This is, I suppose, a philosophical question about art, well, art and the internet that is. I mean for this to be a discussion if you're up to it, because I'm interested in other people's opinions.




These days I see so much art theft, it's really quite sad. Now art theft is not the end of the world as some people make it out to be. It is, however, very irritating and disrespectful. The people who do it usually seem to be ~13 year old attention mongers. They want the credit without having to do all the hard work.

Now personally, I don't really understand this. I suppose it must be somehow redeeming, people do it all the time. But don’t they at least feel the slightest tinge of guilt as they reply to comments? Isn’t it somehow bittersweet? And how do they feel living with that fact after they’ve been found out?
Anyway, this journal is not necessarily about art theft on dA or other art sites, that subject has been beaten into the ground it seems. What I’m really curious about is how people feel about youtube.

I see it a lot these days, people make their slideshow videos for anime or whatever. Often they use random work they have found all over the internet. Sometimes they post a disclaimer, most of the time they say nothing, and sometimes they claim the work as their own. But I have almost never seen credit given directly to the artist.
Youtube is a completely different community, one without a lot of respect it seems to me. People constantly spam and flame on videos. Others post work that is not their own, videos that someone else worked hard to make. Still others make slideshows out of other’s work.

For some reason or other the mood occasionally strikes me to politely play vigilante with some of these people. I figure if no one ever says anything then people will just continue to abuse each other’s work.

Does anyone else ever do this? Do you feel it is something that should be done?
This was something that I started to do when I started seeing my AMVs plastered all over youtube. Of course, this is slightly flattering, but everyone who posted my video again was in short, stealing comments, views, and favs from me. (I posted my own videos on the site). Personally these things are the reward for my hard work.

So I confronted people about this, I thanked them for the flattery and politely asked them to credit me and link my account or something to that effect. This received varying responses. Some people were very understanding, apologized, and credited me. I think that there are in fact many people who do this innocently- they see others doing it and don’t know that it’s bad. It’s a fair mistake.

But then there are the others that hide/delete your comments. (These tend to be the people who take credit for your work). And then there are others who feel the need to flame you about it. Personally I laugh to myself, then politely and coolly reply to these people.

I don’t even bother searching to see if anyone has stolen my AMVs any more, it would be impossible, so many people make the same series/song now. It used to be easy to find them because I would always make sure no one had used the same combination before I made one. As far as I know I was the first person to put Kingdom Hearts and “A Thousand Miles” together and so on. Anyway, I’m getting off topic-I digress.

I do however feel the need to speak up when I see someone else using someone else’s work without permission, or claiming it as their own and I know the original source. This too is met with the various responses as discussed above. I recently had a very interesting “conversation” with one of the flamers who had been using work off of dA. I found their responses very….interesting….once I deciphered what they were trying to explain. I won’t post the original here because there were far too many expletives…Naw, what the heck, I’ll just star them out…it’s a good reflection of intelligence. Oh, and they marked my comments as spam. Lol’d.
Me: You should really ask/credit the artists who drew the pictures.

DemonSlayer5050: ok buddy shut the f*** up, if u dont enjoy the pics dont watch there are over 30 pics here and in part 1 i dont know all of them so shut the f*** up and enjoy them like other normal ppl.

Me: No, I really won't. It's very low of you to take people's art and not give them the credit for it. They spent more time on those pieces than you did on your video, the least you can do is give them credit.
I can tell you where to find most of those pictures if you don't know all of them, would that help?

DemonSlayer5050: omfg, i found those pics on deviant art and photo bucket i higly doubt that the 100's of ppl who uploaded those are gonna say "OH EM GEE THATS THE PIC I UPLOADED TO DEVIANTART FOR ALL TO HAVE, IT SHOULD BE REMOVED" plus i put i did not make these pics, therefore i am not claiming they are mine. so calm down buddy if u know them then good for u u want to ask ppl? go to deviant art i really dont f***ing care

Me: I'm afraid of the two of us I'm far more composed than you. Seriously, what's with the over-reacting? There is no need to be hostile and defensive.
It's good of you to disclaim the pictures as not being your work. Regardless deviantart is not a place to find work to take. How would you feel if someone took this video and posted it without permission. Then people complimented them, and gave them credit. That doesn't seem very fair.
It's not my position to ask, it's your responsibility.

DemonSlayer5050: im not claiming them and i have put pics up on Photobucket and ppl have taken them and i dont flip out. if they dont want their pics up for ppl to use then i suggest not putting them up and BTW there are like a lot of vids like this using th forms, so dont come to my f***ing vids. go nag to someone else.


OK, so from what I understand: We artists put our stuff on dA for people to steal. It’s our fault. Shame on us! Personally I had a good laugh at this. And the fact that their profile claims that she is 17…wow…either she’s lying or the internet makes people really stupid.

However, I am curious as to what other people think. Is what I did the right thing to do? Should I have done something else or nothing at all? (Mind, I mention this for discussion purposes, I have no problem calling people on things like this and have no need for moral support.)

So what can youtube do about this problem? What can we do about this? Should anything even be done? Do you think that if people POLITELY spoke up more often that it would make a difference for the better?

And in case you’re wondering, no I do not have a bee in my bonnet because someone stole my art or posted it without permission, this is simply something I have been pondering for quite some time now.






And wow, I think that was the most serious thing I’ve ever written on the internet…no crazy abbreviations, netspeak, or smilies! O.o Lol, sry for the long rant.

Thanks for reading, your responses are appreciated. :3


Oh, and dA isn't letting me change the mood again...>:c


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