Content Theft

[Skusting Dagger]

OOC here...

Not for nothing, but I am always disheartened when I see folks upload works that are not their own, even if they do give credit.

Second Life is a place where people do create their own content, and work very hard to do so. They create their own textures, or obtain textures with which they have been given permission to use. Sure, you can go all over the grid and find tee shirts and flags and posters made with pictures and photos that people have simply downloaded and made things out of, but that is not a good thing. In my opinion it subverts the entire idea of creator owned content.

I post nothing anywheres either here, within Second Life, or, indeed anywheres on the wider aethernet which is not my own. Allowing for certain things, I strive to find public domain works with which I can work with for certain projects. Keeping an eye out for things that have been lifted from elswhere is something I have grown accustomed to doing, having been a member of deviantArt for some time now. I do keep any eye out for my fellow artists. (Kudos to Red for tracking down the original of the air pirate flag and linking to it). I have even refrained from loading content to deviantArt because of some of these things. I had made a series of custom made textures for a custom built Tomb Raider gaming level, in which even Lara Croft's outfit was custom made. I had permissions from all people involved to take and use screen shots anywhere I pleased, but since the Lara Croft wireframe itself was the original created by the subsidiary of Edios that created the game, I could not load it to deviantArt. When I see something in-world that I know came from elsewhere, I do report it.

That said, there is nothing wrong with linking to a good find and letting us know about it. We are all interested. The sharing of information is not the issue here. At the very least, if you must add a picture here, do not load it to your own gallery. The system is quite capable of directly linking to the original source when you make a reply, and please do (as many do) give the links to the place from whence they came.
A prime example of the right way to do things, is Doctor Fabre's Heliograph. He uses his own photos and always asks ahead of time if he can use other people's work, and always links back to the originals.

Ranting done
Carry on
Skusting

[Ceejay Writer]

You, Mister Dagger, are an artist and gentleman, with morals that we all could stand to use as a standard against our own. Thank you.

And yes. Link folk to a site to go enjoy the work. As opposed to displaying their graphic here via an img src html command. Please, don't display the actual image in your post while it is hosted at another's site. That can be very troublesome for the site owner. I know. I've had to grapple with that sort of bandwidth burden for years at my own website.

Basically - show off your OWN creations, or send people over to enjoy other artists! Or so says I.

[Capt. Red Llewellyn]

Mr. Dagger....thank you for that! ..and i've made the corrections i think are appropriate...i've always tried to give credit where credit was due (and thanks for the nod)...and if i showed an image i never stole bandwidth to do it, sent people back to the orig site and...i've also asked (where possible) permission from the artist such as with "little brown sparrow" an artist i admire greatly:

"Oh please do put me on your blog without fear- I don't mind in the slightest! It's always a lovely surprise. :)"

most artists love having publicity and having people talk about their work admiringly, it's an homage!...
in my RL i create webpages, wikipages, and other multimedia products that have to do with educational technology and i am always thrilled when i find one of my pages has been linked to, refered to, or quoted by others...but i've also seen my stuff lifted down to the orig HTML and as an educator i've always just shrugged because as long as it's going to educate i really don't mind too much....

but having heard the opinion of that from a real artist such as yourself, Mr. Dagger i shall try to be even more stringent in my future bloggings...[grins] thanks!

[Skusting Dagger]

Ahh.. I totally forgot about the hyperlinking bandwidth thing.

[Canolli Capalini]

To add a note to this.. Please be sure to get permissions. A good friend of mine and professional artist (Celtic knotwork, art deco sci fi) one of his works (because they are so magnificent) keeps cropping up on SL, and most people are purchasing it as a texture believing it to be whomevers is selling it. I'm sure most of you have seen it, a lovely pentagram surrounded by celtic knotwork.. very intricately done. He's the best at what he does, and I've known Bradley for years through Deviantart.
It was rather a shock to walk into a well known texture place and see his work on the walls. I did contact him and he said that No.. he's never given permission for anyone to use those. Kind of defeats the purpose as that is his bread and butter. Anytime I see anything I recognize, I notify the owner of the object, the creator of the texture and if I can track down the artist.. I notify them as well.
I've just assumed that what I put on Deviantart will be stolen. Luckily I have yet to see it anywhere else, but it's an assumption I have to make.

[Artemisia Paine]

It's one thing to find a neat piece of art online, make a (no copy) texture for a picture on your SL wall, and embed a link to the artists website for anyone who might find the art pleasing. it's completely another thing to make a profit by stealing. I've had people ask why I don't sell the Gorey "cut-outs" I made... It should obvious. I felt weird enough about making the house to start with. But, I *am* paying to keep it up, and not making a profit or anything.