That's one of the sad things about it: it was a pretty good site back in the Sims 1 days.  Granted, there were pages and pages of absolute shit, and (in the early days) some of the drama in the forums could (almost) give MATY a run for its money.  But there were a lot of really good downloads as well, and more importantly (and indicative of a good site,)  when my Sims 1 game would start crashing I could usually go to the TSR forums and do a quick search for the problem I was having and there'd be an answer already there someplace.  

The intelligence level over there went down at about the same rate that the forum monitoring went up.  Imagine that. :roll:

It never was a legal issue for me in the first place, and I've thought that all the debating about the intent of the EULA was just clouding the real issues.  If EA is going to officially let the community factions fight it out amongst themselves, that's a good thing.  We've got most of the brains on our side.

EA can't (or shouldn't) really come out against file sharing, since the Exchange does much of what PMBD does, just in a more craptacular and less organized way.  

At the same time, if EA is basically going to say "everyone carry on as you were, and figure it out amongst you," then why on earth would TSR want to call attention to that?  I mean, at this point they aren't telling TSR (and others) to stop charging money, but they aren't telling PMBD (and others, including their own exchange) to stop sharing pay files for free, either.

If EA simply backs out of the argument, and leaves TSR, Peggy, etc., at the mercy of the pirates and other anti-pay factions, I know who I'm placing my bet on for the win, and it ain't TSR or Gap-Girl.

TSR seems interested in the changes, as well.  From their newsletter:

Wonder if TSR has heard the news yet.

It's unusual but I don't find it annoying at all, personally.  It's definitely more readable than when people go to the other extreme and put everything into one loooong paragraph.  I'm probably all alone in this but when someone has a consistently unusual typing style (that is still readable) it gives the person more of an individual "voice."  

I have to admit that once in a while I run across someone who types Like This, Capitalizing The First Letter Of Every Freaking Word And I Find It Extremely Annoying.

Wow, this thread took me back to the very early days of Sims 1 and the TSR forums before they became not only useless but boring as well.  I wasn't sure whether to thank you all or curse you all until I realized that the aggravating melody that is now stuck in my head is a tune we learned in something like third grade. . . it included the line "i before e except after c."

 :cry:

It'll take a lot of rum, possibly with a tequila chaser, to make it stop.

Hmm.

 

Thanks!

What I've found in my experience is that many people between the ages of 11 and 95 tend to take themselves and their own opinions much too seriously.


My own opinion, which I take absolutely seriously, btw, is that any given person tends to get along well with certain groups, and not so well with certain other groups.  When they don't get along well with a certain group they tend to blame the problem on the group, rather than themselves (or rather than taking an "oh well, to each his own" sort of attitude, which might be the better thing.)

Myself, for instance, I get along all right with teenagers and with guys over 30, but not so well with guys in their 20's--and it's just hit and miss where women of any age are concerned.  I find that most of 'em are dram---errr--more difficult for me to relate to.  Yeah, that's it.

Oh and I'm a woman and I'm 42, and I've been laughing my ass off at this thread because I can just picture all the indignant muttering and grumbling as the posts are being typed.

I'm on dial-up and it's generally been more frustrating for me to try and dl from mts2 than from here.  

I'd say it's a good time to be looking around at options that might improve things, but the situation doesn't seem dire enough to be making big decisions or purchases, not yet anyway.

The major impact of this site hasn't been that the files are available for free anyway.  I mean, yeah, it's nice and all but the real impact of all those files sitting there for free for anyone who chooses to take them is (I believe) more symbolic than anything else.  Anyone who is really dying to actually download them can bloody well wait til the site is feeling frisky--and while they are waiting they can think about how stupid the paysite system is in the first place and can become one more person in the community who is willing to actually speak OUT about it here or on one of the other sites.

If a good solution for a speedier/more dependable system presents itself, great, but the main thing right now is to keep doing what we've been doing and not start coming apart at the seams--because all this has really begun to make an amazing impact...all due to this site.

YMMV, of course.

Also helps if you rinse with cognac rather than scope or listerine afterwards.

Here's something I haven't seen mentioned--tho it might not have been mentioned because it was common knowledge--but it raised a question in mind.

Apparently, at some time in the past, the "fan site agreement" from EA, in regards to fans putting up sites for Sims 1, included this:

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing herein shall prevent you from charging users of your Fan Site a modest fee to access your Fan Site."

I got this from this ancient thread on the TSR forums where paysites were being discussed: http://forums.thesimsresource.com/showpost.php?p=2307971&postcount=82

So my question is, was this a clause that did exist for Sims 1 sites and was removed for whatever reason (perhaps because EA's definition of "modest fee" and paysite owners' definitions of "modest fee" differed in a large way?)  Or does that clause still exist someplace for Sims 2 sites?  Is it revoked for both Sims 1 and Sims 2?  Were the people who thought they saw that clause hallucinating it?  What gives?

(Here is the archive version of the entire thread if anyone wants it--the archive version is less annoying than the "real version." http://forums.thesimsresource.com/archive/index.php/t-209553.html
The thread is kind of interesting--the entire archive is sort of like watching the horror that is the Sims community coming into being.)

Free sims stuff AND the freedom to be stupid.  Now who can ask for more?

There was a time I would have agreed that he looked hot and yummy.

Now I just think someone should loan him a comb.

I think I'm going to enjoy being old and bitchy.  

Since TSR is already poised to move into the Spore business, (http://sporeresource.com/ for those that haven't seen it) I wonder if the Spore community is going to be as umm..interesting.. as the Sims and Sims 2 communities have been.

Was it that, or did they "conveniently" come into being right around the time that so many sims 1 sites were closing or being threatened with closure because of the bandwidth problem--which was quite real at the time?  I don't remember for sure, but I can probably find out.

I never gave it that much thought as to "wrong" or "right" until quite recently.  I played Sims 1 from almost the beginning, have every expansion pack, read forums frequently, and watched the beginnings of this thing develop. When I came into Sims2, kind of late, I was shocked at how widespread the paysite thing had become--and how much of THEIR content was either directly stolen or derivative--from poser meshes used without credit, to brand names used without permission.

Lately I've given it a lot of thought, and occasionally the balance would tilt toward something like "I can't blame people for trying to make some money but I want the free stuff, so screw 'em," but after giving it more thought, and considering alot of the issues people have brought to the discussions, I've reached my final conclusion.

Paysites must, indeed, be destroyed.