I demand moar cheez!!!

Also, an additional server would be nice, and I don't think there would really be a shortage of donations for such a worthy cause.

Ewww....I so did not want that image in my head.

BAD DUCKY!

I am not a part of any HP fanfic groups or anything, having written my few fanfics about anime before my fanfic craze fizzled out. But, as a somewhat rabid HP fangirl, I will still tell you my opinion. So nah.

Actually, I can't stand most HP ships, the worst being Harry/Draco, followed closely by Snape/Harry. I actually read this bizzare fic once where the pairings were so bad it scarred me for life (I'm talking Harry/snape, Hermionie/Draco and Ron/McGonigal for fuck's sake). However, Marauder pairings don't bother me at all, and I think JK is actually pretty clear about Sirius' feelings for James. I also thought that based on the few clues dropped here and there, Lupin/Lily could have been sweet.

And yeah, even in the last book, Harry is a bit of an asshole. And by 'a bit' I mean 'at times raging'. I was a little disappointed that Ginny wasn't in it more, after her abilities and how smart she is was played up so much in the past.

1. Inge is a bad example. The matter of Inge vs the pirates has nothing to do with our 'tactics' or anything like that. There is a lot of bad blood there related to FFFSS, and the fact that a lot of people here didn't support what it eventually became. Most of what you are seeing is in fact fall out from an old argument.

2. Our 'tactics' aren't coordinated beyond purchasing an item and then posting it here for people to share. Most of us don't want to cause personal distress to anyone. Things like excessive harassment (trolling) and posting of personal information are frowned on by most members. If we are hurting people by asking them to consider going free, then perhaps people need to get thicker skins. Also, you would be surprised how many people come here to stir up shit. If you don't want to get your feelings hurt, don't go to a place where people are extremely outspoken and guaranteed to disagree with you.

I really don't see debate on the topic as being detrimental to the community. People need to be aware of the issue and decide what they want to do. The problem that most paysite owners are having is the fact that a large quantity are picking the side that doesn't require them to pay for anything.

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Mickey, no, that doesn't make you evil. In the hierarchy of evil paysites, sites that are making just enough to cover costs barely register with me. I have known and liked site owners that had donation packages, and those aren't the fish I set out to fry when I want to bring down paysites. I want the big ones that are making money hand over fist as fast as they can.

However, there are alternatives, and I am always very glad to see sites with donation sets go totally free. In fact, a lot of the people here are extremely willing to lend real help whenever they can to sites that want to go free, some people can help out with free hosting, or donate enough to get the ball rolling. For pirates, people here really do a hell of a lot of giving stuff away.

I run a small sims site with a decent amount of normal traffic, and also a fairly well populated forum from my domain. My hosting, which I recently had to bump up because the el-cheapo basic package was causing a few issues, isn't totally expensive, but I can usually get enough donations in a given month to cover it. If I get a bit over what I need, I set it aside for those rainy-day months where I don't get donations. So far, I've only had to pay out of pocket a few times over the course of this last year.

Now, some months ago, Paypal ate a big one and made an error that caused them to charge my real bank account over and over for the cost of my hosting. I don't know what happened, but though Paypal was good enough to refund whatever was taken, my bank wouldn't reverse the NSF fees, which had racked up considerably. I was able to eat a little less than half of those fees with a paycheck I had coming, and I panicked and posted a 'please help!' message on my site. Within probably four days, fans and friends had contributed enough to cover the whole thing, and I can't begin to tell you how humble, grateful and relieved I was, and astounded by the generosity of people in this community.

Another good example is Nouk, who wanted to move to a new, less expensive host but needed $60 to do it. She posted it on her site, and it was a mere matter of days before the community had donated enough to make the move. The examples of people helping site owners can go on and on, nearly everyone who runs a free site with at-will donations probably has a story of their own.

The point of all of this is that I've really never known a group of people more generous and willing to help than the people we have right here in this community. If you have a site and are genuinely in trouble financially, you'll probably be amazed to see how many people will jump in to help you out. The whole paysite thing even started because site owners realized that people were willing to help pay to keep a site running, and jumped in to make movey on that generosity. It's shameful, and it's even more of a miracle that people are still willing to help as much as they do.

So yeah, I don't really want to hear from paysite owners saying that they can't afford to cover their costs and stay free. You can, easily, by accepting donations, asking for help when new costs arise, and being honest about how much you really need. You might have to cover your own end every great now and then, but think of it as a donation to your own cause.

Mental ill or no, there is no excuse. I am unmedicated (for the time being, meds have a nasty way of making me physically ill)  and diagnosed bipolar, and I would never allow myself to behave that way. Sure, I spaz out all over myself from time to time but even I know enough to NOT TOUCH TEH INTARWEB during those times. I'm sick to death of seeing people use mental illness and diagnosed mental health problems as an excuse, especially in this community. No excuses should be made, if you can't make an attempt to control your illness you have no business playing with others.

To Jan/charlotte or whomever else is playing the mental health card, quit making those of us that try our best to stay in control of ourselves look bad, please. You may not be stable all the time, but you know your own triggers and what it feels like when you're losing it. It's YOUR responsibility to step away during those moments.



I...I think I love you, Lorelei.

I have to say, I love the idea of having files that are gift files. Not that they must be paid for, just that they aren't available for mass download anywhere and are passed on as gifts from one person to another. Part of the reason I fell in with the anti-paysite crowd in the first place is that I love just passing things along. It's kind of a cool way to get things, other than to just go on a mass downloading spree. I'm glad these are free, and what a great way to do it too.

As a creator, you not only have 'creator rights', you have 'creator responsibilities'. So many people howl for their rights, but forget that it is up to you to maintain your own downloads. If you wish for your downloads to be usable, it is pretty much expected that you maintain support for them and find proper homes for them. It isn't enough to slap it on MTS2 and walk away. If you have creations that use pay meshes then this is the time for you to go through your own downloads and move them to another host.  It isn't Delphy's responsibility to do all that for you. He just makes the rules and gives you enough warning to do something about it.

Well, to be honest I don't think that as pirates, we can really complain too much if someone hosts our files on other sites. After all, isn't the basis of our argument that EA has given us permission to freely share all files as we wish? In that case, Blade has every right to host MATY hacks on his site, just as we have every right to host pay files here. BUT as pirates, we still agree that credit should in every case be given to the original creator. Every creator, every time. It isn't stated in the EULA, but it's common courtesy, right? And it doesn't need to be said that we don't agree whatsoever with free files being posted in a pay section.

So I can only conclude one thing, Blade is a douchebag who thinks that by hosting Pescado's hacks, refusing to credit him and charging for it that he will piss people off. It is working, I guess, except not on the intended target. Pescado probably doesn't give a rats ass, and if people are dumb enough to pay for them elsewhere then I guess we can't save everyone.

Also Blade, if you do read this, I just want you to know that your files are in the booty for the sake of completeness. No one really wants em, they're right on par with the Carla Niven stuff. Pandora Sims peaked in TS1 days, since then it's just another ugly stepchild with subpar downloads.

Fat chance of that. Blade just steals whatever he likes and charges for it. Pescado and MATY aren't the only ones he's done this to, and he pretty much told Numenor to shove it when he asked that his creations be removed from a pay site.

Ahem. Very yes.

No chemistry? What show were they watching??? Of course Ten was indifferent to Martha, other than friendship, that was the point. And Martha was just flat out amazing.

I really wish they'd stop switching it up every season. Why not keep the same Doctor/companion dynamic for more than one freaking season? I think it would be rather nice. I'm not really looking forward to the new companion, but then I thought nothing would ever be good enough to replace Rose, and I adore Martha. We'll see.

I like Torchwood. Except Owen, mostly, though Fight Club Owen was great. Oh, and sometimes Gwen is really freaking annoying. And really, Ianto is adorable, after you get past his emo crying over Lisa, his ex-cyberwoman girlfriend. The one thing that kind of turned me off was all the dealing with sex and bisexuality. But that kind of tapers off a bit, or maybe you just get used to it.

I didn't care much for how they presented the revelation, Jack who doesn't like to talk about his past suddenly talking about being a posterboy before he was recruited to be a time agent. But other than that, I think it definitely works. I mean, in Torchwood Jack very nearly dies for real from expending too much energy. In Gridlock, the Face dies from expending too much of his energy keeping the lower city alive. It all fits, really. And now that you know, go back and watch the end of Gridlock again, it's much more poignant now.