The Future of ModRetro/New Ownership

[Zero]

April Fools 2014:

It has come to my attention that, because of a loophole, ModRetro is as of now, under new ownership. It appears that the last time Palmer changed hosting plans and renewed the domain, that it was done under Oculus LLC. This was awhile back as far as I can tell, and at the time he thought nothing of it. As you all know, Oculus was acquired by Facebook recently. Well, by a technicality ModRetro is considered an asset of Oculus and is now also owned by Facebook.

So, what happens now? We actually don't know. Will Facebook actually care and assert it's legal ownership over ModRetro? It doesn't seem super likely to me, but it's certainly possible.

Palmer will likely be talking to Facebook soon and giving us a definite response on what's going to happen, so we'll keep you updated on the situation.

 

[ttsgeb]

perfect
I bow down to our new facebook overlords.

 

[Prog]

You have local database backups just in case we need a new iteration of ModRetro (IE, a secular replacement, as in being the one big modding site without a namesake and supreme overlord), right?

Also this is hilarious.

 

[ttsgeb]

I mean, it's not like there's actually a place for a site without a supreme overlord namesake anyway...

So, what should we re-brand as?

modbook?
MarkRetro?
ModRift?
faceretro?
Modckerburg?

 

[Zero]

We have backups and I'm making a new one now just in case. However, we'd have to review the legality of putting up a backup site, because the last thing I want is to be sued by Facebook, that wouldn't be pretty.

There are discussions on creating a new forum though if worst comes to worst, but like I said we don't know if we can use the same database.

 

[Prog]

Same db? Not necessarily, but if someone extracted the user content and reposted it in a different format, we could be fine.

 

[Zero]

I don't know if I'd be willing to take that risk; it'd be up to whoever makes it.

 

[ttsgeb]

Hey, I have a website, I'll host something for the just in case scenario...
http://orter.dom.ttsgeb.net
It's gonna take a moment for the DNS stuff to update and everything so that it works right. Until then, http://ttsgeb.com/orteRdoM/index.php

 

[grossaffe]

I'm still hazy on how exactly this works. Do they just own the domain and the contents of the site are different? Kinda like when somebody bought out Bacteria's domain after he let it lapse. If that's the case, we may be able to get with just moving a backup to a new domain (whatever happened to Toast Tech?)

 

[ttsgeb]

Alternatively, let's think of the potential positive aspects. Modretro could be hosted on *facebook's* servers.
Do you have any clue how much nicer that would be than HostGator?

 

[Zero]

I'm still hazy on how exactly this works. Do they just own the domain and the contents of the site are different? Kinda like when somebody bought out Bacteria's domain after he let it lapse. If that's the case, we may be able to get with just moving a backup to a new domain (whatever happened to Toast Tech?)

I think that because the hosting was also payed for under Oculus, they might own the content too. I really don't know though because I'm not a lawyer.

Alternatively, let's think of the potential positive aspects. Modretro could be hosted on *facebook's* servers.
Do you have any clue how much nicer that would be than HostGator?

That actually could be really nice if they let us operate independently. On the other hand, at that point the NSA would have easier access to anything posted here, and maybe they'll do something like require facebook logins.

I still haven't heard back from Palmer, but we were supposed to get a clarification on what this all means by tonight, but it looks like that won't be happening.

 

[gnounc]

woah woah waaaoh. palmer is THAT palmer?
As long as I've been lurking these forums I had no idea!

*mind blown*

 

[Bush]

Is it anyway possible to separate MR from Oculus ownership?

 

[Prog]

Well that's the goal, but we'd need permission from Facebook.

 

[wallydawg]

Hopefully waiting 24 hours will fix everything

 

[AfroLH]

Does this mean I work for Facebook now?

 

[grossaffe]

Does this mean I work for Facebook now?

No, as we were only volunteers to start with.

 

[Prog]

It'd be funny if we all flocked over to BHF if this site were to close.

 

[ttsgeb]

Tehehe, all the mods and admins volunteer for facebook... You all just got PLAYED.

 

[PalmerTech]

Remember when I said I had big plans for MR? That is right, world's biggest portabilizer social network. The code for to "Like" posts should be up tomorrow.