Board Thread:General Wiki Discussion/@comment-1186783-20141210213307

I was just wondering if we have a specific definition of what constitutes a "Spin-off?" At first glance, this seems like an obvious subject, but it seems like there are a number of complications that can arise. (if these issues have already been addressed, I apologize, just link me)

It seems like the two major issues in determining this are time, and identity of the author, but I'm not sure either of these make complete sense.

Now, using myself as an example, if someone wrote a Creepypasta using Peter Dawson, that would be a Spin-off, and thus not allowed.

Going outside Creepypasta, it would be equally unallowed to use Stephen King characters.

However, using werewolves is just fine, as they're clearly just folklore, with no single author.

...but, what about Lovecraft and Stoker? They're both public domain figures? Which seems to make the issue more temporal.

But, then we have Black Eyed Children, which I was allowed to use, as far as I can tell entirely because they were an urban legend before they were a creepypasta (although no one mod seemed to be able to give me a definitive answer on the question of their allowability when I first asked).

But, ok, looking at that standard again, as far as I can tell there's no specific record of who wrote Jeff the Killer (I've googled for the authorship several times)...(also, please note that I'm not defending Jeff as worth writing a spin-off about, just an example), and he's not allowed.

So, to summarize: You can use old stuff, except when you can't, and you can use anonymous stuff except when you can't. 