While I personally agree that this guy is a low-life and should be removed/banned from DA permanently and as quickly as possible, I feel that the potty language of some of the comments (notably not from the ripped artists themselves) does reflect badly on our community here at WC as well.

Yes, it can be frustrating to wait for the reaction of the DA-mods. Why not take a step back, breathe deeply, count until ten and then formulate the legitimate complaint in such a way that the message is still clear but the used language does not show the comment-poster in a bad light as well?

All this year I have done battle with rippers and sites that allow rips to be uploaded. What intrigues me is even when a site states in its policy that other peoples work cannot be uploaded without permission the admins still allow it through. Even when the original artists name is on the image still and even when, like Boxxi, the artist is well known. This problem will continue as long as sites like the one I have described cannot even stick to their own policy. It will continue as long as people sit back in general and expect others to do the hard yards. I even saw one guy state he would stop uploading other peoples work when others did. So...we stand in court and say....Jeffrey Dahmer murdered people so I did too!.....That is the logic of some of these bright sparks. Collectively we can be a force to be reckoned with. Collectively we can confront those who steal our work and others work. As the saying goes.....if we ALL pull together as a team!  

I disagree. The point being that we wouldn't have to resort to these tactics on this site because it would have been dealt with quickly and efficently, and everyone would be happy. I make no apologies for the things I said, (the hardest word I used was "shit") we are real people with real feelings and, as in real life, when someone steals from us or offends us we can react in quite a different way to what is perceived as our normal persona. I'm quite a friendly, helpful, gentle person 99% of the time, but cross me and I'll get all medieval on your ass!

I was a moderator on this site for a long time, so I know what goes on behind the scenes, and that knowledge leads me to believe that DeviantArt are failing their artists and community in situations like this.

(Oh, and this is the SECOND time in a week that I was ripped at DeviantArt)

Sorry... I mixed up the pages (I wanted to send my reply to the WC Charity/Sub Drive - Day 1)...

However take my congratulations. This is a great victory!  

Not quite, he is still there complete with rips.

Yesterday I sent a polite e-mail to the site staff asking why these items had not yet been removed despite a number of policy violation reports being submitted. I have not yet received an answer, maybe there is no-one there?

It would be a good idea to only leave polite comments, being abusive serves no purpose. The community is strong enough to prevail without letting ourselves down.

umm...there seems to be something in the air here w regard to that DeviantArt "member's" page...the 'member' is listed as a regular member but the way the page is layed out w some of the features + sections displayed, the Friends section in particular, looks very much like a subscriber page as friends + myself included have looked into said section feature to be advised a paid subcription only will avail such on home splash page...it would seem that this whole incident is an 'in your face' f you to WinCustomize compliments of some elements at Dev....mysterious...

I agree with Paul. I went to the links for myself and it looks like a crowd of children were there. I say this as an outsider looking in.

That's why it is hard to be calm about it. Something just isn't right. That normally means he will be back.   

i agree with this, i've never really cared for DA, but quite frankly, they're a large community of artists, quite like WC.

personally, i think anyone here would be offended by a ripper being associated with this site, especially those who frequent it, and the Masters like Boxxi, who bust some serious booty to produce skins only to have them ripped. im pretty sure that if a ripper was reported here, and the claims were legit, the mods would have it taken care of in a matter of hours, not days. (Plus, starkers would verbally make he/she walk the plank) DA is either uncaring or just lazy when it comes to maintaining their site, apparently, and i've seen some magnificent skins come from there, but unfortunately, there are those who do not have any respect for those who work hard, and simply pass others' work as their own. these people are in all walks of life, and just like life, complaining and being rude does nothing. Just let the (incredibly) slow wheels of DA justice do their thing and flatten this guy...

forgive me for rambling, its 7AM and i havent slept, because i cant for some reason...

on occassion, the most composed, restrained + disciplined amoung us have difficulty with affrontery of this magnitude
+ in anger + frustration when pushed to the limit, people will do things that appear less than graceful...I do feel tho this is a brought on aggression/agitation to see what reaction some members of this site will have...+ they got it in spades...

I do not support deviantART and haven't since Jark(Scott) got ripped off by Angelo. It has gone down hill since. They may have a lot of members but look at what they achieve......organized chaos run by big ego's. I support sites that protect copyright and damn the rest. Easiest way to deal with deviantART is to show it in action. Withdraw support for their site if this is how they behave. No need for insults etc. They are welcome to act as they wish and recieve the prizes for their actions. We do not have to patronise their site. Life does not stop without deviantART.  

MRKacau has stolen 2 my boots, I has informed administrations of a site and them have removed.

that was very weird how that all went down..following the coming together of members, owners, management + artists of the two sites in LA for Jark to have been unceremoniously unseated was breathtaking to behold, but not unusual in the ruthless times in which we live...the innocence of artists having a site to belong to + look fondly upon was lost in that unfortunate unfolding of events....

My official complaints regarding this individual to DA staff have been polite and to the point. My only rudeness and abuse has been directed at the individual in question because he has blatantly ignored repeated requests to remove the stolen works.

Furthermore, despite being short and sweet, terse perhaps, the initial requests to remove the rips were relatively polite (in comparison to what was to follow), yet this repugnant individual repeatedly and systematically removed/hid comments stating the works were stolen and must be removed....like he was/is trying to hide the fact from those who are unaware/less informed, thus these acts of theft appear to be calculated
rather than done out of naivety/ignorance of copyright policy.

Given this circumstance, the inaction of DA staff to remove obvious rips, it is quite understandable that a community that looks after its own is going to become angered with continuing and seemingly unchecked policy violations.

As for the 'potty mouth', some people find restraint difficult when they are so in-sensed and aggrieved, particularly when the protagonist keeps rubbing their faces in it with blatant refusal to play fair.

DA may have suffered image issues prior to this, but the recent rip incidents have done nothing for its integrity/credibility...particularly in the eyes of artists who feel betrayed by situations such as this. Artists are going to lose trust and respect for DA, and ultimately, DA will only have itself to blame.

I'm losing trust and respect by the hour........... all the rips are still there, and he's been back and hidden all the comments on his front page. Whoever is in charge of reading policy violation e-mails and dealing with them at DA should be removed from his position. It's a disgrace!!

RealitySquared was in charge of Policy Violation team at deviantART if I recall Boxxi....and I agree, that given the obvious violation and the number of complaints they have had, and the attention on the offending articles page, it is indeed a disgrace. A snail on mogadon would move faster!  

Angelo Sotira killed the integrity and credibility of the site ages ago!  

Wheres the Report button?

I'm with Phoon, if this kinda stuff keeps up I'm never going to try win another DA subscription.

  

I am sure the DA mods are aware of the situation as they took down a polite message that I left on their forums. So why the lack of action?. Call me suspicious but I think they quite like this and are 'baiting' our guys. I might just pop back in a while and leave another polite message on their forums and watch that get deleted again   

Let's see what they make of this polite request. Be my guest and see if you agree. WWW Link

Yep, very well put Leo. Polite and to the point.

Well done, very diplomatic.  

I posted a forum thread about the topic within 'seniors' [section only accessible to seniors]...to get some dialogue happening.

The title is...

"Response times to Policy violations /Ban requests...."

my post in their thread..


Total blatant Copyright infringement. Illegal redistribution of Copyrighted Graphics as well as Misrepresentation of ones self as an representative/officer of a corporate entity..Stardock could actually sue for defamation/etc...