[Taylah Illies]

So I'm googling some pretty esoteric Elder Scrolls lore terms and get a lot of hits on this forum. I'm excited because there's some really insightful posts, stuff at the level of the maybe 200 of us worldwide that can say they understand the 36 Sermons, Mythic Dawn Commentaries, etc. Strange thing is, every post is accompanied by a user picture and every last one of them looks like a picture of a college age girl taken at a party. I'm not saying young attractive females can't be lore buffs, but I'm sure that not all the lore buffs fit that description. And why has this site never been mentioned or linked at the Imperial Library or Temple Zero considering they move in the same circles...? So digging a little further, some of these threads tickle a hint of memory... and sure enough the whole thing is scraqed straight off of Bethesda forums. They just replace the usernames and pictures with bogus ones, probably scraqed from Facebook.

Some examples:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1275011-stormcloaks-imperials-and-orsinium/
http://www.gamesas.com/stormcloaks-imperials-and-orsinium-t140156.html

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1277622-who-writes-the-lore/
http://www.gamesas.com/who-writes-the-lore-t140857.html

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1277782-hardpaper-backed-lore-books/
http://www.gamesas.com/hard-paper-backed-lore-books-t140860.html

I don't immediately see what they are getting out of doing this, since they aren't running advertisemants, so all I can think of is
A) They are trying to harvest email addresses to spam people by tricking them into signing up to join the discussions.
B) They want to have an active forum and are faking it while trying to get a critical mass of users

It's probably not an issue that will get the attention of Bethesda's legal people, but maybe they can IP block their spiders. One can hope.

[Marcus Jordan]

I'll bet you anything that site is run by the same person/group that ran that "gamefallout" site that did the exact same thing a while back.

[Nick Jase Mason]

It actually did get their attention when it was "gamefallout.com" which is now a placeholder domain; it was C&D'ed.

I'll pass the Good Word.

Aaaand... :ninja:'ed

[Tinkerbells]

gamesas is a lie

[Roberto Gaeta]

Good looking out, Rhoark. :goodjob:

[vanuza]

gamesas is a lie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4

[kiss my weasel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4

By jove! We must get the word out! WE NEED PROOF!

[Brad Johnson]

What a coincidence, some of the (totally not fake) people there have the exact same posts as me. That's some crazy hivemind [censored]... :ahhh:

[Emzy Baby!]

What a coincidence, some of the (totally not fake) people there have the exact same posts as me. That's some crazy hivemind [censored]... :ahhh:

My posts are all true. I'm actually a totally hot college broad. (Don't let the testicles and adams apple fool you. They help me blend in here. )

[dell]

im to lazy to see if they took any of my posts

[xxLindsAffec]

im to lazy to see if they took any of my posts

If you've posted in the TES section, probably. That's how Gamefallout worked.

[Hayley O'Gara]

If you've posted in the TES section, probably. That's how Gamefallout worked.

I found my CD posts in the "Othor Games" section.

[Izzy Coleman]

I found my CD posts in the "Othor Games" section.

Othor Games.....Hmmmm. I wonder what developer that is. :laugh:

[Chantelle Walker]

I'm not sure whos doing it...but I believe I know why they're doing it.

By adding our forum boards to google's search, people can directly search for discussions about TES games or Fallout games that are relevant to them without signing up here.

With Skyrm being so popular right now, its likely that the forum scraqer will bring in a lot of views, which is why you see advertising at the top and bottom of the site (unlike ours).

I believe thats why the site exists.

[Cccurly]

I'm not sure whos doing it...but I believe I know why they're doing it.

By adding our forum boards to google's search, people can directly search for discussions about TES games or Fallout games that are relevant to them without signing up here.

With Skyrm being so popular right now, its likely that the forum scraqer will bring in a lot of views, which is why you see advertising at the top and bottom of the site (unlike ours).

I believe thats why the site exists.

IIRC they make money off of every hit they get, THAT is why they exist.

[Jennifer Rose]

My name is Monique. I am either a small girl or an older girl. I thought monique was a guys name.

[Suzy Santana]

Does beth own the content we post here? If so, can't they just shut down the site?

[Kirsty Collins]

Does beth own the content we post here? If so, can't they just shut down the site?

I'm not sure, It might be in the clause somewhere. But I'm fairly sure that it's illegal to make a financial gain off of Bethesda's trademarks without Bethesda's consent and them getting their share.

Edit: From Zenimaz Media's site for their websites.

2. Ownership of Content and Materials

All content and materials on the Sites, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, and software included in the Services, are the property of ZeniMax or its licensors and are protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademarks and other proprietary rights and Intellectual Property Rights laws. The compilation of all content on the Sites is the exclusive property of ZeniMax and/or its divisions and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. All software used on the Sites is the property of ZeniMax or its licensors and similarly protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Except to the minimum extent expressly permitted under copyright law, no copying or exploitation of material from the Services is permitted without the express prior written permission of ZeniMax and any other applicable copyright owner. To seek such permission, you may write to ZeniMax Media Inc., Attn: Vice President ? Legal, 1370 Piccard Drive 120, Rockville, MD 20850 USA. You may not resell the Services or any part thereof. All rights not expressly granted hereunder are expressly reserved to ZeniMax and its divisions.

[Annick Charron]

Has Bethesda or Zenimax came out and said that they don't own that site? By publicizing our forums, yet still maintaining our privacy it seems like whoever is doing it is using it solely to make money (perhaps paying network maintenance etc..), rather than for malicious intentions.

[Bambi]

Has Bethesda or Zenimax came out and said that they don't own that site? By publicizing our forums, yet still maintaining our privacy it seems like whoever is doing it is using it solely to make money (perhaps paying network maintenance etc..), rather than for malicious intentions.

Pretty sure they don't, considering the exact same thing happened a couple months ago with a site with a very similar name (gamefallout), and the site was taken down once someone e-mailed Bethesda about it. It just sounds like whoever ran gamefallout is trying again.

Anyway, there are a number of less-than-legitimate things that site could be being used for, including but not limited to gathering and selling e-mail addresses from people who sign up to the "forum"

[Nims]

Anyway, there are a number of less-than-legitimate things that site could be being used for, including but not limited to gathering and selling e-mail addresses from people who sign up to the "forum"

Yep, and for every soul clever enough not to sign up, there's two desperate ones who go 'Hot chicks? I should join so I could date one', only to get screwed over with thier life.

[Taylor Thompson]

Their forum is doomed to failure if they take any of mine.

[Abel Vazquez]

The infamous Othor has returned!

[louise fortin]

Yep, and for every soul clever enough not to sign up, there's two desperate ones who go 'Hot chicks? I should join so I could date one', only to get screwed over with thier life.

I hope you don't actually believe that.

[Mylizards Dot com]

I hope you don't actually believe that.

I'm to pragmatic to believe there aren't people fool enough to fall for that forum as legit. Everywhere everyday is some poor soul on some site signing up thinking it's the real deal only to get screwed over. It's a sad reality of the internet.