RE: Indisputable Evidence of @akarantain Being an Intentional Art Plagiarist and a Poseur.
Whenever I see someone "policing" the world (or a tiny fraction of it) like this, it makes me think of the stories my grandfather told me of the Nazi Regime, that had targeted him as "Volksschädling" (enemy of the people... actually quite an honor today).
The Nazis too prided themselves to rid the world of "waste", pointing their fingers to what they thought was wrong and always claimed to have whatever evidence was needed to support their sick cause. Roland Freisler comes to mind with his arrogant and complacent way of prosecuting those opposing the system in which he felt strong.
So, I wonder what joy you get from hammering down on someone who enjoys drawing and creating what they like. I find it particularly pathetic to attack someone who will not be able to put up much of a defense or even retaliate. Don't you think, people in Venezuela for instance have enough to worry about?
Why don't you take on a real enemy? If you want to be the hero, you should fight someone strong and with the means to jeopardize your own position.. dig up some real and damaging mischief and abuse. Demonstrate your cause at the top art fairs and exhibitions of the world. You will find plenty to reveal. And there its about big money... not just a few upvotes, that might grant some little guy just that tiny bit to carry on.
We report facts, if you dont like those facts that's not our problem. Thank you for your opinion.
Of course you have the right to do so and you are right, what I think about it is in fact insignificant.
I just wonder, why you go about it in a way, that appears somewhat aggressive. When I look at your profiles, you seem like the same decent and good hearted people, who feel alienated by your actions right now.
@ailindigo, you are an artist yourself and i understand, that with your photography you are concerned about copyright. And although it might not always sound like it in the comments I see, I am sure, it is a serious issue for every serious content creator.
@guiltyparties, if I see it correctly, you are a veteran? At least your blog leads me to believe you are. I served on a (German) Submarine myself for 4 years during cold war and I know what it means to be in the armed forces, even without seeing real combat. You have my respect!
My question remains, why all this has to go out of hand like this. In Germany we have a saying that goes something like: "don't shoot sparrows with a cannon". What I'm trying to say is, I think your intentions are noble, but maybe the method is a bit... how should I say... exaggerated for lack of a better word (English isn't my native language).
I have seen much bigger cases of abuse on steemit than a few kids copying a drawing. And why not talk to them first, when you see they are violating a rule? It might not even be with bad intentions.
One could just as well contact them with a polite "warning" and give them the opportunity to correct their mistake. Of course, when someone is a notorious thief or abuser, stronger action might be necessary... and for that, the steem community has some tools in place already.
So, why don't we all calm down a bit. You could still find the things you think are not right. But why not work with these people, instead of against them? Educate instead of making someone feel bad.
Any decent soldier I ever met, knows the value of peace just like every decent artist. How can we dream of world peace, when a few folks on a tiny social network can't get along?
Hope you will give it some thought :-)
I like your soldier analogy, Reinhard. Correct. Of all the things I've done and been in my life, I can relate. I was in the Austrian Air Force in my youth. It doesn't compare to your experiences though - I wound up being a pencil-pusher at Headquarters, so I quit. But being a railroader later on in Canada, outdoor often in Winter, was probably a better field experience. And yes, eventually and concurrently, I was and am a artist. And I always have a soft spot for those that are weak and defenseless. To relentlessly attack and keep kicking them while they are down is the action of cowards. There are bigger fish to fry than going after young artists trying to learn the craft and maybe making small mistakes - and I have yet to chide anyone that copied my work, except on those occasions where someone had ripped off my images for commercial purposes. So I filed a take-down notice (find out how). Copy me all you want, but don't sell t-shirts with my art on it!
When I talk about bigger fish - look at the art market today, Koons, Hirst, even Warhol (rest his soul) and the successive copies of Duchamp's urinals. Brave guys here, taking on little artists.
At least I can say that the foes I fight (in my blogs) are the big boys I named above. Just one of many: LAOKOON, ANTI-LAOKOON and ANTI-KOONS.
Anyone that knows me also knows where I've been and what I am talking about. Steemit is but a small side-track for me.
But I am discouraged that after bashing Facebook for their nipple-police-art-control:
SUSANNAH MARTIN ARTICLE IN HUFFINGTON POST HIT BY FACEBOOK CENSORSHIP (and subsequently having 2 of my accounts locked up) to be confronted here with similar small-minded trolls.
I thought Steemit would be a better place, but what I see is greed and spitefulness taking over. There are almost more wars fought here than actual constructive and interesting postings - something that is not easy to find among the trending fluff (where the hell are all these votes coming from - and how do they affect the pool for the little guys?) - but yes, go ahead and punish the little guys and take away the few pennies from their posts.
If by young artists you are referring to the 40 year old user @akarantain, well... 40 years of lifetime is enough to be expected to know that taking the work of others, passing it as yours and trying to profit from it is wrong... and if the user didnt learn it in 40 years, she probably never will. Additionally, take into account the user has been in steem for 15 months.
We believe you refuse to see what is in plain sight, that this is a case of serial, intentional, premeditated art plagiarism, the evidence above shows that without a shade of a doubt, but you still refuse to see it. It seems to be true that "there is no one more blind than the one that doesnt want to see" and it seems to apply perfectly to your case. This is not a small mistake sir, this is intentional, premeditated deception by a poseur and you are condoning it.
We highly respect you as an artist but you are defending the indefensible and we strongly disagree with you in this regard.
Have a good day.
Never in my life I could dedicate myself to drawing and much less to a professional level due to personal circumstances I actually graduated in administration and in steemit I was able to develop one of my biggest hobbies. Do not talk about me if you do not know me.
What part of what is asserted is not true?
First it was "my intention was never to hide it", now that has been proven to be a lie, what's your next excuse Ms.?
Hello, sir @reinhard-schmid. Yes, it is a serious issue for every serious content creator, and it is because of that that I couldn't take this so lightly and think any serious content creator shouldn't either.
I wouldn't be happy if I see someone posting a photograph of mine as his/hers, I wouldn't be happy if I see someone making a reproduction of a photograph of mine as a drawing and saying it's from her/his when asked (as you read in this post), and I wouldn't trust this person at all if I see that she/he deleted a comment in which she/he lied (almost automatically it seems, I would say). Even if this person gets just 5$ or 50$ it is bad, it's not just about the money.
Sir, we have been fighting abuse for a long time and this is a common and expected behavior and reaction, you might think our method is a bit tough but that's what it is, just a method, our experience has told us that educating or talking/correcting via DM doesn't work, not with malicious people, and this person has made the same mistake more than 3 times and even lied about it. You might think this is too small or silly but if we allow "little things" like this what can we expect in the future?
We are just long term thinkers and that is why we created this organization, we believe in a serious platform with only serious people that have integrity and ethics. We do dream of a world of peace in which we all can get along and in order to achieve that there are things that need to be fixed.
Thank you very much for taking time to read and be part of this debate, and I hope you will give this some thought too :)
Thank you for your kind reply. No need to call me "sir" though 🙂
I am giving this a lot of thought. What you have to say and also the rest of this rather heated discussion. To the point, that it is distracting me from my work.
You have made your point and it was probably important to have this debate.
For me it has been a big learning experience in many aspects. I do appreciate all my colleagues loyal attempt to help each other, even with some of them being rather... how should I say... passionate. Artists are very emotional and they should be.
Abuse is a serious issue and I would expect, that a majority of the steem community would agree, that it has to be kept under control. On the other hand, a significant part of the artist community agrees, that certain cases of "copying" are tolerated, sometimes actually encouraged, i. e. as an educational tool.
It looks, like so far you have done your homework and I'm not debating your facts. But although I've been proven wrong a time or two, I believe in the good of people and hope all this will lead to better communication between all parties involved and yes, integrity and ethics. And with all seriousness, please leave a little room for joy and humor.
@reinhard-schmid great reply my friend! This is by far the best analogy made. We went from Facebook and the horrid "nipple-police-nazis" to Steemit, and what do we find here? Similar trolls goosestepping, insignificant fools with a Napoleon Complex trying to intimidate people.
Well, we are not intimidated!