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Previously had the PFQ username kittens
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Regarding Art Theft
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While I think it is a good idea to step up the standards for controlling art theft, good luck trying to verify every image on this whole website. Most of the images people use are free use, or official content. Many artists themselves could care less whether people people use their stamps, GIF's, and icons (most commonly used everywhere), and I'd say this level of monitor should really only matter for fan art, or full-drarwn pieces.
You have to expect tons of questions, because this is is first site I've seen make an attempt at being very strict in the images people use. This is the internet, after all. It'll be near impossible to find the owner of some things, and thus not being able to use them take away something very great from the internet.
I'm not saying art theft isn't serious, I am an artist myself, intending to be professionally. I just think it's a bit extreme to ban hammer somebody posting a picture of something they like if they didn't write a full report on every exact detail about it. They are not selling it (and if they are that is indeed cause for concern), it's simply posing a small picture. I can see this being relevant in RP forums where people may claim various internet characters as their own, but writing a "Works Cited" page for the GIF's in one's signature seems a bit silly and impossible to manage.
I just hope people don't become afraid to post a picture.
(I was also curious in the case of character "adoptables" bought from another artist - while I'm not one who buys character designs, how would it make sense to have to credit the original artist? If you have paid for the art, the ownership of the design transfers to the buyer.)
Excuse me for coming off a bit brash, but seriously.. how hard is this to understand? Every question here so far has been "but what about x? does that need to be credited?" It's not that difficult to understand. If you did not make it, you need to source it. If you just pulled it off google, you need to source it.
If an image you are using is free to use or official content, then all that needs to be stated in a tooltip or something similar is 'btw this is free to use lol' or 'art is official'
Any image that you found of google needs to be traced back to its original creator Google themselves even point out that images may be subject to copyright -- that they cannot confirm or deny that an image they have is free-to-use. We're not enforcing this rule because it's something we made up -- it's an actual law. Copyright is a big thing for a very good reason, and we're not about to ignore it.
I know for a fact if I found a user using my artwork without my permission for a character reference for their RP I would literally flip tables. It's something that bothers me to no end - just "Yeah no. Fioré does not behave like that what are you doing to my beloved Leafeon Sona." Very few things make me see red immediately. This is one. It's incredibly disrespectful to have someone's artwork being used for something it was not designed for.
I've already said it but I will restate it again.
If you did not make something in your signature or avatar and you cannot get permission to use it from the original creator, remove it. I'm aware that some artists are inactive, but them's the breaks, as they say. You'll just have to consider yourself out of luck on using that particular image. If an artist has two accounts on the website, go with the account that been most active and just send them a polite note asking if you can use their image. It's courteous to ask for things that you want to borrow.
To clarify something, a gif like Is generally okay. Gifs that are from TV shows/anime/movies/whathaveyou and are generally acceptable to be used in your signature or About me section. Just credit them by saying something along the lines of "The Lion King(c) Disney" and you're good to go. After all, we don't expect you to send an email to Disney asking for permission to use a clip from their movie to use as a gif. While it would be impressive, it's incredibly unlikely that they'd respond.
You pretty much answered your own question here. Ownership has been transferred, so it's alright. :)
To clarify something, a gif like Is generally okay. Gifs that are from TV shows/anime/movies/whathaveyou and are generally acceptable to be used in your signature or About me section. Just credit them by saying something along the lines of "The Lion King(c) Disney" and you're good to go. After all, we don't expect you to send an email to Disney asking for permission to use a clip from their movie to use as a gif. While it would be impressive, it's incredibly unlikely that they'd respond.
QUOTE originally posted by Dracowolfie
(I was also curious in the case of character "adoptables" bought from another artist - while I'm not one who buys character designs, how would it make sense to have to credit the original artist? If you have paid for the art, the ownership of the design transfers to the buyer.)
Avatar: Novie
To be honest I'm a bit confused by why some people appear to think this is such a big thing to do (just to clarify, I'm speaking about people who are making things more difficult than they have to be, not people with legitimate questions or concerns about this); simply writing "Art is official" on a the bottom of a template, for example, is easy. I put it right into the template design so that I don't need to write it out each time.
Constantine: I personally think it's a little bit different when it's art you've payed for. When the artist posts online, of course I'd link back to them even if I have payed for it. But in your instance, where the artist doesn't put their art online, what I'd do is just state that it is commissioned work from an offline artist somewhere. This is just my own opinion though; what Ravyne & other staff would prefer you do for such a situation could be different.
And permission can be falsified like you said. Screenshots of permission are especially easy for someone to falsify as long as they have a little knowledge in photoshop. But to be honest, if someone goes through the trouble of editing / falsifying proof of permission... well, that's just sad. e_e
Edit in addition to Eltafez's post: Indeed there are some people that truly don't care where their art ends up. But if that's the case, a lot of artists will state that along with their work so that people know. If they haven't stated it themselves, though, that's not reason to assume they are are one of those people who don't care. Receiving permission to use an image that isn't yours & giving credit is always better than assuming.
And even if most images used on this site are free use, simply stating that somewhere ("this item is free use etc etc etc") isn't going to hurt you, I promise.
Note on my first comment in this post
When I said that I am confused by users who make a big deal of this, I was not referring to users with legitimate questions & concerns. Constantine & Dracowolfie's comments, for example, were not what I was referring to in that statement. It's when people seem to think it'll be a difficult task to simply state their image source or ask permission if the image isn't free use that I was referring to.
QUOTE originally posted by Dracowolfie
While I think it is a good idea to step up the standards for controlling art theft, good luck trying to verify every image on this whole website. Most of the images people use are free use, or official content. Many artists themselves could care less whether people people use their stamps, GIF's, and icons (most commonly used everywhere), and I'd say this level of monitor should really only matter for fan art, or full-drarwn pieces.
You have to expect tons of questions, because this is is first site I've seen make an attempt at being very strict in the images people use. This is the internet, after all. It'll be near impossible to find the owner of some things, and thus not being able to use them take away something very great from the internet.
Avatar by me for my personal use only.
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I agree with Dracowlfie 100%. It's the internet, people will post tons of offensive things (in different forms) and often times, there's nothing you can do to change that. I also think this site is being way too extreme.
QUOTE originally posted by Diana
I agree with Dracowlfie 100%. It's the internet, people will post tons of offensive things (in different forms) and often times, there's nothing you can do to change that. I also think this site is being way too extreme.
Should photographs of real people e.g musicians/random people on the street or just a picture of yourself as your avatar be credited if not taken by you?
I know this is the dumbest question.
Avatar is official art from Witch Hunter Robin
Well, photography is a kind of art; I would credit the person who took it and if possible, the people in it.
QUOTE originally posted by Niet
QUOTE originally posted by Diana
I agree with Dracowlfie 100%. It's the internet, people will post tons of offensive things (in different forms) and often times, there's nothing you can do to change that. I also think this site is being way too extreme.
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