Wuggles on 16/11/2003 at 04:21
I don't know if its a problem for the other forums, but in the system shock forums, people are always posting links to sites that have ss2 for download. Why don't you tell the forum to censor those sites? Since its always the same ones, such as Office of the OverCats (oh come on, thats funny) just replace those urls with something like "I want to keep TTLG online so I won't provide a link to an illegal website" or "You should visit Wuggles' Website because he's the coolest!"
Gingerbread Man on 16/11/2003 at 04:43
Doing that would mean we've given up on the idea that people will one day read the damned post I made.
The rules are simple in this regard: Warez are not tolerated on the forums, "Abandonware" is not a concept recognised by producers or developers or copyright law, SS2 isn't "Abandonware" anyway.
Maybe it would be easier to blanket censor things like links, but that's not the way we like to run things. First of all, censoring content isn't a great idea. Much better that people show some common sense and that the community at large polices itself. As fans of the game, surely we all ought to be offended at the idea of someone pirating it. Secondly, the sort of person who would link to where to download it obviously hasn't read the rules / acceptable use stuff, hasn't read the very blatantly marked "SS2 IS NOT ABANDONWARE" thread, and isn't likely to respond to a suggestion that they not do that please.
It's not difficult to ban people. We just don't do it a lot.
There's nothing inherently offensive or problematic about Underdogs, anyway. Most of the site is reviews and information about where to buy the games. Or at least links to developer sites where you can find out how to buy the games. But Underdogs knows damned well that Abandonware isn't a real thing, and they bank on people either not knowing or not caring. Like an opt-out program for warez. Read their FAQ, they know what they're doing isn't above board, even though they think they're some kind of noble cause.
Grr. Didn't mean to start ranting.
Long story short: Interesting idea, but I don't think that's how we want to do things. It's problematic on some levels, and should be unnecessary on others.
