Piracy? Not in these parts!

[inferiare]

Before, ROMs and game saves were part of the site's mainframe and were offered. Now, with V3 or TerraEarth, PIRACY IS NO LONGER ALLOWED.

What does this mean for our forums?

1: ROMs, game saves, music files, and any other form of illegal media (such as books) is no longer allowed to be offered on the forums proper. Topics involving tese will be edited.

2: File sharing links for any sort of illegal file will be edited out of the post. Any attempt to edit the link back in will get a topic deletion. Repeat offenders will be suspended from forum use.

3: Asking for download links will no longer be allowed. If you're really that desperate, use Google and use the proper search terms. there are plenty of sites out there that will supply the links, and there's always torrents. Topics asking for download links will be locked. Again, repeat offenders will be suspended.

Obviously admins and mods cannot be around all the time, and while backseat modding isn't generally looked upon with a smile, you can always link back to this topic to those who may be violating this new rule.

Of course, we also cannot police PMs, and as far as I know while writing this, we have no plans to do so. At that point, the administrators of TerraEarth are stating that anything shared in a private message is out of our hands, and we take no responsibility for download links shared in this manner. Yes, that means you can cheat the system, but we'd prefer it if you didn't announce that you have download links either.

Topics made before this will either be deleted or edited, so as to not lose post count and gem count. After this post, any topic found created after will be edited and the topic creator issued a warning.

Thanks for the rule review, and we hope you enjoy your flight on TerraEarth Airlines.

[boxxleman]

I would like to add a couple reasons why these actions are taking place:

1) Since TerraEarth has evolved over the years, it has become more and more professional in terms of content, design and maintenance. When TerraEarth first hit the internet, it was common to place ROMs and other illegal softwares on websites. With governments cracking down, we feel it best to no longer host such files.

2) We want TerraEarth to expand and grow. This means adding new Enix/Quintet games in the future. This will of course gain more traffic. Perhaps one day we can be recognized by Nintendo Power or some other gaming magazine. However, they wouldn't recognize us if we had illegal files floating around our website. I plan to write Nintendo Power one day about TerraEarth. You never know what may come of it.

3) It's morally right and we can gain more affiliates this way. Many websites in the past have declined our offer of affiliation solely on the fact because we hosted ROM files.

4) No more ROMs means we can promote eBay auctions to sell more SB, IOG and TN game carts. This would be great for the series and our website.

I hope this clears things up!

[SoulBlazerFan]

Something just occured to me, I know these a loophole in the law about legally downloading a ROM if you own the original cart. (In the event the cart malfuctions or breaks, or just a digital copy of it). Are we allowed to discuss ROMs in this manner? For instance, if I were to say "I'm playing a ROM of SB on my computer" as long as we mention that we "own" the original cart?

[Jason Tandro]

Something just occured to me, I know these a loophole in the law about legally downloading a ROM if you own the original cart. (In the event the cart malfuctions or breaks, or just a digital copy of it). Are we allowed to discuss ROMs in this manner? For instance, if I were to say "I'm playing a ROM of SB on my computer" as long as we mention that we "own" the original cart?

That's one of those gray areas. To me it seems the main issue is the DISTRIBUTION of pirated content, not the admission that you yourself own the content.

[tay120n64]

Talk about ROMs all you like, however the DISTRIBUTION of ROMs, whether directly or indirectly is not allowed.

[boxxleman]

There has been a small amendment to the site policies. The ROMs and soundtracks have now been added to TerraEarth. Please read the disclaimer before downloading the ROMs. Even though TerraEarth now has these games available for download, it is still prohibited to share any form of ROMs on the TerraEarth forums. Thank you for understanding.