History Webpage...

[datahead8888]

This is a task to create a "History of Secret Chronicles" page.

It would overview the history of the different forks:

• Super Mario Clone FX - Creator/leader unknown
• Secret Mario Chronicles - Led by FluXy
• The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M (TSC) - Led by Quintus

It could include screenshots of older versions (probably not of Super Mario Clone FX, since this would infringe on Nintendo's copyrights in countries that do not have "fair use" laws) as well as addtional info. We could also talk a little bit about the history of each fork - things such as the development of major features such as scripting, etc could be discussed.

[Luiji]

probably not of Super Mario Clone FX, since this would infringe on Nintendo's copyrights in countries that do not have "fair use" laws

Countries that don't have fair use laws are only relevant if we live in them, I would think.

[datahead8888]

Countries that don't have fair use laws are only relevant if we live in them, I would think.

A lot of TSC contributors don't live in the United States, which I think Quintus said may be the main source of fair use laws. We would not want them to be subject to copyright infringement claims.

If anyone can find more info on this, clearly stating what we can do with Mario and/or Super Mario Clone FX images, I'd be curious. It would be cool if we could include screenshots from all 3 forks in the history page, if it's legal internationally.

[Luiji]

@datahead8888 I'm just not exactly sure if the contributors would be liable for the screenshots we put up of software they didn't have anything to do with. But you know what it's time for!

IIIIIIIII AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NNNNN         NNNNN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LLLLL
  IIIII   AAAAA     AAAAA NNNNNNNNNN    NNNNN AAAAA     AAAAA LLLLL
  IIIII   AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NNNNN  NNNNN  NNNNN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LLLLL
  IIIII   AAAAA     AAAAA NNNNN    NNNNNNNNNN AAAAA     AAAAA LLLLL
  IIIII   AAAAA     AAAAA NNNNN         NNNNN AAAAA     AAAAA LLLLL
IIIIIIIII AAAAA     AAAAA NNNNN         NNNNN AAAAA     AAAAA LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

(I am not a lawyer.)

[datahead8888]

That's an interesting point. It might depend on whether the organization as a whole is liable, though. Of course, I am not a lawyer (or law student), either. I'll be happy if it turns out you're right, though.

[Bugsbane]

What about if we put up screenshots with the legally dubious bits blurred out?

[Luiji]

@Bugsbane There'd be nothing left. :P

[Bugsbane]

@Bugsbane There'd be nothing left. :P

Quite possibly. Still, even a big, fully blurred rectangle, would be more amusing than an empty space with no image at all.

[datahead8888]

I think Luiji's point here is that what makes Super Mario Clone FX what it is are the heavily Nintendo'ish sprites themselves (especially the Mario sprite). If you remove those sprites from the picture, it arguably defeats the purpose of including screenshots at all for the original fork.

[Bugsbane]

Yes, I understand his point. My point is that something, even something that displays only 1-10% of the original, is still better than nothing.

[Luiji]

@Bugsbane I disagree. A blurry picture that doesn't portray any information is just a waste of space and bandwidth.

[xet7]

If somebody is interested in this, add pull request with history as text. No screenshots, those are usually copyrighted.

[datahead8888]

@xet7 - many tickets serve as long term to-do's -- you can't just close them since no one has time to do them at a given point, unless everyone agrees they shouldn't be done. We've been leaving a whole lot more tickets open as reminders on the main game repository.

[datahead8888]

We probably do need to go through the tickets on the main game repository and ask ourselves what still will be worked, but if we were to apply this methodology, over 100-200 of the game repo tickets would be closed.

We can certainly discuss managing tickets differently, but we ought to come to a team decision on it. I'd also suggest doing it the same way between the website and game repos.

[xet7]

@datahead8888

Ok thanks, I didn't know it's a reminder.

Redmine has task dependencies and priorities, so that will help with managing tickets.

[Quintus]

A clarification on the "fair use" topic. It's not that countries like Germany do not allow any use of copyrighted material. The "fair use" exemption in the U.S. is a kind of catch-all mechanism that ultimately boils down to a lot of case law and where not, to mere guessing. In continental Europe, we instead have a refined system of several specific exemptions from copyright law. In Germany, we have for example a codified citation exemption, a codified exemption to make a private copy, a codified exemption for scientific use, etc. Thus, it's not as if there aren't any copyright exemptions.

It's just that I don't see a possible exemption for use on our website. Private use, well, means private use. A public website usually isn't private use. Technically speaking, fan art is illegal for example unless the copyright holder gives his permission. The reality is that most often companies recognise the fan art and don't do anything, because they see it as a gratis promotion.