Copyright Violations with Wikia

[The dark lord trombonator]

Well... as we all know, the Pokémon Encyclopedia (TPE) from Wikia has been copying articles from Bulbapedia and passing them off as their own. Due to a difference in licenses, this is simply not allowed.

Civil discussions began with management from TPE; however, these have now broken down, and anyone who makes it known they affiliate with Bulbapedia or are sympathetic to our causes has been blocked, often without reason. In some cases, the user's personal talk page (the one page on Wikia a blocked user may edit) has been protected as "create=sysop". Even Archaic was blocked for twenty years, just for reasoning calmly with the lead administrator, Charitwo.

Attribution tags have failed. Talking to the local administrators has failed. Talking to Wikia staff has failed, and now more and more pages are being found that have been taken - not only from Bulbapedia - but Wikipedia as well. This is clearly evident in the use of custom images created for use on Bulbapedia by Project Custom Sprite, but also in the use of non-existent templates such as Bulbapedia's Template and Template:Infobox game.

As contributors to Bulbapedia, we should protect our copyright. Let's find everywhere TPE infringes on us, so we can let Archaic know what should be taken down. Keep in mind that while the facts themselves are not protected by any means, the manner in which they are displayed is.

 

[Dianna Agron]

Their entire Ranger Page is stolen, right down to the template.

 

[Naya Rivera]

You try to tell the admin's what they are doing is wrong and they right away block you...

 

[TTEchidna]

I love how they jacked my idea for the movelist templates and my map of Johto for Cherrygrove City.

 

[Dianna Agron]

I was blocked for blanking the Ranger page due to its obvious copying and pasting and I told them "Use your own damn words"

 

[Dianna Agron]

Not only are they copying and pasting from Bulbapedia, they are also doing it from Wikipedia. "Their" article about Oddish is ripped from Wikipedia, right down to the sources and references.

 

[TTEchidna]

I really won't be happy until this thing is shut down completely. It's not necessary, first of all, since we're already there to provide the wiki service. Plus the fact that it's hardly used and mostly stubs just proves that it's nothing of use at all.

 

[Archaic]

To be fair, they can use as much of the Wikipedia stuff as they want. Wikipedia and Wikia are owned by the same group of people, and the licenses are compatible.

Anything taken from us should be documented. If we don't have a satisfactory resolution from their people, I'll take it straight to the top, and I want a nice long list of issues (together with URL's) that I can quote.

 

[Clarky13]

We need to start a campaign, and everyone needs to create an account on the place, and take it down from the inside, mhahahahahaha.. WWI (Wikia war I) style!!!

 

[White Len]

Why don't we just rephrase the articles? Pages like Platinum would probably take about 5-10 minutes; even if it wastes our time, at least we won't have to go all out and vandalize instead.

 

[Sketch]

We need to start a campaign, and everyone needs to create an account on the place, and take it down from the inside, mhahahahahaha.. WWI (Wikia war I) style!!!

No vandalism.

Why don't we just rephrase the articles? Pages like Platinum would probably take about 5-10 minutes; even if it wastes our time, at least we won't have to go all out and vandalize instead.

Why should we do their work though just for it to probably get reverted anyway?

 

[Jioruji Derako]

Could people start posting links to copyright violations right here? Blanking their pages seems to piss them off to no end, so I'd like to take a more diplomatic approach and give the links directly to Charitwo. If we don't do anything to the pages, they have no reason to block us; if they still block us anyway, THEN we have a good reason to go straight over Charitwo's head, with proof to back it up.

I've been attempting to talk to Charitwo, and have not tried to edit any copyrighted pages, and I'm still unblocked. That's a start at least.

Sannse has also stressed that if we did find copyrighted images, they need to be taken down; if someone could link to the custom sprites they've taken, I can bring those straight to her and have them dealt with.

Geo - a.k.a. Jioruji Derako

 

[Zhen Lin]

Sannse has also stressed that if we did find copyrighted images, they need to be taken down

Odd. The majority of images I've seen on, say, the Final Fantasy or .hack Wikias are high-resolution copies of official artwork. Certainly not the sort of thing which would be tolerated as "fair use" on Wikipedia...

 

[Zephy]

We need to start a campaign, and everyone needs to create an account on the place, and take it down from the inside, mhahahahahaha.. WWI (Wikia war I) style!!!

Sketch is right. The Pokémon Encyclopedia's reputation is tainted but Bulbapedia's isn't.
As long as we don't vandalize The Pokémon Encyclyopedia and don't act too childish people will probably come to see Bulbapedia as more reputable.

 

[Nando]

It says 'I like Regigigas' on their Regigigas page.

 

[Nekusagi]

It says 'I like Regigigas' on their Regigigas page.

Why do I now have mental images of that creepy turtles kid on YouTube?

 

[Politoed666]

For everyone that's suggested being diplomatic and talking it over with Charitwo, it hasn't worked. Almost all of our users who have gone over and even mentioned the issue of copyright infringement have been blocked with ridiculous expiration dates, such as 10000 years. That's basically Charitwo's way of saying that he's not willing to talk or negotiate. It's not working.

Note that I'm not encouraging or justifying vandalism, per say. Hence, don't replace the content of their pages with "FUCKING THEIVES!" However, I personally am giving my okay for users to make points over there without being vulgar or stupid. I believe it is justified to repeatedly re-create pages describing the problems we have with their stealing our information. I also believe it is alright to put delete tags on pages directly copied from Bulbapedia.

That's just my opinion.

 

[Dianna Agron]

I tried to put a delete tag on their Pokemon Ranger page, and I was hastily blocked for 50 years. I've sent an email to Charitwo and posted the message on my Wikia talk page.

 

[Nekusagi]

Wow, Charitwo is an immature prick, to say the least.

 

[Zephy]

It says 'I like Regigigas' on their Regigigas page.

So it does!
I hope that wasn't by an angry Bulbapedian.