Why has known plagiarist Shin Gouki been allowed to remain as a member of this site?

I would not think that Renderosity would want it thought that they tolerate plagiarism in any way.
Renderosity will ban a member for a single warez request, yet a known plagiarist is allowed to remain?
Please explain this.

Interesting.

The following is excerpted from the Renderosity TOS. The highlighted potions are those that are of concern to me in this matter:

"Member/User Conduct:

Members and users are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that is constructive and respectful of others at all times. Additionally, we would hope that each member/user would do their best to facilitate a culture of collaboration and positive reinforcement, so that we can all share our passion for art while realizing our personal ambitions, and developing friendships.

Members/Users will not use this community for;

Any practices that affect the normal operations of the community (Admins will take whatever steps are necessary to restore service). Transmitting any libelous, defamatory, or any other material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under the law. Personal attacks. This includes but is not limited to, destructive, abusive, defamatory communications in any form, and retaliatory attacks from personal attacks. If you need assistance, please communicate with someone from our Renderosity Team. Destructive commentary/communications made with the intent to disrupt or attack (Trolling). This applies to any communications within this community, whether in the forums, art galleries, graffiti wall, chat, or IM. Advertising or linking to any publications and/or web sites that are age restricted due to content, and/or pornographic in nature. Posting Unacceptable Images which include; 1. Depictions of physical arousal or sexual acts. 2. Genital contact with ANY object, other than sitting or clothing. 3. Rape or torture of any living or dead creature. (Any post or image can be removed at the discretion of staff if it is deemed unsuitable for this community)

Members/Users found practicing these behaviors receive;

Deletion of the post/s. First event - warning by email and/or IM. Second event Forum Suspension for 1 or 7 days or Temporary Community ban for 3 or 7 days. Third event Membership revoked, and access to the community permanently blocked. This includes any duplicate accounts for the same person. Renderosity considers this information private and confidential. However, there may be certain situations that necessitate otherwise.

Conduct - Zero Tolerance

Renderosity maintains a Zero Tolerance on certain behaviors within the community. These include, but are not limited to the following.

Any threats of physical harm, property damage or acts of violence toward another individual, or group of individuals.
Fraudulent use of credit cards or refusing to pay for items recieved from The MarketPlace.
Soliciting or Trading of any products illegally. This includes, but is not limited to, requests and/or distribution of computer software, software security overrides and serial numbers. (Warez)
Intentional practices that affect the normal operations of the community (Admins will take whatever steps are necessary to restore service).
Members/Users found practicing these behaviors will immediately have their membership revoked, and access to the community permanently blocked from the community including any duplicate accounts for the same person. Renderosity considers this information private and confidential. However, there may be certain situations that necessitate otherwise. The appropriate legal authorities will be contacted, and if appropriate charges may be filed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Why is it that warez requests are met with Zero Tolerance, and plagiarism is not?
Most especially, in an artists community such as this; why is plagiarism more tolerable than warez?

We have been told repeatedly that "Action has been taken". But when asking about the nature of said action, we receive no further response.
I find this unnacceptable.

 

 

This picture is copyrighted material. It is not clipart, and you may not, under any circumstances, use it for any purpose which includes public display. When you use one of my images, modified or unmodified, for your commercial enterprise or for any non-commercial enterprise involving public display, you are entering into a contract to purchase a license from me. I will determine which license is appropriate depending on how you have used my work. You do not need to be directly making money from my image to be bound by this contract. If you display my work in any public venue (including, but not limited to websites, galleries, "web sets", and clipart CDs), you are liable for any licensing fee I shall deem appropriate, within the limitations of my current price-list.

Ergh! Did he get one of yours too?

oh no, mom..... i saw this on socar miles' images and thought we all could learn from her. My work is not good enough to be stolen lol

hmmm... have to ask socar if that works. :)

We have taken action here.

You can't call it work if you love it... Zen Tambour

 

What action? And why are we having to bug for this information? Terse answers may work for kids, but they aren't the kind of answer that inspires adults to feel trust and confidence. Rather they allude to the worry of what isn't being disclosed.

It also does not answer the question put forth in the subject line. What is Renderosity's official policy on plagiarism?

What kind of answer is "We have taken action here"? What does that particular response have to do with the question asked in this thread?

Here is a question.....I did a search in the art gallerys for Shin Gouki and found this: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=178864&Start=1&Sectionid=0&Form.Search=Shin+Gouki Creater Richard Michaud....but I did a search in the member gallery for Shin Gouki and guess what I found....Richard Michaud as the real name for Shin Gouki. So whats with that?

That is because Richard Michaud, Project Illusion, and Shin Gouki are one and the same. He is a plagiarist and a troll. I do not know the original artist of the piece you linked to, but I am quite certain it is not he. Whomever he is, he is having some fun with us. I wonder how much fun he will have after he starts hearing from peoples lawyers. He is stealing from industry professionals. People who have the resources to go after him legally. People like SHINYA, Louis Royo, Steven Stahlbergh, and also I have seen the work of Wyrmmaster on his site, claimed as his own. He has impeccable taste in art, but that is all I can say in his favor. I am through giving him attention, though if I run across any of his fraudulent uploads in the gallery, I will be certain to inform both the original artist, and leave comment so that the membership of Renderosity is not duped by this charlatain. I still want to know: What is Renderosity's official policy on plagiarism?

Well I have also contacted Julius From Teshan Publishing about this and given him the link to his geocities page. Cazcie

An excellent idea Cazcie! I hadn't thought of that. Well
done.>^_^

By definition, taking the thoughts or creative processes of another as your own is plagiarism. Our concern as a site is more about the rights fo the creator to ownership of their own works. This would be the copyright policy, the impact of this on which is being addressed as I type.

Plagerism... copyrights... whatever you want to call it - theft is theft. My concern is the fact that not only was swift and immediate action NOT taken but nobody seems concerned that someone has been posting stolen artwork at Renderosity. You can bet if it had been the artwork of one of the "popular" artists here, we'd be hearing the howling about this all the way to the moon. As it stands, this hardly made a blip on the radar. I find that to be rather sad. Considering I post in the galleries on a semi-regular basis, I'd like to know that I am protected against theft. Warez requests have a no tolerence policy but it seems that stolen artwork does not. I guess I just don't see the difference between the two.

Thank you Jeanette. At this point, I really could give a flying fig about Shingowhosie. My main concern is regarding the lack of response, and the indifference this site has shown toward the matter of theft of intellectual property, and fraud.

It's not indifference. A situation has come up which takes a little more than an instant decision. Yes this member is being dealt with. We are also trying to find out what in the guidelines for the site may have conveyed the impression that this behavior was acceptable, and to correct it. I'm sorry if that isn't instant or visible enough. We are trying.

This person still has a gallery up and still has an image in that gallery that does not belong to him...ON THIS SITE!! what is wrong with this? http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Y&Artist=Shin%5FGouki

I'm looking into that now. If youcan tell me who the "original" artist is supposed to be, that would be an enormous help.

The Original artist is Shinya ...you can find her images posted on this site. http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/~arrow/ Shin Gouki also changed his geocities webpage to indicate that Shinya is the original artist...however on his site he claims to be the artist of and image called WitchBlade and Laura Croft...and image created orignaly by wyrmmaster posted on THIS site. He also claims to be the creater of two images that I know of that are done by Steven Stahlberg and Kei Yoshimizu published in Digital Beauties. Why isn't this person bannned? How much pledgerizm do you need to see before you take a stand?

I am trying to contact Shinya now. Remember, we can only take action on items posted here. Anything at his home site will have to be between the actual artist and his service provider. His conduct here, as I said, is under investigation.

Micheleh, Thank you for letting us know something is being done. All we had been hearing was "this has been dealt with" but nobody was willing to tell us what was being done in the process. This is a very volatile issue and something that should be dealt with in a very open manner. As members, we need to see that this issue is being taken very seriously. As swiftly as you moved to remove free stuff items that actually belonged to another artist - this needs to be treated with the same kind of urgency.

{{We are also trying to find out what in the guidelines for the site may have conveyed the impression that this behavior was acceptable, and to correct it.}} Micheleh, do the Poser communities really need to spell out to people that it is not OK to cover up another artist's signature and post their work as your own?

Oh, it is being taken seriously. On that note, since the copyrights issue is being adressed- how to convey to people what is and is not acceptable- what do you reccomend? This would be a good place for feedback. Tell me what you all feel about the matter, and what you reccomend as far as regulation and retaliation.

"We are also trying to find out what in the guidelines for the site may have conveyed the impression that this behavior was acceptable, and to correct it. I'm sorry if that isn't instant or visible enough. We are trying." He has known all along that this behavior is unnacceptable. That's why he does it. Look at all the attention being lavished upon him. He should have been banned from the first infraction and had it let go at that. Why is it that warez requests are Zero Tolerance? No crime has been committed yet. But art theft, plagiarism, whatever you want to call it... purposeful and repeated misrepresentation of ownership of intellectual property, in which a crime HAS been committed (copyright violation), is a lesser infraction? By the way, some of the images he had posted here, by SHINYA, are not currently in SHINYA's gallery. Have you attempted to contact the artist to inform him about the situation? If you are going to insist upon verifying every single image on a case by case basis (Shingoboi is going to keep you folks VERY busy indeed), I suggest you ask him yourself to verify ownership.

OKey...I understand that you have no control over what is on other sites...but this memeber still has the image up on THIS SITE.

You also may want to investigate this user Project Illusion as it appears that this person is Richard Michaud as well as Shin Gouki being Richard Michaud.

Whoops! Sorry about the last bit there Michelah. It seems we both postedatthe same time. Thank you for clearing that up. I feel that there should be a Zero Tolerance policy on, to be specific: Purposeful misrepresentation of ownership of intellectual property. Any artwork uploaded to the galleries must be uploaded by the person who created and owns the copyright on the image in question. Exceptions can be made for authorised agents of the copyright holder.

Let's be clear, however, if someone posts an image or illustration as an example of something, perhaps a drawing or photo of something they would like made into a prop; that's different. Most people will give the source of the image, or if they forget, at least they will not claim it as their own. I'm talking about zero tolerance on fraudulent and malicious intent, not fair use.

Good suggestion, Momcat. can I quote you? The image has been removed pending verification.

all you have to do is go to Shin Gouki's aka Richard Michauds site and see that the same image posted there is now created by Shinya. (recently changed from Shin Gouki after being caught)

Fine with me, but really, why was all this even necessary? 99% of the folks here are good, honest people, who already know not to do things like that, and wouldn't even think of it. The other 1% know it and just don't care. I'm rather curious as to what was holding you back from doing this at the very beginning. Perhaps it's something we had not considered and should.

I saw that. That's why we're trying to contact Shinya.

Typical policy on this sort of thing is usually as follows: the artist whose work has been stolen or misrepesented brings a complaint against the offending person to the site where it is taking place, asking that the work be removed. That is why contacting Shinya is important.

I think the way Momcat said it is very good. I think that what has everyone here so upset is that this person flagrantly posted images he quite loudly claimed as his own. The originals to quite a few of them were pointed out and it was obvious that he pasted boxes over the original signatures to cover them up. Those images were deleted, but at least one image was allowed to remain because nobody has claimed that one yet. I think we all feel that he so clearly violated other artist's copyrights in not just one, but several instances that it should result in deletion of all of his gallery posts and a permanent ban. Someone who gets banned for violating the TOS in other ways isn't allowed to continue posting.

I agree, that is a very valid concern.

::holds head in hands due to throbbing pain:: Absolutely, contacting Shinya is important. This site should not feel the need to delay taking the appropriate action however, when it already has the proof it needs to do so. 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. Disclaimer: the above was an example, a metaphor, not a jab at the integrity of this site

I got an auto responce back from Julius at Teshan, he will not be back in the office until the 11th. Oh well. I will reaffirm the site and the images then, if they are still on his site and still being claimed by Shin Gouki I will rewrite anew message to Julius. I think it is important as I believe a publisher has some stake into whether an image they published is violating copywrite laws.

I know, I didn't take it that way. it's a benefit to us that so may members truly are concerned. I am right now waiting to hear from Spike.

Action Man himself? >^_~

Ow. Thanks a lot. I just got a mental picture of him in red tights. 8P

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=690215

Admins, I want my stuff that this user posted in Freestuff removed ASAP.

Got it. On my way to drop this in the nearest admin lap.

Thank you.

Yeesh! Is there some sort of planetary alignment thingy going on? The kooks are crawling out of the woodwork lately.

My calendar says a moon-uranus conjunction. That's emotional impulse, either very creative or very destructive.

That figures. Well folks, as much as I would love to sit up all
night on this discussion, I have to be up at 6am, so I'm gonna go
pass out now. Night-night cats and kittens >^_^

Schools are letting out.

...... Kendra

Is there some sort of planetary alignment thingy going on? Erm, yes there is, or rather was. :) http://www.space.com/spacewatch/planets_align_020503.html

"Typical policy on this sort of thing is usually as follows: the artist whose work has been stolen or misrepesented brings a complaint against the offending person to the site where it is taking place, asking that the work be removed. That is why contacting Shinya is important." This is where your policy needs work. He very purposefully chose an artist who does not post at Renderosity and that people had a slimmer chance of recognizing. Also, the fact that he posted SEVERAL stolen images and he was allowed to remain is something else that needs to be looked at. He should have been banned from the very first stolen image and there should have been absolutely no debate on the matter. What's there to debate? You would not allow someone with a warez request to remain on the site. Why is this any different? I guess, I really don't see the difference and nothing you've said has convinced me there IS a difference.

Just wanted to let you all know that we are working on the TOS right now to keep this type of thing from happening again. Thanks for pointing this out. We take this very seriously, but please remember that we can't just start pulling images from our artists gallerys without proof. This may sound like we are protecting members here, and it should. I would hate it if someone said that my images were theres and Renderosity pulled mine just because someone complaned. FYI: Please note his gallery.......

You can't call it work if you love it... Zen Tambour

 

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

Are you sure about that image being in the gallery, Momcat? I just checked and got nothing.

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.

You can't call it work if you love it... Zen Tambour

 

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.

You can't call it work if you love it... Zen Tambour

 

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 >^_~