=TSS= Legacy Note: This forum post is really a product of it’s time, eh? We felt it was important to salvage this from the long lost archives of TSS (or as it was known at the time, Sonic Stadium News Group – a merger of this site and fellow fansite ‘Sonic News’), as it was a key moment in reviving TSS itself (which would otherwise have become another dead fansite).
Some context for this, as I really do ramble on a bit here and sound pretty aggressive (trust me, it was just innocent exasperation)… upon merging The Sonic Stadium and Sonic News, it became apparent that a lot of the content from the ‘Sonic News’ side had been lifted from affiliate fansite Sonic HQ (which was the biggest Sonic fansite going at the time). I had absolutely no knowledge of it.
However, I did personally re-use some of Sonic HQ’s background images for SSNG’s website design – this was intended to be a temporary measure while I found replacements, but ended up completely forgetting and we launched with a high volume of essentially plagiarised content. Not a good way to start a brand new site, really.
As a result, word got back to Sonic HQ’s community and they ended up raiding the SSNG Forums, spamming left right and centre. Of course, I come back from a short break to absolute chaos (including one forum member who was pressing my buttons at the time) and realised I had to make a statement clarifying things.
Shortly after this post was made, I realised that things wouldn’t be fixed with simply removing the content – the damage to SSNG’s reputation had already been made. So this incident led me to restore The Sonic Stadium and reboot it, which happened around August 2002.
This post has been edited for grammar and clarity. References to specific people, and unrelated events (which got combined into this single post) have also been changed or removed.
~ Dreadknux
SSNG Forum Announcement
Dudes, Stop the Fighting!
Right, call this an apology to [User 1] if you will (not to the SHQ Spammers, since they happen to be…. ‘just visiting’).
[User 1], I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I was wrong, and I had no right to do that. [User 2] was right – look man, I didn’t mean to get off on a bad start at the Mobius Forums, OK? But come on, there was no port of call to just spam like that. Also, if [User 1] never wanted a fight in the first place, how come about 5-10 Sonic HQ fans suddenly appeared on my Message Board? There’s a certain irony there…
Let me get just one thing straight, alright? I don’t care how the SHQ fanboys see this, but SSNG is not, repeat NOT, a copy of Sonic HQ. We have never taken anything from that site (apart from the backgrounds, but we’ve taken them off). The ‘Knuckles Adventure’ thing was a mistake – we had seen it on another Sonic site (not Sonic HQ) and asked if we could use it. The webmaster of that website said yes. We had no idea that it was originally Sonic HQ’s content.
We will credit Sonic HQ on the ‘Knuckles Adventure’ SSNG page, and add a link to the website, unless [SHQ’s owner] is uncomfortable with that (the webmasters of both SSNG and SHQ are on good terms – so why are you guys all here spamming away?). In which case, we will take it off our site.
This is the umpteenth time someone has complained that SSNG is a copy of SHQ, but nobody has been able to say what we have actually copied. I mean, we couldn’t have stolen the layout, that’s our original design. We couldn’t have stolen the official pictures (excepting Knuckles Adventure), because that’s SEGA’s work, not SHQ’s. We couldn’t have stolen the music, because people sent that in to us themselves. We couldn’t have stolen the downloads, because we collected and contacted the creators of the downloads ourselves.
We couldn’t have stolen any of the written material, purely because I have spent night and day for the past two years writing our own content. To say it’s all copied is a complete and utter insult. Let’s face it, there’s not a lot we can think of that we have possibly stolen from Sonic HQ, especially having not stepped foot in to sodding website further than the main page (and possibly the backgrounds).
So what in the hell _have_ we stolen? The fact that it’s a Sonic website? The fact that we dared try to make a Sonic website? The fact that the title of our site has the word ‘Sonic’ in it? I’m not having a go, I’m just completely frustrated at the situation. It’s silly, and the claims of those spamming this place are totally unfounded. In the future, we will question people if they are submitting their own work.
To wrap it all up, I apologise once more for my behaviour – I’m not normally as frustrated as I sound. [User 1], please don’t try to antagonise anyone. But still, I appreciate the suggestions you have given me to alter SSNG, and we will take these on board.
I’m done with this now, so here’s the bottom line – if I see any talk about ‘SSNG stealing Sonic HQ’s content’ on this MB ever again, those users will be given a Strike 2 warning instantly. There’s no need to start old flame wars, especially ones that are totally unfounded on your part. No flames, no nothing. If I see a full-on flamewar concerning SSNG/SHQ copycat situation, ALL of the users involved will be put on instant Strike 3 warning. OK? Good.
Oh, those Sonic HQ users who are coming over to hijack us – let it go, eh? It’s over. If you want to stay here some more, then by all means stay. But, if you’d rather go back into SHQ’s forums, then I have no problems with that either. Just please, whatever you do, leave my humble little MB alone from flames and annoying posts. All the spam (including recent flame-style posts) has been moved to the Fluff & Party Topics forum.
To all those that come from SHQ but still wish to visit this board, welcome to the Sega Sonic Message Board! 🙂
FORUM UPDATE
Well, it doesn’t matter about SSNG anymore, because SSNG will be soon replaced by…
The Sonic Stadium.
My own site is coming back! My good friend Sonic_Hedeghogs has been working hard (like I have) and has been losing sleep over SSNG. With more important things like work (in real life) to do, he has decided to quit.
I’m going to keep most of Sonic News’ content, but I will be binning everything that I am unsure of. Especially stuff that I suspect may have been taken from another website. That way it’ll be like The Sonic Stadium used to be – no accusations of stealing content from anyone.
To all those that knew my old site, The Sonic Stadium is coming hooooome, people! ^_^ Believe. SSNG was fun, but after this whole episode, we just lost the appeal in continuing it. Better to carry on with a refresh and a brand new start!
I still will be hosted soon – as soon as September – but for now, SSNG is closed and will be until further notice. Thank you.