Pirate Bay Feedback on Battlefield Earth

[bettertomorrowamy]

Here is an interesting exchange that took place between someone who works for RiffTrax and a Rifftrax Re-Author poster on Pirate Bay:

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3731513/Pointbreak_Rifftrax

Here is a highlight:

MikesMom: Please donate to RiffTrax if you DL. There is a button on the homepage. DO the right thing

philbongahue: http://www.rifftrax.com/donate.php

There, i saved u guys the trouble of re-posting those
And of course, support rifftrax if you want more stuff to come out, or just tell me to stop uploading

philbongahue at 2007-07-05 20:11 CET:
Riverburn - The reason that I keep posting the Donate link in the comments section of these torrents is because I work for RiffTrax. So far, a few people have been willing to use the donate link to pay for riffs they downloaded without paying for them. I find it difficult to understand why somebody who is obviously as big a fan as you would say something like "I don't give a flying fuck if anyone downloads these without paying for them."

It's tough to really put into words how we feel about this issue, especially in a forum as counterproductive as a comments section. The internet is what it is, and p2p affects every sector of the entertainment industry, including ours. The bottom line though, is as you said it: if everyone downloads the torrents you upload they will cease to be made. When you create the movie and upload it, you provide many people with an easy way to not have to buy the riff. Some of these people, probably many, might not have bought it anyways. But a few may have, and opt not to because of your uploads. It's also hard to buy the "we're doing free advertising for you" argument when people seem set on uploading every single item in the catalogue, rather than just one.

Like I said, I don't expect you to stop. You will probably say that if you stop, other people will do it. Very well. I just wanted to chime in on behalf of all of us here at RiffTrax. We're real people, who enjoy making things that the rest of you like watching. If you're able to pay for what you download for free, please donate: http://rifftrax.com/donate.php

If you have any direct questions, please contact me at support at rifftrax dot com. If you doubt that I actually work here, I can change the Mike picture up in the corner of the website. Let me know which you'd like to see.

[bettertomorrowamy]

Then the re-author guy writes this:

Riverburn at 2007-07-08 19:59 CET:
Hmm..ok, first of all, sorry phil, didn't know you were on the crew, thought u just had no life , if the people at rifftrax really are pissed at me for doing this, drop me a line over at the Star Wars 2 Rifftrax i just upped and i will never upload rifftrax again, because it's not mine to give.
Second of all, Supreme2k, i'm sorry, did you pay me to provide you with high-class rifftrax synchs? Sure i could've removed the dissemblabla's voice but that would've taken some time and i didn't feel like doing it.

Bottom line is, if the people over at rifftrax want me to stop uploading, then so shall it be.

Tito, you don't have to buy the dvds u don't like, u know...this is a ...torrent site ... get it?

[bettertomorrowamy]

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3736251/http___rifftrax.com_donate.php

[MSTJedi]

Okay, I reauthor my Rifftrax purchases, but they're for my own personal use. I think the thing that gets me the most about the guy is that he didn't take the time to take the synch lines out. I mean, come on. If you're going to rip off Rifftrax, why do it half-arsed?

[torgosPizza]

Wonder what they thought of our Generations torrent

[RVR II]

OHH.. I'm Sure they weren't too thrilled, But it was Hysterical to me!!

[bettertomorrowamy]

What pisses me off is how ignorant these guys are.  The more they write, the more they seem like 12-year-old boys.

First, they say that they aren't doing anything wrong.
When I download something I know is copyrighted I don't defend myself by saying I have a right to do it.
I wouldn't have an excuse.

Second, the guy uploading says that he will stop if Rifftrax complains.
Someone complains and he asks for another complaint.
Then he says he'll stop in a week.
Now he probably won't at all.

It's an interesting internet phenomenon where you can have perceived anonymity and at the same time be part of a mob.

[Dr.Impossible]

These people HAVE to be scientologists, right?

Who else could deem it possible to "ruin" battlefield earth?

You could replace all the dialogue with fart noises and make it a better movie.

[Conor]

What pisses me off is how ignorant these guys are.  The more they write, the more they seem like 12-year-old boys.

What I've observed most thru looking at torrent sites is that no matter what, people will think of some justification for what they are doing.

Among what I've seen:

-This gets them more exposure, we're actually increasing sales

-17 years ago, MST3K put a message saying "keep circulating the tapes" in the credits, so this is OK

-People will get these anyway from somewhere else, so who cares if they're here.

-I do these for people who bought them so they don't have to synch them up themselves

-RiffTrax is stealing artwork from George Lucas, so that legitimizes me stealing from them.  (Note:  Also not true.  Everything we do falls under fair use.  and, as an important distinction, if we were to find out that we are doing something that is considered legally questionable, not that we are, we would cease doing it, as we obey the law.

-I will buy the riff as soon as this finishes downloading, so if it gets taken off before hand, whoever reports it is costing them money.  (note:  My favorite.  Just imposing your own morality on a situation and pretending like that's the way things go.  "I'm going to shoot this dog if I throw this ball up in the air and it hits the ground.  [throws ball, it comes back down and hits ground].  Well I'm shooting the dog, but its not my fault, gravity made me do it."

I think that most people who download stuff for free are aware of the legality of what they are doing.  They may be morally detached from it, but they know its wrong.  If you have to convince someone that illegally downloading something is illegal, it is not someone that you can really hope to convince of anything.

The anonymity of the internet permits people to act like complete dipshits with no consequences.  If you were to meet the pirate bay commenters face to face, they would not tell you that you suck and that it is their right to distribute your work for free and that you should thank them for increasing awareness to your product.  Also, as an interesting note, when we posted an email address and said we would answer any questions people had for us regarding our "image theft" or other issues, we did not get a single email.  When they are just trolling a message board, it doesn't really impact anything, but its when they post the products that it starts to get intolerable.

The most important thing you can do is just put a face behind the issue, which I think we're able to do.  We are a tiny company, we discuss these issues all the time, and we've come to the conclusion, that no, it is not "valuable free advertising" to have a 19 Trax torrent posted on demonoid for anyone to download.  I don't know why anyone who is interested in RiffTrax would think that is fun or helpful to do such a thing, unless they so desperately crave the attention or ratio boost that it provides  But the donate page seems to be a successful way to reach out to people, so if you ever want to post a link to that if you see something like this out there, please feel free to do so.

Could talk myself in circles about this all day long.  It's complicated, and it's not going away, so I'll shut up for now.

[Nunyerbiz]

Obviously there is no justification for obtaining copyrighted material through illegal means... it's against the law for a reason. That said, I think the vast majority of the people who use torrent / P2P for such things were never going to spend money on the product to begin with. I've known alot of these torrent jackholes and if they can't steal it, they'll live without. It's more about getting away with the theft, and not so much about what actually is being stolen. 

I think all that can be done is what you guys already have done... Make your displeasure known and allow people to come clean via a paypal donation if they enjoyed the illegal "try before you buy" baloney. Either way, if torrent dissapeared tomorrow I doubt many of these scammers are going to line up at the Rifftrax shopping cart.

[mrbasehart]

Well, someone's just up 23 Rifftrax for download on The Pirate Bay.  Nice to know those people are listening...

[torgosPizza]

Yeah. Unfortunately he's not good at hiding his tracks. Feel free to voice your opinions to him personally.

LJ: http://kastofsna.livejournal.com/profile
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/geigo
AIM: kastofsna

I've banned him from the site, and the forum. Not that he ever posted here... what a dillweed.

[Dr.Impossible]

Yeah. Unfortunately he's not good at hiding his tracks. Feel free to voice your opinions to him personally.

LJ: http://kastofsna.livejournal.com/profile
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/geigo
AIM: kastofsna

I've banned him from the site, and the forum. Not that he ever posted here... what a dillweed.

Wow, he's selling every episode of MST3K ever for $60.

[gbeenie]

I just sent him a nastygram via LJ. Dickhole.

[RVR II]

Can you all Fry his Stupid @$$?!