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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
- Paleolily
(#4485)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 7:59am
Sorry for all the pings! ;-; <3
Giratina (#1379)
As stated in the first paragraph of the ToS, "If you are accessing this site you are bound to comply with these Terms of Service." Every time there is a ToS update on Aywas, there is a news post that follows it with an explanation of what was changed so users can read and reference it for the future. Continuing to access the site from that point on is a choice, and by doing so, you agree to follow the site ToS regardless of updates made after joining. A ToS that you agree to by simply using the game/website/etc is extremely common across the internet, browser and standalone alike.
Prof JaMEW (#2712) Toxxynne (#27033) Creek (#10084)
If there is ever something you feel should be an urgent/important addition to the KB, you're always welcome to pass it by a mod first. This way, we can potentially do something about it a little faster than seeing it suggested on the forum.
We are already in the process of making an easier go-to for the KB article that will help you decide which works require the commission panel and which other methods are able to be used. Hopefully this will help clear up any future confusion. ;-;
- Quit
(#10084)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:07am
Rudy (#4485) - I think more clarification on the SCC/Original works need to be more defined. More specifically on the sketch breeding coin babies now abundant. That seems to be the main source of issues is the SBC babies from what I'm seeing. Thats about it though.
I was also confused as to where I was pinged cause it kept taking me to page 12? xD
- Chess, Tala, Jazz
(#67)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:10am
I normally do not get into drama like this, as it doesn't concern me, but wouldn't it be a little better to ban a user from certain features of a site, and not the site as a whole? Ban them from using the USD feature, instead of the entire site. Ban from adventure if they are using scripts. The forums for a month for breaking a rule on there.
I also suggested in the forums that instead of a news post, there should be a popup that makes you read and acknowledge a new rule, that way people who log in 20 days after said news post will still have to at least acknowledge the new implemented rule before they can continue to the site.
- Nilaa ♥
(#5880)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:15am
I really like Tala 💕 Chess (#67) 's suggestions a lot. I think they would solve a lot of problems here.
- Gwennafran
(#22320)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:18am
Tala 💕 Chess (#67)
Not disaggreing with the main point, but... Main problem here were users not using the feature they should have used. Banning them from using what they didn't use doesn't make that much sense then. ;)
- Chess, Tala, Jazz
(#67)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:22am
Gwennafran (#22320) I didn't mean in this instance, but in general. Even banning them from taking USD commissions would have been better than banning them from the site, don't you think ? Ban the user for the rule they broke, not from the entire site.
- Paleolily
(#4485)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:43am
Creek (#10084)
Apparently my pings are devious. ;-; Rofl.
And, directed toward the first part of your reply:
The guide that is being set up gives a clear cut of which forms of payments are allowed on them already. c: It's outlining pretty much all the types of art we can think of, so it can help a range of users outside of pet art, too! We're welcome to other concerns being voiced so they can be addressed on the guide, as well. (If Eve doesn't already have them written down. There's so many already.)
- Gwennafran
(#22320)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:47am
Tala 💕 Chess (#67)
Reading things said by admins in here, I think the main point from staff - before the major drama - was to:
1) Permaban users from doing a giant nono, to prevent them from making a mess of their accounts, and permaban would be worst case scenario
2) Send an e-mail to the user(s) at the same time, opening up for resolving the case, and changing the permaban to something less permanent.
So I don't think it was meant to be permanent for everyone. In fact, I hope not, as it does seem really harsh, if the main problem was misunderstandings with bases to the new sketch breeding coin pets.
Sadly, I think a lot of people can't quite see through the two steps, and get stuck on the first part of step one, reacting to that before users and staff has had a chance to go through step 2.
- Quit
(#10084)
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Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 8:47am
Rudy (#4485) - thats great to hear. Hopefully that clears up a lot of these issues for everyone involved x-x
Posted on: Tue Apr 5, 2016 7:55am
Awesome that's a load off my back. Thanks for clarifying!!