The problem, Spike, is you had proof. What I don't understand is - Out of 9 images, you verified that 8 were not his - Why was he allowed to remain anyway just because one MIGHT be his? It makes no sense. There should be a zero tolerence policy on artwork theft just the same as there is on warez requests. So, the final image was finally removed and according to Micheleh, it's "Pending investigation". Huh? I still don't understand. Nobody has directly answered any questions and that REALLY bugs me. I feel like I'm trying to interview a politician here. It shouldn't be that difficult. At least three other online art communities took swift action and didn't need to debate. Obviously they understand that art theft is wrong. So why does the largest of them fear taking action? Even a single stolen image should be grounds for immediate banning - much less 9 of them :)

Let me just point something out for those that are unaware. This wasn't a case of "just because someone complaned" This was a community being informed that a proven plagiarist, fraud, what have you it's just plain wrong and you know it, posting the same stolen images in its galleries. Once the first image was proven, why was there need to prove each and every one seperately? This person started out, as far as we know, posting stolen images at Renderotica. By happenstance, Il Geco found an image that he had created, being posted and claimed by this person, and made comment of it within the gallery image comments section. He didn't need to complain. We saw the comment and investigated. The image was identical, in a pixel by pixel comparison. We can provide the comparison for you if you would like. Further investigation into the matter led us to this persons posting of an image by Louis Royo, which he claimed he copied using his "technique of mimicry". Mimicry my left foot. He mimiced it right from the artists gallery to his paint program, where he did a botched job of whiting out the artists signature stamp and inserting his own signature. That was certainly enough for us to ban his deceitful tush. Now, as members of this community, we felt it necessary to track down the other artist whose images were placed in our gallery without his authorisation. We did so, and informed him of the situation. When we saw that he had begun posting these images in other forums of this community, we felt obligated to inform them of the situation. Between seeing the rightful artists gallery, further incidents of fraud on this persons personal site, thereby showing intent to deceive, the word of reliable witnesses, and predisposition toward same fraudulent acts; other communities saw fit to remove this person and his pilfered postings from thier membership. To allow such a person to remain a member, would imply that this sort of behavior is acceptable, which it most certainly is not. Renderosity chose a different route. That is their perogative. I will state for the record, that I do not agree with their decision. FYI: I did just check his gallery. There is an image in it called "The Great Illusion". Given his past and present behavior, I would bet big money that it does not belong to him. Are you willing to stake Renderosity's reputation that it does? Do you want to continue using time better spent moderating this site for honest members, with continual searches for original artists because of a dishonest one? I truly believe this still applies: An honest merchant does not continue doing business with a known thief, even if the owner of the stolen goods has not come to him in person to complain.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=Shin%5FGouki

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=178864&Start=1&Sectionid=0&Form.Search=Shin+Gouki And if you really believe they are two different entities; well...that's just sad.

Good catch, Momcat! I'll look into it and get back to you.

The "catch" goes to Cazcie who found it this morning and pointed it out in the "Hmmm" thread.

Our TOS did not cover this at that time. Because you and many other member pointed this out, we are changing the TOS to reflect this. Please work with on this and keep pointing out any and all images that you feel should be removed. We realy need all your help on this. To quote our TOS: Renderosity considers this information private and confidential. However, there may be certain situations that necessitate otherwise. We feel that this is one of the situations that necessitate otherwise. So, on that note: This member has been banned! We are taking action on all clone accounts as well. Thanks to all of the members here for helping us with this member.

Momcat, you'll see that the link you posted in #55 no longer goes anywhere. :-)

Very cool. Thank you.

Excellent! Thank you Spike. Sorry if I seemed a bit overzealous but, things like this really upset me (and rightfully so!).

Rightfully so, indeed, darkjeanette. Plagiarism is an ugly thing. Please be assured that we are working fast and furiously on making the changes to the TOS that Spike referred to. It's not an easy task, when you consider that we meet in the mod forum in exactly the same way that folks meet up in all the other forums. That is, we aren't all there at the same time.

I applaud your decision. You are wise indeed. Thank you. >^_^< <--happy kitty face

Thanks..Please let us know when the TOS has been changed. Cazcie

You betcha, Cazcie. And, not so incidentally, thanks so much for helping us identify this particular problem.

Thank you all for working as a team here.

Yahoo is reporting that the Project Illusions page does not exist. Either he took it down voluntarily, seems unlikely, or Yahoo got wind of his actions and took it down for him, seems more likely. Cazcie

Interesting. I don't know about Yahoo taking action. My impression of them is that there aren't actually any people there - just zillions of bots running around - LOL! Thanks for staying on top of this, Cazcie. It's a big help to us. Spike was right on about thanking the folks here for your teamwork. :-) Sipa

Yes! Zillions of bots milling around sending out URLs to the FAQ in response to unrelated questions and complaints >^_~