/sigh There's already a site ...
 

... rehosting addons without permission.

I thought we might actually get longer than a few weeks before one of these sites showed up, but I thought wrong.

ESOcore is the name of the site. (I can't give you a direct link, we've got the domain censored on our site.) That site just lists, and lets you search for, whatever addon you're looking for. If they 'have it on their site', it directs you to the uploaded file on FileSnack, which is part of SnackTools.

Now, clicking on the 'contact us' button on ESOcore does, literally, nothing. However, FileSnack, via SnackTools, does have a page about Copyright Infringement on their site, complete with an on-line DMCA take-down form. This should be your first step.

Next, we know that their host is Hostinger (thanks Wykkyd!) I'll get you their contact information (if I can) and post it shortly.

After that, we'd go to the ISP. Still need to figure out who they are.

Failing all of those, the next step would be to talk to the good folks at GoDaddy, since they (GoDaddy) are who they (ESOcore) registered with. That information is here. Also, while the email address of the person(s) running ESOcore isn't currently shown on the Whois, it was previously, we know what it was and can provide that information to anyone that needs it. The relevant page you would need to go to on GoDaddy to get the process rolling with them is here.

A partial list of addons currently on there includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• ESOTheater
• Kill log
• Slightly Improved Attribute Bars
• SlowDialogs
• WarLegend Raid Frame
• Wykkyd's Framework (and in fact, all of Wykkyd's stuff)
• ZAM BuffDisplay (all of ours, actually, and the reason we know they are ignoring copyright, even before hearing about them from others)
• and more - do a search for your addon's name to see if it comes up on there

As I get more info, I'll pass it along to you guys.

Are they modifying the addon code in addition?

That wouldn't surprise me.


Most of the addons are FOSS, so he's allowed to rehost them.

The owner of ESOCORE is someone going by the named Mantis (I forget the last name). Email: [email protected].

When I approached him about his "theft" of our (my) content I was ignored and he raced to GoDaddy to switch his registration to private. Their WHOIS now lists generic contact info.

I called GoDaddy directly, originally, on their Abuse hotline. That's how I found out the site was hosted at Hostinger. Both the host, and the owner, are based in Lithuania.

If it was actual theft, that makes it harder to send a takedown req.

But again, if it's rehosting GPL stuff but keeping the copyright info intact, that's a right he has.

Mantas Gir, and he did finally respond to email. Claims he "didn't know".

Where are you getting that idea? Not one of the ones I specifically listed is not copyright protected. None of them has a copyright document in them or on their download page and are thus ARR automatically.

My mistake then. I rarely look at other author's addons, but remember seeing many GPLed versions out there especially with wow.

I've done tons of coding in my life and am currently a content creator, so I am certainly coming from the angle of protecting the artist.

And he has pulled my addons.

That was quick. I think as recent as the last beta weekend that I checked to see if someone was hosting my addon but the only sites I saw were simply linking back here to the addon pages on this site.

Will I filled in the request to have it taken down and I also added a comment on 'my' addon page there and pointed out that I am requesting that the addon be removed. Will see what happens.

That's cool, we'll see how long that lasts.

The disrespect shown to authors is annoying.

It is, unfortunately, an all too common occurrence. There's a [very sad] reason why I know all too well the necessary information everyone is going to need in order to get their files removed from places like that.

I am all about fostering community and I think it is a really good thing when folks help one another out. That's why we have forums specifically for authors. And the IRC channel. And the in-game guilds, on both live and test servers (where applicable). HOWEVER, I am all but rabid about protecting authors/artists copyright. Places like that just .

Aw, my grid view is on there too. :(

This is pretty scummy, I didn't know sites like this popped up so frequently.

Some people are innocent...
"Hey, let's collect all of these cool addons into one spot so that my friends know what to download!"

But most are greedy jerks.
"Hey, look at all of these addons people are downloading. If I put them on my website then I'LL get the traffic and the lootz!"

Jeez, even mine is on there.

And when the person(s) in question get an email saying "wtf do you think you are doing?" and immediately runs back to GoDaddy and changes their registration so that it is now done through a proxy so as to hide their email address, well, I know which one of those I think they are ...

Correction. For Wykkyd's Outfitter all he did was rename it: Outfitter Addon.

He has his little minions running all over the web posting links to his site too, on other addon websites & on PCGamer's addon article. There is nothing "honest" about the way they're handling themselves.

1st Comment

And posting links to ESOCORE on CURSE download pages

They can't do it here, we've already got their name censored on our site. I've just made sure that the folks over at Curse are aware of it, so they can take whatever steps they want.

Well the addons I have done all I have given an MIT license to on my github where I keep the masters. I release here because this IS the "addon community". Because of my choice in license my addons are free to do as you will with... But I will be using this site for all my releases.

To the authors of the esoui.com web site... Good Job.

Oh, hey, I did hear back from SnackTools already, I had just missed it because it hit my spam box instead of my in box. Anyway, yeah, here's what they've sent so far.

Sure, it's [mostly] just a form letter, but it is the expected first step for them to take, and getting acknowledgement that they are looking into it is appreciated.