well it gives me problems because people turn up at simlogical or the simpe bug forum and post test reports etc, saying they'll test such and such later.  A week on I suddenly think I wonder what ever became of that issue?  Only to find they came back the next day and added it to their previous post.  The email notifications don't even trigger for an edit.  If I had not much to do and could keep checking a thread I would probably have noticed, but being involved in discussions all over the community many of which I am actually trying to give practical help in, it's actually a hindrance to me when people add new information to a post I have already read.  Then we get into the situation where I have to post useless space-wasting posts like "I look forward to your update" just to enable them to post again instead of editing.

Hi, I'm new here... but read this thread with interest.  My take on this is if someone puts something on the web... they should expect it to get ripped off. That's just how it is. May not be legal, but it's one of those "known" risks that they should take into consideration when they use the net. 

Second... you can easily cover your ass on this. EA/MAXIS isn't saying that you are hosting these sites, they are pissed off that you are advertising them and by doing so, are sending a lot of traffic away from the Sims store.

Have a sticky thread at the top of your forum saying, "THESE ARE KNOWN SITES THAT CARRY ITEMS FROM THE SIMS STORE. DOWNLOADING FROM THESE SITES IS AGAINST THE STORE TOS AND IS THUS ILLEGAL! WE STRONGLY SUGGEST OUR MEMBERS AVOID THESE SITES AND SPEND THEIR MONEY AT THE SIM'S STORE RATHER THAN GET THEM FREE AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS:

Then, of course, list the complete urls and update them as necessary.

This way you aren't *technically* advertising them...but warning your users of potential problems. And EA/MAXIS can't do crap about it. I really doubt they can do anything about posting the links and TELLING people to go there, either. The guilt is still on the people that download and those that actually host the files... but it would be nice to have the links in the same area (Evil Grin)

Well I'd like to know *who* they are going to try suing?  They won't find Pescado's personal details easily, and they are unlikely to be able to enforce a closure notice in Malaysia.  I guess the only person in the firing line is the person whose name the domain is registered in.  And I hardly expect that to be a living human being.

If they do track down Pescado, they then have to get past the Mrs, which I wouldn't advise.

Sorry, you lost me somewhere around the part that said "spend their money".  That idea and "strongly suggest" don't seem to go together.  It seems grammatically correct but the ideas don't compute.  ;D

I would pay real money, honest! just for a Mrs. Pes' killing Eaxian attorneys with thumbs on YouTube.

We don't appear on film. You'd just see them dying mysteriously.

But that in itself would be worth it, because we'd know who did it, and it wouldn't get you or the Mrs in trouble that way.

I see exactly what you mean! It's such a no-brainer! Who would want to go to a free site when they could go to the Sims Store and spend even more on this wonderful product?  Since I've already spent well over 500 bucks on Sims products since the Original Sims... why not spend EVEN MORE on inferior products that require fixing but never get fixed by anyone but the modding and hacking community who do fixes better and faster than Maxis/EA ever could?  I'd much rather buy things that don't match, cause traffic problems, and are the wrong scale... than get them for free and find out there is absolutely nothing in the package I'd ever use anyway. Where is the adventure in discovering you've been screwed????

Oh geez... I'm laughing so hard I can barely TYPE LOL! Seriously, tho...

Back during prohibition, when the making and consumption of alcohol was illegal, there were companies who would make kits to make non-alcoholic beverages. On the label, they would give complete instructions on how to MAKE their product into REAL alcohol, that read something like this:  "We strongly suggest you do not cover product with cheesecloth and put in a dark place for 7 to 10 days or fermentation will occur, resulting in an illegal product.

Along the same vein... the warning was intended to be a slap in the face to the establishment saying, "We are going to do whatever the hell we want to the LETTER of the law... and there is *nothing* you can do to stop us."

So if people do use the links to go and download, you can say "Hey... we posted a warning... we did all we could possibly to warn our membership of this illegal content. We even discouraged our membership from downloading!" I'm sure people will do the smart thing and not go there... right?

Ahem. surrrrrre. :D

Hehe... if they ever find you, just threaten to throw them in the pool and delete the ladders.

(that still works, doesn't it? It's been so long since I killed a sim on purpose...)

Actually I think the Maxoids *are* sims.   That would account for their AI glitches.

EAxian lawlyers are hardly worthy opponents for the missus.  I bet that Pes Sprog would use them as training.

Well I guess EA should sue me too because I also run a web site were sims fans share things lol  Even if they did find me and sue I have no money anyways... what are they gonna do ? Garnish my wadges?  I make 8 bucks an hour..... guess i would have to move to a smaller cardboard box!

Gee, I guess EAxis made so little money on all the Sims & TS2 games, EPs & SPs and all the other related crap that they have to go after a website that makes NO money on fixing the bugs and providing the EAxis customers saps with a game they can actually play.

Actually, that's probably the crux of the whole issue here.  "Oops! We made a really bug-ridden game and kept adding more bugs in every EP and SP we put out, so shame on you for fixing our crap!  AND giving them and allowing links to usable sh*t for free!  Communist!"

BIG bunch of BS.

A little squeeze of lemon and some parsley perhaps?

"Garnish my wadges" did make me wonder.

I read that as "garnish my wedgies," boggled trying to parse it, and had to go lie down.

Garnish my wadges sounds like the BAD kind of sexy talk.

Garnish my wadges and I'll froth your snapsticks.

*prune-on*

Has anyone tried calling the number on the letterhead to see who, if anyone, answers?  I rather find myself siding with the "this is a fake" crowd, given the appalling grammar.

*goes back to lurking*

Google-fu let me shu u it.


It just seems to be an uber generic EA phone number.

Is it typical for corporate counsel to be Veeps? Just curious.

At my office, our Senior Counsel is veep level.  Legal is SRS BZNS.  Need senior lawlyers to give appropriately respected legal advice to the President of a corporation.