The Take Down SDVMods.net Initiative - Help remove this content thieving website here!

Discussion in 'Mods' started by madelinealex, Oct 24, 2016.

  1. Zhuria

    Zhuria Cosmic Narwhal

    Exactly. For example I did my rabbit sprites from scratch without any part of CA's vanilla ones. I would definitely hope I'd have some rights to those :p Thankfully they haven't popped up on this site yet!
     
    • madelinealex

      madelinealex Phantasmal Quasar

      Even if you don't have a right to the mod itself since it's using CA's code and made for his game, wouldn't you have rights to your original pixel art? Or is that only if you actually go out and copyright your images?
       
      • barfyscorpion

        barfyscorpion Pangalactic Porcupine


        Yeah, you're right now that I think about it-- upon looking over the game files I have noticed that I don't see any file formats specifically made for Stardew Valley, and there are no official SDV developer kits released which people create content in (as is the case for games like Skyrim, Sims, etc. and therefor the dev can argue that you have used their assets). So it can be said that most mods do not use assets from the game itself.

        Texture edits like mine are a part of the grey area as I do use Stardew Valley's textures to build my own replacements upon.

        Haha, it is a small world. I really should add a link to pleyita from my main blog to reduce confusion one of these days.
         
          madelinealex likes this.
        • barfyscorpion

          barfyscorpion Pangalactic Porcupine

          IANAL, but I assume even without explicitly putting a Creative Commons or similar license on your artwork, you retain control of your intellectual property, IIRC. Things aren't open-source/public domain automatically.
           
            Last edited: Oct 29, 2016
            Zhuria and madelinealex like this.
          • madelinealex

            madelinealex Phantasmal Quasar

            Alright everyone, I'm turning in for the night. As of right now I've let the creators of ~80 mods know that their content was stolen. My main focus over the next few days will be contacting every single modder on the site. Some mods on the site are uploaded in multiple categories. Accounting for that, there are approximately 400 mods on the site - so I'm almost a quarter of the way there! :cry: I've got my little system down, though, and I'll be working on it whenever I can.

            I did receive an email back from the Domain.com Compliance Team. They are merely the records of the registrar holder and can't do anything about the site. They did let me know that Cloudflare is definitely the hosting provider, though, so the DMCA complaints filed to Cloudflare should be our best bet at getting the site removed for the time being. At some point this weekend I'll be emailing Chucklefish to see what they believe our rights to the mods are and if there are any legal threats that can be made against the site on their part since it's profiting on a game they published. As mentioned earlier, I'm going to indefinitely hold off on contacting CA. Thank you everyone for all of your help so far! Modders, please continue to update us as you take additional action/as the website's creator responds to you!
             
              scrptrx, Naesaki, Zhuria and 4 others like this.
            • Jokerine

              Jokerine Scruffy Nerf-Herder

              I just filed an abuse report with CloudFare. Will update once they respond.
               
                madelinealex likes this.
              • lilipea

                lilipea Phantasmal Quasar

                After receiving a message on Nexusmods I discovered all of my mods are on this website and I definitely didn't give them my permission! Since all of my content is basically just recolors I feel weird being strict about what happens to it, but I definitely don't approve of my effort (or anyone else's) being used to make this person some money on ad revenue. I emailed them, asking for removal of my mods, and will probably put a disclaimer on any future mods to deter them from taking my stuff. Thanks for informing me @madelinealex ~
                 
                • madelinealex

                  madelinealex Phantasmal Quasar

                  You're welcome! Thank you for reporting them and letting us know your actions! I see where you're coming from since I just do recolors, too. It's very easy for me to do now but sometimes finding the right color palette takes a long time and it took a lot of work to get good at what I do, so I definitely don't want someone profiting off of it for sure! Thanks again.
                   
                  • Rosalie

                    Rosalie Cosmic Narwhal

                    small update from me, they removed my mods off the site, also I filed an abuse report on cloudflare last night
                     
                      madelinealex and Zhuria like this.
                    • Harzelora

                      Harzelora Phantasmal Quasar

                      Nice ! I did the same thing as you.
                      What upsets me the most is that 40 people downloaded my mod from this site.
                      They should be downloading mods from here or the Nexus. Not from this mod stealing site....
                      They may not even have a clue as to what's going on.

                      How'd you get your profile pic to show up, btw ?

                      [​IMG]
                       
                      • Harzelora

                        Harzelora Phantasmal Quasar

                        Update on the situation :
                        As I was done filing my dmca takedown notice I decided to check on my comment.
                        But the thing is : my comment had been removed after only 20 minutes.

                        You can check it out for yourselves :
                        http://stardewvalleymods.net/carpenter-family-portrait-overhaul-mod/

                        Should I write another comment or should I wait for Cloudfare to solve the issue ?
                         
                        • eemie

                          eemie Hard-To-Destroy Reptile

                          They don't respond to Cloudfare, I just sent an e-mail urging them to take the mods down. I suggest to do the same after a day or two.
                           
                          • scrptrx

                            scrptrx Void-Bound Voyager

                            Some good news, guys - all four of my mods are now gone. I searched both my name and the mod title.

                            I had sent Cloudfare a DMCA for all mods AND replied to the mod in a threatening way to delete my mods, explaining that they had already been reported.

                            I hope this asshat just stops. Wouldn't that be nice...
                             
                              Rosalie likes this.
                            • Harzelora

                              Harzelora Phantasmal Quasar

                              Got it. I'm gonna wait a little to see what happens. I'm just gonna threaten them a little first. Since it's the only language they seem to understand.

                              I went there to leave another comment and I noticed that my previous comment is back.
                              Weird.
                               
                              • Rosalie

                                Rosalie Cosmic Narwhal

                                I know... it baffles me because if you google "stardew valley mods" it shows up as nexus, nexus then chucklefish forums

                                I have no idea, when I put in my email it automatically used the gravatar email (forgot chucklefish even used it)
                                 
                                • Harzelora

                                  Harzelora Phantasmal Quasar

                                  Maybe we could spread the word on the Stardew Valley Reddit ? They could even help us in our quest to kill this evil site.

                                  Pretty cool. I thought they might take me more seriously if I had a profile pic.
                                  I want them to respect my authoritah.
                                   
                                  • scrptrx

                                    scrptrx Void-Bound Voyager


                                    Cloudflare received your copyright infringement complaint regarding:
                                    stardewvalleymods.net

                                    Please be aware Cloudflare is a network provider offering a reverse proxy, pass-through security service. We are not a hosting provider. Cloudflare does not control the content of our customers.

                                    Accepted URL(s) on stardewvalleymods.net:
                                    http://stardewvalleymods.net/?s=scrptrx

                                    Hosting Provider:
                                    -----------------

                                    DIGITALOCEAN-AS-AP

                                    Abuse Contact:
                                    --------------

                                    abuse@digitalocean.com



                                    We have notified our customer of your complaint, and we have forwarded your complaint on to the responsible hosting provider. You may also direct your report to:

                                    1. The provider where stardewvalleymods.net is hosted (provided above);
                                    2. The owner listed in the WHOIS record for stardewvalleymods.net and/or;
                                    3. The contact listed on the stardewvalleymods.net site.

                                    Note: A lookup of the IP for a Cloudflare customer website will show Cloudflare IPs because we are a pass-through network. The actual website is still hosted at the hosting provider indicated above. If the hosting provider has any questions, please have the hosting provider contact us directly regarding this site. Due to attempted abuse of our complaint reporting process, we will only provide the IP of stardewvalleymods.net to the responsible hosting provider if they contact us directly at abusereply@cloudflare.com.

                                    Regards,

                                    Cloudflare Abuse​
                                     
                                      madelinealex likes this.
                                    • scrptrx

                                      scrptrx Void-Bound Voyager

                                      Without posting his personal info...

                                      The URL is registered here.

                                      WHOIS Server: whois.domain.com
                                      URL: www.domain.com
                                      Abuse Contact Email:compliance@domain-inc.net
                                      Abuse Contact Phone: +1.6027165396
                                       
                                      • eemie

                                        eemie Hard-To-Destroy Reptile

                                        My mods have been removed! E-mailing is the key!!!
                                         
                                          madelinealex likes this.
                                        • Jokerine

                                          Jokerine Scruffy Nerf-Herder

                                          I haven't heard from Cloudfare so I've emailed the owner instead. Hopefully they'll actually respond this time.
                                           
                                            madelinealex likes this.

                                          Share This Page