News
Search Options ►Important Clarifications
Site Update
Recently we've been seeing a lot of concerns raised by users when staff take official actions with users, and of course with some recent bans the worries have resurfaced and have reached us. First and foremost I would like to stress that we only ever take steps such as these when there is ample onsite evidence that actions that breech our Terms of Service have occurred.
In this instance it has regarded the "USD Sales of Designs By Artists" section of the ToS, which reads as follows:
"This section governs the sale of derivative works (artworks incorporating official Aywas pet bases, SCC pets that have been submitted already, and HA avatar artwork). Players may only accept USD for their derivative artworks through the Commissions Platform or through the use of Artist Paintbrushes. Players are forbidden from negotiating or selling derivative artworks through any other means, or in any other location. This means that players may only receive USD direct to their PayPal account when in connection with a Commissions Platform official request, or when an administrator redeems a Paintbrush for them."
This was written into the ToS in June of last year when the feature was released, and a news post was made to make everyone aware. There is also a knowledgebase article which was linked in the news post and is linked on the Commissions Panel page, to ensure that the knowledge of this was clearly and easily accessible.
Previous to this all USD sales of derivative works were disallowed by the ToS, except through Paintbrushes when they were initialised. As such any purposeful circumvention is a permanently bannable offence.
The fee that the commissions platform takes is not to punish the artist, but a licence for them to profit from the use of our copyrighted materials. These fees also allow us to continue building and repairing the site, as well as support the many artists that work as contractors for us in the breeding and custom ticket systems.
No one on staff takes banning a user lightly, and none of us take any joy from it - it is simply a necessary part of the work we do to continue maintaining the website. As always, as long as you have read and abide by the ToS then you are not in any danger - and if you are ever in doubt about something you want to do, or something someone has asked you to do for them, then please contact a member of staff. We are here to help you and always happy to do so =)
Posted by Eve
(#2775) on Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:49pm
- Raina
(#35959)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:56pm
I uh... I am curious though because I have seen a lot of stuff about this and none of it seemed to have gone down on site.
- The Glorious Goat
(#738)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:56pm
To my knowledge, at least one banned user was told that if they cooperated with staff, they would not be banned, but were then banned anyways?
- Narwhal
(#18635)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:57pm
This doesn't make me feel any better. Actually it makes me feel worse about everything.
- Kyu & Mauri
(#1010)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:59pm
4 Huge Nerds (#6312) - We do not discuss the specifics of user issues except for with the parties involved. They are more than welcome to email us for specifics as to why they were banned.
Krabby Goat (#738) - There were strict requirements for the user to avoid the ban and they did not meet them. This has been explained to that user via email as to why they were banned.
- bd84
(#2783)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:59pm
Sad to see that people are abusing the system.
- Sharni&Gamzee
(#4917)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 5:00pm
In full respect, can I ask why there were users who were perma banned without so much of a PM? And why Sylver got banned even though they were told they wouldn't if they complied?
I don't mean any offence by this, but its very concerning when people you know get banned without notice, or when they're told they won't be if they co-operate, and get banned hours later.
Additionally, I'd like to ask if skype is being taken as proof of innocence now, since it seems to have been taken as proof of guilt in the case of a couple users.\
Thanks!
-Gamzee
- zeph & co
(#6312)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 5:00pm
I've heard skype logs were used, if that's the case why can they be used now, but other cases people were told that it can be faked and there for do not count?
Zombie
- Vixen
(#66196)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 5:03pm
I don't mean to be rude, but I feel like this news post doesn't address one of the big concerns? The rules have always been that a fully new silver base doesn't need to go through the panel, but any site genus does. Sketch Breeding Coins were a grey area, they're not a site genus and are indeed a silver pet, yet they were drawn up by a site artist. It seems this confused some users because they didn't know what sketch breeding coin basing would fall under. As it is, I believe the commissions panel rules should be clarified on this point because a lot of people seem to be unsure. I understand that if users are unsure of something they can always contact a moderator, but it would be great if the rules themselves were revised to be more clear on this issue.
- zeph & co
(#6312)
-
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 5:03pm
Kyu & Mauri (#1010) All due respect, but being vauge and shady about these issues is what creates this fear and unrest. If the staff would just be up front, people might not be so scared and angry. -Zeph
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 4:54pm
"ample onsite evidence" where?????? pls share with the class -Zeph