Where have Gobias' mods gone?

[mgb204]

Well that was pretty much how it was explained to me, perhaps I misunderstood something.

But in which case the question at the heart of this surely can be answered with some certainty: Was this action intentional? I mean, if there is no way to do it by accident, doesn't that imply it must have been?

[vortext]

Yeah, it's pretty hard to pass it off as accidental. As Alex said the working theory among site staff is that it was part of a New Year's resolution, the underlying motivation of which we can only take a guess at.

[mgb204]

I guess we'll never know, it's just hard to comprehend what could make someone feel like doing such a thing?

I mean, it's surely difficult to get into an argument with anyone if you are not an active site member. Anyhow... speculation is obviously not helping any... in my heart I hope some solution can be found though. Not just the terrains, but the water mods and sidewalks are quite popular too. I know how frustrating it can be to see something fantastic but know you can't have it .

[catty]

It just a pity his readme instructions aren't all the same, for example the Beach Mods readme says

Content is distributed free of charge and user must use at their own risk.
* You will not claim credit for the creation of this content or re-distribute it in any way but will instead direct parties to the SC4D LEX where this content may be downloaded free of charge.

unfortunately the terrain mods use the standard readme and say

Feel free to modify the files for yourself and show them in your city journals, but please don't distribute them without requesting the authors permission.

[cmdp123789]

Hmmm, but quick question: When uploading to the LEX, isnt there an agreement in which the LEX as an entity has indeed the right distribute it?

[Vizoria]

The Exchange has no control over material UPLOADED but we must stipulate that if you UPLOAD items that are the property of others and you have no consent to do so ... you must say so in your Description. If an objection should come from the rightful owner your ownership over the material will be terminated.
-- LEX rule

I guess gobias' content could be uploaded by others if he does not issue an objection.

Since he has gone on some kind of SC4 exile he won't be around for a while.

[mattb325]

As sad as it is, I would suggest it was entirely intentional.

And I would go further to suggest that he got into an argument with someone on the site.

From personal experience, I have received some mightily abrasive PMs in the last few months which denigrated my work. Believe me, it irks me no end.

While I would never take the action Gobias did, I can certainly understand when a content creator has simply had enough of the grief.

[Vizoria]

As sad as it is, I would suggest it was entirely intentional.

And I would go further to suggest that he got into an argument with someone on the site.

From personal experience, I have received some mightily abrasive PMs in the last few months which denigrated my work. Believe me, it irks me no end.

While I would never take the action Gobias did, I can certainly understand when a content creator has simply had enough of the grief.

Who would knock Gobias' work? He made two great terrain mods and that spectacular pavement retexture mods.

[mgb204]

Idiots?

Sometimes it can be quite frustrating having to explain things you've taken the time to document time and time again. But being abused by someone who's using work you've given away is totally unacceptable. I'm saddened to hear that there are those who aren't able to conduct themselves in a proper manner if they run into problems. It's a little shocking to hear this happens, I've been fortunate not to experience this so far.

[catty]

...From personal experience, I have received some mightily abrasive PMs in the last few months which denigrated my work. Believe me, it irks me no end.....

Its not just content creators, some of the PM's I've gotten over at Simtropolis are     as it seems I shouldn't be making people sign up for accounts to download the files from the CBEX, never mind I'm paying for it and as for them having to download files one by one     which they don't have to do as the CBEX software is built so all the files can be downloaded as one zip file and if anyone ever asks me nicely then I'll explain how to do it ... but people very rarely ask nicely its just "I want this    and I want it now" from them.

-catty

[Indiana Joe]

Eh, any time you provide any sort of service or product, and you are listed as the person to contact for questions and complaints, you quickly realize just how many rude people will come out of the woodwork from the far corners of the world to ruin your day.  Especially if you work in the service industry for big companies, but also for anything you distribute that you made with your own two hands.

Best way to keep your sanity is ignore 'em.  Whatever you do, don't get into a petty internet argument; my rule is that if someone wants a response from me, they gotta be nice.  Otherwise I'll just act like they aren't there.

But life lessons aside, it's a shame that Gobias left for whatever reason may have prompted him.  I imagine that the removal of all his uploads would simply be a cleansing action; he just didn't want anything left over for people to come bothering him about.  If you delete an account, but some evidence is left over of your activity, people can always track you down.  I can understand not wanting that.

And now of course he's getting exactly the opposite reaction.  Advice for anyone in the future who wants to leave the community:  make a goodbye post and lay out your will and testament, or people are gonna come knocking to figure out what happened.

[Tarkus]

I'll add that if anyone is receiving abusive PMs, there is a small "Report to Admin" button that will appear in the lower right corner of the message.  Clicking this will allow the user to send a report to the Admins, as well as the full text of the offending message, so that we can examine it and take the appropriate action.  Unlike the forum posts, we can't see the PMs unless they are reported.  Additionally, if a particular user is sending abusive messages, we also have an Ignore List feature, which can be accessed under your profile.  It can be found by going under Modify Profile > Buddies/Ignore List> Edit Ignore List. 

Additionally, if someone is found to be abusing the PM system, we do have the ability to strip them of the privilege of sending PMs, if not outright suspending or terminating their membership.  We can't do this if we don't know, however, and we'd much rather know and have the opportunity to address the situation, rather than seeing great content creators quietly pack up and leave.

One of the core founding values of SC4D has been the protection of creators from unreasonable behavior and abuse, which had become particularly rampant before jeronij opened this place.  Almost ten years after opening, we remain committed to these values.  If you encounter a problem, let us know.

On the subject of the availability of these files, the staff has been aware of the clause Vizoria quoted.  This idea has been discussed, in part due to the rather extreme nature of the circumstances.  As evidenced by the responses in this thread, such an action would certainly and understandably prove controversial, in light of long-standing community standards that exist for good reason.  All this said, however, there is also the fact that the creator's decision to delete these files from the LEX without explanation (or an alternate upload location) may actually lead to an end result that is even more contrary to their intentions--uncontrolled "gray market" or "black market" distribution, via means that are prohibited through Site Rule #10--which is a real problem.  These are the issues with which the staff is currently grappling, and with the age of the community, we're increasingly going to be faced with these sorts of tricky judgement calls. 

We would ask, however, that no one take matters into their own hand, while the staff determines the best course of action.

-Alex

[catty]

... All this said, however, there is also the fact that the creator's decision to delete these files from the LEX without explanation (or an alternate upload location) may actually lead to an end result that is even more contrary to their intentions...

Its not just his account here that he deleted, if you check his topic you will see he's deleted all his photobucket pictures as well.

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14785.0

...Best way to keep your sanity is ignore 'em.  Whatever you do, don't get into a petty internet argument; my rule is that if someone wants a response from me, they gotta be nice.  Otherwise I'll just act like they aren't there...

Yes, I must admit I've got very cynical since starting a website ... and am pretty much ignoring suggestions from the users these days as you can't win either way ... you get PMs on having picture competitions like all the other sites have so you add

https://city-builders.info/my-albums/photo-competition-2016

and no-one including the people that wanted it use it    and in case you are wondering I won last year's competition   

-catty

[j-dub]

I hate to ask, are they still even kicking? Because if they are gone from this Earth, a family member, or someone else close may have used their logins to erase their identity. For that matter, if it was a witness protection issue, those people may have removed their online footprint, thus why no mention. I thought legally they gave up their rights as soon as they left it at SC4D based property.

I learned when you introduce something/craft a new project under someone else's company, that company has the right away to keep that artist's work. For example, Fox has the rights to the Simpsons when the reality is, Matt Groening does not.

[FrankU]

Well, j-dub,
SC4D is not a company that is paying me or you or Gobias for producing content, in exchange for ownership. So there is no reason that SC4D should have any rights. So your suggestion won't work.
And it may indeed be the case that Gobias has deceased and that his heirs used his list of memberships and login codes to delete as much as they could find from the internet. And we all can probably understand thet heirs do not really care about any kind of internet-community members.

I think, having read all the suggestions, that we will end up with SC4D having no Gobias content anymore. Let's try to live with it.

[Tarkus]

Gobias is not dead.  I can't divulge all the details, but we know with a very high degree of certainty that he's definitely still kicking.  I also suspect that in the case of family members who lost a loved one, that there would be far more pressing concerns than deleting a bunch of terrain texture mods off a computer game fansite.  I really doubt something like this would even remotely register.

I suspect we'll never fully know, and can only speculate, which, at this point, isn't going to have any sort of meaningful or productive result.

-Alex

[FrankU]

You are right Alex,

We'll probably never know. So I think it would be wise to just stop discussing this.

Frank

[Bipin]

It's a shame this hasn't been resolved, but I mean really, what could we even do at this point? It's the mystery of the decade...  From my personal experience, I can definitely attest to rude and idiotic critiques of my work. The most vile ones came through private PMs; I suspect as an attempt to spew whatever you want out of your mouth without making it a public matter. Reporting these things on ST did very little, which is one of the main reasons why I took a two year hiatus. Keep in mind though, that was two years ago, and I believe things have changed for the better. Nonetheless, it can and does still happen everywhere.

As to why Gobias deleted his account, I can't think of much. Did he ever demonstrate rash, ill-informed decision making? If he's made spontaneous and ill-informed decisions in the past, or suggested them, that would lend itself well to spontaneously deleting the accounts and pictures. Likewise, the New Years resolution theory is pretty strong, and I think rash decision making could play into that, as could a significant-other compelling him to delete his presence on SC4D. Some sort of ultimatum, perhaps? Who knows, I'm just thinking out loud. It's all speculation at best. I do hope we get to the bottom of this, or at the very least, find a way to upload his excellent content in a way that is legally appropriate, and especially culturally appropriate; his mods were instrumental to this community, and a lot of people missed out on the mods he has gifted us with.

[catty]

...So I think it would be wise to just stop discussing this....

Well if we do and this topic is locked, before it is and in the hope that Gobias may still be lurking I want to say

Gobias  thank you   

While we may not have said it enough the longterm members of the site know just how much work you put into your mods and posts and we do appreciate it and while we regret the decision, it was yours to make so good luck in the future and take care   

Cathy

[cmdp123789]

So, are we actually losing everything from him? No actual way of getting his content back online?