• Member Since 10th May, 2013
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Sporktacles


I love sporks. And I love soup. Those two things unfortunately don't go together very well.

More Blog Posts29

Jun
8th
2017

I am SUCH a stupid idiot! · 1:13pm Jun 8th, 2017

Earlier today, I posted a new chapter of Walk into a Bar. In fact, I published two chapters; I had a side chapter for “Drinking Stories” which I liked very much. But I made two very very stupid mistakes.

1) I accidentally hit the publish button while editing, putting up the chapters long before my prereader (Sorry, FanOfMostEverything) had a chance to look at it. And because I didn’t want to get in trouble for unpublishing and republishing the same chapter, I let them stay up.

2) I completely forgot that the site prohibits copyrighted song lyrics except for official pony songs. Originally, I wanted Katy Perry’s Firework to appear in both chapters, because I both really like Katy Perry and thought the song was extremely appropriate for the three title characters.

I realized the problem several hours later, so I edited “Drinking Stories” to use lyrics from the Equestria Girls song of the same name, an official parody of California Girls (which should be okay, I think? Hasbro should own the lyrics, and I don’t use the music).

But I had to unpublish the second chapter entirely, because it was inseparable from the whole idea. And this really suuuuuuuucks, because I am a colossal idiot who should have thought of this before I ever wrote it.

AAAAAAAAGH! So frustrating!

I’m going to try to salvage the chapter, but it might be impossible because the list of songs that I can use is very short and even fewer are appropriate.

EDIT: I’ve decided to put the chapter back up. A conversation with SpaceCowboy on the site discord channel has informed me that if the moderators disapprove of the extent of the lyrics (I only quote the chorus and a couple more lines), I won’t be banned, just asked to take them down.

Comments ( 15 )

I understand that frustration, but if I recall correctly, technically you didn’t use copyrighted lyrics since you translated them into Modern English... right? Or am I misremembering?

I may also be off in my interpretation of the site rules...

You wouldn’t get in trouble for unpublishing and republishing a chapter. If you did that with a story, it would be an issue because it would look like you were trying to get more hits on the front page—unless you waited a long time and revised it heavily (which I’ve done previously).

You didn’t use enough of the song for it to be a problem in any case. The “copyrighted song lyrics” rule applies to more than 40% of the entire song. You used like, just the chorus. That’s acceptable under the site rules, as far as I can recall.

Sooo... I downloaded a rare mistake that you later unpublished, which makes it a rarity(TM)? Cha-ching!

Yeah, I'm watching Baggage Battles right now, and it's affecting my thought process. BTW, BB is better than its more popular cousin, Storage Wars, because BB travels all over the world, while SW stays in California. Also, I've heard rumors about SW intentionally stuffing lockers with valuable items to make the whole storage locker buying business look more profitable and glamorous than it really is.

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Please don’t take this the wrong way, because while I totally believe you, it’s just that I would really appreciate a link to an actual blog post or official ruling by the staff before I republish the chapter.

I like my chapter a LOT, but not enough to risk getting banned over in any way. The site rules just say “Do NOT post copyrighted lyrics of songs”, which I unfortunately have to go with unless someone links me to a bluename post that I can point at and say, “See, I followed this, so please don’t ban me” if it turns up.

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I published a new chapter for my story, A Princess, A Magician, And An Exile Walk Into a Bar, which I call Walk Into a Bar for short.

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If it is a violation, you won’t get banned over the first infraction.
When a mod first reads the chapter, if it’s in violation, they will tell you it is and that the chapter needs to be edited. You will then be given a chance to edit it. I know, it’s what happened to me.

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the chapter while it was up!

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I know, it’s what happened to me.

I want to know. this war story of yours, Uncle Tats. 🍿

4564639
“Fortresshy: The Nine Fathers”.
In one of the later chapters, I had Engineer and Heavy singing this song:

One of the mods told me actually having them sing the lyrics was against the site rules. I talked with the mod via PM to figure out a way to preserve the integrity of the scene and abide by site rules, and the end result was having the song embedded in the chapter.

HAHA IDIOT- we all have big dun goofs every once in a while. How critical you are of your mistakes goes to show how serious you take your writing~

Keep on truckin’

4564652
Wow... Man I remember reading that too. Never thought the TF2 classes could be so deep.

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I’ve decided to re-publish the chapter. I love it a LOT and SpaceCowboy has assured me that the moderators will not ban me if it crosses the line, only request that I take it down.

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Good to hear. I hope it stays up!

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