Why the magazines are gone?

[Phillyman]

Important!

Earlier this afternoon I got an email from our hosting provider that we were in violation of the Terms of Service. They informed me that I had 48 hours to remove the magazines from the server or risk further action. I told you guys from the beginning that I would keep things up as long as possible, but I also stated that I would remove content at the request of a publisher and/or our webhost. That day is now upon us, and that is why the Download section is currently offline. I have already complied with the hosting company and will be making a backup of our forums and wiki later tonite just in case they still shut us down.

-Phillyman

Hello,

While preforming routine maintenance on our servers it has come to our attention that a majority of the space on your account is being used as a file dump/copyrighted material storage. Please note that this is a TOS violation and this material will need to be removed from the server. Please address this issue within 48 hours or we will be forced to take action.

If there is anything else we can assist you with please do not hesitate to reply to this email.

72.5G downloads

Regards,

Kevin H.

[Data]

Aww snap. This will be two funerals I've been to today. Is your provider doing this as a precaution or have they had complaints? The letter is vague. Usually a takedown request comes because a copyright owner has made claims to the content.

If you kept downloads strictly from Megaupload and Rapidshare and not from your provider, this could hold off the lawyers. This is how torrent sites work. They don't have any content on their provider's server, but they do direct members to where they will find it.

[KiwiArcader]

I think Phillyman said they may have done an audit on their servers in relation to volume of space being used and for what. When they found our lot they had a look and determined copyrighted works were being hosted and requested them taken down.

This was always on the cards .... we'd come close a couple of times previously I think. But I had uploaded nearly 100 mags recently at some 9GB's+ in size so it may have set the alarm bells off.

Until Phillyman can get download pages working where a direct link isn't mandatory we're a tad screwed. All my PDF'd mags are on Rapidshare or Megaupload so it's easy to paste links back in for those but the current upload page requires a direct link when you create the page or else it error's.

Is this correct Philly?

[Data]

If we stay with this host and remove the

illegal

content from the provider's site you could hide and code the Rapidshare links. This would help prevent Rapidhsare from doing this same thing in the near future.

[TyronW]

This really sucks :(

[KiwiArcader]

Get over it guys.

If we host external links I don't think the Hosting Company will care in the least as they don't have the offending material on their servers anymore.

And the big plus in all this is at least it wasn't initiated by an owner of the magazines. THAT would have been far worse considering EVERY MAGAZINE here is illegally copied and the 1999 cut-off was just to make us feel good about what we are doing. We wouldn't have a leg to stand on in a court of law in the event of a publisher deciding to take legal action.

[Data]

It's up to Phillyman what he wants to do with his name signed on the contract. Downloading from RM's server was a hastle anyway. RM should be more like Astatalk, snesorama and tehparadox. They don't get get hassled because of their strict rule with hotlinking from the forum combined with the fact that no content is stored on their provider's server.

The old saying goes, "I don't shit where I eat" applies in this situation.

Asta has another layer of security being that their webserver is hosted in Holland I think, and there is no law enforcement for the activity, at least for now.

Our blanket of security is that we only collect out of print magazines that are 10 years old.

[KiwiArcader]

Our blanket of security is that we only collect out of print magazines that are 10 years old.

That 1999 blanket is about as useless as a bulletproof vest stopping a head shot if the copyright owner decided to take legal action against us .. or OoPA etc. Unless written permission has been explicitly given by the rightholders to allow them to be copied/made freely available then you're crazy if you think our pre-2000 rule provides any level of protection whatsoever.

The only works I know of here that are public domain are the Analog Computing and the Antic magazines I uploaded ... both of which were placed into the public domain.

[Jimmy Zappa]

The other site I go to is a private website, they use torrents, and it requires an invite to be allowed into the place.

Haven't gotten any legal trouble yet.

[KiwiArcader]

The other site I go to is a private website, they use torrents, and it requires an invite to be allowed into the place.

Haven't gotten any legal trouble yet.

Underground-Gamer is such a site. But it's only good until some disgruntled member uses an invite to allow a law enforcement rep on and then they're in no better position than anywhere else truth be told. Tehparadox is less likely to fall due to the fact they dont run torrent trackers and the links are RS/MU so they have no direct involvement in piracy. And MU/RS comply with takedowns on a file bu file basis so are seen to comply with rightsholders.

[E-Day]

That 1999 blanket is about as useless as a bulletproof vest stopping a head shot if the copyright owner decided to take legal action against us .. or OoPA etc. Unless written permission has been explicitly given by the rightholders to allow them to be copied/made freely available then you're crazy if you think our pre-2000 rule provides any level of protection whatsoever.

The only works I know of here that are public domain are the Analog Computing and the Antic magazines I uploaded ... both of which were placed into the public domain.

That may be true, but it doesn't hurt either, nor does it draw the ire of publishers since we are providing what they are not. I gaurantee that if we had current issues of magazines available on here, GamePro would have come knocking instead of just ignoring us, as well as every other publishers. While the cut off doesn't protect the site from legal action, it does help in keeping attention off of what we are doing.

[Data]

Underground-Gamer is such a site. But it's only good until some disgruntled member uses an invite to allow a law enforcement rep on and then they're in no better position than anywhere else truth be told. Tehparadox is less likely to fall due to the fact they dont run torrent trackers and the links are RS/MU so they have no direct involvement in piracy. And MU/RS comply with takedowns on a file bu file basis so are seen to comply with rightsholders.

Tehparadox is less likely to go down because they are not in possession of anything illegal. All the members meet at the club and if links start going down, members put them right back up in an archive with a password or to a different provider. Archives with passwords keep machines from finding the contents within as long as the name of the archive isn't obvious.

I don't think this is how Phillyman planned to do things and their will be more work for moderators but the trade off is members who scan magazines can upload it on their own and post it in the download thread. Mods would have to add links to the first post.

[Thor]

Well that is really too bad. I was just going to start downloading the NP issues again as of last night and just didn't get around to it.

[Data]

Well that is really too bad. I was just going to start downloading the NP issues again as of last night and just didn't get around to it.

I know what you mean. There were so many I was putting off for a variety of reasons that I'm gonna have to wait now. I wasn't expecting this. It's almost like a curse.

[gblock]

Well bullsquat...I knew I should have gotten on the ball and gotten more stuff sooner :(

[E-Day]

I am glad I always made sure to be caught up on magazines I wanted.

[gladiator]

It's up to Phillyman what he wants to do with his name signed on the contract. Downloading from RM's server was a hastle anyway. RM should be more like Astatalk, snesorama and tehparadox. They don't get get hassled because of their strict rule with hotlinking from the forum combined with the fact that no content is stored on their provider's server.

The old saying goes, "I don't shit where I eat" applies in this situation.

Asta has another layer of security being that their webserver is hosted in Holland I think, and there is no law enforcement for the activity, at least for now.

Our blanket of security is that we only collect out of print magazines that are 10 years old.

I agree with you, if the problem is that they don't want to host to magazines, is better to remove them from your host, the magazine uploaders can always use host sites like rapidshare or megaupload to post them, and the same for reuploads.

[Jimmy Zappa]

Tehparadox is less likely to go down because they are not in possession of anything illegal. All the members meet at the club and if links start going down, members put them right back up in an archive with a password or to a different provider. Archives with passwords keep machines from finding the contents within as long as the name of the archive isn't obvious.

I don't think this is how Phillyman planned to do things and their will be more work for moderators but the trade off is members who scan magazines can upload it on their own and post it in the download thread. Mods would have to add links to the first post.

Sounds like a good idea. Were the names obvious in the rapidshare links?

[Data]

Yes in a lot of cases the files have descriptions which are precisely the same as the name number and month that is printed on the covers but that isn't the problem exactly right now.

The archives aren't password protected and their descriptions give them away at Rapidshare, Megaupload and RM but Rapid and Mega don't check files unless a copyright owner has explicitly stated that his copyrights have been infringed. This hasn't happened that we know of and if the the mags were encrypted, the owners would need to get an account here to find the password. If that was the system we used. Right now everything is free and easy.

[hahnchen]

Sucks.

It's your hosting company, so they won't care if you stick with torrents and rapidshare style links, but it means you'd lose the centralised resource. If you wanted to keep a centralised library, it'd have to be private.

You could consider the hosts that turn a blind eye, but you'd need to pay a premium for that.

I hope we see magazines back on soon.

[Strider Hiryu]

I didn't get to download many mags, but I still support this site! We're behind you all the way, Phillyman!

[Phillyman]

So where do we go from here? Well we look at other viable options to distribute our current library of preserved magazines. Let me first say that we got off pretty easy, its been 4 years that this website has been around and this is the first violation we have received. Our hosting company would have been well within their rights to just delete this website once that violation was found. They instead gave us a warning and for that I am grateful. I want you all to keep in mind that things could have been a lot worse (ex. C&D). So lets address some of the current concerns and options......

Torrents - Ah the mighty torrent! This is how Retromags started off, 4 years ago when I put that first issue of Nintendo Power online....it was via a torrent on Mininova. The Pro's of using a torrent was that everyone shared responsibility for helping others get that file, we also got a nice traffic boost back in those days from the popularity of being on the front page of Mininova. So what were the Con's??? No one wanted to help seed the files once received. I know what your saying, but Phillyman you can surely seed them for us! Well first off I like my speedy internet connection and I would not be seeding files from 9am-11pm each night. The other issue is that I only have 1 option for a high speed ISP where I live, so if they deem that I am using too much bandwidth and terminate my service.....well thats not a chance I will take. Overall the problem is that torrents are a hit or miss....I am not sure how much success we would have with getting people to seed (without going to a private tracker)

MegaUpload/Rapidshare - This option is a bit better for our needs, it allows our members to upload once and have multiple people download afterwards. But this presents a problem for people who do not have a premium account with those services. Rapidshare has seemingly become a shitty site where you get capped and files still get deleted. MegaUpload is a better choice but is still a single point of failure....basically if they see a crapload of traffic from us....they may do the same thing that my webhost did and send a violation to me.

Newsgroups - This is one of my favorite ways to distribute files, but its unknown to many of you guys. Basically you have these Usenet servers that allow people to upload files and have other people download them. Once a file has been uploaded it can stay active for 6-9 months on a good premium news server. I currently use Newshosting.com for my needs and they only cost $20 a month.....at worse that would get you the entire collection of magazines. The only issue is that I would need to keep reuploading the collection every 6-9 months.

Hard drive/DVD Distributing - I am only mentioning this one so that someone doesnt mention it later. Yes I could allow you guys to send me blank hard drives and payment for return postage......but I am going to be 100% honest......I am horrible at remembering things. I am even worse at organization.....so this would never work as an option.

All of the above are viable options for getting the magazines distributed...so what am I thinking?

The best way is whatever way needs the least interaction from me, Dont get me wrong, I love this site....but I am not always available or free to do things around here. Its better when the workload is distributed among everyone here, that way nothing falls through the cracks. Right now MegaUpload and other file services are looking very good for replacements. I also see no reason why I can not take our 72.5GB collection and split it up into 10GB chunks for distribution each month. I could upload the first 10 gigs of magazines to a Newsgroup each month and circulate through those each month. The next version of the Download Section will have some unique features that should help us out greatly.....

Multiple Screenshots - We will soon be able to upload multiple screenshots for each file in the Download Section.....1 for the cover and 2-3 for the Table of Contents?

Multiple Files Per Record - We will soon be able to have multiple files per record, maybe a .cbr and .pdf version for each magazine. We will see how its implemented

Multiple Off Site Mirrors - We will soon be able to have multiple download links show up in the Download Section. Maybe 1 for MegaUpload, 1 for Rapidshare and 1 for some other site?

I know that this site sucks right now, This weekend I will try my best to redo the Nintendo Power section and bring it up by Sunday Night. Its going to take a lot of work to redo the Download section....but if I can get a few hands to help out.....we can cut down on the time needed to accomplish it!

[KiwiArcader]

This weekend I will try my best to redo the Nintendo Power section and bring it up by Sunday Night. Its going to take a lot of work to redo the Download section....but if I can get a few hands to help out.....we can cut down on the time needed to accomplish it!

If you can get the downloads area working without direct download links and put up base linking to pages for the different magazines then we help add the magazines etc. For instance ... I have PDF's for Amiga Format, Computer Gamer, Computer & Video Games, Analog Computing already on Megaupload. If you can create the base pages for those along with a "Misc Mags" page I will happily add the issues I have and provide the PDF download links for those.

It'll help spread the load. And I have the links for 60 Nintendo Powers in PDF as well so can add those too

[Data]

When you have the download section fixed, will moderators be able to post magazines again?

How will we know who scanned what?

Will my uploads to my Megaupload account help for a mirror?

I'd like to recommend mediafire as a third server.

[joedick]

I'm willing to help out however I can....