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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
- New Management
(#47359)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:31pm
Haunter & Magikarp (#4353) Hello! I'm sorry, but if you don't know what's going on, it may be productive for all involved if you read both the news report and the comments made in response before submitting your own.
- ~KrimsonCreature
(#55438)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:42pm
Kita & Riri (#3988)
Thanks, that cleared things up now! x3
I was asking this concerning when you go the panel and click 'Create Ad' and it says at the bottom (They put it caps, not me. XD):
DO NOT POST ANYTHING ON THIS FEATURE THAT WOULD NOT RESULT IN A FEE. DO NOT POST SCC REQUESTS OR REGULAR ARTWORK POSTS! YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO PAY THE FEE IF YOU USE THIS FEATURE FOR THAT!"
- 🍁TinselWolf
(#67857)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:45pm
@litwick
If you don't like it, leave. No need to be extremely rude to the people running the site. You're acting like a spoiled brat.
- Kita🦊
(#3988)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:46pm
~KrimsonCreature (#55438)
If you post something on the commissions panel you're always required to pay the 15% fee no matter what it is.
I suggest if it is not aywas related art you sell it directly through PMs or the forums so you can avoid paying the panel fee on something that you aren't required to.
- Kita
- New Management
(#47359)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:55pm
TinselWolf (#67857) Hey TinselWolf, if you want litwick to see what you're writing, you could always ping their account. Try "@" followed by their account number?
And this isn't a place for attacking people. As stated in the ToS, attacks on other users aren't tolerated. "Voicing dislike for a political/religious figure or group is allowed, but personal attacks and insults toward Aywas members is not. " I wouldn't want you to get banned for violating the ToS. If you have a grievance, maybe taking it up with litwick in private would be a better idea? But if you have something to contribute to this, the comments section regarding the news post, then I'm sure everyone would like to hear your two cents.
- ~KrimsonCreature
(#55438)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 8:00pm
Kita & Riri (#3988)
Yes, I believe that is the best idea. I was just wondering if it would be good course of action to use the panel if your artwork isn't getting much/any traffic. Like people may prefer custom Aywas pets over regular artwork, but I most often find it easier to make my own work in comparison to editing an Aywas base, since edits have to somewhat match in style. If I'm getting not many or no buyers going through the forums, 15% seems like a small price to pay to get my regular artwork seen in the panel, you see what I mean? x3
- Ax & blu
(#4353)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 8:02pm
New Management (#47359) I have read both, thank you. But given that neither explains the facts involved, I don't feel they qualify me to offer a focused opinion. Instead, I tried to offer a suggestion to the users who have expressed the fear that they'll unknowingly stumble into a ban in the future. if we're talking about productivity, then not feeding into the drama would be the first step. -blu
- 🍁TinselWolf
(#67857)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 8:04pm
I don't have a grievance, it's just irritating to see people blindly attacking the staff like that. Some folks are just because they were friends with the banned users, but others are just stirring up trouble because they apparently don't like rules (though I'm fairly certain if they were the ones being hurt by the rule breaking, they'd be fine with bans and such). In fact, your post was pretty rude too, by the way. Shockingly, when you sign up for a site and agree to follow the rules, there are consequences when you choose not to. No need for you to harass a user sarcastically over spelling because they're doing their job by enforcing rules. Additionally, "I wouldn't want you to get banned for violating the ToS"? Really, you're going to use backhanded comments and mock concern like that to random users to attack the staff?
- ~KrimsonCreature
(#55438)
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Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 8:04pm
Kita & Riri (#3988)
Yes, I believe that is the best idea. I was just wondering if it would be good course of action to use the panel if your artwork isn't getting much/any traffic. Like people may prefer custom Aywas pets over regular artwork, but I most often find it easier to make my own work in comparison to editing an Aywas base, since edits have to somewhat match in style. If I'm getting not many or no buyers going through the forums, 15% seems like a small price to pay to get my regular artwork seen in the panel, you see what I mean? x3
Posted on: Mon Apr 4, 2016 7:30pm
~KrimsonCreature (#55438)
If the commission is not related to Aywas you do not need to go through the panel. If it's art that you would sell on Deviantart or Furaffinity or a website like that (like...art that you have drawn completely, 100% from scratch) you can go directly through Paypal. The artist in that case wouldn't even use the panel to make a commission post, you should just be able to do it through PMs or the forums.
If you were commissioning someone that used any art that exists on the Aywas website (so editing a custom, using a sketch that is already uploaded as a pet to create a finished image, etc.) then you would have to go through the panel and then you would owe Aywas 15% of whatever you make (as the artist).
The commissioner is not responsible for paying any fees through the commission panel, it's the artist who is responsible for paying the 15% fee to Aywas for using their bases.
I hope that made sense? I'm not staff though, so if a member of staff comes in and contradicts something I say please take their explanation over my own!
- Kita