Are Archive.org scans permitted on this database.

[Retrofuge]

Hello, I'm very new here and I'm wanted to contribute to this community. I was wondering if scans from Archive.org databases are allowed? It's because I noticed some issues haven't been posted on the site but I found some on archive.org. I would like to post them of them to further complete this database, if anyone can reply that would be pretty cool. Thanks.

[Areala]

2 hours ago, Retrofuge said:

Hello, I'm very new here and I'm wanted to contribute to this community. I was wondering if scans from Archive.org databases are allowed? It's because I noticed some issues haven't been posted on the site but I found some on archive.org. I would like to post them of them to further complete this database, if anyone can reply that would be pretty cool. Thanks.

Hello and welcome, @Retrofuge!

We currently host scans that our members have scanned themselves. That means scans obtained from Archive.org or elsewhere online are not allowed, unless you are the original scanner of the material. While this means our archive grows more slowly, it also encourages quality submissions and helps avoid people claiming others' work as their own.

Now, if you have files which you scanned yourself that are currently being hosted on Archive, and want to mirror them here on Retromags, that's totally cool! But unless it's your own work, we don't just take files from other sites and host them here. That would be rude.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask! There are also great ways to contribute to the site without using a scanner, so if you don't have the hardware or the desire to make scans (which is totally understandable--it's a massive time investment), we still need all kinds of help editing scanned materials (if you're good with Photoshop or another graphics program), indexing the contents of magazines in the database, and other stuff.

And if none of that sounds appealing--hey, that's fine too! We're happy to have you download the scans, post in the forums, and enjoy the nostalgia!

*huggles*
Areala

[Retrofuge]

Thanks for letting me know, I just wanted to make sure, since I found some material and I was wondering why they haven't been posted yet? But thank you for the massive heads up, I just didn't want some of the content lost to time. That's why I thought it would have been warranted. But I don't mind indexing and whatnot.

[Areala]

10 minutes ago, Retrofuge said:

Thanks for letting me know, I just wanted to make sure, since I found some material and I was wondering why they haven't been posted yet? But thank you for the massive heads up, I just didn't want some of the content lost to time. That's why I thought it would have been warranted. But I don't mind indexing and whatnot.

You're welcome! We also take donations, so if you have something you'd like to see archived but lack the means to digitize it yourself, there are other scanners who may be willing to add it to their plates.

Indexing is a ton of fun (at least in my opinion), and massively helpful from a historical and research perspective. The ability to come to the site, punch in the name of a game in the search bar, and get back a huge list of places where that game was mentioned, reviewed, previewed, or advertised is some of the most important information we can provide, in my opinion. If you need ideas on how to format for the index or what to include, there's no set standard. You can see how different people have gone about doing it and use that as a template.

As a new user, you may not be allowed to edit the database just yet. I can never remember where the different user powers kick in, but if you make posts on the forums and interact with the community in general, eventually you'll hit the point (after around 25 posts or so) where you should be allowed to do things like contribute new images, edit indexes, and other stuff.

*huggles*
Areala

[Rando1975]

19 minutes ago, Areala said:

Indexing is a ton of fun (at least in my opinion), and massively helpful from a historical and research perspective. The ability to come to the site, punch in the name of a game in the search bar, and get back a huge list of places where that game was mentioned, reviewed, previewed, or advertised is some of the most important information we can provide, in my opinion. If you need ideas on how to format for the index or what to include, there's no set standard. You can see how different people have gone about doing it and use that as a template.

*huggles*
Areala

That's something you can use Archive.org for. I downloaded numerous issues of various mags there to index on here. And most of those ended up being scanned here anyway so I was able to get much better looking scans when they got posted here.

[Retrofuge]

35 minutes ago, Rando1975 said:

That's something you can use Archive.org for. I downloaded numerous issues of various mags there to index on here. And most of those ended up being scanned here anyway so I was able to get much better looking scans when they got posted here.

Thanks for the advice I will take note of that.

[Maverick]

Does this also apply to official pdf releases from the original publisher? I have some, maybe all??? It's been awhile since I checked, US Official Xbox Magazine pdfs.

I'm assuming since I didn't scan them myself and they're official releases, it's a big no no?

[Areala]

4 hours ago, Maverick said:

I'm assuming since I didn't scan them myself and they're official releases, it's a big no no?

That's correct. We only host material our members have scanned themselves or that we have gotten permission from the original scanners to host.

*huggles*
Areala

[E-Day]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:02 AM, Areala said:

That's correct. We only host material our members have scanned themselves or that we have gotten permission from the original scanners to host.

*huggles*
Areala

That includes members here who scan stuff and upload it to archive.org because they don't know how or don't want to go through the trouble of editing. Those can be hosted here after being edited assuming the member gives the go ahead. I have yet to have one say no since they are a member on this site already