Translation has hit a wall

[st4rw4k3r]

I have received an email from the maker of this translation:


Dear Sir,

I am the chief editor of Les Forges and I recently stumbled upon your translation works. It always pleases me to see that our work is considered worthy of being read overseas and I thank for your effort. However (and unless otherwise stated) these articles belong to their respective authors and I'm afraid you did overlook the respect of their rights (I guess sprite tweakers and ROM hackers are not very keen on respecting copyright laws).

• The 9 chapters of the Pixel-Art course were written by me. I granted translation and publication rights for those to OpenGameArt and they did a good job with it. If you want your readers to read those articles, you are welcome to give them a link to OpenGameArt rather than making an unauthorized translation.



• The article about mapping (which you translated as Methods and Tips for Mapping) was written by my good friend Joachim Desplanques, and you are not to publish it without his authorization. His email is vandorell@hotmail.fr

Also, I noticed that you hotlinked some images from our server rather than hosting them yourself. If you were to obtain the rights to publish translations of articles that are published on Les Forges, you should host the images yourself. Usually when I spot hotlinks, I rename the images on our server and put (very) dirty pornographic images instead of the original ones.

Yours Faithully,

Antoine Gersant



Well there you are.
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=7331.0 <- translation

[Durbs]

Ouch. That's disappointing... but I suppose he's right.

[Eternal]

If he doesn't want his work posted here, that's his right. Best thing to do would be to send an e-mail confirming the removal and to do it. Not like there's not other guides, afterall.

[lirmont]

The irony of him complaining that you don't respect copyright laws even when his articles use copyrighted material (scenes from video games) as teaching tools is not lost on me.

[Lijj]

Crappy guide anyway. Fine snob, keep your lame guide I've seen better less garrilous ones anyway.
LOL, what a schmuck he is using copywritten material. I think him degrading us as mere modders; sprite tweakers/thieves is a little unecessary.

[GeneralStrife]

Crappy guide anyway. Fine snob, keep your lame guide I've seen better less garrilous ones anyway.
LOL, what a schmuck he is using copywritten material. I think him degrading us as mere modders; sprite tweakers/thieves is a little unecessary.

[Dome]

You should have left it
I WANTED pr0n!!!!!1111111

[st4rw4k3r]

I sent my reply:


Oh? You would do me the honour to add porn to it, that sounds quite tempting, but I must pass.
I have read the translation done by OpenGameArt, it is not the same as the one on Les Forges. I wish to continue a full translate of the original, but I feel I should not continue to do so.
The tutorial is no longer on Final Fantasy Hacktics' Forums.

You have done a great job on the tutorial, and I have learned about spriting from it myself.

--
ST4RW4K3R

[agersant]

The irony of him complaining that you don't respect copyright laws even when his articles use copyrighted material (scenes from video games) as teaching tools is not lost on me.

You might want to learn about Fair Use (or Droit de citation as a rough equivalent for French works). Here's a good start : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_quote
Publishing a screenshot of a copyrighted game is Fair Use, publishing entire copyrighted articles is not.

I've just sent another email to st4rw4k3r and I hope it will clarify the situation.

[lirmont]

Quoting the image (a screenshot for the sake of a screenshot) fits that definition. USING the underlying work is something different. I could take a screenshot of said article and call it Fair Use. USING the work that made the article up is obviously something different. The scenarios are the same.

[Eternal]

So long as this situation is resolved in a peaceful and prompt manner, I'll be happy.

[st4rw4k3r]

Okay people he replied fast to my email.


_{I have read the translation done by OpenGameArt, it is not the same as the one on Les Forges.}

> It's true there's a small difference between OpenGameArt and the version on Les Forges because I made a few updates to the course when we launched a new version of Les Forges some time ago. OpenGameArt's translation is based on the original course as it was published around 2008.

_{I wish to continue a full translate of the original, but I feel I should not continue to do so.}

> Now I'll consider this as a formal request to obtain from me the rights to translate and publish the Pixel-Art course from Les Forges. Believe it or not but I'm ok with it, you may put your work back online and proceed with the remaining chapters of the Pixel-Art course (as long as you keep giving proper credit to Les Forges as original publisher). I always (and happily) authorize translations of my work whenever I'm asked for it beforehand.

You still have to ask Joachim about his mapping tutorial though, because I do not own this one (and it's my job as a chief editor to tell you this). Also, you might want to host the images yourself because you never know when they can turn into horse porn while you're not paying attention.


Yours sincerely,


Antoine Gersant

[Eternal]

It sounds like this is a decent arrangement, then. I welcome everyone who can to help work on the guide, so it can help anyone who may be interested in spriting in the future.

[st4rw4k3r]

Okay I'm opening the new topic back up
After I get permission from the other guy.

[Kaijyuu]

I always (and happily) authorize translations of my work whenever I'm asked for it beforehand.

Attitudes like this annoy me. Why people cling to pointless formalities when the end result is the same either way I'll never know. It just makes things more difficult for everyone.


On the flip side, hotlinking's a no-no, and I would've laughed heartily if he did change the images to porn.



Anywho good thing everything turned out ok in the end.

[Celdia]

@Kaijyuu: We cling to formalities because that is the sort of thing that civilized, respectful people do, be they pointless or not.

I'm not the only one that noticed the new user posting in this thread is the Chief Editor from the email St4r posted, am I?

[RandMuadDib]

I'm not the only one that noticed the new user posting in this thread is the Chief Editor from the email St4r posted, am I?

Of course not.

[Kaijyuu]

You be civilized, I'll be practical. As for respect, certainly giving his (credited) work higher visibility and appreciation is anything other than an insult. Flattery, more like it.

But let's leave it at that, unless you want to make another topic. This topic isn't about internet ethics.

[Mando]

But let's leave it at that, unless you want to make another topic. This topic isn't about internet ethics.

Hell this topic is barely about spriting... probably should be in general or tutorial/guides XD

[GeneralStrife]

Yeah, probably guides because the fancy shmancy tutorial/guide wasn't just about spriting.