/sigh ... Here we go again

[Jarod24]

Originally Posted by Cladhaire If that pops up automatically you'll get dinged for advertising. That's exactly what Blizzard wants to stop with the addon policy, among other things.

hm. would it constitute as 'advertising'?

it simply states where to get offical updates for this specific addon to hopefully make users aware that there exist sites out there that like that russian one that give you a trojan.

it does not mention donations, payment, or anything else.

I belive that it will adhere to the policy, as it is stated here: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1820963720


ofc it wont appear each time you login (that would annoy the h... out of everyone). only each time the addon is updated.

[Arrowmaster]

A popup will either anger Blizzard and/or the users. Putting that in an About or Help section of your menus should be perfectly fine.

[Blazeflack]

Originally Posted by Phanx Looked it up where? Their domain's nameservers point to EraNet's servers. Or rather, the nameservers are owned by now.net.cn, which is in Chinese but is obviously advertising web hosting, and clicking "English" on that site redirects to eranet.com.

Originally Posted by Shadowhack I looked up the webhost not the place that the domain was registered with.

Would be nice if we could get a definitive answer to this one. I did some research myself and I could only find links to EraNet myself. Has anyone had success with contacting the people behind 'alladdon' or their host?

[Shadowed]

It looks like they're starting to respond to removal requests, the email I just got was: https://gist.github.com/9e663036fa85d2693a20

[Lombra]

I don't really know anything about copyrighting, nor what you put in your letter Shadowed, but surely one should not have to prove ones identity? Bar to override a previous stating that they have the right to publish your addons? On the contrary, couldn't we instead ask them for the legal proof that they have obtained such rights? Are you not allowed to ask someone to take down something for which they don't have distribution rights, if it's not your own work?

[Shadowed]

You're correct, but that only matters if they care about the legality, which they have proven they don't.

[Coote]

Originally Posted by Darth Predator Well, for MoP releases I personally added a popup warning user that my addons will not work with GearScore enabled and 2 buttons to disable GS or my addon. Can't think about anything better then that at the moment.

Ooohh, that sounds like a nice idea. Is this actually allowed within the addon tos? If so, more people ought to do this.

Originally Posted by Shadowed It looks like they're starting to respond to removal requests, the email I just got was: https://gist.github.com/9e663036fa85d2693a20

That's pretty scummy demanding that you show proof of ownership before they even consider doing anything.

[Phanx]

Originally Posted by Shadowhack I looked up the webhost not the place that the domain was registered with.

Okay, but where did you look that up?

A domain's nameservers are not the place the domain was registered. The nameservers are the actual servers that the domain name points to when you type it into your browser -- eg. where the content is. Usually, a host will have a couple of nameservers, which will then do the further work of resolving to the current location of the actual content on one of the host's content servers.

My domain name is registered through DreamHost, but I use a different company for my actual hosting. If you WHOIS query my domain, and look at the nameservers, they will point you to my actual host, not to DreamHost.

Originally Posted by TMcMahon51 That's pretty scummy demanding that you show proof of ownership before they even consider doing anything.

I sent my NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT email from the same address that's listed in the TOC and README files of all of my addons, so hopefully they won't try to pull this crap.

[Arrowmaster]

Posting a few points from IRC for everybody to see. Specifically about DMCA.

WoA is claiming they have 10 days to comply with any requests to remove content under the DMCA.

Master Games International is incorporated in Texas. They own TTH so all US laws apply to them.

TTH/WoA does not have a DMCA Registered agent, they do not have any protections under the DMCA.

WoA is hosted in Canada but by Tucows. Tucows has a DMCA Registered agent and does have DMCA protection and will comply with DMCA takedown notices.

The final most important point. It was WoA/TTH employees that uploaded the copyright content without permission. If they normally had protection under the DMCA, which they dont, they now have ZERO protection under the DMCA because they violated it themselves.

DO NOT ACCEPT ANY BULL**** FROM THEM ABOUT VERIFYING AUTHORS OR DELAYS IN REMOVING CONTENT! Send your DMCA takedown requests to Tucows for best results. WoA/TTH are legally up **** creek without a paddle in a kayak made of cardboard.

Tucows DMCA agent email: paul@tucows.com

[Bluspacecow]

Their latest response on the comments page for their announcement of World of Addons

http://www.tentonhammer.com/playersc...welcome?page=2

Instead, they are being told at the encouragement of a few to spam us with DMCAs, which have legal consequences for not only us, but for them as well, and well... once the lawyers get involved everything slows down.

The heck are they smoking here ?

Why? Well the faster our new site goes down, the faster those sites can return to making 100% of the money because of the monopolistic nature of their service. We arn't trying to make boat loads of money here. We are trying to provide a free and simple to use service that benefits everyone.

/facepalm

Totally missing the point as per usual.

Anyone is free to join and be a part of that service, and anyone is free to opt out and go elsewhere either. We have no intention of forcing anyone to stay here.

Forcing anyone to stay ?

We'll leave them alone when they remove our copyrighted work thankyouverymuchandgooddaysir

[Xrystal]

Ah, a reply from wowaddons in response to my request that for the time being he turns nUI's download link into a link to the wowinterface page until Scott is able to make the decision himself whether he wants to host his addons there.

From: Jason Bechdel Sent: 16 August 2012 19:31 To: **************** Subject: World of Addons Removal Request Dear Xrystal, I am writing to let you know that we here at World of Addons have received your feedback. Thank you for your concern, and I have taken it upon myself to personally e-mail Scott about nUI. Hopefully, we will be hearing back from him shortly despite his absence. As far as your other concerns with nUI and a link being provided to the offical download page at WoWInterface, if you would kindly look to the bottom of the "About This Addon" section you will find links to WoWInterface as well as the website dedicated solely to nUI. In your message you also stated that you would not like your addons to be hosted with us. I would like to gently ask why and also ask if there was any way we could perhaps change your mind. If there is anything we at World of Addons can possibly do to change your feelings on this matter, please do not hesitate to let us know. From offering a helping hand with updates to various forms of compensation, we are willing to work with any and all addon authors to be able to reach an amicable agreement. Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to have your addons hosted on our site. Since I am unsure of which addons belong exclusively to you, I cannot tell you if any are currently hosted on World of Addons. If you find they are hosted, and wish to have them removed please e-mail me with the list of addon names so we can begin the ownership verification process that will allow us to proceed with removal. If however, you do indeed have a change of heart, head over to the site and be sure to upload and claim any addons that may be yours which will gain you an entry into our Claim Your Addon contest we are currently running (pending the verificiation process once again). Claiming your addon will also give you full control of your addon so you can edit, update, and even remove it if you so wish. Once again, we would love to have you host your addons on our site. In closing I would like to send my apologies for any distress and/or inconvenience this matter may have caused you as well as my sincere wishes that one day you will allow us to host your addons on World of Addons.

And my reply to that email is going to be ..

Dear Jason, I can only give great support for my addons if I am updating them on the one site. I tried using Curse as a second site and I just didn't have the time to deal with 2 lots of uploads and comment upkeeps and checks. Seeing as Wow Interface was where I first learned how to make addons and have assisted many people and gain assistance by just as many if not more I chose to make wowinterface my addon home. I removed my addons from Curse as well. I have my own webserver so I could just as easily just hosted them myself but again, it would involve yet more support making sure the server stays safe from viruses and other IT related problems. On top of my 9 to 7 job I just cannot afford to spend time on something like that. That is the main reason. I don't personally have a problem with multiple sites hosting addons. I do however have a problem with sites hosting addons without getting permission from their owners, prior to it happening. I know that Scott is currently out of communication, which is why I am currently the one keeping it up to date with Mists of Pandaria, so you will likely not be getting a reply any time soon. He is currently unable to access emails or the internet but is currently working hard on getting the new version of nUI ready for the new expansion. So, in lights to nUI, all I am asking that instead of having the download from your site directly you point to either his curse link ( which points to wowinterface for support ) or his wowinterface link where he chose to host his addons, at least until he is back on the scene to personally choose whether he wants your site to also host his addons. From what I can see you currently are not hosting any of my addons. That of course could be because I no longer use curse as my secondary addon host due to the explanation above. In lights of Scott's addons they would be all the ones that start with nUI. Both the main addon and plugins. I wouldn't be surprised to find these are the ones he has chosen to put on curse. Just as I respect your decision to give the user another option for downloads please respect authors decisions to host their addons with you. Xrystal

[Torhal]

What's Truly Awesome (TM) is that they illegally grab All Rights Reserved materials, then require the authors to verify they own them before they'll remove them!

[Cairenn]

Originally Posted by Jarod24 Well, i found one of my addons on alladdon.com, i've sent them an email, lets see what happens. For the future, i'm thinking of adding a new windowframe in my addon. It will appear for the user ingame on each new release with something like this: This addon is free and is hosted on curse.com (curseforge) and wowinterface.com If you download it from anywhere else, then please stop using those websites. They take our work without permission. -The author. Ofc, this doesn't do anthing about the websites themselves, but it hopefully will make the user a bit more aware. any thoughts?

Originally Posted by Darth Predator Well, for MoP releases I personally added a popup warning user that my addons will not work with GearScore enabled and 2 buttons to disable GS or my addon. Can't think about anything better then that at the moment.

Originally Posted by TMcMahon51 Ooohh, that sounds like a nice idea. Is this actually allowed within the addon tos? If so, more people ought to do this. That's pretty scummy demanding that you show proof of ownership before they even consider doing anything.

Hey guys? I've had Blizz actually reach out to me to ask that you not do this. So please don't, okay?

[Seerah]

I got the same email that Shadowed did. This was my response:

Jason, You say, "offer our deepest apologies at any distress or inconvenience this may have caused you," yet you are still inconveniencing me and making me jump through hoops to get my ARR content off of your site - which should have NEVER been there in the first place. You know, due to the fact that it's ARR and you didn't get permission. Allow me to quote something that I posted on your website yesterday: "And I forgot to remind you of the fact that you do not even display author names anywhere on your site unless they "claim" their addon. I shouldn't have to "claim" my own friggin' work." Whether you believe I'm Seerah or not, you are not supposed to be hosting those files. You are not supposed to be hosting many, if not most, of the files on your site. No one will trust you or your site unless this is remedied in a timely fashion and amends are taken. -Ryan (Seerah) PS - did you bother looking for Seerah on the internet? If you Google "Seerah Ryan", you'll find evidence. Hell, even on Facebook. Or you could send a PM somewhere you know the "real" Seerah to frequent. The onus is not on me. It's on you to "do the right thing". I'll give you one more day.

[Torhal]

I didn't get an e-mail, but I did send one (my second):

I want my AddOns removed from the site <REDACTED> immediately. I did not give my permission, which is required since they were released as All Rights Reserved. In fact, you would do well to remove ALL infringing AddOns, sticking with those which are GPL, BSD, MIT, or Creative Commons licensed unless otherwise notified by their respective authors. The definition of All Rights Reserved makes this statement shockingly arrogant: "We at World of Addons did make various attempts to contact addon authors, however, many authors do not have their e-mails listed visibly to the public, while others did not respond at all, and finally our attempts to contact authors using sites such as Curse, WoWInterface and the like to message authors were utterly blocked." Copyright Law does not work the way you apparently think it does. The mere fact that you received no response at all means you had no permission at all, and are breaking the law. Requiring authors to prove who they are before taking down something you have no right to distribute to begin with is quite disturbing and garners negative goodwill toward you from the very people you want to use your service. I repeat - remove my works from your site _immediately_. James D. Callahan III (Torhal)

[Shadowhack]

Originally Posted by Phanx Okay, but where did you look that up? A domain's nameservers are not the place the domain was registered. The nameservers are the actual servers that the domain name points to when you type it into your browser -- eg. where the content is. Usually, a host will have a couple of nameservers, which will then do the further work of resolving to the current location of the actual content on one of the host's content servers. My domain name is registered through DreamHost, but I use a different company for my actual hosting. If you WHOIS query my domain, and look at the nameservers, they will point you to my actual host, not to DreamHost.

Well I was correct on the host as I sent an abuse report in that the site is hosting files they didn't have permission to and they suspended the sites IP and contacted the owner.

[Phanx]

Originally Posted by Shadowhack Well I was correct on the host as I sent an abuse report in that the site is hosting files they didn't have permission to and they suspended the sites IP and contacted the owner.

That's great, but you still have not answered the question -- where did you find the name of their web host? I've WHOIS queried their domain on a dozen different lookup sites, and saw nothing mentioning "Sharktek" on any of them.

[Dolby]

Normally to find the webhost you ping their domain to get their ip. Then do a IP Information on their ip address to see who its assigned to.

[Blazeflack]

Originally Posted by Shadowhack Well I was correct on the host as I sent an abuse report in that the site is hosting files they didn't have permission to and they suspended the sites IP and contacted the owner.

Great success

[Darth Predator]

Originally Posted by Cairenn Hey guys? I've had Blizz actually reach out to me to ask that you not do this. So please don't, okay?

It's no fun in not doing this
Anyway no such stuff was accessible for downloading so I'm clean :P