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A couple of days ago, this article was posted by realitysquared communityops.deviantart.com/jo…

Let's break down this article shall we?

When the deviantART Groups system launched in beta nearly two years ago we fully expected it to become home to a large variety of Groups centered around every subject possible and that is exactly what has happened and we are really encouraged to see so many embracing the Groups concept and coming together around these common topics to share their thoughts and works.

Yes, we see how great that has been. The freedom to make any group you wish. Well, as some of you may have seen, sometimes that is not the best thing. For example, groups hating black people or any other race, groups showcasing stolen art work, porn, etc, etc. Perhaps the Staff should look more into the groups being made.

Today we’d like to discuss a certain type of Group which often comes to our attention, and not always in a good way; the “vigilante” style Group.

I understand there are some “vigilante” style groups who do more harm than good. Continue.

For those who may not be familiar with these types of Groups, what we call a “vigilante” Group are those which are created and centered around gathering deviants together to encourage the reporting of rule breakers and members who may be in violation of one or more official policies.

Policies that you sometimes don’t uphold and cause more confusion within the community. But, continue.

While gathering together in order to promote following the rules is not a bad thing there are good and bad ways for these types of Groups to operate; We always appreciate the community spirit that drives people to report any activities or images that break the community policies or which may otherwise be unacceptable but we need this to be undertaken with respect and an understanding that not everyone in our community is as experienced and educated as others and some may simply be unaware of the rules.

Again, I understand where the Staff is coming from here. There are some members who are acting a fool and going above and beyond what is necessary to report art thieves such as leaving threatening comments or spamming the persons profile.  “I’ll kill you if you don’t stop posting shit that isn’t yours!” “ART THEIF! ART THEIF! ART THEIF!” “Reported!” “Enjoy your ban.” Those types of comments do not help.  The last two, since I know a lot of people who say that, those comments are useless. I know your heart is in the right place with that, but you have to think before you comment, not to help out the art thieves, but to help out yourself.  To protect yourself and your own account. You all are what this article is talking about. If you are going to be an art thief hunter, be one. Leave a comment explaining why they are being banned or reported. Like the article says, half the time, the people don’t know what they are doing is wrong, and your well thought out article could get them to take down their stolen things faster.

Don’t you think for a second I am making an excuse for the art thieves! I think there needs to be, not only an update on the rules, but a way to make people read it. Half the time, when I join a new site, I just ignore the rules, scroll down and join. Is that right? No. But if you want order and people to obey your rules, then you need to make your rules more known. For example, in one of my groups, in order to join, they have to find a secret word inside the rules to be able to join. If they try to join without that word, then they get denied.

Uh, I went off there, lets get back to the article yes? Sorry.

The best of these Groups promote education, awareness and discussion within the community; they know the proper reporting procedures and work for the benefit of the community and they are rarely the cause for any concern. These Groups work privately among themselves to identify the original artists whose works may have been redistributed without permission and contact them so that they can be aware of the situation and file a complaint if they wish.

There is a slight problem here and it falls on the Staff.  I know the reason why some of the vigilante groups are appearing more and more every day. The staff takes far too long to handle these types of problems. In fact, a person recently brought this too my attention. A poor artist from a different artsite has had her art stolen many a time. She has made a report, given the proof and after all this time, the artwork is still up and the theft is stealing more of her works every day.

AND sometimes contacting the original artist is impossible because the original artist is somewhere in Japan and doesn’t have a DeviantArt account.

How are we supposed to report people who steal Death Note, Hetalia, and other anime art since we are not the original artist? We try to show you proof, Tineye, google, screenshots of them admitting that they stole it and yet nothing.

Unfortunately not all of these Groups operate in this quiet and respectful manner and these are the Groups which cause us the greatest concern.

And it wouldn’t have to come to this if the Staff did what they are supposed to do.  These groups wouldn’t even be made if handling art theft is handled better.

The worst case scenario for these types of Groups is that they create and encourage aggressive behavior from other members. They create “walls of shame” or they produce “hit lists” of other members which they feel have broken one or more rules.

So because of a few people, the group has to suffer? Why does the entire town have to suffer for the village idiot? Its funny, I have seen a lot of lists and the offenders with there offending art work is still up.

They may also mislead others by presenting themselves as being “official” by making official sounding statements or by threatening actions which could only be preformed if they functioned as a type of site moderator or administrator.

…So, that means even trying to talk to them politely could get you banned for “impersonating an admin.” Got that folks? Saying “Enjoy your ban” and “Hello, welcome to DA, I see you have art work in your gallery that doesn’t belong to you and that could get you removed from DA. It might be best if you take it down. I’d hate to see you get kicked off of DA.” Can get you kicked off of DA faster than the art thieves.

But many work by simply gathering people into an Internet lynch mob; posting screenshots of "evidence" as a call to arms, dispatching dozens of people to post FAQ links, threats of possible banning, announcements of “reported” and dozens of other similar comments which can quickly flood the profiles of the deviants targeted by these Groups.

I can see the problem with that. BUT! Please stop acting like the art thieves are innocent, delicate flowers. There are cases where they are doing it on purpose. They are stealing other peoples art work and selling it for a profit. I am sorry, I have no problem with people going after them. Not. At. All. They deserve it. They deserve to have people rain down on them.

I commented on the article (which never got answered) with this comment. And let me highlight this key thing I said.

”Do you have any idea how it feels to see people get praise and such on something you worked so hard for? And then when you report, it takes 3 to 4 months just to hear anything back?”

These type of art thieves know what they are doing and they deserve the shit they are getting and more. Some people make a living off their artwork. I had a friend who had to remove all of their beautiful poems because someone was stealing his and selling it as their own.
Sorry, its just how I feel. They deserve the shit they get.

Groups with one or more of these types of behaviors can create just as many problems as they attempt to solve and as far as our staff is concerned they are unwanted as they often do more harm than good and promote poor behavior and attitudes from their members.

Promote poor behavior eh? So do the blatant art thieves, deal with them before you go after the vigilantes eh? Doing your job. Might make your job easier. Oh and the hiring and firing or some staff members might help as well.

Just goes back to what I said before. If the staff did their job when it came to art thieves, these groups wouldn’t exist.

Groups which are found to have aggressive stances can be subject to immediate disbanding and deactivation without notice by deviantART staff. An “aggressive stance” can involve such things as posting “lists” of other deviants as “targets” or which “call out” to their members to “visit” other members in any sort of mob style action or which just simply appear to paint a target on other deviants while giving a sly wink that the Group does not condone any sort of harassment of other deviants.

Right, right. I see. How about going after the Groups that hold motivational posters and comic book scans. Seem to be more of those groups than these big bad vigilante groups.  Again, do your job and these groups wouldn’t exist.

Groups or other accounts which are also named, or which present themselves, in a fashion which could cause reasonable confusion between the Group and actual deviantART employees and staff members can also be immediately disbanded and closed without notice.

I might be wrong, but are you saying your own staff can’t tell the difference between a group made by regular members and yourselves? Correct me if I am wrong. I don’t have my glasses on.

We ask that if you operate or take part in such a vigilante oriented Group that you take a good look at your reasons for being a part of it and if those reasons include getting a thrill out of publicly accusing someone or shaming them because it makes you feel important or powerful then your participation is probably not for the benefit of the community at all.

HA. I think the art thieves need to be shamed off of DA personally for what they are doing to the community that upholds the rules.  Its so backwards here. Don’t be mean to the art thieves you guys. Let them steal your things and just wait for four months until we, the staff, do anything about it.

My reasons for joining anti theft groups.
• Helps me find art thieves.
• Educate people on the rules of DA.
• Help members in need since they can’t find help from the staff and advise them on what they should do and how to report.

We do of course appreciate all the community efforts at keeping deviantART a safe and respectful place and urge you all to continue to use the silent and anonymous reporting systems to bring community issues to the attention of our staff.

No you don’t.  If this was the case, than you would be cracking down harder on the thieves instead of a couple of idiots. Using the Silent and Anonymous reporting doesn’t work. It just doesn’t. I’m sorry.
I hate how this art community has turned out like this. I hate how the senior members have their heads so far stuck up there rears and go about insulting members who are confused at the ever changing (but never updating) rules of DA.

I hate how this place is becoming more of a photo bucket site for posting anime screenshots with not so funny captions.

I…I just hate it all really. But…I don’t want to leave DA. But things like this make me want to leave more and more.

Well, I hope I made any sense in this whole…article thing. I was in the moment. A little pissed off that DA is going after the wrong people. Couple of people thought I made a good argument, so, I said, why not make an article that is either going to get me banned because I insulted the staff. Hah.

Well, tell me. What do you think about this? I am open for discussion. Intelligent discussion of course. Do you think DA is going in the wrong direction with this? Do I make some valid points? Am I just a rambling lunatic? (probably.)

Just tell me your thoughts. From one member to another.

One last thing. I'm Batman.