Neikos

So you like drama hm? Well I'm sure you will find some around here, although it is all light hearted! ( And isn't that the best one anyway? ) So, hello here Yokçuluk ( Yes, I had to copy paste that ), I hope you have fun around here PS: Does your name mean anything specific?

In here we can talk about stories that relate to the whole concept of a Human being ( I like to call him Anon ) transported to Equestria. This is about the only similarity between the stories since every author has another way of tackling the problem of social differences, different laws of physics, magic, disease and similar. Why Anon? Anon which is short for Anonymous, means that you have a character who doesn't represent anything. Any other name has some subtle connotations which can make the whole thing appear fake. He is often slender, not incredibly strong, but smart. Got any stories? I haven't written any ( so far! ) but there are quite a lot out there. Search on the net or FimFiction for them. What is so interesting in this? Aren't ponies enough? Well, I can't answer this for everyone, but here is my version. The idea of being magically sent to a whole new place, so different that even the law of physics you knew are not the same, fills me joy. Like, literally joy. Since the possibilities are endless you could have Anon wake up in the middle of Ponyville, half dressed with a shopping bag next to him and then get Twilight & Co to research how he got there and how to get him back! Perhaps he won't like it here. He could go visit Canterlot. Perhaps the ponies there see him like a lesser animal? Perhaps he is also able to do Magic? Etc... As said, the whole idea is that you are stranded somewhere and that every story is completely different. ( One story I read ended up explaining how Twilight managed to contact Earth and get a Pony Ambassador down there and a Portal... ) Is Anon alone? This is of course up to the author, but usually the circumstances are so that Anon is indeed alone. The whole 'stranded' can make for some very nice emotional situations as well. A big part of why I wanted to make this thread is to get people writing! It's really a lot of fun to just sit down and think how Anon might get transported to Equestria and what he got with him. From there on it's all up to you. We can also share small parts of our stories here for some criticism since some might not feel that what they wrote is not yet worth another thread. I myself am currently plotting out the first chapter, will probably post it here once it's in a presentable state. So here is the start: It was a windy evening, I really didn't like taking the trash outside while the wind throws dust and various plant parts at me. But somebody had to do it. My roommate has always been a bit of a slacker and so far I preferred to take care of keeping the apartment clean, it wasn't much work and at least things stayed acceptable like this. I could invite people over without having to worry them making comments about the smell or pieces of leftover still being on the table. As I opened the lid to the trashcan I saw a faint glimmer in an alleyway to the left of me. As I turned my head it disappeared. "Hm, weird.", I thought to myself, "Probably just a reflection in my eyes." Once the trash in the trashcan and the lid safely placed upon it I started to go back inside only to see again that same glimmer. Since this time I was at a different angle I knew that something was not right. I was intrigued. And not knowing any other way I went and started to investigate. To my big surprise the alley was empty, nothing and nobody was in there. "This is even weirder." I gently rubbed my eyes and yawned before taking a step back, planning on getting back inside, I had my rent to pay. But behind me wasn't my building anymore. There was a big hole. And I just fell into it. I tried to yell, but there was no air, or so it seemed. I started to panic as I slowly ran out of oxygen. The infamous pounding in my head got louder and louder until 'plop', and everything went dark. As I woke up I groaned, "I told you that damn alarm won't be enough.", with my right arm I tried to grab where I thought to be my shirt and pants. I obviously overslept, or so I thought. As there is nothing where I grabbed I instinctively searched a bit higher from my position only to grab something furry. I didn't immediately realize, I was searching for clothes after all, but as the furry thing moved I panicked and shot up. The sunlight was blinding, and as soon as my eyes were accustomed to it I saw what I had just grabbed. A blue pony. A blue pony with Rainbow Hair. And it seemed to look at me. "What are you doing there lying on the ground?", from her tone of voice I figured it was female. But that's about all I could think... I was hoping I was dreaming. I probably fell on the ground earlier and hit my head and all this is just in my mind. The mare came closer now, probably curious as to why I was not answering... Wait a minute, did it just talk? "I... don't know.", I answered, it was the truth. "You look alright to me.", she then cheerfully said before starting to hover. I noticed only now her wings. "Where am I?", I asked her. The moment the words had left my mouth I felt like in a movie. I am probably reliving my mind's version of some bad flick I saw last week. "You're in Equestria, duh." she replied, seemingly annoyed by such a simple question. "Equestria, hum." was my only answer from that. She must be thinking I am challenged by now. "So.. err you will be fine on your own right? I still got a few tricks to train.", she laughed awkwardly, awaiting my answer. "I.. guess.", my answers didn't increase in size nor in complexity. Everything was still incredibly fuzzy in my mind and she seemed to have other things to do. I should have asked her for directions to the nearest city before she flew away now that I think of it. It's not much, but it's a start I guess, will keep it updated.

Yeeees, it was epic! I laughed so much throughout the whole thing

Of course it has to be enforced. Disclaimers are not a carte blanche. To be honest it kind of seems that you do not realize what actually happens once you get a C&D letter from a large corporation.

If you are not actively enforcing your disclaimer it is basically nil

That is a nice infographic but a bit irrelevant, you are looking for compensation, not payment which is something else entirely. But I do agree, getting people to pay is a pain in the ass. And whether your music is free or not doesn't change that. But it does change the attitude towards your fanbase. You aren't here to alienate them based on their financial situation. They are here to use their free time to listen to music you made, so better give them the best stay. Not only does that give you a higher turnout but also they are willing to pay more.

( Thanks :3 ) It's all about not needing to take away freedom just for the sake of it. If your only reason is that you want to force users to buy it before they can download it then my argument is that it won't work and you should look at other ways of monetizing what you do.

I have never put in doubt that people aren't willing to pay, actually the fact that Bandcamp still exists just shows that people still wish to pay for great music. And while it's about gaming, I still believe this holds true for music as well. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem

The only honest way to tell people that they can buy your song is by asking/telling them that they can buy it. Then, being an audiophile means you care about High Fidelity and not the music, so I have a hard time to understand how this has anything to do with Music Downloads. ( Other than being a Red Herring. ) And I am not so convinced that there "hundreds upon thousands of others"(sic) that believe the same thing. ( Well that might explain why the lobbies exist. Actually it doesn't, only the money behind it does. ) By disabling downloads and forcing users to pay for their music you alienate a rather big possible fanbase. ( Which is all those who cannot pay or are unable to pay due to their age. )

This has never worked, since the sole fact you can stream it means you can download it. So it can be intercepted and thus any protection in place is void. ( And you have now way of telling that it got saved, unlike trough the downloads. ) If you are afraid of piracy then look at your service. You should make it easy for the user to purchase and get his tracks in some way or else he will get it another way. It's not rocket science and you can't stop it so there is no need to put up an illusion of safeness anyway. ( Also, as a heavy music consumer, not making me able to listen to the music on my phone until I feel like paying for it means that I won't ever pay for it. )

As he cast the spell Erik would gently convulse, whether it was a sign of the spell working or him being in pain is not immediately clear and probably won't be until after the spell is done. Then the second phase of the spell began, a small beam of light came out of Lance's horn, going towards the wound, seemingly being absorbed by Erik before disappearing, only to leave a soft glow on him, showing that the spell did go throughout his body. It was then when... something erupted out of his body. A white cloud of 'smoke' as one is tempted to call it. It then disappeared as quickly as it came to be. After a few seconds the spell had done it's work and Erik stopped slowly bleeding, with only his largest wound still needing to be treated properly. His breathing also returned to somewhat normal. It seems that he is relatively okay for now, at least in a magical way. Angelica looked between Erik and Lance, waiting for him to finish the spell, impatient to go and help her coltfriend. Several kilometers North a Caravan was slowly moving away from the city. Inside it were what appeared to be three ponies. One of them was chained to the last wagon. He was not in very good shape, several deep scratches where all over his body, some were still fresh indicating a recent beating. The other two ponies where at the front, one was magically making the whole caravan move while they conversed. Their current subject was about how the weather isn't going to help them advance the next few days. Then suddenly the aforementioned smoke of cloud appeared before them, releasing a frightening cry before vanishing. They both stopped talking instantly and looked at each other. "This is rather troubling.", one said, the other agreed. "It is. How shall we proceed?" "Let us continue for now."