NEW TSR LEGAL THREAT!

[paperbeth]

I think the fact that we are even disscussing the ethical merits of this at all, shows that we will not stoop to their level. I mean, can anyone here even imagine that there has ever been a disscusion of ethics like this over at T$R? They're all too busy agreeing with each other.

I think we must pick our battles. We need to stay on message. We are here to educate and inform. I believe it is the most effective method for giving T$R moar butthurt. To go after everything and anything just on the principle that we don't like them only makes us look like 12's.

[kenmtl]

And that message is:

SHAKESHAFT IS A THIEF

and

THOMAS KNOWS YOUR PASSWORDS


*notice my font size restraint*

[CatOfWar]

We are here to educate and inform.

I agree.  However, I was asking about Swedish anti-piracy laws and how they relate to TSR because if they did happen to be in violation of them, that could be something else to tell folks, in addition to TSR being in violation of the EA EULA.  I was curious about whether TSR pays business taxes because they claim to be a legitimate business.  If they do pay them, that supports the position that they are a business, in it for profit, not a fansite.  If they don't pay taxes but should, that undermines their claim to be a legitimate business and adds to their shadiness.  In either case, that's also something to tell the public about.  If TSR were evading taxes, which I'm not saying they are, it wouldn't hurt to make a report to the appropriate Swedish agency.  Maybe they're exempt from business tax, I don't know.  I'm not making any claims right now, I just think it's something worth knowing.  I agree with those who said that the Isaksson family's non-TSR related business ventures are not something for us to be looking into.

kenmtl Not just Thomas, but any staff member who has access to their unencrypted user passwords.  I believe Delphy said they told him they would be encrypting those in the future.  Well, let's hold them to that.  Let's demand they tell their users that they have encrypted the passwords.  That will let people know that passwords were not encrypted previously.  If they don't make an announcement about encrypted passwords, let's keep asking about it, and say "Are passwords still unencrypted and thus not secure?".

[Scourge]

Huh, this legal threat is much better than the last one they sent. Thomas actually signed his own name instead of sending it in the guise of 'NO NAME GIVEN'. That shows improvement, I really mean that. They've learned that anonymous legal threats have little effect aside from raucous laughter but until they realize that the point of sending legal threats makes little sense when there's no actual law backing them up, they will continue to do nothing but provide comical entertainment.

[ValancySterling]

kenmtl Not just Thomas, but any staff member who has access to their unencrypted user passwords.  I believe Delphy said they told him they would be encrypting those in the future.  Well, let's hold them to that.  Let's demand they tell their users that they have encrypted the passwords.  That will let people know that passwords were not encrypted previously.  If they don't make an announcement about encrypted passwords, let's keep asking about it, and say "Are passwords still unencrypted and thus not secure?".

This makes me wonder.  All we have right now is Thomas's promise  that they are going to encrypt them.  But how do we verify that, other than Thomas saying "Yep, they're encrypted now".  I mean, I wouldn't expect them to make an offical announcement on the site because that would be admitting to the sheeple that they weren't secure in the first place.  And yeah, he could tell Delphy or someone else, but that's basically still just his word.

[dusdeedawn]

Huh, this legal threat is much better than the last one they sent. Thomas actually signed his own name instead of sending it in the guise of 'NO NAME GIVEN'. That shows improvement, I really mean that.

*chortle*
Ah, good old <NO NAME GIVEN>. That was quite the gut-buster. Not that Toma$$'s name is much better, except it's the kind of laughter that makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

[Paden]

SHAKESHAFT IS A THIEF!

THOMASS HAS NEITHER MORALS NOR ETHICS!!

I CAN USE FONT CONTROLS!!

Sorry, I've been resisting the urge for too damn long and had to let it out. 

[kenmtl]

You go girl!!

[Nietzsche]

I agree.  However, I was asking about Swedish anti-piracy laws and how they relate to TSR because if they did happen to be in violation of them, that could be something else to tell folks, in addition to TSR being in violation of the EA EULA.  I was curious about whether TSR pays business taxes because they claim to be a legitimate business.  If they do pay them, that supports the position that they are a business, in it for profit, not a fansite.  If they don't pay taxes but should, that undermines their claim to be a legitimate business and adds to their shadiness.  In either case, that's also something to tell the public about.  If TSR were evading taxes, which I'm not saying they are, it wouldn't hurt to make a report to the appropriate Swedish agency.  Maybe they're exempt from business tax, I don't know.  I'm not making any claims right now, I just think it's something worth knowing.  I agree with those who said that the Isaksson family's non-TSR related business ventures are not something for us to be looking into.

I agree with you. You're just looking for stuff to use against TSR, which is good.

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st08/st08866.en06.pdf This is the law that the Swedish anti-piracy law is based on. Use the information well.

[Bouncing Pink Ball]

There's no legal backup to anything TSR's doing until/unless they get a signed agreement with EA to act as a third party distributor for content. IMO, not gonna happen. What gets me is how they're trying to be two sites at once; a fansite and an online retailer. It doesn't work like that. I'm a tad awed to learn this has carried on for years without fatally imploding yet. That said, their businesses apart from TSR are pretty irrelevant to this situation, at least from what I can see so far. Isn't the larger fuss about various pay creators holding pixels hostage for MONIES across the fandom, not just one big subsite of a family web company selling junk, even if they are the biggest of the offenders?  Looking for legal ways of shutting them down is well and good, I guess, but doesn't solve the core issue, that selling Sims cc is not so great.

The current flurry of activity points one direction - might be hard times coming at TSR. Sims 3 doesn't look to hold much in the way of download profits from custom content in the initial months. They don't make their own tools, correct? That means they'll have to wait for non-affiliated folks to find ways to import cc. (Anything provided by EA will be very basic, created thusly so anyone, regardless of skill, can use it to make simple changes. I don't count that as a true development tool.) They need to limit any bad publicity or irritation when they expect folks to pay for the privilege of downloading poorly-tiling textures to floodfill ugly Sims 3 meshes with, 'cause there's a good chance that's where a sizable chunk of their profits are going for at least a few months.

Ironically, the looming Sims 3 drought could press some worried FAs to consider 'shortcuts' – like the theft being discussed elsewhere – to grab as much as they can before the great Sims 3 migration among TSR's core audience of kiddies begins. A site like theirs is in more danger of a usage dropoff from must-have-the-latest-version! syndrome than the free sites long time fans prefer.

[dstar]

TSR is a sinking ship- although they have some FA's like Windkeeper and Anoeska that create mods for the game - they have never gone beyond creating OMSP's. The majority of the creators/modders that have come up with the mods/hacks. and programs that enable us to run Sims 2 better, and that fix EA's fail state work for and/or own freesites  and given the behavior of TSR and other paysites towards these programmers and mod creators  I highly doubt anyone will be quick to say- Okey dokey Thomass you want my help finding a way to put your floodfilled ugly in TS3 - I will help you lets group hug

Also given that initially no one will be able to do anything possibly except do re-colors of existing objects and meshes, or to add new patterns to the game- People will not want to pay TSR 30$ every two months to do that when the Sims 3 Exchange will be free (at this moment anyways) for anyone who registers for it- and they will get the same six badly designed lots and ugly outfits that the TSR FA's will throw up on TSR as soon as the game comes out.

[lewisb]

Can I make legal threats? Maybe not, but I got a shock when I logged in @ T$R and found 2 of my lots I created and shared in 2007 (didn't know better) are for subscription only. I haven't had a sub their since 2007, and the lots are made with free stuff only from creators that want their items shared free.

They are not all that pretty! Just started making lots that was interesting at the time and when I look at them now, they are measley.

I just found out the kudos can be used for a free day of downloading on the site and have been getting stuff that's new from the FA's.  After that I plan on writing the admins and ask for my files and account get deleted. I doubt they will do, but I feel like I screwed some great free creators, a couple that are my friends.    I have never wanted to be a FA or SA. Just uploaded some lots.

I really don't know where, but can I contribute?  I don't have much, but just want to join in as my signature states.

[CatOfWar]

This makes me wonder.  All we have right now is Thomas's promise  that they are going to encrypt them.  But how do we verify that, other than Thomas saying "Yep, they're encrypted now".  I mean, I wouldn't expect them to make an offical announcement on the site because that would be admitting to the sheeple that they weren't secure in the first place.  And yeah, he could tell Delphy or someone else, but that's basically still just his word.

I doubt they'll encrypt anything or admit anything.  I was trying to say we keep bringing this up in public forums, shame TSR publicly, show people that their passwords were unencrypted.  Keep asking "So when are you going to encrypt them?".

[neriana]

Can I make legal threats? Maybe not, but I got a shock when I logged in @ T$R and found 2 of my lots I created and shared in 2007 (didn't know better) are for subscription only.

They have non-FA stuff that's subscription only? I did not know that.

[lewisb]

Forgive my Paint.net skills. I have none.





I circled the subscriber, cause at the moment everything is open to me by using my kudos today.  I think they were desperate.