wow these guys have obiously no knowledge of copyrights at all!

In about 90% of "there walls" they put this is cool and a link a to customize.org or deviantart....

i didnt reconize anything from here, since i think they dont wanna mess with us assuming

are you really going to "patrol" them? it seems to be a very small site and hardly worth all the hassle, they´re just too stupid to get the idea. better waste your time with some skinning

Well I seem to be skinning at a rate of roughly one widget per month at the moment moshi, so that puts my next skin on target for roughly 3 years time...

As for patrolling, I tend to keep my eyes open all over the place for this sort of thing. Someone else always reports first though. I must be getting slow in my middle age.

I like your picture Jafo.

If I had downloaded some wallpaper from some site, and then I posted it up on my website to show my friends how impressed I was with what the artist did....

I'll end up with a bunch of holier-than-thou people screaming at me to take it down just because I was in some violation of copyright. Nevermind the fact that they never once emailed the main artist to ask him if he would present himself first and talk to the people who placed it up. No, all of you had to run head first into their little msgboard over there and start flaming the hell out of them without, let me repeat, without asking the owner of the site what purpose it was for.

Downloading something and then distributing it to other people through anything is also illegal, if people really want to be picky about it. I'm pretty sure half of you, if not more, have already broken that rule. However, we ignored that little bit of crap just because we never claimed it to be our art, the people we sent it to never asked if it was ours or not or they already knew, or we don't want to feel like we "broke the law."

Sometimes, things like these get overboard, you know? You can rip into people for uploading work that aren't theirs. You can't say "warez suck" all you want. When it really boils down to it, half the work you admit into the WinCustomize database of graphics is probably made by pirated software. Does it seem like you're talking out of your mouth and your ass at the same time?

So now what? Cover your ears with your hands and pretend this post didn't exist?

There are going to be people out there who aren't going to care too much about the world of graphics or their copyrights for that matter. However, you aren't given a badge to be internet cops to go hunt down every last piece of work done by you or your friends posted on someone else's website (automatically assuming that all uploads are for BAD REASONS).

Arrogant bastards is what I would think first hand. If I was showing my friends how much I enjoyed that specific piece of work, you guys are probably running off half the potential fans of these artists you so respect.

As far as I know, I don't think real artists mind people showing and liking their stuff. Whether you sing, dance, or make pictures... people do it for the enjoyment of others. If I had made any work and someone else uploaded it to their site to show it to their circle of friends... not claiming to have made it... I wouldn't care. What is art about? The significance of how outstanding your name is, or how significant people enjoy the work you've dedicated your time to?

When a msgboard gets over crowded by rip reports, it almost makes me want to think that all of you are too self-important to allow people to enjoy what it is that you hvae made. Just because people don't care about what you care so much doesn't mean they deserve your anger. All those titles of adminship means nothing to some people... and you guys may just end up being push-overs. Your status work only within the communites to which they are obtained at. Campus police can't arrest people outside of the campus.

Think about it, ya'll.

peace.

In the last paragraph I was refering to Youji. But also he does make some valid points. I bet I'm not the only one using Kazaa. And this is one of the only sites I have seen that actually goes out of it's way to track down rippers.

By the way everyone I really don't think we can catch all the rippers. Here is a example: They shut down Napster but up sprung Kazaa. If they shut that Kazaa down sonething else will take it's place. We can try to kill the ripping machine but in reality it is bigger than all us put together. Want proof? Look up Hackers and Cracks on Google.

Nuff said.

Again you make awesome points. But beware: If the admins read all this your in for a butt kickin, and me too.

"half the work you admit into the WinCustomize database of graphics is probably made by pirated software"

I think you are on the wrong site. Dangeruss was appreciative of what was done, so your point is pretty flat. Actually, is anyone upset about it but you? I think there is a pretty strong contingent of "real artists" online right now that are disproving the whole "If you like it pass it on" thing.

Anyway "Your status work only within the communites to which they are obtained at", and I dunno who you are.

No, I don't think people would rally around ya even if you were someone who we all know *cough*.

"As for the pirated software comment":

None? no, i can't say that, but you didn't say none, you sald "half the work". A good deal of the work here is made by a few people, and I feel quite sure your statement is false.

Fair enough, I know that Journeyman rank and above get their work submitted automatically, and everyone else below that gets moderated....

Very well, not half the work, seeing that there are quite a large number of people I know here whom I trusted. However, all it takes is one (a couple for those harder to convince) piece of artwork out there made by pirated software to disarm any "we don't take warez kindly" argument... Takes only one false to make a entire statement false, I suppose.

What I meant is I bet a few people here (not me) have burrowed software from a friend and used it to do stuff that that software does. In a way that is Waraz to I think. No different then burning yourself a copy of your friends favorite music I guess.

My point, kona0197, is that not many people are willing to admit they use pirated software. I've stayed around enough to see many of the kazaa threads turned into "admin-dislike" threads.

When a person has an impressive image of making great pieces of art, we, personally, do not like "damaging" that image with the use of pirates software. Sure, a site has to keep up their image of "purity" and "goodness." I'm pretty sure Frogboy doesn't want a lawsuit on his hands for pirated software usage, or hosting pirated software. Any hosting service would have that in their lisence agreement.

However, they aren't internet cops. If someone stole my nice harley, I can't go hunt them down and make them pay. Likewise, my friends can't hunt them down and make them pay either just because they're part of the "neighbourhood watch".

Same idea. Some people are over doing it, and many don't take well to criticism.

They didn't care about it, and yes, that may have been an offense to many of you (myself included), but it is their site, and it is their will to ban whom they don't like coming around harrassing their environment (even though to us, they broke the environemnt first). They may also believe they didn't do anything wrong.

It is your responsibility and mine to explain with well phrased reasoning and example to why their actions are wrong. If they don't see uploading another artists' work for enjoyment as stealing... people stomping all over them telling them they are stealing will only confuse them.

Just so you know, not everyone speak English as a first language. Sometimes, what you people write are hard to understand if one doesn't understand English moderately.

Those who responded with good will are those we should thank, not say that "it should have been that way". When people over react, it's also understandable. We, as a community, charged in there with swords drawn, ready to draw blood if they didn't do what we command them to do, at least, that's how I saw it.

I, too, have dealt with my share of rippers. They make my blood boil... but there's always the option to either do it nicely or savagely. However, always notify the artist first. I don't know if charging in there before Dangeruss was even notified first was a wise idea. If Dangeruss needs back up flaming the group, please, rally behind him and give him all the support he needs.