Please note: This will be my last journal entry here. I have deleted most of the previous ones. I am deleting the majority of my gallery and everything else. When my subscription to dA runs out, it will not be renewed. DeviantArt has been pulling some idiot stunts for quite some time, and this is the last straw for me. 3/4 of my Devwatch doesn't even post work any more, and I see no reason, especially in light of recent events, for me to continue patronizing this site.

To My Devwatch: Please don't be upset/hurt/offended that I no longer watch you. It's not personal, I promise. I still love your art and will peek in from time to time to see what's new.

In ye olden days, public humiliation was a form of punishment. We've long since discarded such, but I thought that, in the light of recent events, it should be resurrected for my purposes.

I don't want to hear anything about "slander". I'm stating factual events here. It's only "slander" if what you're saying is untrue. Besides, "slander" also refers to the spoken. It's referred to as "libel" if it's written or broadcasted, and though I'm not being libelous, I'm sure as hell broadcasting this. It's not "defamation" either, so no comments to that effect, please.

These are true events and public comments. Or rather, the comments WERE public, before dA pulled the submission, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in acknowledging Vanessa, ~kd8ayk . Here's her page [link] , but don't bother clicking unless you want to leave her a comment, because she has no gallery, no faves, no anything, really. It's just a blank account. You know, the kind that people have only to have one and leave comments on other people's deviations, or have so they can view the "over 18"-rated photos.

Why am I bringing her up, you ask. Well, remember this? The art theft of the tattoo I have on my delt? [link] Don't bother clicking the second thumbnail - dA has seen fit to remove the deviation detailing the theft and how the art is =elegaer's that was stolen, because why?

Because "someone" (I can't prove it was our dear little art thief above, Vanessa, but the timing *is* suspicious) saw fit to report the deviation as "art theft", and since Vanessa had ordered me to take down the photo of HER back because I didn't "have permission" to use it, she's highly suspect here.

Huh. The art thief upset about being exposed as an art thief. So she gets upset with me because I "don't have permission to use her photo". You know...the photo she submitted to a public MySpace page of the art SHE had inked on her back. The art thief calling the person she stole from a thief.

Yeah. Anyway, dA, in their "support" of catching art thieves, responded to Miss Art Thief's complaint with alacrity, and pulled my submission due to "copyright violation".

Never mind investigating her or banning her or otherwise taking action against *HER*. No, she complained, so they took action against *me*. Now, I understand this. It wasn't my photo, and it wasn't me in it. I didn't have permission to post it. Directly. BUT, since it was posted on a public forum for all the world to see, and it was...I don't know...a PHOTO OF A PIECE OF ART THAT I OWN, I kind of felt that I *did* have rights to it, in a way. Vanessa obviously felt she had rights to the art and helped herself to it.

Anyway, my personal rage aside, here is the exchange that dA deleted, for your consideration. How do I have it? Oh, that's easy. I knew Little Miss Art Thief would want her shame hidden as soon as possible, so I took it upon myself to save a copy of the comments she left me, typos and all.

The unapologetic comments. You can almost *feel* the entitlement here.

March 1, 2009 DA:


~kd8ayk 6 hours 44 minutes ago Hide Report Spam
Well first of all, you WILL take down MY picture of MY back. You DO NOT have my permission to use my photo. So dont get all high and mighty! If you think I used your design, take a gander at all the other people who have that similar design. Try doing some research before jumping down my throat.
Reply

My reply:
*AnnadinMoriel 44 seconds ago Hide
Oh, THERE you are! I was wondering when you'd show up! I'm sure the artist will *love* to know who you are so she can take appropriate action against you for taking *HER* art. You want to talk about research? Maybe you should look again at the design YOU put on YOUR back. "All the other people" who have that "similar" design DON'T have THAT specific one, which was done by the artist =elegaer specifically for me. Done to MY specifications. "All the other people" have the book cover design, and the ones that have =elegaer's have also ripped it off. This does not make what you've done permissible.

I notice you don't deny that you STOLE HER ART.

*I* don't have permission to use YOUR photo when you were perfectly happy to submit it to Sherri's MySpace for everyone else to see?

I hope you realize that you're not only an art thief, but you've taken something precious to me. You've not only stolen the art of a very dear friend for your own selfish means, but you've also desecrated a memorial. If you even bothered to "do your research", you would have seen the "this is not to be used by anyone else" and other disclaimers plastered all over anywhere the pictures of my tattoo were displayed.

It would have been different, had you asked. Had you offered. Had you SAID ANYTHING. But you didn't. You just saw something you liked, took it regardless of the meaning it held for the person you took it from, and did what you wanted with it. You didn't even give me, or the artist, a chance to explain. You were so afraid of being told "no" that you didn't even ask, and now you're all indignant because I call attention to the fact that you've stolen something precious?

I notice you didn't apologize. You're simply demanding. Like all thieves, you're not sorry you stole something - you're just sorry you got caught at it.

Her again:
~kd8ayk 1 hour 52 minutes ago Hide Report Spam
Well I am sorry that it is your design but I did not get it from this site. I actually would not have used it.
Reply

My response:
*AnnadinMoriel 8 minutes 36 seconds ago Hide
This isn't the only site it was posted on, but anywhere it was had disclaimers on it. This has happened more than once, so it's not "just you" whose "throat I'm jumping down".

RE: The above photo. You're getting mad at me for doing the exact same thing you did. Taking something that's not mine. But! Did you see what I did? I posted it, said where I got it, and that IT WASN'T MINE. You claim it's yours, because it's of "your" tattoo on your back. (Technically, it's not "your" photo, because unless you're extremely flexible AND talented, you can't photograph your own back, so the photo really belongs to whoever took it for you.) Now, if I cropped that photo, flipped it, and altered the lighting a little bit in a photo editing program, does that make it mine?

No.

Just because I alter it slightly (as you've altered the design you have on your back) doesn't mean it's changed.

It doesn't matter where I got it either. Just because you didn't get it off this site doesn't mean you didn't take it without permission and use it for your own purposes. Flickr, for example. There's a few photos of it there, on both my account and my husband's. The photos stated the disclaimer AND the status "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED", which means "DO NOT TOUCH".

So you're sorry that it's "my design", not that you stole it to use. Am I reading that right? And you think that because you took it from another site that it was okay to take and use. Is that right as well?

I'm just curious. I'm also still very hurt and deeply offended that someone would take something that means so much to me and pervert it.

The artist had some words to say on the subject when this was first discovered. Click here if you care to read them.

[link to the above journal entry]

What honestly made you think it was okay to take and use someone else's design without asking? It's common courtesy to at least ask. Sure, they might have said "no", but they also might have said "yes".

I'm going to wait until the artist sees this these comments before I consider taking this photo down. It's her art, and she has the say in this. It's =elegaer, if you'd like to note her and apologize.

/comments

So apparently it's okay to steal art as long as you didn't get it from dA. Huh. I didn't know that. Did you?

She didn't reply to that last one. Maybe because shortly thereafter, dA's Powers That Be intervened.

Anyway, for your additional consideration, here is dA's..."action taken" note. I got the "Update" first, before the "initial report", but that could just be dA being slow.

Copyright Violation: ART THEFT OF MY ACHERON TATTOO

From: ^devart
Date: Mar 1, 2009, 12:34:45 PM
The administrator who deleted your deviation added the following:

Deleted due to Copyright Violation

The work(s) listed below have been removed by staff as a violation of the deviantART copyright policy. Your deviantART submissions must consist entirely of your own work or valid stock resources and must not include works from copyrighted sources.

Please read our Copyright Policy and if you have any questions or believe this removal to be an error please contact the deviantART Help Desk

Title: ART THEFT OF MY ACHERON TATTOO
URL: [link]
Submitted: 2008-10-12 1:44:50 am

--
This message has been generated automatically, if you need additional assistance, please visit the Help Desk
Your deviation ART THEFT OF MY ACHERON TATTOO was reported for Art theft (General). The report was reviewed by a member of the Staff and action was taken, deleting the deviation and marking the report as Resolved. Additionally, the following comment was provided:

Immediate action taken.

This message was generated automatically.

-- deviantART Staff


Violation Report update for your deviation 'ART THEFT OF MY ACHERON TATTOO'
From: ^devart
Date: Mar 1, 2009, 12:34:45 PM

Your deviation ART THEFT OF MY ACHERON TATTOO was reported for Art theft (General). The report was reviewed by a member of the Staff and action was taken, deleting the deviation and marking the report as Resolved. Additionally, the following comment was provided:

Immediate action taken.

This message was generated automatically.

-- deviantART Staff


So. The deviation I submitted showing the theft of my tattoo and =elegaer's art was reported as art theft (general) and deleted by the Powers That Be.

'Cause that makes sense. *sarcasm*

Anyway, go and show Little Miss Art Thief some love. Tell her it's okay that she has a permanent reminder that she's an art thief tattooed on her back. Tell her you agree with her, that since she claims she didn't get the original design from dA that it was okay to take and use like she wanted.

Not only do I have the design in question tattooed on my upper arm, I *own* the original custom design art based off a description in a book. It's framed and right here in my office. I have people who were there when it was put on my skin. I know the artist personally, and we worked on this for months, because putting something permanently on your skin is a big, huge, deal, and we did it BEFORE "all the other people". That's why it's a custom design - because there WASN'T ONE LIKE IT OUT THERE. There were ideas and concepts - the idea was in the author's book, and the design based off it. I wanted =elegaer's personal touch and Celtic knotwork in it, as well as colors that weren't canon.

I'm not upset that dA deleted my deviation. I'm upset that Little Miss Art Thief is unrepentant, unapologetic (oh, she's sorry it was "my design" - not that she stole it or had it tattooed on her back, so I guess that's *like* an apology) and seems to feel completely entitled to do so because she "did not get it from this site".

I'm also upset that dA apparently didn't even look at what the thread was about. I know they're busy. Really busy. But you know what? I'm a subscribed member and have been for years. Little Miss Art Thief has a free account that she's apparently had for 10 months or so and doesn't have any kind of submissions or faves. But The Powers That Be are right on any complaint, by golly. Never mind what the complaint was about. Stolen art. Deleted. Sorry. Yeah. STOLEN ART OF MY STOLEN ART.

*shakes head*

At least now I know who did this. They have a name. And I can eviscerate her in fiction, to quote Chaucer A Knight's Tale.

Things like this just reaffirm my faithlessness in humanity. I know something will come along to restore it - it always does - but right now, I don't have a whole lot.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Cheers,
DJ

Don't come around here no more.

Go here instead.
Visit this site and give her love! She's my tattoo designer!