Post by Admin on Mar 26, 2017 19:27:11 GMT
MOD THEFT AND OUR FORUMS
BACKGROUND
This is an announcement we wish we didn't need to make. We'd like the toolset to stay out of matters like mod and asset theft, however, we no longer feel it's possible. We host a modder's discussion board on the forum. We provide a venue for modders to engage each other, host development threads, and get help. We are a community built by and around modders and modding.
We're also a small community. While we had a little over 1700 members registered on the old forum, the core group of regular users was much smaller. Fewer than four dozen people had more than 30 posts total and had posted within the last six months. That means that behavior like this, when it happens, has the strong potential to disrupt the forum and damage the community.
Modders work hard to create their mods. Many of the modders here also donate large amounts of their time to help others troubleshoot the toolset and learn to mod. For this reason, it's especially insulting when one community member steals from another. Our goal as staff is always to keep these situations out of the public area. However, this can often lead to the modder who was wronged feeling... silenced. They've just had to deal with their work being stolen (something which can turn into a real shitstorm, if you've never had the pleasure) and now they are doing a service to the community by helping us avoid drama. We appreciate their consideration, but the thing is: we shouldn't be asking this of them. The responsibility shouldn't be theirs. Not to mention, as they are busy biting their tongues, there's a real chance we'll lose their community presence, simply because they may not want to hang around due to the fellow modder who did the stealing. Add onto that, if they stay, there's an even better chance they'll have to sit by and watch this same person continue to get modding help from the community -- help that could ultimately lead to more assets being stolen.
It's an insulting situation to be in, and we're going to do our part to prevent it. While this has been a very a difficult decision for us, what it comes down to is that it's too harmful to the community to allow anyone who steals assets to stick around. They surrender their right to be here when they steal from another community member.
It's for this reason that we're going to institute a new policy related to mod theft. We've had three instances of this involving community members in less than a year. One we can ignore. Two we can try to ignore. Three is a pattern and we now feel like we have to take action. Not only to support the modders on this forum, but to protect the community as a whole.
THE POLICY
So, here's how this will work.
1. Document the theft.
This is always your first step. If you are going to report a theft, you must have proper documentation. Not only for yourself, but for your host. Have a download of the infringing mod, screenshots of the hosting page, screenshots of files dates and content that clearly show the asset as originally yours, etc. Do this BEFORE you report the theft, as once the mod is hidden or removed your opportunity for documentation is gone.
2. Report the theft to your host.
Report the theft to your host. THEY are the ones responsible for resolving the theft. We are not a hosting platform. We cannot and will not fix your problem. This is non-negotiable. Wait for your host adjudicate the theft and deal with the issue.
3. Report the community member guilty of theft.
Once the theft has been adjudicated, and we can verify it with your host, we will take action against that community member. To be clear, this is a reactive action, only. The theft MUST be reported to us. Preferably from the author who's assets were stolen. This will work best if you host on Nexus. We're on good terms with the admins, have spoken to them about this situation, specifically, and they've agreed to work with us in a supportive capacity.
If you do not host on Nexus, then all bets are off. We won't independently adjudicate theft, and we have not (and will not) reach out for cooperation with other platforms. Since most folks here host on Nexus, this shouldn't be a significant issue.
4. Offending members.
If you are found guilty of asset theft/misuse, you will get a single warning. One time, you can claim that you "didn't know", "made a mistake", "had a miscommunication", or whatever. Once. Everyone gets a second chance. We'll pull you and the other modder into a PM for discussion, make sure you are very clear as to why your actions were wrong, and we'll ask the other modder to be tolerant for that first offense. If it happens again, you'll be permanently banned from the forum.
5. Warning/Ban list.
Any time a warning and/or ban is issued the community will be notified. The notification will be extremely brief, denote a ban or a warning, and link to the Nexus warning/ban thread (if it exists). The threads will be locked and names of the authors infringed upon will NOT be divulged. There will be no public discussion of the warning/ban.
We understand that this will be perceived as a "shame list". This is not at all our intent. We've already had a situation in the community where a member who was previously guilty of theft, placed stolen assets into a mod with multiple authors. This put the lead dev in a (understandably) horrible position. Making this information public is the only way to ensure modders know the score ahead of time. If they choose to help or co-author with the infringer, anyway, that's their own decision.
We want to be very clear that appearing on this list is not to be used as implied permission to harass, abuse, troll, or disrespect this member. All forum conduct rules still apply regardless of whether someone has been issued a warning. This is not a scarlet letter. Leave your pitchforks at home, please.
IMPLEMENTATION
Due to the forum being only a few months old, we've decided to make this new policy slightly retroactive. It will affect any incidents that have taken place since moving the forum to Proboards. It will continue into the indefinite future. We'll amend the policy as needed and post updates here.
CLOSING
We understand certain aspects of this policy may be controversial. Ultimately, we're disappointed, sad, and irritated that we have to take these steps at all. Nothing about this is fun and there are no clear, right answers. After a lot of discussion and debate, this what we've decided is best for the community. We encourage you to ask questions and we'll answer them to the best of our ability.
Thanks.
BACKGROUND
This is an announcement we wish we didn't need to make. We'd like the toolset to stay out of matters like mod and asset theft, however, we no longer feel it's possible. We host a modder's discussion board on the forum. We provide a venue for modders to engage each other, host development threads, and get help. We are a community built by and around modders and modding.
We're also a small community. While we had a little over 1700 members registered on the old forum, the core group of regular users was much smaller. Fewer than four dozen people had more than 30 posts total and had posted within the last six months. That means that behavior like this, when it happens, has the strong potential to disrupt the forum and damage the community.
Modders work hard to create their mods. Many of the modders here also donate large amounts of their time to help others troubleshoot the toolset and learn to mod. For this reason, it's especially insulting when one community member steals from another. Our goal as staff is always to keep these situations out of the public area. However, this can often lead to the modder who was wronged feeling... silenced. They've just had to deal with their work being stolen (something which can turn into a real shitstorm, if you've never had the pleasure) and now they are doing a service to the community by helping us avoid drama. We appreciate their consideration, but the thing is: we shouldn't be asking this of them. The responsibility shouldn't be theirs. Not to mention, as they are busy biting their tongues, there's a real chance we'll lose their community presence, simply because they may not want to hang around due to the fellow modder who did the stealing. Add onto that, if they stay, there's an even better chance they'll have to sit by and watch this same person continue to get modding help from the community -- help that could ultimately lead to more assets being stolen.
It's an insulting situation to be in, and we're going to do our part to prevent it. While this has been a very a difficult decision for us, what it comes down to is that it's too harmful to the community to allow anyone who steals assets to stick around. They surrender their right to be here when they steal from another community member.
It's for this reason that we're going to institute a new policy related to mod theft. We've had three instances of this involving community members in less than a year. One we can ignore. Two we can try to ignore. Three is a pattern and we now feel like we have to take action. Not only to support the modders on this forum, but to protect the community as a whole.
THE POLICY
So, here's how this will work.
1. Document the theft.
This is always your first step. If you are going to report a theft, you must have proper documentation. Not only for yourself, but for your host. Have a download of the infringing mod, screenshots of the hosting page, screenshots of files dates and content that clearly show the asset as originally yours, etc. Do this BEFORE you report the theft, as once the mod is hidden or removed your opportunity for documentation is gone.
2. Report the theft to your host.
Report the theft to your host. THEY are the ones responsible for resolving the theft. We are not a hosting platform. We cannot and will not fix your problem. This is non-negotiable. Wait for your host adjudicate the theft and deal with the issue.
3. Report the community member guilty of theft.
Once the theft has been adjudicated, and we can verify it with your host, we will take action against that community member. To be clear, this is a reactive action, only. The theft MUST be reported to us. Preferably from the author who's assets were stolen. This will work best if you host on Nexus. We're on good terms with the admins, have spoken to them about this situation, specifically, and they've agreed to work with us in a supportive capacity.
If you do not host on Nexus, then all bets are off. We won't independently adjudicate theft, and we have not (and will not) reach out for cooperation with other platforms. Since most folks here host on Nexus, this shouldn't be a significant issue.
4. Offending members.
If you are found guilty of asset theft/misuse, you will get a single warning. One time, you can claim that you "didn't know", "made a mistake", "had a miscommunication", or whatever. Once. Everyone gets a second chance. We'll pull you and the other modder into a PM for discussion, make sure you are very clear as to why your actions were wrong, and we'll ask the other modder to be tolerant for that first offense. If it happens again, you'll be permanently banned from the forum.
5. Warning/Ban list.
Any time a warning and/or ban is issued the community will be notified. The notification will be extremely brief, denote a ban or a warning, and link to the Nexus warning/ban thread (if it exists). The threads will be locked and names of the authors infringed upon will NOT be divulged. There will be no public discussion of the warning/ban.
We understand that this will be perceived as a "shame list". This is not at all our intent. We've already had a situation in the community where a member who was previously guilty of theft, placed stolen assets into a mod with multiple authors. This put the lead dev in a (understandably) horrible position. Making this information public is the only way to ensure modders know the score ahead of time. If they choose to help or co-author with the infringer, anyway, that's their own decision.
We want to be very clear that appearing on this list is not to be used as implied permission to harass, abuse, troll, or disrespect this member. All forum conduct rules still apply regardless of whether someone has been issued a warning. This is not a scarlet letter. Leave your pitchforks at home, please.
IMPLEMENTATION
Due to the forum being only a few months old, we've decided to make this new policy slightly retroactive. It will affect any incidents that have taken place since moving the forum to Proboards. It will continue into the indefinite future. We'll amend the policy as needed and post updates here.
CLOSING
We understand certain aspects of this policy may be controversial. Ultimately, we're disappointed, sad, and irritated that we have to take these steps at all. Nothing about this is fun and there are no clear, right answers. After a lot of discussion and debate, this what we've decided is best for the community. We encourage you to ask questions and we'll answer them to the best of our ability.
Thanks.