Apology/Explanation · 1:29pm Dec 13th, 2013
This apology/explanation is lifted pretty much verbatim from a comment about one of my comments in reply to a readers comment (wow, that's confusing) about the lyric removal from the story. Since sometimes comment updates on certain chapters don't send out notifications, I am posting this in my blog in the hopes that the reader in question will see it.
It can also serve as a general apology to anyone who's feathers have been ruffled over the lyric removal, my reasoning behind doing so, and my general stance on it. I hope this clarifies my position somewhat. The full conversation (which is only about three posts long) is the most current comments in the comments section. For the record, I don't know if this hurt any feelings, but I realized after I posted it how it could have been taken, and I felt bad about that, so I'm apologizing preemptively for any terseness on my part.
>>3619635 After reading my comment, I realized that it comes across as pretty cranky, and for that, I apologize. It's difficult to remember sometimes that other people viewing the story don't have the same context that I do. Every comment made, every change in status, I know about it, and I pay attention to it. I'm kind of an attention whore that way. You don't have that luxury and being short with you for mentioning what is a perfectly valid concern is not cool.
So for that, I am sorry.
However, I DO want to elaborate on my feelings here. Quantum Castaways is a living document. I am constantly making changes, revising, correcting, attempting to tighten it up. Usually nothing more than correcting spelling errors, or grammar errors as they are pointed out to me, sometimes fixing awkward phrasing. For the most part, a reader will never notice, as the story doesn't change appreciably from one version to the next.
The point I'm making here is that QC is alive to me. It is more or less on my thoughts, at the very least at a low level, most of the day. I'm always considering ways to make it a better story, or plotting out future material. At the same time, fimfiction.net is the host for this story, and by posting the story on their website, I tacitly and in some cases explicitly agreed to certain rules and regulations. I am not sure if the lyric removal terms were added after I joined, or if I simply didn't read the terms and conditions well enough, but it simply doesn't matter. One of the terms and conditions is that those terms and conditions can change without even a by your leave from me. In any case, Quantum Castaways was directly in violation of those terms and conditions which I agreed to when I posted the story to the website.
So... I had no choice. I HAD to remove them, or the administrators would have been perfectly within their rights to delete my content and or ban me from using the website. I am not saying they threatened this, or even that it would have happened. I acted proactively when I became aware that I was in violation of site rules, because I AGREED to those rules, end of story. My only recourse would have been to remove all of my content from the website altogether. I considered this, but ultimately decided that the only people that would really hurt or affect would be the fans of the story, and I'm not out to punish anyone, or protest anything.
That being said, on the other hand, no, I am NOT happy about it. Remember what I said about QC being a living document? Well to my eyes, what I did was tantamount to an amputation. In effect, I removed a (to my eyes) vital part of the story in order to save the story from any repercussions under the current site rules. What other people do with their stories is their business. Whether this rule is being strictly enforced is immaterial. The rule COULD be enforced, and I would be in the wrong in such a situation. That's how rules work.
But I am NOT happy about it. I know that the lyrics in the story thing are a mixed bag for my readers. Some people are indifferent, some people hated them, absolutely detested that I did that with the story, and are glad they are gone. Some people are sad to see them go, felt that they really added to the experience.
As previously stated, I fall into the sad category. This also came at a particularly bad time for me, in terms of personal hardship. Looking for work, dealing with unemployment, with the holidays coming up making ALL of that harder, and then having to deal with THIS? I'm not a happy camper.
So I hope this explains a bit of my attitude about it. Again, I am sorry if I snapped at you. You didn't deserve it, and I apologize.
Hey, brother, sometimes being a law-abiding citizen ain't easy. That's that whole "Integrity" thing from the Army Values: doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. Especially when no one's looking, because that's when it matters most. It does kinda suck, as I feel the lyrics really added a little something to the story... but it was a little something. Other than the Thunderstruck lyrics in the one chapter, they never really impacted the story as a whole. I think the story will stay just as strong as long as you keep up with the level of quality you've shown thus far.
I fully understand why you did what you did. I do hope, however, that you continue to write a version of QC as if these rules were not in place, for publishing on Google Documents (or elsewhere) - as far as I'm aware, there's no rule against linking a different source for your fic in the description. I would love to keep the original version alive. While I appreciate the rule itself (I'm not a fan of song lyrics being used in fanfic, as a general rule), what you did with lyrics was more than just write them down; you often utilized them as an author should, and I can respect that.
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I completely agree, i was actually about to ask if you still had the documents from how it originally was, and could make them available for download. As you said, the song lyrics are i vital part of the story, and i would like this story to be the best it can be. Whether or not i outgrow ponies at some point, i will definitely reread your story again in a few years (likely when the final chapter comes out, and then again some years after that. I dunno, it's how i do things), and i would be saddened to miss out.
1602695
Also, i must disagree with you there, sir. I thought the "Horse With No Name" part was really deep
The songs at the start of the chapters helped set the mood a bit, but you do such a good job setting it through your own words already in the chapter itself, that I don't think their removal damages the story, not really. There's too much there that can, and does, stand on its own.
Regarding Marshall singing in the desert, can I make a suggestion?
Just the first two lines of "A horse with no name" is enough to let us know what Marshal is singing, and shouldn't be against the rules. It's even enough to get the song running through the head of anyone who has heard it before. You can use those two lines to link to the video of the song, and the rest of that scene can work without them (and without the lyrics removed tag), just by saying "as the song continued..." or similar.
For the song they actually sing together, that might not be enough... I know this is likely to rub you the wrong way, but could there be a public domain song that'd fit the mood you have set there?
Hey man, you did what you needed. In a lighter note, I'll be missing the "Baby Got Back" scene.
I'm just happy the parts existed while they did.
Though, you know what this means? I get to re-read the story.
1602745
Fimfiction makes advertising revenue, I think. And you don't know the meaning of petty until you see record companies in action.
But changing the story was the only option for being on the site now. Can't blame the author for being a good net citizen.
1602767
Really? I thought Horse With No Name was really distracting, schlocky, self-indulgent, obvious, useless, and groan-inducing. Seriously, the song lyrics are the weakest part of the entire story, and I think the only real value in having them was to set tone at the top of the chapter. Even then, including full lyrics was overkill, and the tone setting could easily have been accomplished—and was accomplished—within the story its self.
Copypasted, slightly annotated song lyrics are only a small step above simply embedding a youtube video of the song. It's narrative fiction, not a blog post. There is no need to rely on the crutch recorded music when there are so many better ways to achieve the same emotional reaction using the prose.
So for those who aren't aware, the lyrics thing is because copyright is a mess, and record companies could legally DMCA fimfiction for hosting copies of the lyrics, if they noticed (or if, you know, someone decided to point it out to them, which is a form of trolling that has been tried on bronies before with varying success). They have done it to other websites in the past.
All those lyrics sites out there are technically in violation, and most of them are already in a complex legal dance with the record labels that is worth it to them because of how much ad revenue they rake in from folks who are trying to remember the words to a song. Knighty does not have that luxury.
1602767
If need be, I have up until Ch 11 of the old version (Downloaded 11 Feb 2013) in epub format.
1602745
Being nonprofit is utterly irrelevant to copyright law, and in any case, it isn't really nonprofit - Knightly does in fact make money off of the site, it is how he supports himself IIRC. But even if it were wholly nonprofit, it would not matter one whit - copyright law doesn't care if you're for-profit or not, and you don't get off for breaking copyright law for free.
More or less, Hasbro is unlikely to sue because there is little point to it, and in any case, the site is always going to be in violation of copyright law as regards Hasbro, so there's not really any choice there. The RIAA are dicks, though, and there IS choice there.
Copyright law is a complicated, many-headed beast and as such they are simply cautious about annoying people who are more likely to sue.
I dont' blame you for what you had to do, i had to do it myself, leaving only the original lyrics I wrote for other songs.
)
I'll only put the songs back in when it's rewritten into a K-Tel style soundalike. No, I blame the evil, soulless gits in the RIAA... (may they play a role in Cupcakes someday...
FWIW, the PSA post from one of the mods gave approval to all MLP original songs appearing in stories...
I think this happens when someone makes a comment on an earlier chapter, and you reply to it on a later chapter (or on the main story page, which automatically puts your comment on the latest chapter.)
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I believe the difference lies in our perception of the song, and how we interpret it. I agree that it may not have been a great literary tactic, and that it might not even really be needed, i just really like and relate to that song, and i can totally see how the mood it inspires applies to that situation.
I also agree that if you don't relate to it in that certain way (which i know most people do not), and don't actually read through the lyrics and get what it is supposed to mean to Marshall, it is not only overkill to add the lyrics, it is plain interrupting to the mood.
If you only look at the story as so many words, I understand how you might think that it is a cheap thing to do that might even be plain detrimental to the story, but i think it is simply because it is more difficult to provoke specific thoughts and feelings with music than it is with prose. The author is only one person, after all, and he might interpret it differently than everybody else does. He might not have intended to spark the feelings i got out of that scene, but that's the risk you run with music compared to plain spoken language.
(Also, i reread my post and I realize it might sound a little demeaning or like i know better; I'm just trying to get my thoughts across. I didn't know how to rephrase it and still convey my meaning
That's why I'm a reader, not a writer. )
(And lastly, when i think of the song, i don't think of America's version, i think the danish band D.A.D, or Disneyland After Dark made a better cover of it)
1603215
Oh, is there any way you could send me that? I'd be very grateful
I didn't care much for the lyrics, but I'm sorry you had to change your story in a way you didn't like. That sucks.
Before FiMFiction came along, people usually hosted their stories in Google Docs. You could mirror the full story there, if you like, lyrics and all.
DustTraveller, I have to say I really loved the inclusion of lyrics in Quantum Castaways. While the story would still be excellent without them, they really added something special and unique to it. As such, would it be possible to host un-censored copies of the chapters on PasteBin or Google Docs or something? I realise you may not want to add lyrics to future chapters when few people are going to see them, but it would at least be nice to have access to the proper versions of older chapters.
I think the lyrics were important and I'm really sad to see them go. But I understand that rules are rules, regardless of how stupid they are.
I'll still be following the story, but I really think you should have a mirrored version of the story on Gdocs or something that has the lyrics, or something like that. Until then, at least I have a downloaded copy of what once was.