Posted January 18, 2012 I love the new skin TJ. It may be saying something against it, which was a smart decision in my opinion. It looks pretty cool. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) First I was like "WHAAAA" But, then I was like "YES." Because today is the day that we all beat Sopa/Pipa. And the layout reminds me of a Medieval Castle. Kind of appropriate for a Dragon site. I agree that the layout should be tweaked a bit and stay. Although the Portal layout is, by far, my favorite. Edited January 18, 2012 by MysticTiger Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 Thank you for doing this TJ! I'm glad you made this decision and I fully support it. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 I have an idea, we could have a 24 hour period where nothing dropped in the cave but Black eggs! Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) I'm against these Internet censoring bills as they are. If they were reworked to somehow only target pirates instead of everyone, I'd be for them. Face it, guys--just because the Internet is a free place does NOT mean we have the right to steal from other people. I'm good friends with the keyboardist of a progressive rock band that was doing well until a copy of one of their albums was leaked on the Internet before its release date. They lost so much money because of some irresponsible person that the band had to consider breaking up--the band members simply couldn't afford to pay their bills. Even now, years later, my friend does not get paid by his record label. The pirating thing hits home for me because of this reason, and I refuse to get my music from anywhere other than a CD I paid for and will never watch a movie that has been pirated. I know several other fairly successful musicians...let me tell you, their lives are not always glamorous and cushy and easy. They work hard and put everything into their music and fans, and don't get a single penny from album sales. They have to resort to going on grueling, year-long tours--and let me tell you, guys, those aren't all fun and games for a lot of musicians. They have to sacrifice time with friends and family and a lot more just so they don't get dumped by their label for not bringing in enough dough. They do it because they love music and their fans, so it's a pretty poor trade-off when those fans constantly throw that back in their faces. I wish people would stop to consider how it affects others when they pirate media. There are millions of people in the world today who own hundreds of hours of media that no one got paid a single cent for. How about, instead of saying, "These bills aren't right! They shouldn't be able to oppress us so!" we say, "Yeah, I see where they're coming from. This isn't right, but maybe I helped contribute. Maybe I shouldn't steal music and other media any more." You even say right there that the artists get basically nothing from record sales, so why does this hurt them? Most CDs are basically advertising for the performance, where they make their living; so I've heard. All the musicians I know would LOVE to have people downloading their songs because it would mean people were listening to their music. Heck, most of the bands I like are okay with piracy. I don't think I would pay for the CDs of all these bands when I only like a single song they do. And we do buy CDs if we like a lot their music, to listen to in the car. What I tend to download are video games. I wouldn't pay for them, because I don't want to play them that badly. And I DO sometimes buy the games afterward, if they are good enough. It's sort of like a demo. I have an idea, we could have a 24 hour period where nothing dropped in the cave but Black eggs! Now there is a good idea. *wink* Edited January 18, 2012 by WatersMoon110 Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 I have an idea, we could have a 24 hour period where nothing dropped in the cave but Black eggs! OH U! LOL Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 I've been hearing about this and the site today prompted me to look at it more closely and act. Just imagine not being able to visit this forum because some posted a "link" or something else that was considered to violate one of these new "laws". At some point we Americans will need to remember that the people control the government and not the other way around. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 LOVE this! We're supporting the blackout on SilvAdopts as well! It's a great way to spread the word! I myself wasn't fully aware of this until someone brought it my attention. As a fellow website owner, You have my total support!! <3 Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 You go TJ, I support totally support this censorship protest, We are Americans and value freedom of speech, we can't let them take that freedom from us Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Power of Free Speech to the people! Go TJ! EDIT: My avatar and siggy are trying to help protest Edited January 18, 2012 by NivaTheDragonQueen Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 /support I do feel sorry for anyone attempting to do some quick research for a term paper today. It's like a snow-day for some parts of the Internet. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) xkcd, Wikipedia, and dragcave have all participated in a blackout regarding SOPA today-- among others. Websites based overseas, Facebook, and Google have not. Wikipedia will catch attention-- dragcave, xkcd, etc. will grab attention from all their users and fanbases. SOPA is a big deal. To me, what's telling is which sites are /not/ participating. This isn't the time to bring up just how much money Google is paid by various federal governments, the U.S. gov and otherwise... without that money, Google cannot offer its many free services. However. I ask people to think about that, and to think about a really old idea that the while people may be upheld by their government, the government is upheld by the people... if Google /did/ protest SOPA, could the U.S. federal government /afford/ to blacklist them? Modern warfare is political and economic science practiced by the masses. As an aside, this is the first thing T.J. has done that I actually respect. Welcome to the world, kid. I hope that what do brings you no regrets at the end of your life. Edited January 18, 2012 by ArynChris Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Thanks for this, Teej. I'm against these Internet censoring bills as they are. If they were reworked to somehow only target pirates instead of everyone, I'd be for them. Face it, guys--just because the Internet is a free place does NOT mean we have the right to steal from other people. I'm good friends with the keyboardist of a progressive rock band that was doing well until a copy of one of their albums was leaked on the Internet before its release date. They lost so much money because of some irresponsible person that the band had to consider breaking up--the band members simply couldn't afford to pay their bills. Even now, years later, my friend does not get paid by his record label. The pirating thing hits home for me because of this reason, and I refuse to get my music from anywhere other than a CD I paid for and will never watch a movie that has been pirated. I know several other fairly successful musicians...let me tell you, their lives are not always glamorous and cushy and easy. They work hard and put everything into their music and fans, and don't get a single penny from album sales. They have to resort to going on grueling, year-long tours--and let me tell you, guys, those aren't all fun and games for a lot of musicians. They have to sacrifice time with friends and family and a lot more just so they don't get dumped by their label for not bringing in enough dough. They do it because they love music and their fans, so it's a pretty poor trade-off when those fans constantly throw that back in their faces. I wish people would stop to consider how it affects others when they pirate media. There are millions of people in the world today who own hundreds of hours of media that no one got paid a single cent for. How about, instead of saying, "These bills aren't right! They shouldn't be able to oppress us so!" we say, "Yeah, I see where they're coming from. This isn't right, but maybe I helped contribute. Maybe I shouldn't steal music and other media any more." Just because this band you're talking about had their album leaked and it apparently hurt them (although i'm not sure how- it sounds like the record label was just looking for an excuse not to pay them), there are quite a few directors, musicians, artists, programmers and so on that say that piracy (or at least the free distribution of their product) has helped gain a loyal fan base they wouldn't have otherwise had. There was a low-budget indy movie last year that hit #1 on Amazon's DVD sales charts - Something the Director said was due to a leak of the movie via Torrent which they stated was basically like free world-wide advertisement. And there's still movie directors who purposely put a torrent out there of their movie to gain a bigger fan base. You're not going to stop Pirates. Sorry, they've been around since the beginning of time. People steal from other people. They will continue to do so, even if this bill or a bill like it, passes. The only thing to do is for big media to create products BETTER then what the pirates offer. The invention of ITunes helped. Same with steaming media like Hulu and Netflix. Let me put this bill into a real life situation. Say that someone at a Bank of America branch in Miami, Florida put illegal drugs in their safety deposit box. The bank doesn't know this. However, somehow the government got a tip that these drugs existed in a safety deposit box at the Miami Florida branch of Bank of America. They don't investigate, they just act. This bill would give the government the right to shut down every single bank of america in the united states for "harboring illegal substances". They would shut down the entire banking system- making sure not a single person who banked at that facility would be allowed to get their money out either. Because, after all, they banked there so that means they were conspirators in harboring illegal substances as well. This sounds utterly ridiculous. But that is what this bill does. And that's what every single bill like it will do. It's unconstitutional, it's un-American and frankly, it's sickening. I'm pretty sure the US forefathers are spinning in their graves. Because they set up a free country, not a corporate media run dictatorship. Big Companies are using it as an excuse to say why their products aren't selling good enough for them. According to them, the lack of quality in their products has nothing to do with "lost sales". According to them, a recession isn't even going on apparently. They would never say the fact that they market bad products at ridiculously high prices is the reason they lose sales. I make minimum wage and have several bills to pay and, as much as I may like that TV series, paying 80 dollars for a Box set is WAY out of my budget. And i'm sure i'm not the only one out there who feels like this. Also, let me also note that the big media industries said that VHS recordable tapes would "bankrupt the movie industry". Same was said about recordable music tapes. None of this happened. Edited January 18, 2012 by MysticTiger Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 Although I'm not an American citizen, I've heard that it can even influence Dutch sites.. So, Go DC with! I think you've made a very good decision, TJ! Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) xkcd, Wikipedia, and dragcave have all participated in a blackout regarding SOPA today-- among others. Websites based overseas, Facebook, and Google have not. Wikipedia will catch attention-- dragcave, xkcd, etc. will grab attention from all their users and fanbases. SOPA is a big deal. To me, what's telling is which sites are /not/ participating. This isn't the time to bring up just how much money Google is paid by various federal governments, the U.S. gov and otherwise... without that money, Google cannot offer its many free services. However. I ask people to think about that, and to think about a really old idea that the while people may be upheld by their government, the government is upheld by the people... if Google /did/ protest SOPA, could the U.S. federal government /afford/ to blacklist them? Modern warfare is political and economic science practiced by the masses. As an aside, this is the first thing T.J. has done that I actually respect. Welcome to the world, kid. I hope that what do brings you no regrets at the end of your life. Laaate but google totally is. :> http://www.iaza.com/work/120119C/iaza19595765411000.png Edited January 18, 2012 by Marrionetta Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 i was extremely surprised to see the new layout for the site, but then i felt very proud and happy. i'm glad to see everyone is taking this seriously, even a site meant to be a fun game! thank you TJ, for caring about your site enough to do something, even if it made you feel uncomfortable! i say reject to SOPA and PIPA! WE ARE A DEMOCRACY, NOT A DICTATORSHIP! peace. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 Websites based overseas, Facebook, and Google have not. Wikipedia will catch attention-- dragcave, xkcd, etc. will grab attention from all their users and fanbases. ALL English versions of wiki are blacked out.. here and overseas! Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 I'm glad TJ decided to do this (I just wish I could keep that background all the time). Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 Well done for taking this stand! I'm kind of rooting for this layout to be available via skins. I am so in love with it! Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 /Support TJ You should be proud of yourself for bringing awareness. You are setting a great example for all generations. /Salute Zavryl Share this post Link to post
Posted January 18, 2012 Thanks for bringing awareness, TJ. I've been writing e-mails to my senators and rep all day. Share this post Link to post
Recommended Posts