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Regarding The Recent Sun and Moon Leaks

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
EDIT 7th November: This article has been updated to reflect our stance on leaks from full copies of Pokémon Sun and Moon that have broken street date before release.

As some of you may know, Pokémon Sun and Moon's demo release was met by the datamining community with interest, and early this morning a large quantity of images were released depicting Pokémon Sun and Moon information that has not yet officially been revealed. Unfortunately, such information has not been sanctioned by Game Freak or Nintendo, and hosting it here would open us up to potential legal difficulties we are keen to avoid.

The practical effect of this is that we are not able to allow discussion, fanworks, or any other content involving leaked or datamined information, including that drawn from leaked copies of the game, until further notice. This does not include the info available as part of gameplay in the Sun and Moon demo. For example, any drawings of unrevealed Pokémon, mentions of them in the forums or profiles, and so on will be removed.

For the avoidance of doubt, everything else related to Sun and Moon is still allowed. Please feel free to discuss and post works of anything to do with Sun and Moon revealed officially – if you've seen it on the site before, it's still allowed! If you're worried about your existing content, please contact a member of staff rather than deleting it yourself – we'll let you know whether your content is okay or not, as it's very unlikely you'll have broken this rule for anything posted before today.

While this rule exists, we will be enforcing it through our warning system - like with all our other rules, we reserve the right to place members in moderation or read-only if they break this rule, or try to get around it.

The law regarding fansites such as Pokécharms is a bit of a grey area – because we are technically infringing on Nintendo's copyright, we are at their mercy as to whether we are allowed to continue to exist. In our over 13 years of existence, we've never attracted Nintendo's ire, so they've allowed us to continue to operate as long as we play by their rules. We'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately, as we are a dedicated fansite, we are in far more danger of being served with a takedown notice or otherwise having legal action taken against us than a general community like Reddit or Twitter.

We are sorry for having to take a hard line with this – it is certainly not our wish to ban this entirely – but too much is at risk to allow it.

From all of us on the Pokécharms staff, we thank you for your understanding – and we look forward to discussing everything regarding Sun and Moon as soon as we can!
 
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As some of you may know, Pokémon Sun and Moon's demo release was met by the datamining community with interest, and early this morning a large quantity of images were released depicting Pokémon Sun and Moon information that has not yet officially been revealed. Unfortunately, such information has not been sanctioned by Game Freak or Nintendo, and hosting it here would open us up to potential difficulties we are keen to avoid.

The practical effect of this is that we are not able to allow discussion, fanworks, or any other content involving leaked or datamined information until further notice. This does not include the info available as part of gameplay in the Sun and Moon demo. For example, any drawings of unrevealed Pokémon, mentions of them in the forums or profiles, will be removed. However, as the information has been around so long (and widely reported), discussions and works including the previously-leaked final evolutions for Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio will continue to be allowed.

While this rule exists, we will be enforcing it through our warning system - like with all our other rules, we reserve the right to place members in moderation or read-only if they break this rule, or try to get around it.

The law regarding fansites such as Pokécharms is a bit of a grey area – because we are technically infringing on Nintendo's copyright, we are at their mercy as to whether we are allowed to continue to exist. In our over 13 years of existence, we've never attracted Nintendo's ire, so they've allowed us to continue to operate as long as we play by their rules. We'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately, as we are a dedicated fansite, we are in far more danger of being served with a takedown notice or otherwise having legal action taken against us than a general community like Reddit or Twitter.

We are sorry for having to take a hard line with this – it is certainly not our wish to ban this entirely – but too much is at risk to allow it.

From all of us on the Pokécharms staff, we thank you for your understanding – and we look forward to discussing everything regarding Sun and Moon as soon as we can!
Wait, so if we can't draw sun and moon stuff anymore, would it still be ok for me to make my own aloha forms still and post them, or no?
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Wait, so if we can't draw sun and moon stuff anymore, would it still be ok for me to make my own aloha forms still and post them, or no?
You're more than welcome to draw Sun and Moon Pokémon - provided they've been officially revealed in some way. Anything we've officially reported on is fine, as is anything new in the demo. The only thing not allowed is the data we only know about because it's been datamined.

You are of course always welcome to post fan-made Pokémon and forms, this rule does not affect that in any way.
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Does this include alolan dugtrio seeing as it is in the demo but also in the data mine
Alolan Dugtrio is fine, as it's been "officially revealed" by the demo.

Also, guys, please don't feel the need to delete your Sun and Moon works! If you're worried, shoot me a message and I'm happy to let you know where you stand – I promise I won't warn people for a genuine mistake :)
 
Sorry if this sounds "smart ass-ish", but what about Alola Dugtrio? I mean, they make an appearance in the demo, so does that technically count as being officially revealed?

BTW thanks for letting us keep up the art for the starter evo's, I spent a few hours on that Endermaid drawing and would have been bummed to see it deleted.

Edit: Just realized someone asked this, sorry for the repeat question.
 
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Sorry if this sounds "smart ass-ish", but what about Alola Dugtrio? I mean, they make an appearance in the demo, so does that technically count as being officially revealed?

BTW thanks for letting us keep up the art for the starter evo's, I spent a few hours on that Endermaid drawing and would have been bummed to see it deleted.
Yea it's fine. It's known information from the demo.
 
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Game Freak can't catch a break with these leaks.

-First, the copyright is leaked day before it's revealed.

-Then, final evolutions for the starters are leaked a few weeks after the starters revealed.

-They take a metric ton of effort to replace every none demo available Pokemon have Pikachu's stats and sprites...and forgets the shiny sprites.

It's safe to say Game Freak will likely never do another demo version, at least if they want to keep these surprises...though Australia will just give us in the US the low down night before release :p
Though, thanks to these leaks, I can plan my team out a lot easier now. This game is hype as all get out.
 
The floating box said i woulnt be able to post any work, is that true because i wanna continue making more storys and artwork?

(The artwork is just gonna be pictures of characters in my story, like mysha the lucario)
 
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Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
The floating box said i woulnt be able to post any work, is that true because i wanna continue making more storys and artwork?

(The artwork is just gonna be pictures of characters in my story, like mysha the lucario)
It didn't at all say that, it just said what this article says - we're not allowing discussion or works involving the datamined Pokémon info from last night. Your works are absolutely fine, and you are more than welcome to post your stories and artwork here :)
 
Damn... I totally see where you're coming from, it's so much safer than to be posting about all kinds of illegal activity, and it wouldn't shock me if all the datamining videos on youtube will be pulled down within a matter of hours.

I will however be appearing on chat to rant, within the next few hours, provided that isn't going to be against the rules, just please no one ruin this vague moral-grey-area by posting in the chatlog topic....
 
I have a couple of works related to Pokemon Sun and Moon. They are a poem about an Alolan Raichu and a short story about a boy named, Billy, and his adventure in the Alola region. Please take them down if they are not allowed. I will totally understand if you do. I have another short story planned about Billy's adventure in the Kanto region.
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
Can I still make my fan fiction I have?
Yes, of course :)

I have a couple of works related to Pokemon Sun and Moon. They are a poem about an Alolan Raichu and a short story about a boy named, Billy, and his adventure in the Alola region. Please take them down if they are not allowed. I will totally understand if you do. I have another short story planned about Billy's adventure in the Kanto region.
Both these works are allowed, so no problem. :)
 
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I completely understand the issue. I definitely would hate to see this site go, you guys have put lots of effort and time into it too and it would break many hearts if it had to come to a takedown for copyright infringement. The leaks were cool but it kinda ruined the surprises for everyone :V
 

Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
So we can't make artworks of the leaked final evolutions of the starters?
Because they were leaked so long ago, and have been so sidelined circulated, I said in the article that they're fine to discuss and use in works :)

However, as the information has been around so long (and widely reported), discussions and works including the previously-leaked final evolutions for Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio will continue to be allowed.
 
im confused weren't the only things that were "leaked" anyways <unrevealed Pokémon names removed>
also no one anywhere has had any issues with the leaks so why the fuss???
 
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Teapot

Virtual Duck Enthusiast
Staff member
Administrator
@BettySpaghetty None of the leaks have appeared on any of the major fansitee whatsoever, and several of them have made statements like ours. It's not really fair to say that we're the only ones making a fuss.

Also, given you decided to break the rule this very article introduces, I've edited your post and issued a warning.
 
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