November 26, 2012

EA Clarifies the EULA!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: EA, EULA, greed, paysites, pescado, pirates, PMBD, sims 3, steve bonham, Suck on that TSR!, the sims resource, thomas, tsr — coconut @ 02:38

EA has now clarified the EULA to make it crystal clear. Published November 6, 2012

Yes, TSR this applies to YOU!

For Steve and Thomas, who have always purposely had trouble understanding the meaning of the EULA..

This says that greedy businesses such as TSR have waived any legal or moral rights to their ‘contributions’ and that EA and OTHER PLAYERS can publish, attribute or use these downloads without further notice or compensation to TSR or any other paysite.

For everyone else

You finally have the clarity from EA that you have been waiting for, so if you re-publish a ‘contribution’ from TSR, and you get the usual take down notices from places such as Mediafire or your webhost, just reply with a copy of the EA EULA PDF and a screencap and/or directions to the relevent part. ( PDF page 3, Part G ) You could also include a link to or a copy of this EULA on your site so that there are no misunderstandings.

The EULA PDF is here to download for your use: EULA_ THE SIMS 3 and will be also available with the new expansion pack University Life.

TEXT version of screencap for translators:

“In exchange for the use of the software, and to the extent that your contributions through the use of the software give rise to any copywrite interest, you hereby grant EA an exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, fully transferable and sub-licensable worldwide right and licence to use your contributions in any way and for any purpose in connection with the software and related good and services including the rights to reproduce, copy, adapt, modify, perform, display, publish, broadcast, transmit, or otherwise communicate to the public by any means whether now known or unknown and distribute your contributions without any further notice or compensation to you of any kind for the whole duration of protection granted to intellectual property rights by applicable laws and international conventions. You hereby waive any moral rights of paternity, publication, reputation, or attribution with respect to EA’s and other players’ use and enjoyment of such assets in connection with the software and related goods and services under applicable law. The licence grant to EA, and the above waiver of any applicable moral rights, survives any termination of the licence.”

With special thanks to Sunsetsims

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Comments (10)

June 22, 2012

EA mole gives IP of complainant to hackers.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: coconut, EA, EULA, greed, Gullible, hacking, information sharing, lies, money, Part-time prison guard with self importance issues, paysites, Pedophile, pervert, pescado, pirates, PMBD, Sherrie Dandan, sims 2, sims 2 downloads, sims 3, steve bonham, the sims resource, thomas, thomass, trojans, true face, tsr — coconut @ 23:15

EA Has committed a huge breach of confidentiality and security by not only passing on the complaint, but also the IP of the complainant to TSR. Furthermore a complaint that was meant to go to EA’s legal department was blocked from arriving there by EA’s community manager, Sherrie Dandan. Sherrie also alerted TSR on the number of complaints they have received and how they were submitted at the same time as thanking TSR for their bribe ‘gift’ sent to their offices.

This resulted in the WRONG person getting the blame for making the complaint, causing a 13 year old girl to have her online accounts hacked. The girls mother had not made the complaint she was accused of, instead she complained to TSR over what she deemed was inappropriate messages between Thomas and her child over MSN.

I checked the IP’s myself and it is pretty clear that the girl and her mother have completely different IP’s to the complainant. Steve would know this, which makes me think that the whole blame game was manipulated by Steve/TSR in order to ’show off’ a series of Emails between Steve and the EA community manager to prove Steve’s point that EA really do not give a shit who gets hacked. The girls mother had previously asked for advice on the shoutbox here, ( 27th May ) it was a pretty safe bet she would be back in contact when she was blamed for something she did not do, thus showcasing Steve’s validation of EA support.

Below are screencaps of the entire communication, with the childs name/email removed and IP of the real complainant. Sorry about repeat lines, it was the only way I could screencap this in several shots while showing that there is nothing missing from the original. As with all fowarded emails, it may be a good idea to read from the bottom upward to get the full gist and context of the email exchange between Steve and the mole. Also available in TEXT versions for translators.

TEXT VERSION HERE!

TEXT VERSION HERE

It is fair to add the deletion of this young girls account is NOT the issue here, as this was the wish of her parents. The issue is TSR hacking into her EA account to make her believe EA had banned her for making a complaint and that they also hacked her Twitter/google/youtube and deleted her personal videos of something they knew meant a lot to her.

TEXT VERSION HERE

We have learned many things from the communications between Sherrie Dandan ( EA community Manager ) and Steve Bonham ( TSR joint admin and part time prison guard )

Sherrie Dandan is willing to block all complaints intended for EA legal.
Sherrie Dandan is willing to share private communications intended for EA legal.
Sherrie Dandan is willing to share a paying customers IP with the group they have just revealed as hackers.
Sherrie Dandan is willing to give TSR the number of complaints received ( and blocked from reaching their destination. )
Sherrie Dandan is willing to accept ‘gifts’ from TSR.
Sherrie Dandan is willing to believe that all complaints stem from my blog ( which this did not ) despite Steve/TSR not providing proof that anyone connected with this blog sent it.
Sherrie Dandan is willing believe, then go on to accuse this blog of being a ‘pirating site’ despite no pirated content being on this site, furthermore – I personally, until now, have paid for every game and expansion pack I own and have done since The Sims 1. It is false accusations such as this that make me, and other falsely accused players pay more attention to sites such as MOONSIMS or FREE SIMS STORE when looking for future content.
Sherrie Dandan believes that because this site is hosted by someone who hosts another site that has ‘pirated’ store content submitted on his forum… that makes ME a pirate. That is like saying that everyone who has a blogger account with google are pirates because somewhere there is a blogger account that hosts pirated content…. That is beyond stupid.
Sherrie Dandan believes Steve when he says that all my screencaps are edited and can be clearly seen with pixel zoom. Clearly Sherrie believes this on face value and has never once examined any of my screencaps to see that this is a blatent lie. She also believes the vast amount of the community and sites that supply information here do not exist because I made them up. Who does she think are buying the games?. Most screencaps come with a link to the site they are on and yet Sherrie believes I own all these sites too.
Steve has supplied several ‘quotes’ from Coconut including “well I don’t care, I still think it was TSR so our accusation stands” and a ‘vow from me to bring down TSR because I was a failed FA’. Both quotes completely made up and with no truth to them whatsoever, but Sherrie has chosen to believe this with no links or proof that any of these ‘quotes’ where ever made outside of Steves imagination.
Sherrie Dandan believes that followers of this blog were asking TSR members for their passwords despite NO ONE ever complaining this has EVER happened, nor any proof showing that any reader of this blog was involved. Why would they need a pass to TSR anyway? FA accounts are IP controlled meaning that unless you are using a computer in that FA’s house you can not access the account, and on the notion that all our readers are ‘pirates’ they wouldn’t need a subscriber account when the booty/ Sunset sims offers free TSR subscriber downloads with no account needed. No brainer really.
Sherrie Dandan believes Steve when he says that a site that runs a business by manipulating EA made meshes and reselling the content against the EULA is a fansite. You can get full stolen games for free from the pirate bay… they must be superfans!
Sherrie Dandan does not believe screencaps, witness statements, emails, complaints or Steves own contracting statements ( see myths and lies) only the word of one man(?) compared to the word of countless paying customers.
Steve believes his job description …” I work for the Government in Criminal Justice” Sounds better than “I’m a prison guard”
In all this we have learned that Steve is a liar, he will use any means to boast about his relationship with EA, TSR have once again hacked a childs account and that Sherrie Dandan is profoundly stupid.
You have also learned to use other means of complaining to get your complaints heard in the right department and to state why you do not wish your complaints to go through a half wit who accepts bribes gifts from hackers.
EA have left themselves wide open to legal action from the real complainant. Congratulations.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/sadandan

Sherrie A. Dandan’s Experience

Community Manager – The Sims

Electronic Arts

Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; ERTS; Computer Games industry

March 2008– Present (4 years 4 months)

- Managing and growing The Sims community on TheSims3.com and TheSims2.com websites and social networks
- Synch with PR, Development team and Marketing to push game and content releases to community
- Distribute daily, weekly, and monthly reports on community outreach and growth
- Composing copy for news items and descriptions for virtual goods
- Organizing fan events
- Arranged accommodations, venues, services while staying within limited budgets

I can not find anywhere in her job description where it says she has the power to decide what is forwarded to EA legal and what is instead forwarded to hackers. Most companies have a policy that all communications mentioning legal action should be forwarded to the legal dept, I have not heard of any company who deem it ok to forward the complaint to friends/hackers and ridicule the complainant while hiding the complaint from the legal dept.

Sherrie Dandan - EA Mole

If anyone at EA believes these sceencaps are edited I will be happy to forward the original mails to anyone other than Sherrie Dandan, who already knows these are real.

UPDATE:

The person who did write the complaint to EA, and had her info shared with TSR by EA Mole Sherrie Dandan has now decided to take legal action.

http://tsr.mustbedestroyed.org/?p=1746

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Comments (29)

May 22, 2012

TSR, EA and YOU!

Filed under: The Sims Resource, Uncategorized — Tags: Community Leeches, ddos, denial of service attacks, EA, EULA, greed, hacking, information sharing, lies, money, paysites, pirates, PMBD, sims 2 downloads, sims 3, subscription, subscriptions, The Mafia, the sims resource, theft, thomas, thomass, trojans, true face, tsr — coconut @ 12:38

You may think that reporting problems such as this to EA has never been of any benefit, that perhaps it is a waste of your time and that EA have done nothing. Think again. Since TSR adopted a ‘Mafia’ attitude and EA have been hearing about it in many corners, a whole lot has changed already. You would have to be blind not to notice that the glowing support EA once had for TSR has dwindled to nothing. When was the last time TSR had an exclusive on a new exp or stuff pack? ( Not counting the Medieval ‘exclusive’ Steve had to scan from PC Format magazine! ) Hell, EA did not even trust them to preview KP sweet treats! When were they last interviewed by EA? When was the last time someone… anyone? from EA appeared in their forums …..A long time ago.

At the end of the day EA are a business, and yes it makes great business sense to keep on good terms with ‘the largest site in the sims community’. EA may be slow on the uptake, but even they can see now that TSR is only the ‘largest’ because they have been open for 12 years. ( not the longest, as TSR claim, but certainly a long time .) A vast percentage of all their members did not join TSR as it is today, they joined the free community site that it was in 1999, before it was sold off as a money spinning business to the Isakssons. None of the members amassed throughout the years can delete their own accounts or uploads. So that is 12 years of joining with 0 people allowed to leave, you do the math. If they were a regular cult they would need their own country by now. TSR masks itself as a happy place, no negative comments are allowed and until recently candy sweet good comments were rewarded with free subscription days. ( Kudos) Good artists appeared to be dumping their own sites just for the pleasure of working for the popular TSR, and the padded download stats look great. No wonder EA believed the hype. It was only after the dirty dealings and lies came to light that EA have finally distanced themselves from the monster they created. Many of these incidents only came to light because you, the community decided to tell them.

What EA thought was a good business move in ‘turning a blind eye’ to the EULA ( for what seemed like the good of the community at the time ) ended up crushing a large proportion of the true fan community. The free pass that TSR thinks they have has gone right to their heads. Appearing as the largest sims site is not good enough anymore, they want to be the only sims site. This, thankfully, will never happen but while a money crazed madman believes this is possible, many fan sites are still closing due to the hackings, false file or site TOU reports, virus infections or buy outs. Yes, the community has survived and it will continue to, but think how much bigger and better the community would have been now if TSR had not attacked/targeted so many ‘rival’ websites, and continue to do so. This has a direct effect on EA/The Sims franchise. How many of these sites that TSR forced to close, the people TSR has hunted and harassed, the creators forced to quit and the children they exposed to goatse porn just for the shock value have given up on the game completely? CC and the community play a big part in the enjoyment of the game for many, and how many times do you read someone saying that the community is not the same and not fun anymore, reasons usually cited is because their friends have left, favorite sites/forums are gone, their own sites have been attacked or they are being bullied or dictated to. TSR are mentioned directly in 99% of these comments and not in a good way.

The problem is that we, the community are fully aware of all this, mostly everyone has either been on the receiving end or knows someone who has. EA are only aware of what we tell them. How else can they find out? Most forums who speak about this do it in the members only sections for fear of TSR reprisals, Websites are afraid of becoming targets for hackings so they say nothing, those that do usually get the content removed via TOU reports/hacks. Not many post in the EA forums for fear of being ridiculed by TSR trolls. Websites are bullied for providing links to information sources such as this blog, the phorum or PMBD. TSR FA’s ever so sweetly join popular forums, this discourages any negative TSR posts from appearing. ( TSR refers to them as TSR ambassadors. ) With so much dust being swept under the carpet, you can see why EA may find it difficult to understand why TSR are so bad for the community, especially when TSR tell them again and again that anyone speaking against TSR are ‘pirates’ who pirate EA content, that anyone speaking against TSR are also against EA.

This is where You can help. If you are one of the many unlucky people attacked by TSR, whether it is through hacking, TOU/TOS reports, take down notices, nasty messages/emails, demands for links or removal of links, lost money on a subscription, leaked private details or any instance where TSR have directly ruined or spoiled your enjoyment of the game and the community you need to tell EA about it. Be sure to show them screencaps of messages, forward emails of demands and threats, forward take down reports. Let them know how this affects you and your enjoyment of the game you paid for. ( Yes this will take a little of your time, but I am sure rebuilding your website, finding new hosts or begging Mediafire to reinstate your own content took longer. ) If you are too afraid, downhearted or TSR has made it impossible for you to make or continue with your Sims fansite, LET EA KNOW! This not only effects you, it effects EA and the exposure of their product.

Do not expect direct action or even a good response from EA, your goal is to simply make them aware of the effect TSR is having on you and the community. EA already know enough to sever links with TSR, now they need to see the full extent of the damage TSR is doing. It is doubtful they will ever take legal action against TSR, they are probably still under the impression they would upset a lot of TSR’s fictional fans and ‘members’ but at the very least they should clarify the legality of a site that exists only to make money by manipulating EA made content. TSR are not fans of the game or the community, in any shape or form. You can not even truly describe them as a ‘business’ as they disregard any controls that would make a business legitimate. TSR are simply opportunists and leeches. EA’s reluctance to commit to their own EULA and say that such ‘business’ practices are wrong have created a monster and they need to stuff it back in it’s box.

What TSR fail to compute is that the EULA still stands and EA can at any time pull the plug on TSR simply by clarifying that The Sims franchise is owned by EA and it was never designed to be exploited by 3rd party sites as a business venture, it was designed for the enjoyment of paying EA customers and should not be the subject of turf wars and the fallout associated with the criminal activities they use to maintain their cashflow.

Contact EA:

https://help.ea.com/contact-us

https://help.ea.com/contact-us?product=the-sims-3

https://help.ea.com/en/the-sims/the-sims-2

support@ea.com

Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065

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Comments (4)

May 21, 2012

TSR Demands: EA suggest seeking legal advice. ( Updated )

Filed under: Submitted Screencaps, The Sims Resource, Uncategorized — Tags: Bullies, EA, EULA, greed, lies, LinkLords, money, paysites, Petty. Bitter. Little. Man, pirates, PMBD, the sims resource, true face, tsr — coconut @ 12:11

Note: Because non English speakers find it difficult to translate screencaps, I have included a text version of all the images in this article found here http://tsr.mustbedestroyed.org/?page_id=1532

As many of you will have noticed, aside from their frequent hacking and defacements of ‘rival’ sites, TSR’s ridiculous demands and downright bullying of other sites seems to be escalating. They are already in full swing telling fan sites what they can or cannot host, either by take down notices or by making false reports to Mediafire and other file hosts, resulting in the deletion of files totally belonging to the site owner and having nothing what-so-ever to do with TSR. In addition to this, TSR are telling site owners which sites they can and cannot LINK to! After receiving a PM at TSR, one such site owner was so disgusted she wrote to EA to complain. You can tell from the replies that EA was pretty shocked and in the end suggested she take legal advice.

Below are screencaps taken from the forwarded Emails, I have censored out all personal details, I am still awaiting to see if I have permission to name her website, If I have that I will gladly uncensor that part.

This is followed by an auto response with an incident # ( not published ) and then another general response.

EA push the fact that TSR is no way affiliated with them and ask “what is going on?” ( Ref # censored )

She goes on to explain to EA that she got a message from TSR stating they cannot allow her to place a link to her blog. They also LIED to her by stating that the link she had on her site was also to EA pirated content. There has never been pirated content at http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/ In fact that link takes you to a large copy of EA’s EULA where readers might just notice that TSR is illegal. ( Website censored )

EA: “That is completely wrong of them to do that and in no way accepted by us as far as we know.”

EA: ” it would be best to seek professional legal advice on whether or not you are violating their terms of service and whether or not the website is doing anything wrong on their end”

TSR may be in their rights to ask anyone not to promote certain links on their TSR Minisite, but they have NO RIGHTS to order anyone to remove links from their own website. Clearly EA do not have a problem with PMBD links, they suggest you seek legal advice if TSR do.

Just for the lulz, here is TSR’s statement once again..

“Respect for creators is something very important for TSR. … LOL respect is earned and seldom given to bullies.

That is the exact reason why no CC can be included in lots from creators who do not allow it to be included… OH sorry they meant re$pect.

The link you show on your own blog, is about a site that is all about disrespecting creators, specially (FA) creators from TSR. They upload their creations without having their permission. ..How many creations are hosted at TSR despite the creators requesting they are removed. Why can creators not remove their own creations or accounts? There are more creations hosted against the creators wishes at TSR than on any other site anywhere.

We cannot allow you to place a link to your blog when you actually advertise this site on your blog…. Simples. Just delete the TSR link.

You will need to remove that from your creations and from your minisite… Some bullies never leave the school yard, seriously have you heard yourself? How old are you?

And just for your information: that site is not made by EA,… and are they are trying to give the impression that TSR is?

they are in fact very much against them….. Which is why that link takes you to a huge copy of EA’s EULA which states that stealing their stuff and putting it on paysites is illegal? I would have thought the business illegally selling EA content and demanding the removal of links to the EULA was more against them!

..since that same group of people is also pirating EA creations.” TSR=Commercial, Paysite, Business, Pirates. PMBD=Free, Gratis, Noncommercial. Fans. http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/

The EULA clearly states that “You may include materials created with the Tools & Materials on your personal noncommercial website for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community for EA’s products” TSR are the only ones commercially selling EA creations, and not for the benefit of anyone other than themselves.

Update

I have included the Url of the website, with permission. Many thanks to the webmistress of lesimsdesigns for coming forward and sharing her experience with TSR and her contact with EA.

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February 5, 2012

Awesome donation drive! Updated 18th Feb

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: Awesomeness, MATY, pescado, PMBD — coconut @ 21:25

MATY and PMBD are raising funds for the February biannual server costs. The total currently needed stands at 80%. Funds are needed by the end of the month. Failure to reach the target could result in the closure of MATY and PMBD.

So if you are a fan of MATY, PMBD , The Awesome Mod, the awesome Pescado, the awesome Panama Crew or any of the other many awesomes that hang out there, please consider donating!

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/support.php

Update: The total needed as of today ( Feb 5th ) is $1100. For more information visit the thread at PMBD

Update: The total needed as of today ( Feb 7th ) is $750 For more information visit the thread at PMBD

Update: The total has been reached! Any further donations will go towards the next drive, which I believe is in August, so please consider making a donation over the next 6 months so that there is less urgency when the time comes. I am sure the whole community wishes to thank all those who donated.

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April 7, 2009