So I was downloading some of Almighty Hat's hair recolour thingies and I go to download one from this page and:



So does anyone have any idea what on earth this is about? Remove Your Media is one of those companies you pay to get supposedly infringing content taken down but who would pay money to take down hair recolours?

Also: Screw MediaFire. And screw copyright trolls. [/rant]

Looked it up and it did the same for me. Probably one of the many media files that got pulled for false reasons. Annoying.

If this was about 7 or 8 years ago, I'd strongly suspect T$R. This is the kind of crap they did to free creators to "encourage" people to use pay sites. Specificially theirs. Now...I would guess it's a mistake, as I doubt T$R cares about TS2 stuff anymore.



Yeah, MediaFryer used to be good, but now...Not so much. Ads and popunders and all that, and some folks have said they've gotten malware from them. So...Yeah, I wish people would stop using it. There are much better free hosting options out there nowadays.

I've heard TSR was involved in some shady practices but...

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised.

Yes. I linked to the page specifically.

Is Hat still around? If so, wouldn't it be better to ask him?

I have no way to contact Hat.

MediaFire support is useless. They once took down a random file of mine because some big record company told them to. I complained about it and they were just "welp too bad." I stopped using them after that.

I doubt the company would care either.

Well she still seems to be posting at GoS and on her Dreamwidth page - a PM probably wouldn't go amiss. If she's still involved with sims, she'd probably like to know about any problems.

I'm pretty sure all of Hat's stuff -- or at least her older stuff -- is on MediaFire, so I'm pretty sure this is the "legit" file. I'm also pretty sure that Hat has an open sharing policy, so I doubt she'd care much if people reuploaded the files, so long as no one was claiming them as their own.

So far as I've heard, MediaFire takes down any file upon receiving a copyright complaint about it. They don't investigate the claim or even contact the person who uploaded the file. They also don't reinstate files even if the uploader can produce evidence that they uploaded legitimately. That's how T$R got away with a lot of bullshit back in the day, claiming to be protecting themselves against "pirates" even though no one but EA can legally lay claim to any file in .package format, which is what a file has to be in order for it to be usable in-game. Back at the time, MediaFire was pretty much the only game in town, so...Yeah, T$R got a lot of people's files eliminated, even ones that had nothing to do with anything offered on their site. Any free creator was a target because we were all "pirates."

Hat is still in business. I think she hangs out at GoS for the most part, but you can try to leave a message on DW.

Mediafire has pulled these kind of stunts before. Better to avoid the site altogether when uploading...

I'll leave an anonymous comment on the post. If anyone else would like to get in touch with Hat and inform him/her/them about this I'd be appreciative.

EDIT: All right, done:
http://hat-plays-sims.dreamwidth.or...3070#cmt1153070

Hat is a she.

All right, good to know.

She may get an email notification of a new comment if Dreamwidth has that option. If it does and she chose to get them, she'll see the comment.
That said: if I need to get in touch with someone, I tend to go where they're most active. In Hat's case I'm pretty sure that's GOS - but she hasn't logged in there since the middle of last month.

I had a file of mine removed from 4Shared because of a legal infringement notice from CBS. It seems that they assume every file called 'Jericho' on the internet is something to do with a TV series they made!

Abuse of the DMCA system. It really needs to be fixed somehow. There's no deterrent against sending false claims.

This may only be the first one you find - there are tons of them.

The thing is, if it is custom content then it isn't up to anyone to remove it, right? I feel like I only somewhat know the law of it but am I right when I say that a user that creates custom content has no actual rights to put restrictions to it towards other users? I mean even a site like TSR that required payment for downloads was illegal until it got ''free''

Yes, but a lot of these companies who guard their copyrights with an iron chokehold don't care. YouTubers are having problems left and right with this. You are allowed to incorporate a snippet of a song or movie for review purposes, for example. Reviewers are protected BY LAW .... at least in the U.S. ... via Fair Use. But often, these Big Companies completely ignore this.

For an explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqFAMOtwaI

(Admittedly, I'm biased about this.)

And I don't doubt in the slightest that people are using this against Sims downloads, even though CC is not illegal, provided the creator follows certain guidelines. And Mediafire probably also has really Draconian standards re downloads.

I think the moral of the story is, if the creator already hasn't done so, to implore creators (politely) to add a second download source. Please.

There's quite a few more of these links, though; including just about all the styles (if not all) on that page. If you can give us the gist of your letter, perhaps Almighty Hat, or those wishing to have these downloads, could also petition Mediafire to restore the other missing downloads. Did you include EA's EULA, for instance?

Getting all the files back might take a little while. And we have no idea whether Mediafire pulled this stunt on other pages. It may be that we or Almighty Hat will have to do this on a download-by-download basis.

Thank you for restoring this download. I'm not sure how you managed to persuade this company and Mediafire to restore this stuff ... I too read that Mediafire could be difficult about this sort of thing ... but I'm glad you did!

I still believe, though, that it might be wise for creators to have at least two different download sources. Not that this is fail safe ... I saw more than a couple of downloads that had two defunct filesharing sources ... but this might help, at least.

EDIT ... NM, somewhat. I did find the EULA in one place, and it does allow custom content. But the source is question is ... well ... I think I might have to find a place that's a little more official.

But here is the snippet from that source:

You may include materials created with the Tools & Materials on your personal noncommercial website for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community for EA's products, provided this is beneficial to the product(s) in EA's judgment, and provided that if you do so, you must also post the following notice on your site on the same web page(s) where those materials are located: "This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved." You will not represent that your site is endorsed or approved by or affiliated with EA or our licensors or that any other content on your site is endorsed or approved by or affiliated with EA or our licensors.

As long as Almighty Hat is not selling this stuff and has that disclaimer, everything is golden. (And yes on both counts!)

I guess I can give this a shot. If I don't get back to this later, someone here can see if together, we managed to restore all the links on that page. I'm not venturing through all the downloads in AH's Dreamwidth, though! And good luck to others giving this a try! (It never, never hurts to have multiple polite e-mails, and maybe my writing wasn't the most eloquent. I write lots of words ... doesn't mean I'm eloquent. )