(no subject)

[exsequar]

I'm trying to be amused about this, but it's really quite difficult. Graphics crediting is something I take quite seriously, so naturally when I saw someone using my icon in a comment at ewanphoria, I checked if she had credited me, and lo and behold she had not. In addition, she was using 100 icons, many of which I recognized, and she had not credited ONE. So this is what I said to her:

"Hi, I made the icon you're using and I noticed that you didn't credit me. I also looked at the rest of your icons and I'm pretty damn sure you didn't make all those yourself. crediting is just the right thing to do. So I must insist that you credit me in the keywords, and I'd also strongly recommend that you either find out who made all those other icons or take them down."


I thought that would solve the problem. I should have known better, since she seems to be dead set against crediting of any kind. This is the response I got back:

"First of all, my friends sent me most of these icons through aim or saved them themselves and sent them to me, I didnt find all these myself and purposly stole them. Second of all, if you're going to put your work on the internet, you have to be prepared to have work stolen and not credited. If you can't stand it, then you shouldnt put them up for public use."

What???? People who make art should expect it to be stolen?? That's a load of bullshit. So I said this to her:

"When I clearly state on all of my icon posts that credit is required, I do not believe that I have to be "prepared" for my work (my WORK) to be stolen. Stolen being the key word here. Are you defending what your friends did? When I share cool icons with my friends, I tell them who made it so they can credit. It's very easy, and simply the correct thing to do. Also, you can't just drop all the blame on your friends, because it should have been your place to ask them where they found the icons, and if they didn't know, then you should just not use them. It's very easy to go to icon communities and find many good icons to use.

In addition, I never said I can't stand it. It's not like I'm pitching a hissy fit or having a nervous break down. I simply politely asked you to credit me, and then suggested that you try to find out who made the icons you're using. I happen to know that a lot of those were made by prominent, talented icon makers who deserve to be credited. It's really not that hard on your part, and there was no need to turn around and attack me."

Then I went to see if she had credited me after all. Guess what? SHE HADN'T. So I made this additional reply:

"Oh and by the way, I had assumed that despite your excuses you would have had the decency to credit me when I directly asked you, but now I see that you haven't. Do you have some moral objection to crediting? It's really not that difficult. Either take down my icon or attach my name to it, please. Thank you."

Her responses, respectively, were:

"There is nothing polite about your posts whatsoever. Polite would be, "I made that icon, and would appreciate if you would credit me, thanks!" and it would have been no problem"

and

"I was actually just looking for your name through my friends list because I just deleted the email, and I didnt find the icon myself, but continue to be a rude ass and I wont credit. Manners do go a long way."

b.i.t.c.h.


There's a little more of it, but I'm actually trembling with rage so I'm not going to post it. This person is katowns, feel free to lynch her. Or go check out her icons and see how many of YOURS she has stolen.

Oh look! Now I've got two pretty boys with GUNS trained at her head. Me likey.

Comments

[weasleytook.livejournal.com]

Oh man, what a bitch. :/ There's really no excuse for that kind of behavior. :/

I had to go check her ou because even though I don't really make a lot of icons or post them publicly, I have (or previously had) some in my icons that were either made by me or made FOR me (not to be used by others), and I would have had an aneurysm if I had seen those in her icons uncredited.

(And I have to say that though there are many Ewan fans who are incredibly cool, there is also a large portion of the Ewan fan population that is completely psycho and very frustrating to deal with.)

P.S. Ewan in my icon does not want to fuck YOUR shit up, but he will fuck up the shit of anyone who steals icons and doesn't credit them. :D

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Hee, love your icon. I was using all these subtly violent ones to respond to her (this one was my favorite) so that was fun.

Glad you agree with me. I like returning to the world of sanity and politeness.

[vivisco.livejournal.com]

Second of all, if you're going to put your work on the internet, you have to be prepared to have work stolen and not credited.

Dude, WTF? Some people are just so dumb. Why couldn't she have just said "You're right, sorry. I'll credit." Simple as that. But hey, at least you got through to her, she's credited some of the icons and written "unknown, let me know!" for the rest.

BTW, my icon is for her, not you. :D

[grrliz.livejournal.com]

Even if her story about her friends sending the icons over AIM is legit, there's no reason why she can't credit you upon recieving the information about who did create the icon in question. Not crediting and not knowing is one thing, not crediting when you have the icon maker herself telling you to is a whole other question. (She may have found the "I'm pretty damn sure you didn't make all those yourself" aspect rude and allowed that to eclipse everything else you were saying.)

[grrliz.livejournal.com]

Also, evidently she's started crediting and all the ones she doesn't know say "unknown, let me know!" on them. There's a Ewan Trainspotting icon that I can't tell if I made or not. It's in the style of the Trainspotting set I made, but since I made a tutorial for that style, someone else might have made it. Hee.

[grrliz.livejournal.com]

*checks* Nope, I didn't make that Trainspotting icon. :)

[jamesinclair.livejournal.com]

Well, thats not very nice of her at all. But I must thank her for providing an interesting story, without her, you never would have written "but I'm actually trembling with rage" which is a lovely image.

But yeah, she did act like a bitch by not saying sorry or anything. But who knows, maybe the use of the word "damn" by you put her on the defensive and now shes off somewhere trembling with her own rage.

Unfortunatly, things like this do happen, and I guess the best thing you could do would be to add a signature to the icons. How youll fit it into something so small without ruining the icon, I have no idea.

I havent credited you on LJ, but I dont quite know how. And since I only comment here anyway, I dont think it matters.

[lemurjoe.livejournal.com]

Ok, maybe this is just me being overly concerned, but:

I listed you as the maker in the comments area rather than keywords. Can you see comments of someone else when you check their icon page?
An is one considered a "better" way to credit than another?

[I realize this hardly applies to me, I only have three icon spaces after all, but I always want to be proper.]

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Either way is totally and completely fine :) I can see my username plain as day when I go to your user icons. Being overly concerned is far better than being flippant - thanks for asking! *hugs*

[lethal-paine.livejournal.com]

Urgh... isn't that against some kind of law somewhere? It should be. >_>

[humdrumtown.livejournal.com]

Stuff like that bothers me immensely. I had an icon of yours waaaaay before I ever friended you and it still had your user name there as credit, so no one really has an excuse not to credit.

What also annoys me is that on their user info they have a god is love banner. Umm...most of that rainbow stuff started for gay marriage and other gay issues, hence the rainbow. I mean, I like god and all that jazz, but it seems vaguely weird to have rainbow-y type banners and bars and stuff and apply it to god when the whole god/gay issue has just a tad bit of tension, heh..

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Huh! I hadn't noticed the banner. That is quite odd. o.O

[cheapcrowd.livejournal.com]

gah, HATE. People who like, refuse to credit on principle because they think the only reason we want credit for our work is because all icon makers are giant praise-whores really tick me off.