I have a question regarding change#3 -' All content must be showcased using free content only' - so we can not use an alpha edit/recolour of a pay mesh in our pictures, even if it this recolour/edit is free?

I think these changes are overall very good, but its just going to get some getting used to. It will be awesome though to go on this site and see all free content The way it should be in my view

Well you'd be showing the pay mesh in your picture too, not just the free recolour. You can't show a recolour on its own

First I want to say I totally agree with free content thing and I never ever use meshes from payed sites

However, I’ve used objects and hairs in the pictures of my clothes (see, for instance http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=236896)

I believe I don’t have to remake these photos, but…in the future…can I use these hairs or not? And the furniture?

Sorry to be so dense, but I don’t want to risk having to make everything from scratch – the set/photo/image making boring stuff.

Thanks! I find it pretty annoying when people make a beautiful recolour of a paysite mesh, and the majority of people on the site can't download!

I think the policy change is a good one, and actually the way it should be so that a free site with a very large following is not used for the 'sucking you in to join a paysite' recolor.

I don't actually think the was a move made to say that all paysite stuff is lacking or to have people post line after line about how they got bad stuff from a pay site and found almost the same but better quality on a free site. It works both ways; I don'y think this was done to protect you from paysite 'bad' items as much as done to keep free of charge every thing you need to make what you download here work.

No, uploads from before these new rules will only be affected by the "no pay meshes" rule; not the rules about screenshots. So your old uploads are fine (in fact, wonderful!) - but yes, in future screenshots must contain free content only.

And as a general reassurance to everybody - if you're not sure what's allowed and what's not, and you're worried that you're going to get it wrong, don't worry. If you do get it wrong, your upload will be rejected or changes required, you will be told what to change, and you can then do that. Also, if you have a particular upload you're unclear on, or if you don't know what it is you need to change - make use of the Creator Issues forum!

Firstly, I'd like to say that although it would take some extra vigilence and adjustment for those who used to use pay items or meshes in their pictures and/or uploads, I think this is definitiely a good move. MTS2 is one of the most popular go-to places for Sims 2 downloads, so if the site starts to follow these new rules, it should in time lead to a rise in the overall quality of free content being made, and that can't be a bad thing! It may cause some discomfort, but people will most probably learn to adjust given a little bit of time.

I've never bought any pay or donation items, although I have some in my game courtesy of PMBD; which brings me to a question: a while ago, I uploaded a Sim, along with two hair recolours in the same post. One was for a free mesh from XM Sims, and one for a Peggy pay hair mesh. The recolours were uploaded in seperate files from the Sim, who was packaged with Maxis hair. Most of the screenshots had the recolour of the pay mesh, but the first picture on the page shows the Sim with both the free and the pay hair, and I have another attached screenshot of the Sim with all custom content removed too. Even though the Sim doesn't technically need the pay hair, I did mark it as using a paysite mesh since one of the seperate recolours needs it. So after this long winded explanation, my question is, would the Sim be moved to the archive and later removed?

My apologies if the answer should be obvious and I'm just too slow to see it. : ); If it has to be removed from the site, I understand why and have no problems whatsoever with that.

I agree, I've always been annoyed when I was a great download, only to find I have to go BUY the mesh! Thanks a lot!

Neithan,
I think, in this specific case, that the pay hair recolour would have to be removed, but obviously not the whole sim.
We will have several cases that are 'in between'. For now, you can just get rid of the one pay recolour and pm one of the staff to get rid of the tag, and all should be well

Thanks for the reply, Lethe_s, will do. : )

I totally agree with the rules and welcome them all the same. I've turned down some great items due to the fact that I had to pay for a mesh or items from another site. There's a lot great talent here and I make sure I thank everyone for their hard work.

I think these new rules will be very helpful, especially to new members. I referred some friends to this site and when they asked me about following links to get all parts to a mesh, or download, I had to quickly warn them that occasionally they might find themselves at a paysite. I'm happy this will no longer be an issue.

I'm very glad to see that you are doing this, perhaps with less promotion of pay content might help to dampen down everyone's deranged obsession with pay sites. A site of this size has a great deal of influence and should use that responsibly for the greater good imo, which in this instance does not include encouraging people to give money to pay sites who are often asking for money under false pretenses.



You're missing the point. Its not about avoiding member's disappointment because they didn't read the details, its about not PROMOTING pay sites. If you post a download here and provide a link to the pay site who's file is required for the download that pay site benefits even if literally no one visits it because the sheer presence of their link helps their site climb in search engine rankings and search results, ergo more people can find them. And of course in reality it isn't the case that no one would visit, with a large minority of the community being willing to pay for custom content its quite likely the extra exposure of their work on a site like MTS2 will put more money in their pockets from MTS2 visitors.



Believe it or not there are other free Sims 2 websites besides MTS2 - why not simply look elsewhere for recolours of pay files, there are plenty of sites who do such things, I often see them whilst I'm 'out and about' looking for stuff to post to my site's finds, we don't include them because they need the pay meshes, but they are out there. I certainly can't see why people would simply stop uploading their content anywhere just because *this* site has changed its rules? You could always for example, try contacting some of your favourite creators and find out where they are intending to post their recolours in the future which would save some of the guess work.

Ok, I went and reread some of your 1st post...I see how you are not "trying to destroy paysites" maybe not right up front, you don't want to "advertise" for pay stuff because it should all be free...



And yes, that sucks for creators like me, I doubt I'll upload much if anything at all because I like to use pay stuff in my screenshots!! I admit it! But people don't have to pay for it if they want the sim or house to look like that!
Why would they have to bust out there credit card or paypal, if they don't want to pay for illegal stuff, just go to PMBD, no credit card required!! Honestly, if somebody wants the sim exactly as portrayed in the pics, they can get it, with or without paying for the pay content, their choice!



You say Pay content may not make things look better, sure, it may not...but usually it does! Most of the great "free" creators have now become pay...be it at TSR or somewhere else! And honestly...do you really think that all that pay stuff is that bad!? Sure I've seen some seriously crappy pay stuff and I can't believe that some creators are trying to get people to pay for it and if people are actually paying for it! But for the most part, that pay stuff is a lot better quality, I'm speaking here mainly hair/furniture wise....(there is still lots of great free furniture out there) Not so much hair though! I'm NOT saying there isn't some great free hair creators out there (I love Nouk, Donny, XM Sims, and I'm sure there's a few other's I can't think of right now) ...there's just not nearly as many great hairs as there is pay ones! (XM Sims is about it for 100% free and they have pretty good hair) You mention gaps in the neck..etc..I have still yet to see one of those famous "gaps in the neck"! Most of the free hair I get as well I have seen some weird animations....

I'm not saying there aren't a lot of talented people out there that create for free! No way am I saying that! There is still a lot of great content out there and on MTS2 that is free, but it seems a lot of the great creators are moving on to other places! I used to come on MTS2 and download like crazy, not so much anymore! Sure I'll still see some pretty good stuff here just not as often!

Well, I hope the best for your site Delphy, hopefully this latest rule change won't have the negative impact on it that I see it as!

anyways, I guess we can always agree to disagree!

Cheers!

I just have one thing to say.....
Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

Way to go guys. I've never been a fan of TSR for the fact that you never know when their stuff is going to be free or locked. And as someone who has been ripped off before and had identity theft due to an online purchase I never will buy something from a site ever again.

Thanks for keeping this place so great for all of us that relish the free downloads community.

Jessica_2020, I'm not going to respond to your whole post, because I have nothing I particularly want to say about much of it and I see no reason to further the argument. But I will say this: It is you who is missing the point. This rule change is not about whether or not people have to pay for content. We are very aware, thankyou, of pmbd's existence, and we know full well that we could just add a link to the booty in the Paymesh tag and be done with it. But that would do nothing to aid our purpose - MTS2 is a free site and we will not provide support for creators who charge for their stuff, as it is a practise we disagree with. It doesn't matter whether or not the average downloader can get around that charge - we still do not believe that the charge should exist!
This rule change is about principles, and the ethic of this community - not about our members' pockets. As has been said before, this site is ModTheSims2; and this is one of those times when we are thinking about creators, both pay and free, not downloaders.

EDIT: Also, there are currently nearly 200 uploads awaiting moderation, and that's not including areas like new meshes which don't go through the queue - your comments about quantity of uploads is preposterous.

I had read somewhere that said an unnamed paysite hair creator won't fix gaps in the neck and is still selling hairs with gaps in necks.

I totally agree with your rules regarding pay content. I subscribe $ to MTS2 (everyone should try to if they can) but that's it!

Yep it's a great addition for the site ! With these rules the free content will be the winner. I hope at least.
Thank you, MTS2 is the free site, always at the point of the arrow. Great !!!

Finally, I got tired of seeing some content that were pay. 100% with it.

MTS2 is the best site out there. I always get annoyed when I find an awsome d/l on here, but the mesh and what not is from a pay site. Rock on MTS2

i dont think its fair that everybody is badmouthing paysites there are nothing wrong with pay sites. i happen to have my own pay site and i dont think its right that you people are rude enough to say (death to all paysites) and (paysites are evil). i have a problem with sites that dont share meshes with sites like mts2 for example sims2carsource if you find a car recolor on the sims2resource you cant get it unless you get the mesh from car source they should allow mts2 and s2r to post the original meshes because car resource isnt a paysite but they act like one they should just post an terms and conditions that downloaders have to agree to and if downloaders violate that agreement then they should be banned.

oh by the way why did delphy remove qxpress installer now i cant download anything from this site because my computer wont allow the traditional way of downloading sims2 files and its a brand new computer (go figure)

Q-xpress will be back. Check this link.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=240437