You're right about not posting something you might want to sell but the trick there is you have to post what you sell sometimes to show the exact quality the buyer may expect or to actually show the image to people who might buy it.Then there are the occassions when you post something you didn't intend to sell but someone writes to ask how much you want for it...many times they want exclusive rights to it which you can't offer if its embed on 50,000 websites.Thats what actually led me to Deviant Arts and to discover this as one of my members asked me to check an image because someone wrote inquiring how much she wanted for it...needless to say she was shocked as was I to find the embed code there. In truth,this may have been there for some time without my knowing because their site is rather slow and I never really got attached to it like rosity and others.But it appears many of their members were unaware of it and so I came here to make sure that people who may be members over there knew about it so they could either deactivate their gallerys or remove them if they don't want people to take their images...but I didn't want to say it that way because they do have a great site and the owners are trying to clean it up.

Psst Gabe...the reason I am raising such a fuss is cause many members of Deviant Arts don't know they've done this and I'm trying to inform them so they "can" decide if they want to delete their gallerys or at least get over there and deactivate the images but was trying not to say go delete them since thats not nice;P There are many members here who have DA accounts but haven't been over there in a while,never knew what an embed code was or maybe haven't been there in years.

One of my members there raised a complaint about someone stealing their art and Deviant Arts turned a deaf ear.They demanded proof the image was hers...the thief left her artist siggie on the image yet claimed it was her work.The member spoke openly about it on Deviant Arts and they threatened to ban her.I went there and personally spoke with the staff telling them this was a member of my site,she uses the same username on all sites,she provided them with links to where she posted the image originally and I told them I would raise such hell their eyes would be bleeding orange juice for the next three years...the image was subsequently removed. And I hate to say this Gabe...you don't sell your art,you sell 3d products so obviously this means nothing to you.But lets say after your last departure from rosity you came back to find they turned all the products you left behind into freebies and thanks to embed codes,your products were now being circulated on five hundred sites and everyone thinks you granted Rosity permission to do this.Rosity is a private site and by your argument they have the right to do this and because the exposure this gives you is massive...well its ok then. Some artists share their images here and no where do they say its psoted free to use unless the artist chooses to say that.Until they do,they have the legal right to retain all commercial usage and distribution of that image...even sell it if they like. Besides...I don't think we are talking to Blackhearted here as he is a champion of protecting copyrights belonging to artists and product makers and has raised hell in here countless times regarding copyright infringements...maybe somebody at Deviant Arts has used an embed code to steal Gabes site access here but is creditting him by leaving his name under the av there;P

Which is what I addressed when I mentioned how I asked about the right click option where people steal your art.The difference here Gabe is that yes anyone with basic html knowledge can do this to you however this isn't just anybody doing it to you...its the site itself. You make your money selling 3d characters and seems I remember an incident where someone recently took one of your 3D characters,slapped a new coat of paint on it with zbrush and began redistributing it as their own.Now would it have mattered if they gave you credit with creating the original character or even if they gave it away for free?No because it was your creation,she took it as her own and then redistributed it making profit from your hard work. The same is true for people who make images as there are many artists on Deviant Arts who make money from the images they post there.They share the images on that site because it is their choice to do so and yes,they do understand that the site has usage rights at the site...but those usage rights do not extend to third partys.They may be selling their artwork as lithographs or whatever and because the site is doing this,people who would seek legal right to use the art on their site or pay for it just snag the DA embed code instead.The artist has the inherent right to control their art and their ownership of the art cannot be extended to third partys by the site...even their own TOS do not state they have such rights.This is why when you post here or anywhere else you won't see the sites freely just snatching your images and posting them anywhere they please to promote this site...because its illegal to do so. This is why people get angry about clipart and so on.But I digress and need to make one more point I don't think Gabe caught...he just gave permission for anyone to steal his art and use as they want so long as they do it in a cool fashion and put his name on it...his right to do so lol,but he cannot extend that to every artist here nor can the site arbitrarily do it.I know Gabe will say he didn't do that but once you say you see no problem with someone doing that...you in effect give them a legal right to say you did.This is why rosity doesn't want you to post music lyrics here without proving the artist has provided legal statements offering permission to do so (so people would just refer back to Gabes statement here and sites would take that as permission so long as it meets the requirements he says are ok~interpretations a bitch lol). The issue isn't that they offer this Gabe...the issue is that they activated everyones images over there without fully informing everyone which makes it illegal.The law would look very harshly on this since all they had to do to make it legal was leave it as an option where members could activate it if they chose to do so.Its the site sanctioning the widespread distribution of every image posted on their site to anyone for any reason.Whats the difference between me right clicking through peoples gallerys,posting them on a site and saying this artist (adding your name for proper credit) grants unconditional usage of their art because thats what an embed code is...official sanction by the site to use the image.You may say the situation is different because you didn't post the image...but see thats the bad thing about embed codes,once someone snags the code they tend to post the embed code on their site as well and just change the site name in the code. If you wish to understand this,just go to MySpace and check out all the sites taking music,images,videos and even products to redistribute without permission using embed codes...and the end user is not legally at fault in these cases due to good faith extending to them.Theres no way they can verify that the site doesn't have the legal right to distribute the materials so trust they have that right (how does anyone know Rosity has the right to distribute the freebies here~good faith protects the end user and Rosity). You don't need an embed code for an image...you need an embed code for free distribution of the image including promotions and links that profit the site using the embed code.Embed codes also inherently are percieved by end users as granting permission when in fact these items are uploaded to the site by other members and the site makes no effort to authenticate ownership...yet freely distribute the item anyway.DA says the item must be of your own creation...they seem intent to protect you should someone falsely posting your work on their site yet then use embed codes so they can freely distribute your works across the entire internet for usage that goes far beyond anything the law would consider that you have any possible control over.If you give them that right by actually activating images you want to share then great as its a tremendous idea to promote your work...but you alone have the right to make that decision which is the reason this is important for people to know as if you aren't aware Deviant Arts is doing this with your art,then they have violated your legal rights to provide permission to use and distribution of your art.

Another thing I just was told by a nightowl attourney...he could overturn this in a court of law in a hertbeat because the site TOS here relates to the sites "controlled usage" of the artists materials which does not apply to placing a code on the image allowing anybody to have free usage of the images.He said that is the key legal argument here because their site TOS relates to their usage and does not extend to providing the artists materials to third parties or free usage to everybody. I also mentioned how people right click and copy.He stated that such is beyond the sites control as they could argue anything from software designed to capture screense to even a camera being used to steal images from a screen.But...if the site itself knowingly and with intent encourages such usage or provides the means by which the third party aquires the image...then that site is in violation of the law because their actions not only violate the law,they extend beyond the contractual agreement stated in their own TOS which may not be extended to third partys. Catch 22 and don't ya just love lawyers this early in the morning lol.

And yet similar TOS have been overturned in a court of law if change were made in the TOS after the member joins and no attempt is made to contact them or such attempts do not result in permission being given by the copyright owner or their legal representation.I joined in 2003 before they started this,they did not inform me when the TOS rules were changed and they activated the images I posted.Also if TOS are contradicted by existing copyright laws then the TOS is invalidated.For instance,are the TOS written in every known language that the members of their site may understand?If not,their TOS won't stand up in court if they do not inform the member that their art will be used for promotional purposes or freely distributed. A sites TOS are not legally binding,they are a guideline by which the site operates and the rules they apply for behavior.You may legally say you may use the images in regard to previous contests for which if the winners pulled their images it might do harm to the site in some fashion and thus they have a legal right to retain and use the images.However,if I were to say that you post your image on my site I have the right to sell it or use it in any fashion I decide...you would be incorrect.TOS do not invalidate the law and although there are arguments and misunderstandings about copyright law...the site TOS must still be in line with the law. But beyond this,the key reason for the post was to alert people here who might be members there not knowing that your images are being used anywhere and everywhere.If you were to find images of your children posted on a site frequented by pedophiles you'd be mad...but the fact that Deviant Arts itself made it seem like you gave permission for that could make their actions criminal.The sticking point here is making the links active as it can legally be argued that alone violates the law as its not their legal right to use the images anyway they choose just because they were posted on their site...and if they simply allowed the members to make them active there would be no question about the legality because the members actions provide the site the permission it needs.

Not yet...reason I mentioned that is its turning out that most members I'm asking about this at that site didn't know they did it and just as they didn't know...it could happen here at any time as well and most of us wouldn't know either if we got as much forewarning as what Deviant Arts gave its members (thats a huge community as well and has a growing 3d community now). Is this wrong for them to have done?I mean,to make every image active so it seems as if every member gave permission to snatch their images and then add the DA logo on it to promote themselves using the artists work without permission?

Ok I figured it out.They do allow you to activate or deactivate your entire gallery so people can or can't share all or none of your images.You can even choose what images to share if you want but there is a huge problem here nonetheless as I have already spoken with twelve members there who did not know this change had gone into affect and were quite pissed to find out that their images might be all over the net with Deviant Arts permission to use as you want.The image has the Deviant Arts trademark slapped on it so that every time the image is used you're promoting their site whether you gave permission or not. Now for anyone who says this is ok,the simple truth is that they could have set this program to have all images set to inactive and let the members choose...instead they set all images by default to active so that members who don't know have their images plastered all over the internet promoting DA and artists who are not even online anymore who left their images posted on these sites to share with the members there are not even aware that DA has done this.By law Deviant Arts has to inform you if they are using your images for promotional purposes and you have to agree.If you joined when they had TOS saying they can use your images as they please then maybe they have a bit of a leg to stand on,but just because they credit the artists doesn't mean the artists granted permission to have their works on sites and phones all around the world.Tis a good way to promote your work maybe...but legally you have to give permission and they cannot just take your work to use as they please. I am concerned about this because this is a first step that could see other big sites like Renderosity do this as well.I was not informed Deviant Arts was doing this,when I joined Deviant Arts none of this had even been conceived and I am very angry that any site would officially sanction or conduct themselves in such a manner when art theft is such a huge issue today.True,anyone can steal your art by right clicking...but when the site does this and grants permission to everyone to use your images without gaining your permission first~somethings wrong with that.

Well one thing I wish to note as when the store went to the all white format,my purchases dropped to almost nil as I used to have fun just lurking in the store and occassionally even buy a total stranger a gift after seeing their artwork.My eyes aren't that bad but they are sensitive to bright light which got even worse when I upgraded to an lcd monitor.If the gallery denys me the right to change the color scheme or there are bugs like having to erase the previous comment everytime I send a reply to someone here,I'll probably stop visiting altogether just as I stop purchasing from here except on rare occassions. Please consider that in upgrading you've also been getting rid of features we don't just prefer...in some cases it affects the very reasons we come here.There's nothing wrong with giving us color scheme options or skins even...everyone who does php knows these are mainstays in php and wouldn't be hard to incorporate here unless you just wish to lock everyone into a light color scheme. My twos cents...which as you know,it costs more to make two cents now than what two cents is actually worth lol

From willowelf Don't know what happened to my posts; somehow they've just disappeared so I'm posting again. I really don't like the new look of the store. I truely hate it, I liked the way the previews for the items were before. I am glad that they are fixing the wishlist. Will wait to see what other things R'osity fixes before I decide whether to take my business to somewhere else. I hope this post doesn't disappear! there...if it disappears again we have a copy and if my post disappears someones gonna get spit on;P

Cause Stacey doesn't want hundreds of emails from us banterring back and forth;P

Chop chop...get to it!!

Has search been fixed yet???I came here to buy something yesterday and did a general search to see what was available and no matter what I put into the search criteria it drew up only one page.Thats how I got sucked into this trying to find out what gives and whats with all the bugs.

Hey...HEY...don't post that here Rena,more fun to squirm and squeal here in the mud with everyone else;P

Ok...if you're finding these then how come there's no progress updates from the admin;P