/sigh There's already a site ...

***Cairenn*** · 04/01/14, 04:18 PM

... 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.

Vuelhering · 04/01/14, 04:30 PM

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.

***Cairenn*** · 04/01/14, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Vuelhering

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

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.

Vuelhering · 04/01/14, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by Cairenn

Where are you getting that idea? Not one of the ones I specifically listed is not copyright protected.

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.

Xrystal · 04/01/14, 05:03 PM

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.

**Wykkyd** · 04/01/14, 04:30 PM

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.

Vuelhering · 04/01/14, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by Wykkyd

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.

**Wykkyd** · 04/01/14, 04:35 PM

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

**Wykkyd** · 04/01/14, 05:01 PM

And he has pulled my addons.

Vuelhering · 04/01/14, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Wykkyd

And he has pulled my addons.

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

The disrespect shown to authors is annoying.

***Cairenn*** · 04/01/14, 05:32 PM

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

.

Fathis Ules · 04/27/14, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by Wykkyd

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.

I know pretty good site for finding Hosters , it is set by guys under pastebin, works very good at least with all the domain I have tried

http://hostcabi.net return indeed Hostinger International Limited

Lynce · 05/01/14, 05:31 AM

Originally Posted by Fathis Ules

I know pretty good site for finding Hosters , it is set by guys under pastebin, works very good at least with all the domain I have tried

http://hostcabi.net return indeed Hostinger International Limited

Don't really see the point of knowing their hoster, as they are no longer hosting the addons, there is absolutely nothing that can be don't against them, furthermore there is really no point to do anything against them too.

At this point, I filly agree with LilBudyWizer, better work with them than against them. I have emailed them about a few things and it appears that the contact form is working, this time, I even got a message stating that the email was sent and received a reply soon after as where the last few times i didn't get anything from the form so I had to assume that i worked.

Did anyone email them with the links to forum topics like these, so that they can read what the actual developers think about their actions?

Grischu · 05/01/14, 07:14 AM

They linked to my C# exe too........

***Cairenn*** · 04/02/14, 08:56 PM

Just an update. I haven't heard back from SnackTools directly, but the three Zam addons have been removed from the site. It would seem that the site on which the files are actually residing (SnackTools) takes the matter of copyright seriously and they deal with it quickly. Less than 24 hours, exactly as they said to me (quoted previously). So yeah, guys & gals, don't even bother fighting with the ESOcore guy, go directly to SnackTools.

As a reminder, this is the page you need to fill out to ask SnackTools to remove your files. I've attached a screenshot with some sample text you can look at.

Xrystal · 04/03/14, 01:26 PM

Yep looks like my one has gone now.

skyraker · 04/03/14, 02:25 PM

Mine is gone now.

As for whether the guy running the site is making money advertising or not (my assumption is he is no matter if you see them), why not simply make a link to this site? Why spend precious resources on saving all these files and making them available when no one asked to make a mirror.

And he is not crediting this site or the authors. WarLegend Raid Frame has only this:

This AddOn replace the original RAID frame. It shows players HP (current), Stamina and Magicka Bars. Frames will fade out if the player is out of range. You can move the Frames one by one by opening your game menu.

Submitted On: 2014-03-29

That tells me he is trying to take credit for these addons, which is completely wrong copyright or not.

EDIT: The site has a disclaimer at the bottom, but disclaimers about who has copyright does not give him permission to host our addons somewhere we haven't given permission.

pjt15253 · 04/08/14, 01:51 PM

Appears mine is on there - and the download link takes you to my curse.com download page. Thankfully, mine is GPLv3 so they're well within their rights to do that with mine, and at least they're linking to one of the places I'm maintaining it. Definitely see where this is a problem for other authors though. Thanks, Cairenn, for providing this information and helping to pursue this!

**Seerah** · 04/08/14, 02:44 PM

For addons hosted on Curse, yes, they take you to Curse's download page which makes you wait a few seconds while they get views on their ads to pay for the bandwidth of the download.

For addons hosted here, they're linking directly to the download itself. This means we do not get any ad impressions to pay for the bandwidth they're using to serve the addon.