Browse  the photo gallery and find an image that really catches your eye. Then you start to wonder IF that member REALLY took the photo?  They supply NO info about it, but you get a vibe that something just isn't right....yet you can't prove it!

What do you do in this case?

All the time!  If you are not sure use the reporting button.  The staff will review the photo and write to the member asking for more information. 

This had never occurred to me! What possibly pleasure is there in posting work that has got nothing to do with you? I can't see any point in it.

My thoughts exactly durleybeachbum!

You would be suprised! I've seen it MANY times....maybe I just need to remove my EX coordinator goggles....LOL!

Yup. Some people even steal from other R'osity members and put it in their gallery. I believe it's an illness. There are some people that commit crimes just to get their face in the paper.

Happens all the time!
I found one last year that actually made it into the LWITG...a quick google search...low and behold...what do we find?...the same image taken by another person showing up on a Wikipedia page.

A little more searching of this persons gallery revealed another photo of Aurora that I was familiar with....the photo that was uploaded here was actually taken by a person who,  sadly had recently passed away and was "lifted" from spaceweather.com

So, what happend in the end?

Apparently the member was "spanked"....AND my threads in this forum that brought this to light were REMOVED.

in short..yes...

Quote - Apparently the member was "spanked"....AND my threads in this forum that brought this to light were REMOVED.

That's what happens to all those type of threads.

While I don't recall that specific incident..it's often better for this type of thing to be handled behind the scenes..

but that's my  opinion..

@pushinfaders;

Strange that you don't remember the rip that made it into the LWITG....I think it was you who pulled the threads....

While, I agree with you that an allegation of such conduct should be handled behind the scenes.....It is my opinion that once the allegation was PROVEN by Rendo and disciplinary action against the member taken by Rendo,  putting the threads back up would serve as a notice to others that this type of behaviour is NOT tolerated....rather than removing the threads and pretending it never happened.....

At the very least...a Rendo ackowledgement of the incident and it's outcome would serve as a deterrent.

If no lesson is learned from this behaviour...there is not much point in other members alerting Rendo staff to when it does occur.  Perhaps that is exactly the point L8RDAZE was trying to make in his original post here....

i never would of thought that people would do that,  its hard for me to comprehend why they would too but i guess in todays world anything goes, how sad.

**gradient..

so many things go on here..it's hard to recall every incident. How much staff turn over has there been since that time?

I disagree that what action the staff takes against a member should be public knowledge.
We did away with public floggings a long time ago.

:-)

I really don't like the statement that we are "pretending" nothing happened.  There is something very much like this going on right now FYI.. However..I'm really short handed this week..  Kort is out sick, Rich stepped down, and Danny's position wasn't replaced.
This isn't an excuse..it's fact..I'm swamped.

I've got to get back to work...I'll check in again later..
**

OK...regarding the fact that you're swamped....understood....and my condolences.

I didn't say that the "action"  that Rendo takes against a member should be public knowledge...I totally agree that is a private matter.  My words were " acknowledgement of the incident and it's outcome".

In my mind...and obviously this is where we disagree, it would have been appropriate to issue a statement after the dust had settled that read something like...."we have had a recent incident where  a member ( name need NOT be mentioned) has submitted an image(s) that did not belong to him/her"...."unfortunately this image has made it's way into the LWITG"...."action has been taken against said member"...."this behaviour will not  be tolerated here in the Rendo photo gallery"

Also, regarding the statement in the gallery header...."Please post only photographs you take in your Photography Gallery."  
Perhaps there could be a better choice of words rather than "photographs you TAKE"...something along the lines of "Please only post photographs of which you are the original copyright holder to the photography gallery".

Anyway....I'll say no more on this matter....

Some good points here.. The whole thing to a certain extent has to be taken on trust that members posting images is  their own work, and the staff would find it impossible to police this, honesty  and such things is not an outdated ethic surely.. Airing it in public may not serve any real purpose, but maybe when proven, there is a good arguement for the threads to be restored, but also dont forget the team has a duty of confidentiality to its members,  it is a fine line at times to make the right call, and the team has to abide by the term of non disclosure agreements which is not a censorship.. And part of the rule of being inocent until proven guilty..

Gradient - without going into fine detail i think you might be very surprised at the number of problems which come up behind the scenes of this nature.  To publicly acknowledge every incident would be extremely time consuming and as Bruce pointed out basically a "public flogging".  Leaving threads up only serves as a flash point for the "offender"/guilty and the "attacker"/reporter of the incident to throw abuse at each other.  I dont know the particular circumstances of the incident you are describing but i am willing to bet that is one of the main reasons any such thread is removed.  Yes talking about it is a good idea but to the extent that it becomes a point of argument and community fallout then i dont think it applies.

Acknowledgement of the incident and outcome is obvious - if the image stays then the staff decided it was fine, if it didnt then it wasnt - that is the outcome - if the member is no longer with us, that again is another outcome....  If an incident is brought to the attention of the staff it is a dereliction of duty to ignore it, so anything posted in the forums, anything written to staff via sitemail or email, and anything reported by the system button is not ignored so in effect by that happening the incident is "acknowledged".  So if you really want "closure" on an issue, feel free to check on the offending image, comment etc.  You will find your answer there as to the outcome... acknowledgement of the issue is inherent in the reporting of it and (especially if the image removed etc) any result from it...

The guys do a lot of un-thanked and unregistered work behind the scenes... in the end - quoting the term "spanked" as the result basically means you already know there was some sort of punitive action taken against the member... surely that is enough to go on, or do you really want to know the nitty gritty details???

Quote Gradient- "If no lesson is learned from this behaviour...there is not much point in other members alerting Rendo staff to when it does occur.  Perhaps that is exactly the point L8RDAZE was trying to make in his original post here..."

The reason I posted this was I was a bit frustrated and venting a bit.  Usually, when I find an image that is possibly a copyright or TOU issue, I make every effort to get backup sources BEFORE I send a report to the admin team.  It makes their job easier and helps expedite action on their end. 

I think in this digital age, there  is such an influx of quality images, its hard to police this kinda thing. Admin has to give members the benefit of the doubt. However, when a report is filed, this does set things in motion behind the scenes and the team does take this stuff seriously (been there done that)

I don't see justification for bringing these issues of this nature into the public eye, unless it turns out that there is more to the issue.  Something like the reported member is SELLING or DISTRIBUTING others artist images, that kind of thing.

And, I remember gettng site mail about a member who was being "forced out" or some such notion because of a supposed "ripped" image being used..innocence claimed and some thought the member was being unjustly abused or driven away...

You see, that sort of thing is the results of talk and suspicions..as for me with no way to know the truth of the matter.  Yes, I put my trust in the integrity of the forum staff in these issues.

Keeping threads about such issues as discussed here? I would go with a "reported and proven incident warning to others" perhaps, simply because we have seen too many threads which zoomed totally out of hand with accusations and digression in all directions, serving little meaninful purpose but nasty venting...not a meaningful thread when that happens but only disgusting.  And here..I am guilty of digression from the point.

'nuff said from me here..I have no real knowledge of behind the scenes and don't need it when it is someone else's dirty laundry.

as to the language in the header..I'm working on a set of guidelines for our gallery..it should help to clear things up for those who take time to read it..

@Joe. I kinda figured that's where you were going with this..

I view almost every image in the photogallery every day..  I know who our members are..

When I see "Pro" work from a name I don't know..I do wonder..I do a little checking..sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm not..