Sharing?

[Poet]

Let me pose a question!

If a sims 2 site no longer exists, and the creator that ran the site is no longer reachable, is there any harm in sharing meshes or creations from said site? I guess what i am asking, is if someone were looking for one certain item to complete thier game, but sat item can no longer be found wether it be because the creator retired, or simply disappeared, and the site hosting the item is completely gone, is there a moral obligation to just let the item disappear form existance should someone else posses the item?


P.S. Moral obligation, or complete loss of content?
You answer the question.

[miros1]

Depends.  (It would be nice if you could find out what the creator's wishes are, but we're assuming the creator has dropped off the end of the earth too.)

If it's a mesh and you really want to make a new texture for it, yes, include the mesh.  I've had this happen; I made recolors for the "turtle" sweater from 2-f0r-u, then discovered the site had vanished.  Wasn't a particularly well made mesh, but I liked the style...

If it's a hack, NO, do not distribute that hack in any way unless you're willing to take over supporting it as well.

If the creator's TOU says they don't care, go for it, just specify "created by So-and-so" to prevent people thinking the files are your creations.

Otherwise, yeah, let them vanish.

[caffeinated.joy]

Our site rules say we can't distribute content without a creators' permission (regarding WCIF questions), but we can't control what people PM to each other.

For creations, if you make something needing a mesh from a site no longer in existence and it's not another site who shares files (Sims2graveyard, Simscave, etc), then we usually don't have an issue with you sharing the mesh with a creation, since there's no point in making something if it's impossible to get the mesh (but ONLY if the site is no longer around and it can't be found anywhere else).

As miros1 said, don't share mods or hacks. Never a good idea.