Forgive my stupidity but I have two questions that I'm not sure if they have been answered or not, they revolve around user posted content on this forum:
Should you create an AAR on this forum are you allowed to post it elsewhere? If the rights are automatically transferred to Paradox I feel a sense of unease about the legality of posting an AAR elsewhere as this is something that I am guilty of. Similarly if you post an AAR elsewhere (another site, forum or otherwise) and you then post that content here is the rights to the written works transferred automatically requiring the deletion of the works where previously posted? Further if you post said content on another forum which has a similar rule of transferring copyright material to that forum, when posting said content on this site evolve into a situation where both sites share join copyright privileges to the material, or does the site that first had the material posted maintain a superior claim even if permission to share the material was given? Or rather: I post something on site A, rights are transferred to site A owners, permission to post on site B is granted, it is posted on site B, but site B now also claims ownership. Which takes prevalence? The original claimant or the later? Or a more down to earth and recent example: Anything posted on Youtube becomes the property of Youtube, which means that videos from youtube posted on Paradox will lead to a difficult situation. This is a legal nightmare that poses a legitimate concern, at least from my view.
Second revolves around mod content. There are many users all around this board dedicated to modding the game to make it more enjoyable and to fill in "niches within a niche." Another major problem that should be resolved is whether or not mods posted on this forum are transferred to Paradox for very similar reasons for the AARs, this one is far more prevalent however. AARs are just text, text that take a great deal of time to craft and mix with images, but text nonetheless and are often shared in a few places depending on the author. Mods are, however, far more appealing to the general gaming public and are far more widely spread. A popular mod (lets call it 'A') is downloaded by many people, the creators of the mod often create smaller sites to work on the mod elsewhere. Mod A is a mod that has a rather large modding team that have their own development forum thus creating an impasse as whatever content is posted at Paradox is duplicated on this modding site, further these mods may, and often are, made available on other forums. These forums may also stake a claim on ownership of the mod in direct conflict with paradox.
These are two issues that I can see causing serious legal issues should Paradox wish to enforce ownership on written works or user made modifications. Now for every day posts I do not see this becoming an issue as most posts and comments will be spontaneous and only shared readily in very select and few circumstances. I do not intend for this to in any way challenge or oppose the paradox staff, I will remove it myself immediately and take it via PM or email should it be construed this way. It is just something I feel should be resolved, if at all possible. People are often proud of the work they do here in both Mods and AARs, they would not choose to showcase it otherwise. This invariably leads to them showcasing it elsewhere, sharing it with friends and exposing it to new audiences. There are three things that I can see happening: The removal of AARs and Modifications from Paradox Interactive Forums, thus removing all potential legal conflict regarding these issues, the removal of AAR posts and Modifications from Paradox ownership, or the formal request that any AARs or Mods posted on Paradox be unique and never be reproduced. The first I believe would hurt the Paradox community greatly, the second would allow for a sigh of relief but would compromise Paradox's position making it unlikely, and the third... well, will be almost impossible to enforce as Paradox has no access nor control over what members do outside the forum. They could post this on a major scholastic journal or computer company's page and Paradox would never know until it tried to enforce ownership over the property.
I apologize again if this in any way seems like a challenge to Paradox's authority or rules, and stand by my statement that I will remove it immediately if it is seen as such. Hopefully I'm just acting like an idiot and over complicating a rather simple issue.
o