RANT: What is wrong with Indiana State Sports

[Jason Svoboda]

As moderator & an IT guy you need to learn the TRUE meaning of the"Fair Use Provision". You do NOT have the right to PIRATE my photographs from "go-sycamores" or any other web site. ALL of my images are copyrighted and belong to me. To use my images you must have my written permission and PAY me. Many of the images on "go-sycamores" are mine, as is the picture of Coach Miles and the new helmet. Please do not copy my work in the future.
My phone # is 812-XXX-XXXX should you need to call me.

Here is an email I received this morning.

This isn't the first one I've received like this, either. This is now probably the 4th or 5th email I've received about people complaining about stories, links or photographs. If you want to know why there is little done for Indiana State athletics by fans, alums, etc, look no further.

This site generates no revenue. I take that back. Those ads on here did generate $0.30 to date (almost 9 months), which was put towards my $200 yearly hosting bill. Everything else, the time spent on the site, the forum software, etc, has all been out of pocket to help support and elevate my alma mater's athletic programs. Then you have greedy individuals like this come and take pot shots for what? A shotty picture of Coach Miles holding a helmet and drawings of the new uniforms.

Really?

Do you want to suffocate the football program and Sycamore athletics that badly?

Or should you embrace the notion that someone posted the picture so folks could discuss it and possibly get excited again about Indiana State football considering Memorial Stadium has had about the same atmosphere and attendance as a funeral.

Some of these folks need to wake up and look at the bigger picture. But then again, it's the Terre Haute mentality and it's really too bad. I hope it's worth it Tony -- God forbid you could have worked out something with me where I could have give you advertising or posted a link to your website.

 

[TJames]

reply to rant

i agree with you wholeheartedly.

when i worked as the assistant sports information director at indiana state, we used private photographers to shoot games and various athletics-related events for us.

the provision that we had with each photographer was that they were allowed to shoot in exchange for a photo pass. they then would give us contact sheets from each event and we would look them over and choose which pictures that we wanted to purchase from them.

and then this rule came into effect: if we bought the photos, they were ours to use as WE saw fit (whether on the ISU website or to send out to publications or whatever). the users of the pctures were asked to credit isu sports information or isu athletics. but the pictures belonged to the athletics department and the school, not the photographer.

once isu's sports information office put the pictures of the new uniforms on their website recently, they are free to be used (as long as the website is credited in some manner). so if isu didn't have problem with the pictures being used, then that should be good enough.

now if the pictures were taken off of the photographer's personal or business website, that's another story entirely. but if they were used on go.sycamores.com, then they should belong to the athletic department to use in whatever way they wish.

just my two cents worth (and, yes, i'm sure the photographer won't agree).

oh, by the way, the athletic department is still using photos that my cousin took several years ago. he hasn't been compensated for their use other than the original sale of the pictures.

 

[ISUCC]

wow, this is sad to see, you should be able to use whatever you want I'd say, keep up the good work, this message board has been great!

I still don't know why they don't shut the other one down.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

If I've learned one thing about people at ISU, they don't like anything if it wasn't their idea. Therefore, since this board wasn't their idea, they probably don't like it much...

I love this board. Pix or no pix, keep up the good work!!!!

 

[Superfan312]

If he wants to prevent, uhhh, Piracy, why doesn't he just watermark the images? Seems like a pretty easy fix to me..

 

[Jason Svoboda]

If he wants to prevent, uhhh, Piracy, why doesn't he just watermark the images? Seems like a pretty easy fix to me..

Well the image came from the GoSycamores website -- so while he may have taken the picture, he probably has no contractual right to watermark it. I think I'm just going to shoot the athletics office an email to inquire about posting images here so folks can discuss them directly.

Honestly, if I continue to get this kind of ridiculous red tape every where I go with State, I'm going to pull the plug on the site.

Hell, I tried to contact someone about donating a couple hundred bucks to the program in exchange for an ad in the media guide and never even got a response back. The only person that has worked with me or even responded to my emails has been Brett Burchette.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Don't yank the whole site! This is a much better site than the other one! Just think of it as growing pains. And remember who you're dealing with...