Adoption of POD's?

Adoption of POD's?

  • Use it or lose it: just go ahead take it.

    Votes: 18 50.0%
  • Ask and you shall (or might) receive.

    Votes: 15 41.7%
  • Absolute no-no: come up with you're own one!

    Votes: 2 5.6%
  • Other (please specify).

    Votes: 1 2.8%

  • Total voters
    36
What is the general opinion of someone 'adopting' a POD? By that I mean, if I see a POD that I really like that someone has started to use, but the thread has died after one or two posts, whats your opinion on someone else using it?
 
Nothing wrong with taking a POD that was used by someone earlier, but there's a difference between using the same POD and "taking over" someone's TL without their permission.

But if we couldn't use the same POD as other posters, there would be a lot less ACW or HRE or Roman threads.
 
What is the general opinion of someone 'adopting' a POD? By that I mean, if I see a POD that I really like that someone has started to use, but the thread has died after one or two posts, whats your opinion on someone else using it?

I don't think we should be excessively proprietary when it comes to PODs, but at the same time I think it's common courtesy to PM the person in question and ask permission, just to be polite. There's no point in stepping on toes if you don't have to.
 

Prefrence

Banned
I think using the same POD is alright, but there must be some big differences between both timelines after awhile.

Although, I've always tried to make unqiue POD's. (Thats not really saying much as I've only made 2 timelines)
 
Asking is always nice. I mean I'm sure my vision of King Cortes is far different from Polish Eagle's idea or John F. Parker's idea.
 
A POD can go into mutiple directions, I can't see why not, so long as the subsequent timeline is different then the one you create.
 
It's okay to take a POD from a work and I would even go on a limb and say that if the TL hasn't been updated in a year then fair game if you need a starting point to go with if you make sure to change things as you go along.
 
I'd simply ask. The worst that can happen is someone would say no. Besides the same POD can work out any number of ways given how contingent history is.
 
Personnally I've no objections in someone adopting a POD that was proposed by someone in a thread. There must be thousands of "What if" threads on the board that have never been turned into a timeline: thus, it could be quite okay to use a POD proposed in a "What if" thread. Of course, courtesy would have the one who wish to use the POD ask the one who proposed it in case the latter is planning to make his own timeline.
There can also be some sort of negotiations: it's not uncommon for a lot of people to have different visions of how events would turn because of a POD. If, by discussing, the two people realize their timelines are going to be very different, then I think it's safe to let them use the same POD.

Now, I don't know if this thread also includes the possibility of people who wish to make a "timeline take-over": by this, I mean people who enjoyed a timeline that has died out and wish to take it over from where it stopped. I'm rather hostile to that scenario, unless the original writer of the timeline has given his approval and announced it on the board. If not, it looks more like theft...
A similar thing would be for a "multiple writer timeline": someone can't just write his own part of a timeline without the agreement of the writer(s) of the said timeline.
 
S'all good then. The POD I had my eyes on started of well, but hasn't been touched in 4 years, and the timelines will be completely different. Anything I write would be different, as it didn't go anywhere. Thanks everyone :).
Just wanted to check, I thought it would be the polite thing to do.
 
Within reason its acceptable.
When I was thinking of a Neanderthal TL, I was going to put it in Northern Europe, than before I got around to doing it another Neanderthals survive TL was created, with a focus on Europe.
So I simply changed mine to North America, and posted without asking or even commenting.
If I had kept it Euro-centric then I probably would have sent a PM and mentioned it, and then focused on the differences with some changes to keep from looking like a copy cat.

Now if its a common POD, than as long as you won't go in exactly the same direction after the initial changes, then its even more fair game. If you asked permission when wanting to do an American Civil War POD, you'd end up asking 20 or 30 people, many of whom aren't members anymore.
So use your best judgment.
 
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