STPMA Forums open

[AslanC]

What started as a Yahoo Group (and still is) for the exchange of photomanipulations of characters in Star Trek uniforms has made the next step to being a forum based community.

http://stpma.perfect-drug.org/boards/index.php

Feel free to stop by and join up if you are interested.

[RaconteurX]

Already signed aboard.

[Owen E Oulton]

Humph! Yet another "you have to sign up even to see our site" board. I'm against that on general principles. I can see requiring a membership to participate, or even to access file attachments, but not just to read the messages and find out if if want to join.

[AslanC]

Humph! Yet another "you have to sign up even to see our site" board. I'm against that on general principles. I can see requiring a membership to participate, or even to access file attachments, but not just to read the messages and find out if if want to join.

Sorry biut that was a choice made to protect the artwork of the posters. We have had a lot of problems with people stealing the Photomanips for their sites and not asking permission, not giving credit or even in a few cases trying to pass them off as their own work.

Already signed aboard.

Welcome sir

[Ergi]

Sorry but that was a choice made to protect the artwork of the posters. We have had a lot of problems with people stealing the Photomanips for their sites and not asking permission, not giving credit or even in a few cases trying to pass them off as their own work.

I feel like Owen about this. Registering seems, at least to me, to be associated with an obligation to contribute, which I cannot do, at least not on the same level as the "real" members (and therefore I won't).

Your reasons for forced registration don't convince me. If I wanted to steal other peoples' artwork to pass it off as my own I'd rather go to a non-public forum with fewer members and therefore less eyes to spot me using the work of other artists on my homepage.

[Tobian]

Stupid question but can't you simply block the images to non memers and let people read the boards, to see what it's all about. I am often found hanging about on Scifi-meshes, and they do that there, likelly because of bandwidth issues.

I am not sure what making someone register will do to stop people stealing images if they wanted too? You could register with a fake account, steal them all then walk away. Following the data trail could be nigh on impossible, since someone's website need have nothing to do with their personal details or IP address? Not that I am trying to give people ideas

That said congrats on getting it set up, it looks nice... from the door mat, I don't particularly want to register either, as it's not something I want to do as a hobby, but it would have been nice to take a look.

[AslanC]

Well I for one won't make a judgement call on this whole registration to see thing, for my money it is a harmless moment and it is done. It is a shame that something I find trivial prevents you from joining, but c'est la vie. We made the choice and we stand by it.

Since the images are not uploaded to our forums but linked to the creator's hosting site, there is nothing we could do to block anyone from seeing them.

Also this isn't meant to stop theft, but discourage it. Much liek the "Club" doens't make it impossible to steal your car, but it does make it harder.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Sorry biut that was a choice made to protect the artwork of the posters. We have had a lot of problems with people stealing the Photomanips for their sites and not asking permission, not giving credit or even in a few cases trying to pass them off as their own work.

Yet I don't recall anyone asking if they could use cast photos from our site in manipulations. I don't in fact mind, since I know you, but it would have been nice to be asked first.

[AslanC]

Um nothing for nothing, but I did ask, 2 years ago or more and at the time you said it was cool. I had no reason to think that the permission had changed. If it has, I will remove them now.

I am not a hypocrite.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Actually the image you used for the Captain Ramirez is a fairly new one, and uses one of the publicity shots for Intrepid. As I recall the only thing we discussed was my own photomanipulations from our RPG, which you're certainly more than welcome to use - I still have some on the old yahoo group. I recall doing some specifically for you in fact. But it was a bit of a surprise to see a recent publicity shot from our site used in a photomanipulation. It's actually kind of flattering to see a uniform I made used in such way. Like I said, I have no objection, but I'd have been grateful for a heads up first. In fact, I probably could have given you some better high res body shots if you'd asked.

Apologies if you took it as an accusation of hypocrisy; it wasn't intended as such. I just thought it was kind of ironic, given the closed door policy of the site. Just my sense of humour I guess.

[AslanC]

Actually the image you used for the Captain Ramirez is a fairly new one, and uses one of the publicity shots for Intrepid. As I recall the only thing we discussed was my own photomanipulations from our RPG, which you're certainly more than welcome to use - I still have some on the old yahoo group. I recall doing some specifically for you in fact. But it was a bit of a surprise to see a recent publicity shot from our site used in a photomanipulation. It's actually kind of flattering to see a uniform I made used in such way. Like I said, I have no objection, but I'd have been grateful for a heads up first. In fact, I probably could have given you some better high res body shots if you'd asked.

Ahh I see, that image was not made by me, but I am going to talk to the artist about where he got the source image from. I am very strict about the stealing of images, it is a big no-no for me as I understand the work that goes into these things.

I will apologize in advance if it is the case (which I am not doubting it is) I simply want to get all sides of the story first.

Apologies if you took it as an accusation of hypocrisy; it wasn't intended as such. I just thought it was kind of ironic, given the closed door policy of the site. Just my sense of humour I guess.

No apologies necessary, it was not taken as an accusation, merely pointing out that I am not one (a hypocrite) If you wanted it taken down, I would do so in a heart beat as it would only be the right thing to do.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

No need to take it down. I don't mind, and I didn't think there was any intentional 'stealing', and I don't see it that way. I have no problem with people using these images, within reason. In fact, it's inevitable. I can point you to the original image though, and I think it's kinda cool someone thought it was good enough to use. Trivia point; the original image only has three pips; if you look, you can see the extra pip doesn't quite line up.

Don't worry; I'm cool with it. I guess my attempt to be witty just kind of fell flat.

[AslanC]

Glad you are cool But this still becomes an STPMA issue now that I must deal with.

Can you give me the link to the original please?

[AslanC]

I guess my attempt to be witty just kind of fell flat.

I know that feelings, trust me :P

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Glad you are cool But this still becomes an STPMA issue now that I must deal with.

Can you give me the link to the original please?

The original is at http://www.ussintrepid.org.uk/promos/hunter1024.jpg but I really wouldn't bother. It's cool as far as I'm concerned.