00:00
00:00
ADR3-N
I make beats, metal, samples, patches, dnb, original game soundtracks, RVC voice models, and Russian/ English translation covers. Follow for monthly music producer freebies! Рада помочь русскоговорящим. Семплы вложены в ссылках вниз)))

Age 29

делаю хиты 8)

говно

США

Joined on 9/3/06

Level:
27
Exp Points:
8,036 / 8,090
Exp Rank:
4,753
Vote Power:
6.90 votes
Audio Scouts
10+
Art Scouts
5
Rank:
Sergeant
Global Rank:
1,512
Blams:
1,096
Saves:
4,753
B/P Bonus:
24%
Whistle:
Gold
Trophies:
6
Medals:
93
Supporter:
5y 8m 27d

Regarding Geometry Dash "Getting Zapped" on Steam -- EDM364's Mod Diary 1/27/17-1/30/17

Posted by ADR3-N - February 1st, 2017


EDM364's Mod Diary, Page 11


EDIT: I realized I cut off part of the post because @Xtrullor asked to subscribe, as he would be referring users to this page presumably rather than have to explain all of this to the rather ungrateful users that give him hell -- I refuse to call them fans. Subscribers portion appended and links put into place. Blushing a bit.

UPDATE: RobTop has made an official announcement presumably in response to events of late, as well as changes to come, so parts of this post are moot. Not once does he acknowledge that he's been profiting all this time off of our non-commercial CC licensed music, or that he's been incredibly lazy updating until illegally monetizing said music was threatened, however. Suddenly, after Troisnyx's petition, communication with Tom picked up, and we were made aware changes are on the horizon.

What IS confirmed is that the changes we lobbied for ARE going to happen. Artists will have the option to allow and disallow tracks for use in GD, and GD abusers will no longer be able to get ANY new stolen tracks to work in GD. Artists will have to be manually approved by RobTop, which will only happen on a selective basis, to ensure the artists are both legitimate and worth listening to.

Picture a pristine portal. No more daily mass thefts! No more annoying How-To spam! That's a win-win as far as I'm concerned, and the burden will be put squarely on Rob, not us, to review these people. This is what should have been done to begin with, and I will say he's earned brownie points in my eyes for taking that one on the chin. Here's high hopes for the 1% of abusers getting with the program and realizing their days are over, and their attempts are futile, and users like @BlueAlpha14 and @Tebiri luck sniffing out the last GD thefts this portal may ever see -- oh, and that my Audio Flagging Guide becomes obselete.


So, as you undoubtedly all know, shockwaves were felt 'round the web in the advent of Geometry Dash being pulled from Steam to address copyright infringement issues, as well as, we assume, multiple reports of Geometry Dash breaking Creative Commons license, as well as DMCA takedowns. This is what I gather from my daily web stroll. RobTop has responded to hate-mongering players via Twitter.

I've been working with Newgrounds for a long time to improve the music process. They did not have anything to do with the problem on Steam. - RobTop Games, January 31, 2017

Interesting -- since angry GD players have come out of the woodwork with undue threats of bodily harm to @Troisnyx and @RealFaction and Newgrounds as a whole for breaking their toy, and have figured out that Newgrounds and Rob are working on hotfixes to the game. I've even got some choice mails myself, and @Cank has had some assholes plying their vitriol on YT.

Here's some choice words from users on Steam. Trigger warning: cancerous community that doesn't care about music artists insisting things like Troisnyx et. al. should die over a petition to remove a GAME from stores that wasn't even submitted, to my knowledge. Let that sink in a second, then click that link.

1726297_148592062442_GDPOSTDRAFTING3.png

@BlueAlpha14 makes an interesting point; thefts have been practically muted in the past two days since GD was removed from stores, at least in comparison to the past 3 years of shit. The portal is the closest to 2007's lean-mean running form as I've seen it since GD 1.9, but I have seen some rule breaking and sticks in the mud, to be fair. Just reminds me how great it'd be if all the GD abusers just made like Nebula and kept their copyright/CC License infringing to themselves rather than passing it onto us. That way, at least Rob wouldn't be the one responsible for our music being trampled on to line his pockets.

Speaking of copyright infringement, @Jackho finds it a bit strange the game was DMCA'ed by Nintendo for copyrighted achievement avatars, not for the rampant abuse of music without artists' consent, and so do I, but if @Troisnyx's petition was never submitted, it can't be the reason either, unlike the GD side of the kitty pool is quick to assume here.

1726297_148591944582_GDPOSTDRAFTING2.png

1726297_148592650873_GDPOSTDRAFTING4.png

In addition to the copyrighted images and in spite of RobTop's assertion otherwise, it does indeed seem that the game was removed for breaking the various Creative Commons licenses of artists on Newgrounds, and by extension, the law -- YES, Geometry Dash was judiciously removed by Steam staff because RobTop was making money off of music used in custom levels, which violated the intellectual property rights of users such as myself, @Xtrullor, @Troisnyx, and @RealFaction, who require in our CC licenses that any commercial use of our music be discussed with us in EXPLICIT detail before it is used; thus Steam saw this through NG artists' flags and removed the game on the basis of intellectual property rights violation. This is briefly glossed over on Reddit, if anyone wants to go over there and give their side of the story. We've certainly gotten enough hate for it.

Now, @TomFulp himself has stated the removal of Geometry Dash from any stores wasn't the solution he hoped for, and that it should only happen as a last resort. Many others of us have said we never wanted the game removed to begin with -- we just wanted CHANGE, change that now appears to be on the horizon.

On that note, @Troisnyx has updated her petition newspost to reflect our collective hope that this hullaballoo ultimately leads to a better Geometry Dash for everyone involved, content creators included -- that we won't have to alienate our fanbase by disabling downloads and/or host our content elsewhere if we don't want our songs used in a paid app that uses our portal as a hosting service, and that theft can be minimized, if not eliminated entirely. This would be a massive improvement, either way it goes.

1726297_148592658933_GDPOSTDRAFTING1.png

The problem as we know it exists in the implementation of the custom levels, through which our communities are intertwined. Our music, the Newgrounds Audio Portal, has been used like a cheap whore. It's not a lot to ask for RobTop to sticky something across Steam, Apple Store, and the Play Store for his players to abide by our TOS, not steal shit, etc., and respect artists -- and more importantly, not to treat the site in general as a tool for Geometry Dash. We've been here since before half the GD playerbase was born, and we certainly don't owe our popularity, success, and longevity to one singular game! We gave birth to the viral internet plague that was Numa Numa, for Christ's sake! The GD community is by and large completely ignorant of this and the rampant abuse; most just come to our site, scan the AP for the most popular songs or upload junk, then disappear, if that. Many don't even know we're being taken for a ride in the process.

1726297_148592600681_GDcommunityisdisconnectedfromNGcommunity.png

As with all of this ignorance of our community as a whole, there are those that will say our reaction to all of the problems associated with GD is extreme, that it shouldn't have been taken down, that our petition was disrespectful, that we owe RobTop, that not ALL GD players are the problem and they don't deserve this.

Let me just say that, for one, anyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows the broad abuse of this platform is what lead to our collective outrage, not the law abiding garden variety players, who don't leave a large footprint on the site. For two, it's one thing for all this to happen as a result of a free app, but a paid app that also breaks our non-commercial use Creative Commons licenses, which exist to protect our rights as artists, and this has been happening for 3 years, combined with all the vitriolic sludge defecated all over our community in the process? We've been more than kind, patient, courteous, and accommodating. I think I'll leave it right there.

Regarding the GD takedown and his own reasonings, @RealFaction is expected to release his own statement later, but these newsposts, this diary, this is mine. I don't give a damn whether the game comes back or not; it probably will, and I hope for the thousands of innocent players that enjoy the game that it does, but I will not side idly by so long as it enables -- no, encourages degenerates to abuse our music for pay. My hope is that @Zhenmuron, @BrenTheMan, and @TomFulp are able to put their heads together and make a better, more thoughtful, more legal Geometry Dash for all involved, not just the few featured in the official levels and RobTop himself profiting.

So yes, I did sign the petition and flag all the versions of Geometry Dash which violate my non-commercial Creative Commons Licenses. No, I'm not sorry something got done about it. The game isn't gone forever unless RobTop decides to take the money, run, and prove all the people that think he doesn't care about NG or the GD community right. I just hope something good comes of this, and the idiots making @Troisnyx, @Cank, @Xtrullor, @RealFaction, and anyone else feel bad for standing up, speaking truth, and doing the right thing get their comeuppance.

/end rant


SLICE OF LIFE:
The past few days have been mind numbingly busy. Sunday night, we heard that my friend was getting kicked off of campus the following day by 2 o'clock (thankfully a friend's family got him out of that jam), so @littlemisfortune and I packed up and headed for Scooba. Once there, we hung out with him and a couple friends for what we thought was going to be the last time, sitting on the stage on campus. It was freezing, but an otherwise decent night. Later, we drove out down a country road and made a faltering campfire that would last a good 30 minutes before we'd have to gather up leaves and sticks again. Would have had a party with sparse alcohol if Scooba sold it past 10 PM on a Sunday; however, with the coyote howls that sent us scampering into our vehicles later, it's probably a good thing none of us drank..

Creator's Club met 7 PM the next day in the library and @littlemisfortune had classes, so we did have to turn in pretty early. Ended up sleeping in a car parked in front of a friend's house overnight because her parents were asleep amid notable protest (not from the sleeping parents lol). Ivy, a friend, left us a blanket and some "I wish you would listen to me" facial expressions. Regret not just ponying up 5 bucks to stay in either Women's Honors or G.A. for the night.

Monday morning, woke up feeling like my spine was falling out of my body, lotioned up ye olde psoriasis issues, ate an orange for breakfast which toothpaste made me regret instantly, and headed off to the library wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Other than that, felt like a commuter. I couldn't find an outlet for a bit, so I logged onto NG on one of the school computers, which I still had my login for -- and which surprisingly worked. I figured. My wifi key still did as well on the laptop.

Did my moderating for the day until @littlemisfortune came out of piano lab and gave me some coffee, still hot. No idea where the fuck it came from but it was good, and sweeter than saccharine. Had me wired, so I started on a new song. Last one I worked on in the same vein is embedded below. It's, er, well, about my dad, who passed May 14, 2016, on my also deceased step-dad's birthday. Funny how all that shit works out.

Pretty much the rest of the day was consumed with hanging out with friends on campus, getting bum rushed with people hugging me, eating oranges and nasty protein bars, and awkwardly chatting with old acquaintances, some of which I don't even remember names because that's just an issue with me. After I graduated, things just sort of faded around the edges apart from band. Always remember faces though.

Did the whole Creator's Club jive at 7:05. Most everyone who hadn't quit came. Really a shame the old "friend group" feel and drama cut down on our size. I played my 7 minute magnum opus of a song, 2 other songs were shared, a couple drawings were shown, and 3 or 4 stories were read. Discussed Valentines day stuff, like commission poems, etc. Still have to finalize things to become an official club because our last president left some things off the list, or we can't do any funky trips. I'm hoping the club gets bigger, and I may make a website for it on something like Weebly or Wix. Weebly allows you to edit the html of the page, which I'm decent at, although I might need someone more intelligent like @Mich to borrow for advice, hahah.

Came home late last night. Woke up late today, missed a couple deposits, and here we are.


MOD PERFORMANCE:
Stolens: 97
Non-remix: 8
Total: 105
Bans: 42
Per capita: 2.5


BREAKDOWN:
97 stolen submissions and 8 non-remixes were unpublished for a total of 105 offenses on my paper logs. 42 bans were recorded. This amounts to a 2.5 infraction rate per capita.


CONCLUSION:
My record keeping is a bit of an abysmal underestimate for the past 3 days. This isn't counting a large portion of what I handled on mobile. Considering I had virtually nothing to do but moderate for the past few days, that's a lot of stolen and rule-breaking shit. Infraction rate was higher due to several users submitting large catalogs. So, the infraction rate would have been somewhat lower had I been able to record every infraction, but not because there were less infractions, certainly.

Hoping to keep a more active and accurate record next time I take a trip, for sure.


SUBSCRIPTIONS: @littlemisfortune @maorrichan @RealFaction @Xtrullor

Thank you!

<< PREVIOUS ENTRY - NEXT POST >>


Comments

Not going to lie, I'm really going to miss browsing through unscouted and finding stuff to report to the thread. I'm not familiar with disallowed DAW's enough to start hunting for those. Maybe I can browse through the remixes, when I did my large hunt I never researched any remixes because I didn't have time.

I'm sure there will still be thefts, but looking forward to seeing less of them. Only the steam version has been removed so far. Other stores require you to report which specific songs were stolen.

As for disallowed DAWs, MMJ and Magix both have lots of stuff on YT, and you will almost certainly recognize the loops if you've ever heard them before.

I made the coffee in my dorm because I knew I would end up falling asleep and hitting a piano face-first. I saved half of it for you because I know you love coffee

On another note:
I'm excited to see the difference in your tallies with everything going on, especially considering your numbers when you first began

It was like liquid sugar but ngl I needed it.

Also holy shit you're still awake.

Yeeaahh I did accidentally add too much
I didn't go to sleep until about 4:30, almost 5. And my smart self set an alarm for 8:30 because I first laid down at midnight so yeah. I'm awake again

Ah. I dunno how you do it. I'm awake from 5 PM

I don't either really
When I sleep at your house I can sleep for hours but anywhere else other than my own bed at home I can't. Maybe its a comfort thing

Could be. Yo, shoot me a fb message. I keep seeing notifications and going wtf? lol

thank you all for the hard work. you guys are awesome.

jeez, i'm drinking their salty tears so much right now.

Welcome always. NG is bae. :P

I'm more so upset. I dislike that the garden variety users who aren't hurting us are also caught up in this. I like that the users who do harm the site won't be able to anymore soon.