First of all, no fingers are being pointed. AT ANYONE. AT ALL. That said, I'm losing my nerve. Between art thieves, and touchy artists, I don't know what is making me more nervous. I totally understand why artists are on edge. A few years back, I posted an image by an artist named Nene Thomas in a gallery as an image I liked. At the time, I knew about as much about 'art theft' on the internet as I know now about brain surgery; nothing. So, then, a year later, I got into graphic art. And, learned a little about what copyright is. Immediately, I removed the image. Yes, that made me a theif; no, I didn't KNOW it was wrong, but I wasn't positive I was right. IMO, I think we should educate people, on the front page of Renderosity, what is and isn't wrong. Either have info there, or a HUGE link to follow. Everyday, new people are introduced to the internet, usually people who, like my sister, are interested in free stuff. To most people from the Midwest, free means everything, lol. (just kidding) I learned quickly, before I even got here that it's wrong to post someone else's art unless you have permission, much LESS call it your own. (lol, I doubt anyone would even try to claim my gallery anyway. it SCREAMS newbie) Most haven't. Unfortunately. Now, here's were I fit in.....I want to post some poser renders.....it's not that I think someone's going to steal my art (heh, yeah right.....steal a newbie's art? bah-ha-ha!!). It's the fact that there are some people on 'rosity as a whole who feel that they need to police every bit of it. Some of whom, it has been stated, don't even have galleries to 'fight back' or see if they even know what they're talking about. Just as a sidenote....I'm not trying to detract from the situation at hand. Lady Rhiannon, and all other victims of Art Theft, I am sorry to hear that this has happened to so many of you. One is too much. If I even spy an inkling of art that belongs to anyone here, I will definitely tell them that the art does not belong to them, and notify you immediately. Please, all of you, don't stop posting....I draw such inspiration from you all...you don't know how much you help me think "you know, maybe I can do this after all". If at any point this was not coherent, lol, or if you need clarification, you can always send me an email by clicking on my name and sending me a message.....or, post it here, either way I get it....Remember, it may be daylight where you are, but its 2:05am here. Have a wonderful evening, morning, day! Shadow

I think I get it. Education, not condemnation.

And... it's a great idea. Everyone is supposed to read the TOS when they sign up, but how many actually do? A sustained effort to educate newcomers would be very useful.

Of course, you can't hold a gun to their heads and make them read the stuff, can you? Can you? :)

Exactly, but, again, if they chose not to read the TOS or any other educational link, it's their fault if they plead ignorance. Maybe membership should be based on a test of the TOS, lol Shadow

I agree. There are lot of misconceptions about the net. I have had misconceptions and been corrected very nicely by someone. I responded very well to their simply explaining in a nice way that what I had done was illegal. I was under the impression that it wasn't. I used stuff posted in public domain newsgroups. The belief at the time by every newbie was that anything posted in public domain became just that and you could use it. Some people think when they first get on the net that anything posted on the net is free to use. They really just need to be educated :) Just my 4 cents worth :) (inflation these days)

I mentioned in other posts that what could be done is that the rights and wrongs and copyright etc.. should appear at the top of every gallery image. This is to remind people and also to cover you. There is no way that they could then have missed the warnings and if they still continue then you look into taking some kind of action. Some people will not like the idea of the paragraphs of text at the top of the gallery but they would complian when people are taking their art in ignorance or uninformed.

If we were to post anything at the top of an image (tos, whatnot), how about making it optional, so that if the artist doesn't want it up there, they don't have to. Also, you don't HAVE to post it here. You can post it on your own site and do these things.....lol, we don't want to make the 'rosity tech's jobs harder!! Shadow