DMGenie - Masters of the Djinn Yahoo Group missing

[rom90125]

Allow me to point at this post: http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2535260&postcount=7

There DonTadow states that WotC books can be found in DMGenie's forums. Why is it bad form for me to point this out?

Then DonTadow misspoke and that is an incorrect statement. Goto www.dmgenie.com for yourself and validate his statement before making an assumption. There is no IP infringment on that site. If a few fans of the software want to create a Y! group and share their own scripts...well, how can you stop them? By scouring the Y! groups daily is one way. Or taking something someone said in another forum and turning it over to the mods at Y! is another...

 

[Mynex]

Again, there is no law, only minor litigation that wtoc has used to their advantage. An equal fight would see no breaking of the law for what is essentially note taking or reviewing. Perhaps I could even put jokes in my script and call it a spoof so its protected. Its murky at best. But i will encourage my friends to share any scripts they created to show their artistic talents. Whatever they decideto share is up to them. Might be a minor calculator could be notes from a book they'v read.

This thread is not about IP, its about shotty and dishonest business practices. I'll make sure to spread the word.

Hey Nathan, do yourself a favor and stop making slanderous and libelous statements against my company.

I'm curious why you took a factual discussion on IP and turned it into a personal 'hate on' for CMP... where's your journalistic detachment and integrity?

I wonder if your publisher, assuming you've been published that is, would appreciate knowing that one of their journalists not only engages in slanderous and libelous activities with no proof (innocent until proven guilty, eh?) and engaging in (from your own mouth, in the other thread) to encouraging people to break the law.

you don't have to like how the law is set up, you don't have to agree with it, but you do have to abide by it. Failure to abide by it, i.e. breaking the law, is a criminal activity. doesn't matter if it's a minor civili infraction or a serious felony.. the law is the law, period.

You break it, you're a criminal. There is no debate over that.

The debate(s) may be over whether a law should be a law is a seperate discussion, and THAT is where all the emotion and 'hate on' should be. Not in a factual discussion about what is and isn't currently illegal.

Distributing another person's or company's IP is currently illegal. Period. The why's and wherefor's don't matter in this specific discussion. That is the reality of things as they stand now. You distribute another person's IP without their consent, you're breaking the law.

Pretty cut and dried really.

So, start discussing thing rationally, politely, and without accusations, insults, slurs, and other rudeness, and I'll be more than happy to carry on that discussion.

There is no reason for you to be slamming my company... well other than YOU have a 'hate on' for corporate America (HA! CMP = Corporate America, THAT is funny!)

As I posted in the Y! group, don't agitate me.

 

[Mynex]

So KingPaul and Mynex,

I'll bite the bait and ask straight up (assuming you'll be honest with your response). Is CMG on a witchhunt? Are the monkeys policing the Wizard's IP?

Well I don't think _CMG_ is on a witchhunt for anything.. other than, like every publisher, more sales. And I really don't think Mark would appreciate being brought into this 'discussion'.

Seriously though, CMP is not a witchhunt, never has been, never will be. It's not our job to 'seek & destroy' for publishers about their IP. That's their job.

This entire series of nastiness began with me stating facts about IP and DonTadow taking it personally.

*shrug*

 

[rom90125]

I agree with Mynex on this...it is getting extremely ugly. Whatever issues there are between you and DonTadow shouldn't factor into this thread. When I originally started the thread, I was asking a honest question. And to be honest, I wasn't the original 'seeker of knowledge' on this issue. I read a personal blog that talked about this subject and thought I would ask the nice peeps at Enworld if they could enlighten me. That is all.

 

[Mynex]

Then DonTadow misspoke and that is an incorrect statement. Goto www.dmgenie.com for yourself and validate his statement before making an assumption. There is no IP infringment on that site. If a few fans of the software want to create a Y! group and share their own scripts...well, how can you stop them? By scouring the Y! groups daily is one way. Or taking something someone said in another forum and turning it over to the mods at Y! is another...

I've read all the various threads and whatnot about this shutting down of that particular Y! group... including the one on the DM Genie forums...

Personally, I think Y! acted poorly in nuking him entirely. Nuking the group, sure... but to nuke his entire account? that's too much in my opinion.

But, even he admited that he expected something to happen sometime (on the DM Genie forum he said that)... So he knew there were IP violations present and didn't police them himself...

That's the Y! group mod I'm referring to, not the creator of DM Genie... I've got, and use, DM Genie (along with a ton of other software), and not one of any of the software creators host any files they shouldn't.

So the yea, sure, there's a ton of Y! groups out there that share files they shouldn't, and this should serve a warning about IP sharing without permission.

Probably won't.. but hey, that's the individual's choice who mods these groups. (still, nuking the entire account? a _premium_ one? Too far imo *shakes head*)

 

[rom90125]

OK...another question. How are 'play by post' threads not infringing on IP? Isn't the DM/Mod of that thread also posting non-OGL content when transcribing the text from the original source?

And before anyone flames me, this is another newb/honest question. I've been tempted many times to get involved with a PbP but I'm still pure as the driven snow to this point.

 

[Zulithe]

Well kingpaul there are plenty of questions you pose here that I'd not mind answering in another context (in fact I started writing a pretty lengthly answer before changing my mind) but it feels like you are baiting the conversation. To what end? I couldn't be bothered.

All I'm interested in is practicing fair use. And I find it insulting when I see the word "theft" thrown around. I do not practice theft. That being so, what others practice is of no interest to me. If you make it your interst, by all means waste up your time hitting people over the head with your law book. I'll be busy writing adventures.

 

[kingpaul]

it feels like you are baiting the conversation. To what end?

To fully understand what people are saying.

All I'm interested in is practicing fair use.

And WotC has said that it is not 'fair use' to distribute datasets, its an infringement of their IP.

And I find it insulting when I see the word "theft" thrown around.

Then what else should I call the act of taking something that you have not purchased or have acquired from someone who does not have the rights to distribute?

I'll be busy writing adventures.

And what does writing adventures have to do with the distribution of IP?

 

[rom90125]

KingPaul, stop trying to pick fights

Since you seem to be a guru of all things IP-related, answer my earlier question about PbP and IP infringement. I'm curious to hear your response.

 

[kingpaul]

KingPaul, stop trying to pick fights

Not trying to pick fights, trying to understand statements made by other people

Since you seem to be a guru of all things IP-related, answer my earlier question about PbP and IP infringement. I'm curious to hear your response.

Are the GMs in question on these PbPs disseminating the closed-content material to the players?