1. Keep it civil and polite. Don't insult others, even if they don't agree. Everybody's entitled to an opinion, but people should realize too that there is a difference between criticism of ideas and criticism of people. In this forum we need the former and cannot live with the latter. Not respecting this fundamental human rule may result in losing posting privileges.
2. Don't feed the trolls: we are here to freely share information on stompboxes. People joining the forum to complain about or attack this basic premise the forum was founded on, will be perceived as hostile to the board and will be removed. It's a bit hypocritical to join and gain access to others' contributions and use your freedom of speech to bite the hand that fed you these nice schematics and layouts.
So consequently, don't talk about what you are not prepared to share, or will not share right now, or might share next week.
3. Getting started: all you need to get started is a valid email address that you will have to enter twice. Type it twice, don't copy it, because you will have to click a confirmation link in an email to get your account activated.
4. Search Function: use it before anything else, your question might already have been answered before.
5. Subject of Post: keep them simple and clear, so everybody understands what you are asking or posting about. People interested in your subject will find your post faster. Don't hesistate to attach similar problems to older threads already discussing the subject, keep the info centralized. If they deem it necessary, moderators can and will change the subject of your post for more clarity, please don't be offended by this. In the Circuit Analysis section, please use the following format for titles: Brand Name - Unit Name (unit code), e.g. Maestro - Full Range Boost (FRB-1)
6. References: attach info about your post in any way you can: links and pictures, ... People want to have a look at a datasheet to help you much quicker if you give them a link to it.
7. Image Posting&Hosting/Attachments: since we moved to our own server we have the added feature for members to simply upload attachments with your post. Evidently, if you take a picture and upload it, you grant copyright to freestompboxes.org to publish it. To avoid other websites from blatantly stealing content, you could put a copyright notice on picture, or simply the freestompboxes.org url, but this is not obligatory. If you took the picture you will stll hold the copyright, whether there is a notice or not.
This function is active only in the subforums where it seemed relevant, not in the Freestomp Café or Member Section. It's ok to post a funny pic there but please use Photobucket.com or similar free services for this.
Please don't upload pictures that are available on the net anyday -- just use a link. Ebay pictures are copyrighted by the photographers like any others, but won't get you in trouble any time soon. Uploading pics you downloaded from ebay some weeks ago won't get you in trouble. Still, if copyrighted stuff gets uploaded, I may choose to remove it. There is no policy in place to divert the responsability for the hosted material to the members of the forum as there seems to be on other forums. If you have questions about specific matters, do drop me a mail.
An external link "Hey, I found something there: ..." is a citation and there is no question about a copyright. The one who offers/provides the photo, article (whatever)... is responsible for the content. There have been lawcases about so called "deep links". A "deep link" is where you link to a content from another homepage, include it in your own homepage and present it as yours. This is NOT allowed. For my knowledge there is so far not spoken out how this is with forums, but why risk anything? A link "look, you can find something here...:" should be enough and helps to avoid any conflicts. Moderators may change your embedded image to a link when they feel it's intrusive.
8. Teasing:
Try to avoid messages saying you will not share (soon), some people around here are drawing, tracing and publishing on a daily basis, a lot of them weekly basis, etc... You don't have to share anything, just don't go boasting about stuff you will not share. It's also frustrating to hear somebody's got the info you want and will share but doesn't know when.
Don't say:
"I have this schematic, but will not share it." -> Say nothing.
"I have three of these pedals you're interested in (but won't take a gut shot)." Say nothing.
"Yes I have that schematic and pics of that pedal, but I will have to get my life organized first and redo the roof, then I'll post them." This will hold people back from going through the trouble of scanning or photographing their own stuff, as they think not worth the trouble, the other guy might be posting it any day. Nothing ever happens ... Please understand that we've just grown weary of this as it turned out to be the technique of the more intelligent troll (see 2.)
9. Patents, copyright, cloning:
Jack ORMAN, Is It Legal To Clone? wrote:Patents protect the circuit designs - copyrights on schematics do not. If there is no patent it is okay to clone, but do not use the name or trademarks of the original on your pedal. If you mention the original pedal name or company as a means of explaining that your pedal is a clone or based on its design, it would be good to include a disclaimer stating that you did not manufacture the original so that it cannot be claimed that you are trying to confuse the consumer or steal their business.
This article has not touched on the ethical implications of cloning. I've looked in lots of boutique boxes and many builders are borrowing ideas or even stealing designs outright. It happens... this is where the ethics and morals come into play, but it is up to you and your conscience.
analogguru wrote:EVEN WHEN A CIRCUIT WOULD PE PATENTED YOU COULD MAKE A UNIT FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE. A PATENT PROTECTS ONLY THAT NOT SOMEBODY ELSE PRODUCES IT COMMERCIALY FOR FROFIT - IN THE NEXT 20 YEARS.
EVEN WHEN A MUSIC OR A BOOK IS COPYRIGHTED IT IS ALLOWED TO MAKE A COPY FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE. IT IS EVEN ALLOWED TO MAKE A COPY (ON DEMAND) FOR SOMEBODY ELSE, AS LONG AS YOU DON´T CHARGE FOR IT.
AND IT IS ALLOWED TO QUOTE SOMEBODIES COPYRIGHTED WORDS OR SCHEMATICS/DRAWINGS AS FAR AS IT IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR REFERENCE IN YOUR OWN (COPYRIGHTED) WORDS. YOU ONLY HAVE TO TELL THE SOURCE/REFERENCE OF IT.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT - AND CRITICISM OF THE WORK, OPINION OF SOMEBODY ELSE IS PART OF IT..... FOR THIS REASON EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO CENSOR IS VIOLATING BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.
If you have different ideas about this and a good argument AND it hasn't been said in the Big Catfight thread, you can add there. But keep all ethics discussion in this thread.
If you have any questions, you can write me at a d m i n AT f r e e s t o m p bo x e s DOT o r g
