Regarding Art Theft

Adding to what Smooth Criminal said~ If you look at the Staff Roster, you'll know who the main artists are. And if you had looked through the Minor Updates thread, you'd have known exactly who made the art for Holly, Laurel and Doug. ^^ Edit: My main point is that you might want to familiarize yourself with the site first before going on a huge limb. Most if not all updates are easily accessible.

Smooth Criminal;; I know that a staff member made the Holly sprite, and that it requires no further credit because of that. I was simply pointing out the reason why I made my original post even after reading the copyright information. As I said, curiosity drove me onwards, and curiosity was the only reason I asked. I am not making a huge deal out of anything that PFQ does. I do not intend to attack PFQ or its rules. I am simply voicing my own opinion regarding art references. I would not be using the site if I did not agree on how PFQ functions, and I honestly have nothing against PFQ. I understand your point, and thank you for the extra info. Elfatez;; I am not going on a limb, and I am sincerely sorry if it sounds like that. I looked through the minor updates thread the other day, but not far enough back, so I missed that info. Thank you for pointing it out.

But shouldn't we avoid being like Tumblr? It's a bad example for exact this reason and we don't want to be like that, so we do what we must to not end up like that. Of course it's hard to actually go against it, but doing nothing would be worse. Not only morally speaking but as often mentioned: it's against the law. And I don't think that users will be permanently banned because of not reading and doing it right away (Mods may correct me), but they did agree to the rules and the rules include the British law. Copyright IS law, so they have to agree to this. The problem is: Mods have to make sure that you're not lying about having permission, and you HAVE to have a permission does this make sense? or else it's art theft and in the worst case scenario it ends up like in the article linked in the first page. This is a possibility the Mods can't just ignore, a few thousand Dollars/British Pounds aren't easily to come by. Don't worry, the mods doubt this, too (I'm talking about the part with the Southpark gif). You only have to state that it's official. I agree that this is the current state, but that doesn't mean that this is okay and should be acceptable. Besides there's still the law, artists still own their art even without plastering it with watermarks and this is something that has to be respected. And at some point you need to start to teach that to others or else it will stay exactly like it is right now.

[font=verdana][size=8][I'm just going to throw by two cents in here, it's a bit of a rant so I apologize but I feel like I need to speak from an artist's point of view.] I'm a little shocked by the responses that I've seen on here regarding this topic, I didn't expect to see so much resistance to this. For the people who are claiming that "this is the internet and everyone does it", this is a pretty flimsy excuse. Do you think that because you're anonymously posting online that it doesn't affect you or other people? Is cyberbullying ok because "it's the internet?". Is plagiarism justifiable because someone posted an article online therefore they're running the risk of people stealing it? No. If you were caught turning in a paper with information that wasn't properly sourced, you can get kicked out of school. This is no different. Whether it's art, an article or a song, stealing is stealing. I would like to think that people are above the influence of peer pressure and from thinking that something is ok because everyone else is doing it. What the mods are asking is what most websites should be asking of their users. It's not that they want to make things difficult for everyone or because they sit around in a darkened room plotting, there are very serious legal implications for them if they chose to ignore this issue. If it seems unreasonable, it is just further proof of how badly this problem has progressed. I've had my own problems with people stealing my art. Even on the original pokefarm, I received messages from people who had spotted my pixel art being used without my permission. If they had asked, that's fine, I would be more than happy to let people use it if they credited me. It's just pixel art anyways, nothing too fancy. However, a couple of them were commissions and requests that some people wanted and it really got me upset that people would just take it without asking and without crediting me. I'm proud of my art and I want to show other people so am I taking a gamble because I chose to post my art online? I hope not. I admit that I've been hesitant to share my work in the past because I'm terrified that someone will use it without my permission. Seeing some of the responses on here is really discouraging. In the end, what the mods are asking isn't that hard to do. It takes more energy to argue rather than just look up the art. It look me less than a minute to find the sources for my avatar. [Again, I'm sorry for the rant if it seems off topic, but I wanted to add my opinion to the discussion][/font][/size]

I'm with Persephone, I'm honestly confused by the resistance from some. In my opinion people shouldn't have to be afraid to post their art online because others will say "it's on the internet, so it must be free to use." I'm not the greatest artist, not at all. But about 2 years ago I started making MLP:FiM original characters. I later saw someone using my character and artwork I had commissioned of her, claiming as their own on a tumblr account. I reported it and thankfully the tumblr was taken down, but it was still extremely upsetting. I don't do much art anymore but when I do I always write: "Please, do not use my artwork unless it was done for you or I've given you permission. I'm aware I'm not the greatest of artists on deviantART but that doesn't mean my art is up for grabs to whoever would like it." The very fact that I have to write that in the first place for people to realize this is... unnerving.

Would I need to credit an image like the one in the hide box below?

No; that's a meme/reaction img It'll be downright impossible to source and even then there are probably multiple images with the same captcha all of them could be 'claimed' to be the original source. Most images like this usually come from sites that have anonymous tags or no information on the uploader is available - and even if it is chances are they didn't make the original. Even the watermark used there is impossible to read. God knows where it came from; and to be frank images like these aren't exactly 'art' anyone can slap a captcha on an image -granted that it's not a drawn image that someone took a considerable amount of time to draw. As of such I have my doubts that it follows the whole 'copyright' law due to its very nature.

Okay, thankees. :3 Also, if you find a background from a website that /says/ that the image is free for people to use, would it be okay to just go with that or should we still try to find the original artist? Like, I found this image on this website. The website says "FREE HD MOBILE BACKGROUNDS" on it--would that be okay to go by or should I still look up the picture to find the original artist?

What if our deviant Art username and PFQ username are different?