I gotta say that I disagree with the last two posts. Not that I expect many would think otherwise.
Allow to clarify and quantify that.
I find, if someone is going to make broad or general sweeping statements they ought to have some basis in whats happened. Phrases like 'for the record' or 'always' are a bit tricky when the opposite has been found to be true.
It's unfair to suggest that this thread hasn't helped artists improve, I'll deal with that later.
It's unfair to suggest that these sorts of threads 'always turn into fights or witch hunts' when after four pages of posts and over four and a half years... it hasn't. This has been a fairly smack-free topic and other than one imageboard hound declaring how funny he found it I don't see how this has been anything of the sort.
It's also unfair to suggest that this thread is picking on poor defenseless, helpless, lost-little artist lambs who cooincidentally had the same idea as someone else (and consequently, the same lineart, colouring and backgrounds too).
Let's be clear about the threads stated intentions:
It's written clearly in the OP that those called out had ignored or rebuffed multiple private approaches and multiple warnings, lied repeatedly when challenged despite clear and objective evidence and continued to post more and more blatant copies. This is a repeated theme throughout the posts of what is and what isn't acceptable levels of reference.
This site is full of art and artists, resident or otherwise, who reference and credit correctly their artististic influences. They are not by any means the subjects of this thread.
Nobody called out here is a poor and confused individual with a poor memory and that was made clear from the start, I and others stated that repeatedly.
Either you didn't read and understand the OP or you're accusing me of lying without any basis.
It's fortunate that most of those hardcore art-thieves are known to avoid this site because of its tough rules. Believe me when I say after a decade of managing art sites - and not just this one - that this notion they are merely confused young starters is charming but wrong.
Most Art thieves and blatant copiers are the most arrogant, cynically-expoitative and unrepentantly sleezy people you'll ever have the displeasure of dealing with.
The sort of contempt they hold for the victims of the piece you pay lip-service apologism to, the artists who actually worked to create an original piece, is staggering.
They take far, far worse criticism that this thread dishes out daily without giving a shit. They adore nothing more than an indefinate sending of private messages or private attempts by the artist to get them to remove stolen or copied works - because they can deal with those by ignoring them indefinately. I'm not stopping you defending or apologising for the practice but to paraphrase a great orator: This Shaming by a small time curmudgeon like me won't bother them at all and they care even less about you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnthespanker
...it's not your places to judge others. Yes stealing and plagiarism is wrong, but we shouldn't complain
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Bluntly: I comprehensively disagree. At every level.
When I created this thread back in 2011 I was a gallery mod. I'd written a proportion of the sites rules, most of the gallery rules and (unless my own memory is mistaken) pretty much all of our rules on credit and referencing. Now I'm an admin.
It is absolutely my place to judge who has and has not violated those rules, either in spirit or in letter. It's absolutely my place to make decisions about what to do with repeated rulebreakers who flatly refuse to abide by the TOS. I've never claimed to be infallible nor conceited but I maintain that I do have the right to be the artiber of this websites rules and I will always do it to the best of my abilities.
Irony of Irony's, the guy saying we shouldn't complain is complaining. I appreciate the point you're making but if you don't want to complain, thats fine, your standards don't apply to everyone. There's 100+ artists on this site and many of them feel horrible if they get ripped off and feel worse on sites where no-one does a damned thing. They want to complain, they want something to be done, that is their right. This thread was not the first resort in any case - and it was damned successful.
Stealing and plagiarism is wrong, in my world something should be done to correct those who do it. I will complain and I will listen to others who complain - and I hope I have the ability to do something about it wherever appropriate.
If you want me to recomend sites that have no rules or enforcement whatsoever, I can do so - I expect they'll likely swivvel your head so much it'll pop off your neck like a cork.
Let's talk about the threads accomplishments.
Many of those who've been called out in the thread have caved and admitted copying, it was the publicly announced comparison that broke the denial-pattern. At least three people mentioned in the thread - including in posts deleted over time - have gone on to make the residents artist grade on the site. They've done that off their own sweat and are to be congratulated for that.
One other I won't name ragequit in the face of hard evidence and is still
to this very day stealing and copying with a loud and sneering contempt for their critics and victims whom they block and silence on dA, a site that so far hasn't cared one iota about it.
I just don't see this gleeful malice thats described anywhere in this threads posts. I don't see a delight in humiliation of blameless scribblers driven to distraction by the unfairness of its harsh treatement - because I don't believe thats happened. There are no posts dropping the names of those shamed and adding slurs and insults to the mix, there is no fallout that has spread beyond this thread and followed those artists into their galleries and images. I don't get the vibe from most of the posts - perhaps someone else could let me know how mine read, since I'm biased - that this is a thread setting out to legitimise future antagonism. It hasn't happened subsequently that I'm aware of although its your bland contention that it has.
From the neutral toned OP, the repeated message of what is and what is not acceptable, the confirmation from the start that this was for people who were repeatedly breaking the same rule despite being told not to all the way through to the final dormancy with which it has lain speaks to me of a tool that is seldom used and isn't a major asset.
I'm not upset that I haven't had fodder to feed this field of flaming hate. It's no disapointment to me that about fifteen months or so pass between the last post and now. I'm delighted. I'm absolutely glad. No-one wants this thread to be thriving and active, full of sound and fury.
It's a tool, one thats seldom been needed and hasn't be used callously or recently.
I appreciate what you two are trying to say but I don't recognise some of the points you make as accurate desriptions of whats actually unfolded nor do I agree with the specific points that no-one can judge. I hope not to come across like I'm ignoring your points or dismissing them out of hand - I simply disagree for the reasons as above and for more not explicitly stated. I'm not writing a wall of text to drown you out but to show I get the spirit of what you're trying to say and respect it, even while I feel the thread should remain.
