Front seat thrills DVD review: More from Horse Creek

When it's back up and running, any guesses on whether the CP videos will be there?

Nathaniel does have a nice ring to it.

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Zero-G said:You can bet I'm gonna send this link to my friend at CF, because that Paypal link still works.

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And this accomplishes what? Are you trying to sell Cedar Point a copy of their own video? lol. ;)

Josh, just fussin' with someone other than Nathaniel for a while. hehe....

Jes, I'm lost. You can't buy a video with your own money, and then sell said video on the internet? How is this illegal?

That is all the info I see on that website.

JC, confused

Brian, you had me at Nathaniel. :)

For some reason I think that one is gonna stick.

I can't resist any longer. But, rather than contribute to this scintillating discussion, I'll relate (well, paraphrase) an amusing anecdote that my wife tells about her time in medical school.

"Med students and residents---especially those who train at major tertiary care centers---see a disproportionate number of bizarre, unusual, one-in-a-million cases. Pretty soon, they start looking for unusual, one-in-a-million cases with every patient they see. Soon after, a senior attending physician gives them the following sage advice: 'If you hear hoofbeats, look for a horse, not a zebra.'"

What, pray tell, does this amusing anecdote have to do with HCP, you ask? I'm happy to tell you!

The situation is as follows: At least one longstanding member of the CBuzz community has clearly stated that HCP used one or more of his photos without permission, and HCP told him to jump in a lake when he complained. HCP appears to be the only outlet in the universe, including Cedar Fair, that has ever offered for sale DVD versions of VHS tapes sold by Cedar Fair. Within hours of the discovery of these DVDs for sale by another longstanding member of this community who happens to know a few folks at Cedar Fair, the HCP website suddenly encountered a rather far-reaching case of "server trouble," which cannot be resolved because the principals of HCP are on vacation.

Now, it is entirely possible that Peabody is mistaken and really did give permission to use his photo, that Cedar Fair really did give HCP permission to duplicate and resell their VHS product on DVD, and that the web site really did just happen to halt and catch fire precisely when the conversation about the DVDs came to light.

It's also possible that the guys at HCP are perhaps bending the law a bit.

I'll leave it to you to decide which of these is the horse, and which is the zebra.

Edit: typos *** Edited 4/28/2004 3:27:46 AM UTC by Brian Noble***

Jes (Zero-G)

Dude, are you done rambling on yet? I mean seriously, type something with substance, not just random accusations that aren't even true.

And you're not very good at guessing my next response, because actually it would have been this...

"HCP bought a FEW Raptor vids *from* CP when they were there on a trip and are selling them on their site to "beef" up their offerings - kinda like a "one stop shop" deal. They wanted to have more to offer, so they decided to purchase some copies at the park and sell them on their website. This is how they do it legally."

But maybe you knew I was going to write that, eh? Get a grip, and a life.

So in summary, you've accused them of doing something illegal, when they haven't (in *this* particular case, not referring to anything else), yet can't admit you're wrong. You're a helluva guy.

Joe "wish I was popular enough for people to make stuff up about me!" C.

EDIT: Added jes' name since I didn't want it to look like that was directed at Brian. :) *** Edited 4/28/2004 3:33:54 AM UTC by Legendary***

Joe, rest assured you are that popular. You'd have to be. Cause if everything I've heard about you is true, I've got some beachfront property in CA that I'd like to sell... *** Edited 4/28/2004 3:42:37 AM UTC by Robocoaster***

Oh, RoboB...believe it ALL! ;)

BTW, I am never ever writing those TR's. Ever.

:)

Joe "Yeah, I know you're shocked" C.

Oh what the hell. My quick TR from my day with RoboB.

We went to some random parks in Oregon. We rode some roller coasters. We sped down some freeways at breakneck speed. We went to Mount Hood and rode some alpine slide. We then did a bungee jump for the first time. Then we went on the alpine slides again. Then Robob said "never go straight, go forward." Then I laughed. Then we departed ways and drove to Boise, ID. Oh, and one more thing. Don't ever let RoBob tape your skycoaster flight. He doesn't know when to press record, because he got us suiting up and then the next shot was us grabbing the loop at the end of the ride. Way to go RoBob! You've ruined everything!

Jes,

Why were you so quick to jump to conclusions in the first place? You didn't ask, you basically said they were doing something illegal.

The sad thing is Joe, I work in a movie theatre. You'd think a guy with 20, ere, many years of experience working with projectors could operate a simple camcorder. *** Edited 4/28/2004 4:01:58 AM UTC by Robocoaster***

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HCP bought a FEW Raptor vids *from* CP when they were there on a trip and are selling them on their site to "beef" up their offerings

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So you're saying this is nothing more than an online garage sale? They're buying a VHS, copying it to DVD, and then redistributing it in a 1 to 1 ratio (not selling more than they purchased)? I'm not a lawyer, so can someone with more legal knowledge tell me if that's an OK thing to do?

Brian brings up some good points.

What I'M saying is that it's ridiculous for the few of us that know them to have to explain everything away to the few people who seem to have it in for them. This thing is rapidly approaching two full pages again when the other one went nearly a full 3 PAGES!

At the end of the day, whenever this particular "day" ends, none of you are going to receive the "collar" for putting these "evildoers" away. In addition none of you will recieve the bronze star of valor, a purple heart, or the Congressional Medal of Honor.

On page one, a guy just wrote a DVD review of one of the videos and it's turned into the same thing the other thread has. If you'll all notice, Jeff closed the last one. Most of you seem like good and decent contributors to Coasterbuzz, IMO. I say leave the witchhunting to the folks in Salem, Mass.

Here, I'll give you something to get started with. Magnum XL Minetrain sucks.

There's no witch-hunting here. We went over that in the last thread. At the end of the day, I don't care. I just find it entertaining that a few people (who all appear to be - ironically - close, personal friends) continue to defend these actions by either saying there's nothing wrong or by saying it's just not a big deal.

You're not going to get the bronze star of valor, a purple heart, or the Congressional Medal of Honor for your defense. But if these brave defenders continue, I'm sure the witch hunters will continue to point out the flaws.

The fact that I'm a friend of theirs has nothing to do with anything. If I was your friend and you were engaged in something wrong, don't assume to know that I would back YOU up just because of a friendship. Thanks for the "den of theives" comparison. Your sense of "irony" as you call it is more than just a hair off.

The facts have been laid out before you. What you choose to see and what you choose NOT to see is not for me to decide/debate/argue any more.

God Bless you in your future endeavors. Your photos on your site are very nice, good luck with those.

I wondered how long it would take for someone to start up with the "You're only defending them cause they are your friends!" bit. I'm with you on this one Brian. I'm like a trig teacher in a class full of A.D.D. students. Not doing me any good to keep on speaking.

Josh - in before close!

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If I was your friend and you were engaged in something wrong, don't assume to know that I would back YOU up just because of a friendship.

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Of course not. If you were my friend, I would hope you would call me on it.

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The facts have been laid out before you. What you choose to see and what you choose NOT to see is not for me to decide/debate/argue any more.

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On this much we agree. There are facts that are here to see and there are facts that are not. You have the facts from their point of view. I have facts from the other point of view. I'll let the attorneys straighten it out. That's not my job.

I'm still confused though, because there are two stories: they did nothing wrong and they did something wrong, but it's no big deal.

*** Edited 4/28/2004 12:36:08 PM UTC by Gemini***

The video was not, is not, and never was sanctioned by Cedar Fair, LP. That is a fact. Jeff (Peabody's) copyright infringement claim wasn't even the tip of the iceburg.

This is not about getting someone, this about respecting intellectual property. It's not any different than "real" property. If I pick vegetables from your garden and sell them, is that legal? Would you be OK with it? It's the same damn thing.

Why does anyone here care? Because there are a lot of people here who make a living with their software, music, photos, video, etc. IP owners look out for each other.

Since you are calling motives into question, I'll give you some insight into mine. You seem to assume that we're doing this for personal gain. I'm not. As a professor of comptuer science---a discipline with value derived *entirely* from intellectual property---a small part of my job is to explain to anyone who will listen that IP theft is just that, theft.

It costs literally nothing to produce copies of software products and to distribute them electronically. It costs next to nothing to distribute physical copies. I'm sure most of you have seen the spam floating around these days about "buying software without the added expense of packaging and CD duplication." It's also without the added expense of paying the people who wrote the software in the first place.

As I've said, I don't know for a fact that HCP does not have Peabody's permission to use his photo, nor do I know for a fact that they can't legally sell DVD versions of Cedar Fair videos. But, I know which way I'd bet---especially as I've already done so.

Edit: typos. *** Edited 4/28/2004 1:21:39 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

Since the details of what "EXACTLY" was "stolen" are not apparently going to be disclosed, then why are other facets of the operations of HCP in question as well?

If Jeff (Peabody) has issues with them, let them discuss it. I'm only defending against the outlandish remarks. Anything Peabody has or doesn't have going is really out of my realm of knowledge, so I won't wax philosophic about it.. unlike others.

Brian, who feels that this dead dog has been kicked ad nauseum. The only good thing to come out of all this mess is a nickname. ;)