I've made and given away several free models and thousands of my images in the last several years. I know when people have used my stuff in their work when I run across it on a web page or in the gallery and that's credit enough for me just knowing they thought enough of the work to use it.

I think that if a person takes credit for creating a model they didn't create, they ought to be 'outed' by the model maker, but ONLY if the model maker cares to do so. It's not anyone elses right to do so.

I think it is unfair to criticize folks that do not give credit unless your terms of use specifically state they must and it was your items they used and they failed to credit you. Then it is something to discuss with the person directly, not to take them to task in a public forum.

With the way the web is, how do you know where they got that model and what was said in any readme file with the model? A person has no real way of knowing who is the original creator of a model, so anyone taking your work and redistributing it with new terms is as authentic as you are to the downloader.

I don't have to give credits to William Alexander or Bob Ross when I use their paint, brush and canvas kits, even their manual instructions to do an oil painting. They provided the tools, I did the composition. Models, textures, poses, lights, they are tools in my opinion. Even images, when they are rendered objects designed for and given away to use as compositing images are tools, even if they can be called art when viewed as is.

I've asked people not to give credits when using my stuff. I'm mortified when I run across some image that has my stuff that been altered or used in a way I find embarrassing and I don't want my name to be associated with it.

I can ruin a perfectly good prop or figure by rendering it in the wrong light or scenario, I'm not so sure that's the kind of advertising model makers really want. I know I don't.