Spam Links in the comments of OGA
I noticed that the comments of some submissions sometimes contain links to mini-games that uses the submissions.
It was probably real mini-games at the beginning based on other comments that come after, but today some of these links have been replaced by adverts (not a 404 error that the content is not there anymore).
Examples?
--Medicine Storm
This one, I don't really understand what it is, but it look like a product sold:
https://www.northermobile.com/tn1/index.php?click_id=wpfbqhmidgm41nufi5b...
It's not a game like it is said on this page:
https://opengameart.org/content/space-game-art-pack-extended
Also one message from me in the thread about the public domain has been deleted. I don't think my message was off topic, could you tell me what was wrong with it?
I don't think the deletion was intentional, just coincided with a temporary topic-lock. I have the original text of it:
It's not clear to me what you're asking here, or informing us of, but that isn't related to it's disappearance. If you're saying that taking a photograph of a public sculpture makes a copyrighed photo, yes that is correct. You can also convert a physical public domain book into digital scans of the book. The scans can be copyrighted, but they really shouldn't be. How does that relate to the topic of using Public Domain works to create a CC0 derivative?
That aside, I am not seeing what link you're talking about on the space game art pack extended page. can you tell me which comment it is or which commenter made it?
--Medicine Storm
i can't think of it offhand, but there is a website where this lady curates stuff from old books, scans it herself, and puts attribution requirements on it. there was some stuff there i never saw anywhere else but the lack of a "real" license made me disregard at as a source.
so that is an example of someone attempting to enforce the copyright on their scans, which is legally legit. but as you said, they really shouldn't be.
that's aside from stuff at project gutenberg, as the folks who work there are intentionally releasing their scans into the public domain.
but blue_prawn is right to comment on the possibility of someone trying to enforce their "copyright" on a photo they took of Boticelli's Birth of Venus, for instance.
it just reinofrces the notion we should all be careful about our sources, document where stuff came from, attribute even if not required to establish a sort of "chain of custody" of where you got what you got.
though this has nothing to do with the spam comments discussion in this thread. sorry to derail, i was replying to what storm was saying.
edit: i can't find the link to the site i mentioned. it was a while ago and i could be misremembering details. i did find instances of other scanners offering "free" scans and "premium high res" scans, but with no concrete license specified for their "derivative" scans. all legal of course for them to do as taking a picture of something or scanning it has been found to constitute a derivative work. but i choose not to use sources without concrete license or some indication of thorough research on copyright status.
and edit again, this time on-topc ;) :
7th comment down on the above linked to space game art pack is from 2014 and has a link that redirects to security extension scam.
"Vidmaster: Your space game sounds similar to mine, i got rotable turrets too (they always point to your cursor) and complete free, real time controls. Is there something you have to show already? I'm always interested in sharing inspirations and ideas with other gamedevs :) My game is playable at http://websocket.bonsaiheld.org/ (multiplayer doesn't work at the moment)."
i doubt the original url did that from looking at comments after that refer to that user's game, as blue_prawn indicated in the op. i think it's just an abandonment issue. these things will happen.
and a preemptive apology for butting my nose in to everything. i should really go get some work done.
Ah, there it is. I know Bonsaiheldin is not a spammer, but it looks like the place where their assets were stored is defunct and is being used to harvest clicks. Thanks for pointing that out. It should be fixed. Let me know if there are others like that.
--Medicine Storm
Yes Bonsaiheldin is maybe not a spammer, it can be someone that bought his domain after, and this person put a redirect to catch old links instead of leaving a 404 error.
I remember I saw two other links like that too, but I didn't rember where (there is no report button near comments, and I should probaby not use the report button on the user's page).
"No report button near comments"? Every comment on the site has a report spam button next to it. Where are you seeing comments without a report spam button?
--Medicine Storm