My Impression of an Art Thief

*EDIT** I had to get rid of the Sora picture, because I was informed that it would be taken down if I didn't. OH THE IRONY. **

Okay, obviously this picture was NOT made by me. It is copyrighted to SquareEnix, I don't think there's one person on this entire site, who doesn't know that. So if this is the case, why do users with submissions just like these, plague Sheezyart? Why does it take 749,273,348 days for these people to be banned? -And when these people are banned, why is it such a light punishment? In the past 48 hours I have found more than five art thieves in the recent artwork, and the sad part is most of them were accounts previously suspended for the SAME stolen pictures. Stolen artwork is an issue I think is taken way too lightly here on Sheezyart.

I've been on Sheezyart for about two years now, and my optimism is slowly degrading. I know the cast members are doing their best to run this site, and I know its no easy task. Trust me, I wouldn't want your job, even if you paid me. However, its very concerning when I've reported someone multiple times, have undeniable proof of stolen art and nothing gets done. I'm aware the report center is most likely very busy, and they do give a 24-hour response time. I just don't feel it should take as long as it does. I've talked to users and mods alike and the response is always the same. "Just give it some more time, trying PMing so-and-so." Why should it have to take all this extra effort?

A big problem contributing to this is in the banning procedure. A user submits art that isn't his/hers, gets banned for a month, comes back and does the same thing. Why is this site so lenient towards thieves? In most cases when someone steals artwork, its because they have none of their own! So why should we assume, they'll come back after the month-ban and starting posting their own artwork? A solution? A permanent ban, of course! Problem solved? Not even close..

The magical flying perma-ban, the solution to every problem, right? WRONG. User submits stolen art, gets banned for a month, comes back and does the same thing again, gets banned again; rinse, lather, repeat. So finally, are wonderful thief gets permanently banned after the 374,983,212 offense. What does he/she do? Why, come back under a different account name of course! The funny thing about this, is they usually make usernames very similar to the ones they were banned under before. Are these people even trying, honestly? I could go Dr. Phil on all of you and discuss the mentality of a thief, but I won't. I want to keep my hair..

I'm not one to rant about something and sit there, hoping it will be magically changed somehow. I really believe SA needs to consider some different methods of handling art thieves. I've been to a couple different art communities in the past week, and I have seen some really interesting ways of handling this problem.

On a site called "Fanart-Central" all artwork is scanned by moderators before being actually published on the site. This is a wonderful method of filtering out thieves! It may not be 100% fool-proof, but I believe this to be the most effective way. Unfortunately, this would be very time consuming and slow down the flow of recent artwork. -But is that really a bad thing? Wouldn't it be nice to have some time on the front page, and not worry about being bumped off in 2 seconds? Which brings me to my next point. (By the way, off-topic, Fanart-Cental has the UGLIEST layout ever.. Damn..)

GFXartist has a policy that allows users to only submit 6 artworks a month! I remember this subject was brought up awhile ago on the Sheezy news, and like whenever change is brought to this site, people freak. I personally, love this method! Something like this encourages people to only submit their finest works, and it would definitely take a huge chunk out of pointless submissions and stolen artwork. Please consider this method! Everyone's artwork would get much more notice this way, trust me.

GFXartist also has another interesting policy. If an art thief is found, and it can be proved, they are publicly announced on the front page! Anonymity plays a huge role in stolen art. People submit stolen artwork because they are confident they can get away with it. Believe me, this would stop if they were suddenly in the spotlight. However, this also brings out the subject of flaming people who steal artwork. No, I am not saying, "Yes! Point out the thief and FLAMZEZZ!!!11! THEM!!" Though, I do believe that they deserve no special treatment, either. That is a problem created by users themselves, and is an entirely different problem.

Well, like I've said before I've been here for about 2 years and not once have I posted something like this. I've tried my best not to complain and stay optimistic. This growing problem is just too much for me lately. Its incredibly discouraging and makes Sheezyart look very immature. I'm really considering moving to a different website if this problem doesn't decrease. I am very aware any of these methods are not 100% guaranteed, and I know that no matter what, there will ALWAYS be art thieves on this site. I believe if any of these policies are considered, we will see a huge decrease in stolen artwork. Let me say that this writing is NOT directed to any specific cast members or anyone for that matter. It saddens to me to have to write this, there are many aspects of this site that I have grown to love! Please, someone consider anything I have written!

If you believe in what I'm saying, please vote this! I am not trying to get attention personally, (Trust me, thats the last thing I want as of now..) I think this topic needs to be pushed way up on the priority list! Lets put this on front page and accomplish something!

Sheezyart, please stop worrying about shadowed thumbnails and bring attention to this problem,
~DC