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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
- siver
(#62699)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 6:58pm
Kayla-La (#48591) ah okay thank you so much for the extra calcification. this is a messy little situation
- Conium
(#39365)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 6:58pm
actually I WOULD want my info out there.
If i messed up, i'd want my example to be a clear guideline of what not to do instead of some vaugeblogging-style bs. and If my case was unfair, I'd sure as anything want the playerbase to see it and call the staff out.
- Shycat
(#45175)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 6:59pm
*emerges from blanket nest* Woah, all this blew right by me. It sounds like there was a lot of confusion about where Sketch coins fell in regards to the commission panel? I can see why that's the case, because they're Silver species, so even though I've read the explanation for why they need to go through the panel in these comments, I wouldn't have guessed that myself. If that's the sole reason the users got banned, I'd say it was probably done through genuine ignorance, and that an official news post clarifying that issue for all users should have been made before banning people. But obviously the details aren't shared, and I wasn't following this before this post, so perhaps there are other issues, not just that. In either event, I do hope this gets resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
- Kita🦊
(#3988)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:00pm
Shinycakes! (#63745)
I believe you can commission any kind of art through the commissions panel? As long as the artist is alright with paying the 15% fee, they can use the commissions panel even if it isn't required for the art they're selling.
If something uses existing Aywas art/bases (customs, sketch breeding coin basing, etc.) then it needs to go through the commission panel. Basically I would assume if it already exists on aywas, it needs to go through the commission panel to be sold for USD.
Something that is being drawn completely from scratch (like brand new SCC art, regular human/quad art, art of your customs as humans/quads) can be bought and sold for USD straight through paypal because it is brand new and you are not using anything already owned by Aywas?
Please correct me if I'm wrong though o3o.
The smallest Siver (#62699)
If someone is creating completely new art and not using anything from Aywas (art of an OC, quad art, jewelry, etc.) it does not need to go through the commissions panel. If you're commissioning something like coloring, sketch breeding coin basing (since the sketch is uploaded to the site and exists onsite already), edits on a pet, etc. it needs to go through the commission panel because you are using Aywas' bases and need to pay them a % to use their copyrighted materials.
- Kita
- shinycakes
(#63745)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:09pm
Kita & Riri (#3988) Ah, I meant on the confusion over SBCs--though thank you for taking the time to clarify, anyway!
- Mythic
(#69505)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:12pm
I don't know how to ping here so sorry. But this is at staff.
If I broke the ToS unknowingly or knowingly, I would want my case to be known to the public. You don't need to provide names/email/addresses things like that. A simple what happened would suffice."
You can not say that the details can not be discussed publicly when you have a banned user form. The user form allows anyone to see the user ID, the type of ban given, and what rule(s) were broken. By having this form you are inviting people to ask questions.
Users want to know what others have done wrong in detail, to avoid making the same errors the banned user made. By keeping it secret you are inviting more people to make these same errors.
Even if the deals were made "under the table" these bannings were still about the money. The Commissions Panel was made for Aywas to get a cut of the profit for anything that is user-made Aywas content. These people were banned for not using the commission panel Aywas designed with the intent to make profit off of their own content.
This will be the last time I post. I have already made my thoughts known.
- 3 Dumb Sloths
(#557)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:13pm
"actually I WOULD want my info out there.
If i messed up, i'd want my example to be a clear guideline of what not to do instead of some vaugeblogging-style bs. and If my case was unfair, I'd sure as anything want the playerbase to see it and call the staff out."
^ qfe.
As it stands, the users in question don't have the evidence used to ban them, and the staff are not willing to even release where said evidence is from let alone screened copies of it.
We're left screaming into the void for SOMETHING to clear things up and get rid of this us vs them feeling when it comes to the staff and given nothing at all.
Any time people start questioning the staff we're brushed off with "explanations" which amount to; "we're only human, we're doing the best we can, we're always yelled at no matter what we do" and then other users who are friends with staff who take it upon themselves to tone police everyone speaking up and say essentially "you don't know anything about it so you should stop".
Which leaves everyone who's invested an awful lot of time, energy and work into Aywas over the years who is now upset at how it's being handled as a whole to be either ignored or simply leave out of frustration.
It's not simply a case of "well this one person could be lying about the circumstances they told you about regarding their ban" because I've heard from multiple people, who are all unrelated in circumstances, that these things are a problem - problems they cannot really speak up about because they rightfully fear being banned for doing so.
I'd feel the same.
And it feels like the site is going "lalalalalala" about it all.
~UK
- Ax & blu
(#4353)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:25pm
I have no idea what's going on, but if you're confused about a rule or worried that you'll mess up while using a certain feature, just PM a staff member for an explanation, screenshot it for your records, and follow the rules according to that explanation. You'll be fine, no need to freak out. -blu
- ~KrimsonCreature
(#55438)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:26pm
Kita & Riri (#3988)
I have yet to sell my art for USD since I don't own a credit card yet, but would like to ask this for future reference. Would the site be getting 15% of the money my customers pay me for non-Aywas related commissions in the panel or am I paying them directly for using their panel for non-Aywas related commissions? (Hope I'm wording this properly x3)
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 6:54pm
What I feel many people need to consider is why we're not posting anything. We have a privacy policy in place for a reason. I'd like to ask all of you to consider something. If the shoe were on the other foot, and you were the one breaking TOS, would you really want your own personal information put up publicly? I sincerely hope the answer would be no, and I hope this helps you all to better understand why we simply cannot, and will not, discuss publicly.
It's also important to note if you're doing commissions via the panel, then you are safe and you are within the guidelines of the TOS. The issues resulting in this incident were done under the table, completely avoiding the panel. This isn't about $4. It never was.