Regarding Art Theft

This is what we needed for this site because people steal others art way too much these days.

My point wasn't: "Let's stop monitoring people and let everyone steal and cause havoc!" My point was more what Constantine is saying: How do you moderators intend to accomplish this and monitor it all? It is such a huge task you're wanting everyone to do, and if someone doesn't comply, are you really going to take the time and search for that image's source, and ask the artist, for EACH image you are suspicious of? I mean more that it seems like far too much very serious work on a place that is growing quickly, and often the stolen images are used for very innocent purposes. (Avatars, decoration, conversation) I haven't seen anybody on this website trying to actually sell or make a profit from stolen work. I don't think this can be accomplished with the size of the staff, or with any size staff. It is a noble cause, but one that in many cases isn't incredibly necessary for the manpower we have on team. Image Moderators could help the issue, with their specific job being to monitor images people, but it still seems like an exceptionally busy and heavy job to go through every member on the site. (Checking through all parts of their profile, all posts that they have made, and then tracking down every suspicious image....)

What about the Trainer Cards? They already have a link on them to the website and in a way was made by the user. http://pokecharms.com/trainer-card-maker

This does seem like it will be a big job. I agree with Dracowolfie that Image Mods could help. This is a good idea as copyright and plagiarism are problems (though I don't see them occuring here) but it may be too much... Turbo- I think trainer cards are fine.

Yes, moderating thousands of people is a huge task. But don't forget that normal users can send in reports, too. It doesn't have to completely fall on the staff to keep an eye out. If you see an image which hasn't been properly credited, report it and Ravyne (or another available mod) will look into it. If it turns out to be false alarm, then no worries. At least you've tried to be helpful. If we all complied with this, it might even be easier for the staff to moderate on image usage. No, they wouldn't be able to check on everyone - that's crazy! But at least they wouldn't have to check on those who have their images properly credited. Sure, they could randomly pick an unfortunate soul to cross reference their images, but it's not like they'd have to monitor everyone who follows their instructions. Those who don't will stand out from the rest, making them easy targets for the staff.

You make a good point Eltafez. Are reports anonymous? However bans may be a little harsh. Perhaps a strong warning?

Before I continue, I would like to mention that lyrics/poems/quotes/Wordy things in a template should also be properly sourced. This is actually a pretty good question. I would say if you can, credit the photographer. If you can't, for the life of you, figure out who it was, a simple 'photograph/gif not by me. sryican'tfindoutwhotookthephograph/videoplzdon'teatmybabies' would be okay. ... if it's already on the trainer card, then that's fine. I know your post was before Turbos, but can I just say omfgilu? It's rare to get people actually involved in this kind of topic and I'm actually appreciating that you (and Constantine!) are legitimately curious and asking these kinds of questions - they make me think. I like thinking. In part, the PFQ community is a fantastic one - the moderators can safely rely on users to report things that are.. fishy. A large part of what makes our job easy is having active users seeing something that looks off and report it, like Eltafez pointed out. Good little MiT, have a cookie! *toss*. That's not to say that users do half our job for us -- while they are an immense help, I know for a fact that myself and other moderators are actually incredibly diligent when it comes to doing our jobs properly. Reports aren't anonymous, but they are confidential. After all, we often have to PM the user who reported the other for more information, just to make sure all bases are covered. If user A reports user B, User B will not know of the reports existence. Even in cases where user B has to be PM'd, everyone on staff simply opens up with "It has come to our attention that you were being a pancake." Or something similar. _{Pancakes may or may not be involved. I'm a bit bored and trying to amuse myself} We never disclose names. Never ever. Never ever never ever ever never. Bans, by the by, are never permanent unless a user's behaviour deems it necessary to be. You'd be surprised at how many people have had their bans lifted by being a civil human being and sorting out the issue... and conversely, how a user banned for a simple incorrect date of birth (which would grant them access to the mature forums) flip their lids and wind up extending their sentence until they can behave accordingly.

If I can make a small suggestion... I know that photoshop brushes & such aren't exactly easy to monitor, considering you can't exactly cross reference a brush pattern. At least I don't think you can...-cough- However perhaps you can add crediting creators of brushes and patterns as well? Many people who make brushes require a link back somewhere if used, or that you ask permission before using the brushes on something off-site.

I usually use deviant art to find pictures for rps. And I use the link when you right click and view image. It has the name of the artwork and who's it is by. Like this is an example of a actual link: http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/200H/i/2014/078/0/a/delusion_by_jenniferhealy-d7atwd3.jpg.

"Brushes by "X" " would suffice. All of the brushes I use are free to use, or I create my own. xD It still has to be credited properly in a subtext below the image, and you still have to ask for permission to use it unless they state it's free-to-use. Even if they do state that it's free to use, still credit them for the image.