Yep, another month, another milestone...400,000 views.
In other news, it would seem there's been a small rash of individuals being banned from (clears nasal passages of mucus) deviantART in recent weeks for seemingly idiotic reasons. What I (and most of the population of the planet) would view as innocent / non-adult pictorials, DA views as....well, who gives a shit what they think of them.
I dunno, would you put any faith in and/or send money to a company whose only known physical business address is a mail drop box in a strip mall on Hollywood Boulevard situated between an massage parlor and a cigar shop? Likewise, would you trust a company that the Better Business Bureau gives a "Not Rated" status and yields "two out of five stars" in customer reviews? Nope, I sure as hell wouldn't.
I'm sure it's completely coincidental, but DA's mailing address is across the street from the Hollywood Church of Scientology. Then again, that would explain a lot.
Yeah, you're preaching to the choir. I shan't go off into the usual rant about ALL the myriad evils of Deviant Art and the artholes who populate the site currently, but yeah... who WOULD do that?
ReplyDeleteEspecially looking at some of the "businesses" listed at that address.
Thank you. In the mist of things they have sent me a reply on my ban appeal (not like it matters):
ReplyDeleterealitysquared, Mar-16 12:40 pm (PDT):
Thank you for contacting deviantART, I will be assisting you with your customer service ticket.
When our staff requires proof of permission documentation to be attached to specific deviations this should be considered a necessary legal requirement which should not be avoided. The fact that you resubmitted content which was required to have this documentation, and the fact that you resubmitted with the public comment of "Re-upload. Got a problem with it DA? Suck it." has resulted in your removal from the deviantART community.
That still doesn't explain why we need permissions to use Motivational Posters and screenshots in the first place. And if my comment was the reason I was banned then they're even stupider than I thought. I've seen much worse comments all around the website. Seriously.
But anyway they've replied to my ban appeal and here's what they said:
ReplyDeleterealitysquared, Mar-16 12:40 pm (PDT):
Thank you for contacting deviantART, I will be assisting you with your customer service ticket.
When our staff requires proof of permission documentation to be attached to specific deviations this should be considered a necessary legal requirement which should not be avoided. The fact that you resubmitted content which was required to have this documentation, and the fact that you resubmitted with the public comment of "Re-upload. Got a problem with it DA? Suck it." has resulted in your removal from the deviantART community.
--
Daniel Sowers Jr.
Copyright & Etiquette Administration Manager
Community Operations Division
deviantART Inc
http://realitysquared.deviantart.com
That still doesn't explain why I need permission to use the Motivational Poster template in the first place if the place I made it at (Big Huge Labs) encouraged me to share it and do other things with it. If it was illegal to do that then they would have been shut down by now. Same goes for screenshots. I took the screenshots for Motivational Poster, Polar Opposites, and Scared DA. I didn't take the one for Physics but even still that was free to use by anybody. As for the comment if that was the main reason I was banned then they're even more stupid than I thought. I've seen comments far worse than the one I made. Also are you kidding me? THAT'S their business? No wonder the site is run by morons!
I wonder why my comment won't stay up here. First I post it then it gets removed minutes later.
ReplyDeleteDH: Dunno, saw the original in my email, but it never posted here. Strange.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, that's the same realitysquared douchebag who gave me the boot a few years ago. In my case it was for copyright infringement...on a picture I owned. Yeah, follow the logic on that one. Anyway...old news.
I don't get it. Re-uploading an image that utilized a public domain template won't get you banned. Said douchebag (by way of some "all hail DA" crusader) taking the comments personally will however.
I would tell you to reply and request that your case be forwarded to douchebag's supervisor, but it'll just go to chix0r...and she's just as big a douchebag as he is.
My best advice, complain here: http://www.la.bbb.org/ComplaintInformation.aspx
DA is a Better Business Bureau accredited business and any complaint, whether it ends in your favor or not, still hurts them.
ER: Wait, I'm one of those artholes... :D
ReplyDeleteLol rash reasons indeed. If I make another de-motivation, I'll be banned and won't be able to come back. I think it's also because I have a bunch of trolls who watch me on DeviantART just so they can report stuff I draw that they don't agree with. And I made some funny de-motivations too.... But fear not! For I've uploaded them on my Blogger! HA I PREVAIL OVER THE EVIL DA STAFF!! @___@
ReplyDeleteOh, and I love the Frankie picture!! Excellent work bro.
Excellent picture indeed Dralavant. Anyway I've filed my complaint and here's what I wrote:
ReplyDelete"Deviantart.com is a place to express freedom of art. However their service is terrible as the Moderators and Administrators are horrible and lazy beyond all reason. They will allow pornographic material that doesn't belong and will ignore it until someone who has a brain reports it to them. Even artwork that is harmless such as a cartoon character being drawn in a bikini in a non-sexual manner will get removed because of their rule double standards for the character having to be 18 or older. Even if the character is drawn to be 18 they will still remove it. Some rules they make up as they go along like the underage cartoon character rule. They will not even remove hate art such as this one http://glamazone.deviantart.com/art/To-all-chubbies-183393940 which has been reported many times, but no action has been taken against the person who made it or the artwork itself. My complaint today is that they have banned my account for having images, screenshots from cartoons and video games in particular, that utilized a public domain template they thought was illegal known as a Motivational Poster, and for making a comment toward them one of their moderators took personally. They said I needed a permissions agreement form which I didn't since the template is free to the public. There are many motivational posters on the website they have not deleted and users who have made insults to them still have active accounts today. They have yet to provide a legitimate reason for banning me."
What do you think?
Blogger must be having an issue with users posting long messages or something :/
ReplyDeleteDH: Yeah, I saw it again...posted to email, but not here. I'm assuming that's what you complained to the BBB with....that'll work. Personally, I like to use site specifics (dates, urls, people and their job titles), comparisons and contradiction, specific quotations, etc, etc.....all of the hard, indisputable crap they can't bullshit their way around. I like legalese too. :D
ReplyDeleteDralavant: When I came back on DA as (your most recent watcher :D )...Jesus H. Christ! The trolls came out of the friggin' woodwork and gang-banged me! Now, it wasn't because they knew I was "phillipthe2", they were simply gloming onto the name....as if I were some champion against trolls and the Pro-DA crusader types.
ReplyDeleteOh! Thanks for the watch dude! I ish honored! ^-^
ReplyDeleteYou're the Anti-Crusader?
More idiocy from DA's peanut gallery:
ReplyDeleteYou seem to misunderstand- it is not the "template" of a black border and large white title underneath which is the concern here- it is the content that you place in the center which may require proper permission or licensing.
You misunderstand the concepts here.
The animated series or video game which you obtain a screenshot from is protected under copyright- each and every individual frame of animation as well as the product as a whole. A screenshot is nothing more than a single frame of that animation.
The website which you cited, http://www.halolz.com/ , is not the copyright owner of any of the materials found there and is therefore not in a position to legally offer anything as being "free" to use.
I sure hope my complaint goes through.
Dralavant: One in the same.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a crusader?
ReplyDeleteDH: As it relates to DA, a crusader is one of those christian conservative types who demonizes and reports anything that "isn't a Disney version" (eg adult toons) and/or someone who thinks DA is greatest thing since sliced bread and will do everything within their means to "defend it". Not to be confused with the run-of-the-mill trolls.
ReplyDeleteThis statement isn't as long:
ReplyDeleterealitysquared, Mar-21 10:08 am (PDT):
I think you are confusing the ability to download with being granted the legal ability to sublicense the content to other companies. You are also making assumptions about what the company does and does not care about- could you please stop making assumptions and kindly provide me with any link to any valid public statement by one of these copyright owners that they are granting you the legal ability to sublicense their content to deviantART so that I can see that your statements are actually valid?
--
So what do think?
And I guess this person is a crusader type huh? http://blackangel014.deviantart.com/#/d3c0ltd
ReplyDeleteJust read the last comment moving on to the next page and you'll see.
ReplyDeleteP.S: I'm NsiderBurningBlaze. Also sorry for all the posts.
DH: I absolutely, positively hate agreeing with RS, but in this case he's correct. If the particular site literally says you can utilize copyrighted content (irregardless of who actually owns it), then you've got a valid case. If not...you're boned. Other than that, he's still a douchebag.
ReplyDeleteAs for the would-be crusader, I'm assuming you're talking about shorttrumpetchick. Hidden stats, hidden activity, and art that reads like heavy medication. Yeah, that's a prime DA worshiper. Then again, 5+ years on DA and only 5.3k pageviews? WTF is up with that?!
Well here's the response to my complaint:
ReplyDeleteCompany's Response
Company's Initial Response - Posted 03/23/2011
The individual who sent in this complaint has already opened new deviantart account, despite being banned previously for failing to comply with our simple policies. Our public policies on copyright are very clear -- artists should only submit what they have permission to use, and this particular artist was involved in multiple submissions of "motivational" style posters which contained screenshots and various other copyright imagery taken from the internet. The artist was asked to provide proof that they had the rights to use such imagery and since this was never provided we removed them from our site. The artist then uploaded the images again and was subsequently banned. Being a premium member on deviantART does not allow you to bypass the standard copyright laws that are in place. We are a private website and users are expected to follow the terms of service which they agreed to upon signing up for access to our community. This artist actually deliberately posted antagonistic artwork aimed at mocking the deviantART staff as a response to the initial request for proof of submission. We stand by our decision to ban the artist. We note that the artist has already created a new account and ergo is ban evading. Should the artist upload any further works which contain copyright material on their new account we would not hesitate to suspend this account too. I would also like to note that the artist has purchased further premium memberships and therefore his comments about our site are spiteful and this case is a waste of the BBB time.
Initial Response Summary
The artist clearly broke a number of our policies and we subsequently took action. The artist is already back on deviantART.
If they're talking about my new sonicwinkplz account then they're even more clueless than I thought. Even so, both accounts are still open. So what you think?
And of course the response I posted isn't here...What's going on with blogger?
ReplyDeleteI saw it. Sounded like RS got a little butt-hurt from the whole ordeal.....poor lil' feller. :P
ReplyDeleteLike I said before, any complaint they get via the bbb (regardless of the outcome) only hurts them. People only really look at the total number of complaints....and rarely the outcome of them. The more complaints they amass, the worse they look.
The fact that your still on there sounds like a win in your favor. But be careful...they still have the almighty IP ban as an option.
True. Still I'm not sure which account they're talking about. NsiderBurningBlaze is my new account while sonicwinkplz is just a "plz" account I made recently.
ReplyDelete