**** Paradox Announces new Forum User Agreement & Rules ****

[SAS]

I am amazed how much speculation the "new" rules have generated. Just post what you would be ok with your mom reading and use common sense. But they are much easier to read now, thanks Admin.

[RedRooster81]

It's been there from the beginning, but posting them like this encourages some public discussion. That's all. At least for me.

[the_turtle]

It's been there from the beginning, but posting them like this encourages some public discussion. That's all. At least for me.

Ack. I haven't been aware of the rules that well, presuming they were more general netiquette-rules that apply to most internet-forums. However, I wasn't aware of the broad claim on the copyright of my posts. This does have some serious effect on me continuing (or starting) AARs, which I will have to think hard about.

[Fredrik II]

Ack. I haven't been aware of the rules that well, presuming they were more general netiquette-rules that apply to most internet-forums. However, I wasn't aware of the broad claim on the copyright of my posts. This does have some serious effect on me continuing (or starting) AARs, which I will have to think hard about.

We do not intend to take any information as is and use it for our own purposes. However, this is our legal protection if we happen to use things that have been mentioned in threads on the forum. As someone pointed out the rule has been in there since the start and our general policy of use has not changed.

We have also allowed several AAR writers (who wanted to use Paradox trademarks) who asked specifically if they could use their AARs for different purposes.

[Fiendix]

{No External Links} uhm i cant link to my mp hoi3 forum?

do i have to remove these below? thats gonna be pretty hard to gather mp people.. :/

[Castellon]

First 3 are okay, although I don't think the Europa links work anymore, you need to change those to Paradoxplaza.
The bottom 3 you need to remove. Gather the MP people in the Paradox MP forums, that is why we have them.
We have just encountered too many problems with allowing links to especially 3rd party forums that are designed for subset and clichés of our members.

[Castellon]

We do not intend to take any information as is and use it for our own purposes. However, this is our legal protection if we happen to use things that have been mentioned in threads on the forum. As someone pointed out the rule has been in there since the start and our general policy of use has not changed.

We have also allowed several AAR writers (who wanted to use Paradox trademarks) who asked specifically if they could use their AARs for different purposes.

You see you can pretty much count on Fred to be a reasonable guy, the same does not hold true for "Random Internet poster", which is why the rule is written the way it is.

[the_turtle]

We do not intend to take any information as is and use it for our own purposes. However, this is our legal protection if we happen to use things that have been mentioned in threads on the forum. As someone pointed out the rule has been in there since the start and our general policy of use has not changed.

We have also allowed several AAR writers (who wanted to use Paradox trademarks) who asked specifically if they could use their AARs for different purposes.

Thanks for the clarification. From the general atmosphere in the forums and the way you guys interact with the community, this is what I had generally assumed to be the Paradox working line.

I think it is good though to think before making a conscious decision about things, rather than face consequences you wouldn't have wanted later on.

Thanks again!

[Fiendix]

First 3 are okay, although I don't think the Europa links work anymore, you need to change those to Paradoxplaza.
The bottom 3 you need to remove. Gather the MP people in the Paradox MP forums, that is why we have them.
We have just encountered too many problems with allowing links to especially 3rd party forums that are designed for subset and clichés of our members.

I assumed its for leaking PR and SEO, but seems im wrong - but if it is, then linking to pages on topic with paradox forum is good.

Anyways is it better now? not in the form of a link ? Im sorry to say but the mp forum just is too hard to keep in order if we have a couple of games and we want to keep communication clear.. although we do recruit and post on the boards its much easier to do anything when you have full control of posting ability.

if the above is stilll not ok let me know and ill remove it. the rest work ok from what i see.

[Castellon]

Nope you are just attempting to get around the rule there.
No linking means no posting links, however you want to phrase them so they don't show up that way.

[Fiendix]

really unhappy with this - think most ppl are not aware as all of your game's mp forums have such links... no to mention links to wiki or historic resources on the net when discussing historic stuff....

so now when you want to point something out about the build of a tiger you cant copy the text from the page that its on as its copywrited and you cant post a link to it what are u to say? PM me for the link?? Can you clarify this? maybe i should move this conversation to PM?

[sbr]

What a silly rule. So you can't even paste an address here even if it is not an actual link?

[Castellon]

really unhappy with this - think most ppl are not aware as all of your game's mp forums have such links... no to mention links to wiki or historic resources on the net when discussing historic stuff....

so now when you want to point something out about the build of a tiger you cant copy the text from the page that its on as its copywrited and you cant post a link to it what are u to say? PM me for the link?? Can you clarify this? maybe i should move this conversation to PM?

Feel free to PM me with any questions as well.
Links to a wiki site without a user forum composed mainly of our members is fine.
Links to news articles from legitimate news organizations is fine.

[Castellon]

What a silly rule. So you can't even paste an address here even if it is not an actual link?

Thank-you for your opinion, our opinion of course differers, we do not make up rules at random, we have reasons for each of them.
-See how I followed rule #3 there.

[Hibernian]

You can't make any external links? So if I'm in a historical discussion about say... the First World War and I want to link to the Wikipedia article to show something (Like this: World War I) I'm not allowed to?

I doubt anyone is going to follow a rule like that, good luck enforcing it.

[Castellon]

You can't make any external links? So if I'm in a historical discussion about say... the First World War and I want to link to the Wikipedia article to show something (Like this: World War I) I'm not allowed to?

I doubt anyone is going to follow a rule like that, good luck enforcing it.

Oh I have no doubts on the staffs ability to enforce any of these rules. However Wiki links are okay as I mention just 2 posts above yours.

[th3freakie]

5. {Post On Topic} You will only post messages that are within the particular forum’s scope or topic. You will use descriptive subject titles when posting new threads. You will not hijack threads for your own purpose but, rather, will begin a new thread with the new subject. Except for the specially designated "other language" forums all posts are to be in English as that is the common language of the Moderators.

Twisted-And-Confusing-Thread-Titles-Which-Make-Sense-Anyway-Well-Sorta-Kinda were some of my best creations in this place!

[Diet of Worms]

We do not intend to take any information as is and use it for our own purposes. However, this is our legal protection if we happen to use things that have been mentioned in threads on the forum. As someone pointed out the rule has been in there since the start and our general policy of use has not changed.

We have also allowed several AAR writers (who wanted to use Paradox trademarks) who asked specifically if they could use their AARs for different purposes.

Could this not be accomplished by something along the lines of: "Paradox has a worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual license to all material... etc. etc."

I'm no lawyer, certainly not a Swedish one, but I did at one point read a lot of Groklaw... I'm pretty sure the actual assignment of copyright by forum Ts&Cs would be impossible under US law - a specific written instrument would be needed to transfer a copyright that was not created as a work for hire. I was under the impression this came from the Bern Convention.

I know this is something of a nitpick - I realise you aren't trying to do anything under hand and I'm not trying to be purposefully annoying. But surely there is something wrong with the idea that an AAR writer would need a license from Paradox to distribute their own work (in a case where no actual Paradox authored intellectual property was involved)?

More to the point, there doesn't seem to be anything else about copyright beyond the assertion of Paradox's ownership. If this was invalid in some jurisdictions, would Paradox still have any sort of explicit license to it?

[Castellon]

Hi, we do not intend to argue legal cases on this forum.
These are the rules and the terms of service under which the board operates.

[Captain Gars]

Could this not be accomplished by something along the lines of: "Paradox has a worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual license to all material... etc. etc."

I'm no lawyer, certainly not a Swedish one, but I did at one point read a lot of Groklaw... I'm pretty sure the actual assignment of copyright by forum Ts&Cs would be impossible under US law - a specific written instrument would be needed to transfer a copyright that was not created as a work for hire. I was under the impression this came from the Bern Convention.

I know this is something of a nitpick - I realise you aren't trying to do anything under hand and I'm not trying to be purposefully annoying. But surely there is something wrong with the idea that an AAR writer would need a license from Paradox to distribute their own work (in a case where no actual Paradox authored intellectual property was involved)?

More to the point, there doesn't seem to be anything else about copyright beyond the assertion of Paradox's ownership. If this was invalid in some jurisdictions, would Paradox still have any sort of explicit license to it?

Film production companies (especially in the US) do something similar to protect themselves. If you want to send them anything you need to sign a waiver basically saying that if anything similar (or exactly like it) would show up in anything they produce you can't sue them.