Ripping features from other boards VS Being Inspired by other Boards

[Squirrelly Merriweather 13]

I'm sure that this is something that we've all had to deal with at one point or another. You work endlessly and tirelessly to get the new skin done for your board. You've been working for weeks to iron out the kinks in the new features that you're releasing. And they're fairly exclusive new features, they aren't heavily circulated in the RP world. 

 

But within two days of you debuting your new skin and features, you check in on some others sites for advertising or what have you and suddenly they have an announcement that they're debuting the same new features you just put up.  After you debuted yours. And a part of you just knows that they were on your site and took the features that you worked on to implement. Down to the way that they list and display their new features. And it isn't the first time you've seen it with this site. Or even the second time. It just keeps happening. 

 

I understand that these codes are public and will be widely used as they become popular. But I cannot be the only person in the world who gets their gears ground by this. Like. My buns are black with how burned they are rn, y'all. 

 

I guess my question is this: Where do you feel like the line between ripping features and being inspired by features of other boards lie? And How do you deal with it when you feel like another site has been ripping your features? 

[Keaton 133]

My initial impulse is just to say that's the nature of the internet, not to mention the nature of fandom — If you do something innovative and interesting, assume others are going to copy you. I've had people copy original codework, site organization and protocol from me wholesale and then just tweak the setting for their new game. I know it can be a lot to swallow when you've done something genuinely new and put the work in to come up with and perfect an idea, but I think if it's possible, going the "imitation is the sincerest sort of flattery" route is best all-around. Rather than fostering ill feelings, just be proud that you're a baller people want to copy and keep on being awesome.

That said, I'm confused by your use of "ripping" here, as you later go on to say "I understand these codes are public." If you have all-original code you personally wrote that was not publicly shared and someone went into the source code to steal it, OK, I get being upset by that. That to me is ripping. But if you're talking about using publicly-shared code, even if you tweak it or use it in a way not normally seen, that's a whole other ball of wax, and to me, weakens the argument somewhat. That to me falls more on the "inspired by" side of things, since in that case, you yourself were inspired by the original code in the first place.

[Squirrelly Merriweather 13]

15 hours ago, Keaton said:

My initial impulse is just to say that's the nature of the internet...

I can 100% understand what you mean when you say "inspired" when another site takes features that you have and uses them for themselves. And honestly, I probably wouldn't be this upset if I hadn't had issues of a personal nature with the creators of the particular RP. 

 

I used to write with these people who I will refer to as Karen and Carl. I had known Karen for SO long. And you know, life changes, people change, all that good stuff. After some time with Karen and Carl and realizing that they weren't good for my mental health, I cut ties completely. Even to the point where I have, in fact, banned their IPs from my games. Only for them to come back with VPNs and Proxies to continue to stalk our content, take multiple features from us (going so far as to use the exact same icon in some places).

 

I think for me, it's the fact that I [i]know[/i] these people and have had issues with them before. Like, I know it is so not worth getting myself upset over. And I also know that if I saw a random RPG with some of the features we'd worked to put together, I'd be thrilled that they were becoming more standarized.

[Prophetess 137]

I'll start with it truly is the nature of the beast. Outside of that we all pull from the same skin pool as well as making our own tweaks and changes to them, they really aren't truly unique. I've always been of the mind that while I might grumble or growl for a minute at seeing something "borrowed" from my sites (not always skin related) that in the long run someone else out there has had at one point the same ideas as me. Where things differ is that they may use what they took, but they aren't me and I'll wish them the best and go about my day. I personally have gotten away from worrying over what other folks do on other forums. At the end of the day my sites, staff, members, and stories are what matter to me. 

 

Having issues with folks in the past is an old story. I can say I've had the same as well. It really does stink. At the same time, they're people too and gonna do what they're gonna do. You're giving them far more attention and spotlight then they truly deserves from the sounds of it. Let them do them. That's the best way to think on it. 

 

Having every forum become "standardized" is wording that concerns me. We all are creative in our own ways and that's part of what makes this particular hobby so great. We get to express that creativity in our own ways. Having them be more standardized takes a small part of that away. It does go back to doing our own thing. While admiring another forum's skin or functionality is perfectly fine, worrying over what someone else is doing can on it's own be toxic. 

 

So. My answer to this is, if someone uses something of mine, great. If not, oh well. It doesn't rank too high with me to worry about. Just a couple of late night copper's worth.

[Keaton 133]

11 hours ago, jessieberu said:

I think for me, it's the fact that I [i]know[/i] these people and have had issues with them before. Like, I know it is so not worth getting myself upset over. And I also know that if I saw a random RPG with some of the features we'd worked to put together, I'd be thrilled that they were becoming more standarized.

 

That's rough, and I absolutely get what you mean. When things or actions or people have emotions attached, it can be hard to pull back and be fully rational even when you know better. I do agree completely with @Prophetess in that these are things you have no control over and giving these folks oxygen is counter-productive, but I also understand that getting to that Zen place with stuff like this can be a tough hill to climb sometimes. My best advice is to learn your own tells for when you're losing perspective, and then step away for awhile when that happens; eventually you do get past it if you stop prodding the wound. Best wishes in navigating all this!

[Everglow 30]

On 5/19/2021 at 1:47 PM, jessieberu said:

I can 100% understand what you mean when you say "inspired" when another site takes features that you have and uses them for themselves. And honestly, I probably wouldn't be this upset if I hadn't had issues of a personal nature with the creators of the particular RP. 

 

I used to write with these people who I will refer to as Karen and Carl. I had known Karen for SO long. And you know, life changes, people change, all that good stuff. After some time with Karen and Carl and realizing that they weren't good for my mental health, I cut ties completely. Even to the point where I have, in fact, banned their IPs from my games. Only for them to come back with VPNs and Proxies to continue to stalk our content, take multiple features from us (going so far as to use the exact same icon in some places).

 

I think for me, it's the fact that I [i]know[/i] these people and have had issues with them before. Like, I know it is so not worth getting myself upset over. And I also know that if I saw a random RPG with some of the features we'd worked to put together, I'd be thrilled that they were becoming more standarized.

I am going through this now.  I banned a group of 5 people on my site and they decided to start their own.  They've pulled original ideas for aesthetic boards, embedding spotify, board structure,  and other distinct design elements from me which is infuriating enough not being credited especially since they're attempting (badly) to make another victorian site.  ...But the Piece de Resistance is taking my canons that are original to our site and using them on theirs.  Some without the first/last name changed, or the family structure and background history.  

 

It's disgusting.  If you're going to start a site, have a creative idea for yourself and do your own work/research.  Create your own site plots, canons and characters.  Don't steal from someone else and say it's yours.  

Edited May 20, 2021 by Everglow

[Arduinna 1]

On 5/19/2021 at 1:47 PM, jessieberu said:

I think for me, it's the fact that I [i]know[/i] these people and have had issues with them before. Like, I know it is so not worth getting myself upset over. And I also know that if I saw a random RPG with some of the features we'd worked to put together, I'd be thrilled that they were becoming more standarized.

 

Tbh this is the part that sticks out to me. It's been a hot minute since I've staffed a site or even really rped so perhaps I'm behind on the times but if you say you'd be happy if any other site was using them, you need to take that same approach with this one. Unless it's something that you created or that was created specifically for you, you have to ask yourself is it worth getting yourself twisted in knots over? Usually it's not. It's just stress you don't need.

 

Maybe they're on your site checking things out or maybe they're not, if the codes are on resource sites it could very much be coincidence, that's kinda irrelevant really. You're not benefitting from worrying about it so forget about them and enjoy the site you created (it looks great btw), let karma deal with them. Easier said than done though. That's not to say your feelings aren't valid, just that you can't solve the problem anymore than you have already.

 

It is as Prophetess said "we all pull from the same skin pool as well as making our own tweaks and changes to them, they really aren't truly unique"

Edited May 22, 2021 by Arduinna

[psychodrow 10]

I think that for all of us, the pain comes not from someone imitating us but when they go out of their way to do things - with intent and maliciousness - that hurt us on a mental and emotional level.

 

In the case of people who set out to rob of us of our sense of pride and accomplishment? It hurts, and that is where the issue lies. When people intentionally decide not to create their own world but to simply rip ours off? It isn't a compliment - it's an injury that they inflict on our psyche and our ego. And unlike our characters, who get to remain blissfully unaware of these things happening out of character? We're aware.

 

Depending on our level of personal development, we might be painfully aware of exactly what those things signify - following us around, taking the joy out of our effort from us. It can be disheartening, and disspriting, and it can steal away our love for what we do and have done.

The thing to remember about people who steal and lie and hurt other people is that half of the reasons they do things like that is for the thrill and joy and power and control of knowing they wield and inflict that kind of impact on other people. If you can hang on to the lesson you learned and move past the pain of it? You're gifted with something that they can't take away from you, can't rip off or put on their forum or write into their world lore. Most importantly of all? You become bigger and stronger and wiser (whether they know it or not) - and there is value in those lessons, too.

[Squirrelly Merriweather 13]

Thank you to everyone who's been reading and replying to this thread. Hearing perspectives from others has certainly helped me to shrug it off a bit more than I was previously. 

 

I know that I really just need to stop looking at their site. I cut them out of my life for a reason. But, unfortunately, habits are hard to break. Especially unhealthy ones.

 

@psychodrow (I love your SN) You're 100%  right. This is something that I can take in stride and use as fuel to make myself a stronger individual. Letting the actions of others affect me only hurts me. Not anyone else.

 

@Arduinna I certainly wouldn't feel upset if I saw the things that were obviously "inspired" by what we integrated if they were on other sites. I do, unfortunately, know for a fact that they have been skirting around their IP bans to check on us periodically (I use StatCounter to see where my traffic comes from to do the most efficient advertising). Which is why I think it has been such an issue for me. I just need to take a step back and think logically about it. If I wouldn't be upset to see it elsewhere, why am I upset to see it there?  They're copying us because these features are useful. 

 

@Everglow UGH THAT IS THE WORST. I am so sorry that those people are so obviously jacking your ideas. But yes. I 100% agree with everything you said. DO YOUR OWN WORK. HAVE YOUR OWN THOUGHTS. STOP TRYING TO TAKE MINE. I don't have that many ok. xD (Also just gonna toss in here that I LOVE YOUR SKIN. YOU DID SUCH A GOOD JOB. SO FREAKIN GORGEOUS.)

[Byrn 102]

I have most definitely had another site that is still active go onto my forum and steal source code for their map embed. Following having to ask them to change a lot of stuff they copy and pasted from our lore. They even stole old tag images and at least one award icon from our site. The awards I removed from my site and reuploaded so the image is broken on their site lol, they've yet to change it but yes they were THAT bold as to just copy image urls that lead directly to our site. It's been months... that broken image is still on their account...

 

 

And this person was an old member of ours that we'd honestly not had any bad interactions with. Finding their site lead us to uncovering a lot of lies from when they were a member. They'd started copy and pasting stuff months before we closed. I will never understand people who do this. And we have since completely closed off all our info and I have happily redesigned the forum. 😄 They can suck it I got writing to do.

 

I don't know about other hosts but I know jcink has a form for you to fill and file for issues regarding 'ripping' or we should probably say copyright. You have to be intensive with your proof, they want screen shot comparisons. And this is what we threatened when we approached them specifically about the lore. 

 

Imitation can be annoying but I wouldn't think much on it. Forums these days all look the same anyway... and when an idea hits the community is spreads like wildfire just like a fashion fad. 

 

 

Editing to add: I decided to visit your site to see if I can peg what it might be that was ripped. Didn't take me long and holy HELL! The user profiles and member list! That's pretty freaking snazzy good work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Lavi

[SHIMMERSHISSY 6]

This is the nature of role play unfortunately. I played Hunger Games sites for 8 years and I saw groups break off or start new and there were so many that were the same because it was the same genre. I felt that my ideas were often jacked because they were innovative and then understood that I'm not the only person who had that idea. Be proud of the work that you put into what you are working on and what they do doesn't matter. 

 

I agree with what Lavi says, the forums are all going to have base structures that are the same. 

 

Also, like you said - you left them for a reason and so let go and move on. I remember when I used to check back on those old sites that I was on that were legit 80% of my ideas were retained even though I was no longer there. This included an Arena I spent two months building from scratch and an entire combat system. It is upsetting, but eventually you just move on and have to have fun or it will ruin your mental health. I have created and donated to many role plays tons of ideas and they go on using them. 

[Flahme 44]

I tend to be more inspired than ripping, chiefly because my coding skills are limited and not all features work for my site. So I chat with others and see if whatever it is will fit and how it will work for us.

[MegHanSolo 13]

This is a hard line to tread.

I think there are certain features that people invent that should by all means become widespread and shared - things that promote accessibility, make sites easier to navigate, and also codes that can automate the annoying things like claims, activity checks and more to give everyone more time to play. Design by nature thrives on visual constancies and trends, and the things that stick are always the ones that are easiest to use. I wish sites across the board didn't have to work so hard to look good and be useable, and this occurs by people noticing what's working, what isn't, and adapting as a community. Do I think credit for certain codes and techniques be granted and acknowledged? Of course - but in time, the trends that work last, and inevitably, we forget who made them, and they get remade and revisited over and over again. Some of the designers who had the greatest impact on daily life are hardly known due to the utilitarian nature of their work (Margaret Calvert, who spearheaded much of the UK's traffic signage for example is hardly a household name!)

However, if features are something as shallow as font selections, color and photo choices, or taking someone's skin they paid for and swapping sh*t out, that is absolutely rude 🙂 and they should know better lol. 

[ElusionRP 1]

I think the line is crossed when someone pulls the exact code from your site and uses it, especially without crediting or asking permission.