While I do agree that Scratch has a lot of flaws- art thieves being one of them, they can be easily reported. However, I don't really know if stealing art is reportable, but you can try reporting them. If that doesn't work, I say use Contact Us.

To the other people who say to just report them, we all have. I even contacted Scratch about one art thief but I never got a reply. The Scratch Team left us to ask the people to take down the art.

WolfCat67 wrote:

Also, sorry for being a little pedantic, but the definition of furry that you used is a little incorrect. The only definition is someone who likes anthropomorphic character design in any way and prefers to call themselves a member of the community. Anthro animals would be the ones that have any human characteristics put onto them that they wouldn't usually have - even quadrupedal animals could count as anthropomorphic if they have human characteristics (like smiles, personalities an animal wouldn't have, etc.).

Well, I used to draw anthros, but I’m not a furry. Well, I’m better at drawing humans than quadupeds. Not everyone who draws anthros is a furry

when I receive [ I think we can put our differences behind us...]
broadcast [ For science...You monster]

Unaccredited use of user content is reportable, especially if the user is lying about it being theirs, however, I'm not exactly sure whether this applies to recolours/traces based on scratch's policies.
While I agree with your sentiment on art theft, a large part of scratch and how it works is users being able to share content- it's literally in the slogan. This same rule that allows users to utilise and learn from eachother's code (with credit) also covers the sprites and backgrounds you upload to the site, too. If you don't want people to do this to your art, then scratch isn't the place you should be uploading it.

TheRealNetherBefore wrote:

Unaccredited use of user content is reportable, especially if the user is lying about it being theirs, however, I'm not exactly sure whether this applies to recolours/traces based on scratch's policies.
While I agree with your sentiment on art theft, a large part of scratch and how it works is users being able to share content- it's literally in the slogan. This same rule that allows users to utilise and learn from eachother's code (with credit) also covers the sprites and backgrounds you upload to the site, too. If you don't want people to do this to your art, then scratch isn't the place you should be uploading it.

but, you see, I DIDN'T upload it here on Scratch. I uploaded it on deviantart, and eventually the character's owner's replaced their old icon with the art/icon I had made for them.

TheRealNetherBefore wrote:

Unaccredited use of user content is reportable, especially if the user is lying about it being theirs, however, I'm not exactly sure whether this applies to recolours/traces based on scratch's policies.
While I agree with your sentiment on art theft, a large part of scratch and how it works is users being able to share content- it's literally in the slogan. This same rule that allows users to utilise and learn from eachother's code (with credit) also covers the sprites and backgrounds you upload to the site, too. If you don't want people to do this to your art, then scratch isn't the place you should be uploading it.

Tracing is still art theft, because they didn’t make the original art. They traced it without the artist’s permission

when I receive [ I think we can put our differences behind us...]
broadcast [ For science...You monster]

-dreamiinq- wrote:

TheRealNetherBefore wrote:

Unaccredited use of user content is reportable, especially if the user is lying about it being theirs, however, I'm not exactly sure whether this applies to recolours/traces based on scratch's policies.
While I agree with your sentiment on art theft, a large part of scratch and how it works is users being able to share content- it's literally in the slogan. This same rule that allows users to utilise and learn from eachother's code (with credit) also covers the sprites and backgrounds you upload to the site, too. If you don't want people to do this to your art, then scratch isn't the place you should be uploading it.

but, you see, I DIDN'T upload it here on Scratch. I uploaded it on deviantart, and eventually the character's owner's replaced their old icon with the art/icon I had made for them.

I agree. The fact that you didn’t upload them to SCRATCH means that people can’t just use them, because since DA isn’t under the creative commons thing, pople shouldn’t use them unless they had your permission/you made the icon for them

when I receive [ I think we can put our differences behind us...]
broadcast [ For science...You monster]

-dreamiinq- wrote:

TheRealNetherBefore wrote:

Unaccredited use of user content is reportable, especially if the user is lying about it being theirs, however, I'm not exactly sure whether this applies to recolours/traces based on scratch's policies.
While I agree with your sentiment on art theft, a large part of scratch and how it works is users being able to share content- it's literally in the slogan. This same rule that allows users to utilise and learn from eachother's code (with credit) also covers the sprites and backgrounds you upload to the site, too. If you don't want people to do this to your art, then scratch isn't the place you should be uploading it.

but, you see, I DIDN'T upload it here on Scratch. I uploaded it on deviantart, and eventually the character's owner's replaced their old icon with the art/icon I had made for them.

If your artwork is being used on Scratch against your copyright, then you should go through the DMCA takedown process. However, I've never heard of it being applied selectively before, in that you are saying that certain Scratchers can use it (because they paid for it on DA), while others can not. Not to say that you aren't right - I just haven't heard of it before.

PokeNova wrote:

Welp, guys. Art theft is stupid and it just needs to STOP. Why can't there be a SEPARATE Scratch for little kids, I ask? It's because most of us fall outside of Scratch's original age demographic.

I agree with all of you who think like this!!!!!!!!

Gosh do I agree with you, it’s unfair that someone just goes and does that, and doesn’t get in trouble for it, it takes a lot of time to draw a good art piece and some people just don’t care at all, also for some reason, scratch doesn’t really do much about it. Another problem is some people get falsely accused for ‘stealing’ art, then the person gets banned a couple days late rip @TheMustacePony2 it’s unfair, and just not right I hope Scratch reads this message and realize that so many people who have gotten banned where completely nice people, who didn’t do anything wrong at all.
-BeHappy

Like Scratch would care about our posts. Their too busy making Scratch 3.0, which nobody wants. I tried to give them multiple messages to them about the problems we have as loyal scratchers and even constructive criticism and suggestions on 3.0. Know what I get? Nothing! And Heck, don't tell me their busy cause they deleted one of my comments minutes later. That comment wasn't even going against any Scratch rules! If we want our problems to be heard, we need to do something more.

wow. I never knew so many things were happening n scratch.

So let me get this straight, someone took your art off of DA and is re-posting it on scratch, right? In that case you can take Paddle's advice.

PokeNova wrote:

Welp, guys. Art theft is stupid and it just needs to STOP. Why can't there be a SEPARATE Scratch for little kids, I ask? It's because most of us fall outside of Scratch's original age demographic.

The thing is, the ST doesn't really want to divide the community. There's been tonnes of suggestions for a 13+ scratch, and have been rejected due to “dividing the community” or 'saftey risks" sounds dumb imo but oh well

Twizzler_ wrote:

To the other people who say to just report them, we all have. I even contacted Scratch about one art thief but I never got a reply. The Scratch Team left us to ask the people to take down the art.

Im assuming you sent a contact us email, it can take a while (like, a few weeks) to get back to people who send them. if its been that long since you sent it, and you got no response, re-send it.


im just playing devils advocate at this point. i have a few problems with the way the ST does things, but imo thats the price i gotta pay for being on a kids website.

Stealing other peoples talents and work is the most terrible thing, and Scratch should learn that. Ever heard the saying, “Fruit of your labor,” Scratch??? Artists, animators, coders, writers, and everyone else in the community works HARD on the things they share, and a lot of the time do it as a labor of love. This theft which is no one is trying to stop is literally stealing love, and maybe even some blood, sweat, and tears.

To the thefts:
I hope you know this isn't making you more popular, and it's just bringing you hate. All the people who work honestly on this site don't appreciate it. If you want to get help with something, just ask, I'm sure someone will help, you don't need to steal. So. Stop.

Sorry for being so blunt and ranting,
~Athene

Finally a discussion for this!! I’m so glad so many people are talking about this issue!

Just going to ask for some clarification, since I've sort of been following this ongoing stuff for the last few days, and I think I've got the whole picture of the particular situation in discussion (not the general thing with art theft on Scratch). But just to confirm..

My understanding is that someone commissioned (paid? I'm not sure) a Scratcher to draw them a character, knowing that they would use that image as their profile picture. The art was published to DeviantART but intended for use on Scratch, and the commissioner did use that as their profile picture. But then someone else came along, and took that profile picture. But here's the tough part - that user did give credits to the artist. This means that, since profile pictures on Scratch are CC BY-SA as far as I know (TOU 4.3), that use is “legal” according to the license (the BY in BY-SA means anyone can use it, as long as they give credits). Do I understand the situation correctly?

However, I'll bring up one other thing – the Scratch Team can (and I believe does) remove content according to their own discretion. That's exactly how the “report” system works; the ST is allowed to remove content. I believe that, if the ST decided so, they could remove the profile picture of the user who stole it (and give them a warning/alert). That's the part that particularly baffles me – I don't know the process of DMCA, but it seems kind of complicated and, well, legal-sounding. So it's weird to me that the ST is recommending (see Paddle2See's post) that kids go through that process. I'm 100% just saying my (certainly not-fully-educated) opinion, but it seems sort of irresponsible; it seems that they could come to a decision on this themselves, but instead they're passing it on to getting kids to actually deal with the core legal situation.

_nix wrote:

Just going to ask for some clarification, since I've sort of been following this ongoing stuff for the last few days, and I think I've got the whole picture of the particular situation in discussion (not the general thing with art theft on Scratch). But just to confirm..

My understanding is that someone commissioned (paid? I'm not sure) a Scratcher to draw them a character, knowing that they would use that image as their profile picture. The art was published to DeviantART but intended for use on Scratch, and the commissioner did use that as their profile picture. But then someone else came along, and took that profile picture. But here's the tough part - that user did give credits to the artist. This means that, since profile pictures on Scratch are CC BY-SA as far as I know (TOU 4.3), that use is “legal” according to the license (the BY in BY-SA means anyone can use it, as long as they give credits). Do I understand the situation correctly?

However, I'll bring up one other thing – the Scratch Team can (and I believe does) remove content according to their own discretion. That's exactly how the “report” system works; the ST is allowed to remove content. I believe that, if the ST decided so, they could remove the profile picture of the user who stole it (and give them a warning/alert). That's the part that particularly baffles me – I don't know the process of DMCA, but it seems kind of complicated and, well, legal-sounding. So it's weird to me that the ST is recommending (see Paddle2See's post) that kids go through that process. I'm 100% just saying my (certainly not-fully-educated) opinion, but it seems sort of irresponsible; it seems that they could come to a decision on this themselves, but instead they're passing it on to getting kids to actually deal with the core legal situation.

actually, to clarify
- the art was paid with points, but still paid
- and it was posted on deviantart, but it wasn't meant for scratch, the character's owner simply decided to use the icon on scratch

and exactly, I really don't like how they're not helping with this situation and just letting the kids roam freely and understand the situation themselves without helping or even telling them/warning them

Twizzler_ wrote:

❀I am seriously fed up with the way some people are. Everyone can draw, everyone can write, some are more advanced, but you'll get there eventually. You can do things to speed up the process, but you can't take shortcuts.

❀One of the lowest things you can do in art is: . Like I mentioned earlier, everyone can draw and write. So why steal? If you steal art, think about the person who spent precious time making that piece of art. It's sickening to know that you could care less about it. If you're going to take someone's art, check these things: Make sure they allow you to take it and if they don't, it's off limits to you. If you get their permission to use their art, please, please! Give credit to them.

❀Another thing you can do in art theft is tracing. You might think, “I did trace it, but I DREW it! So it's mine.” Sure, you made it, but where did the idea come from? Who made the original piece? The original artist. So even if you “made” the art, you HAVE to credit the original artist.

❀But, what if you aren't the person stealing? What if the person stealing stole YOUR art? Well, there are actually things you shouldn't do. For example, if you take a polite approach, you might prevent unnecessary trouble. If they don't reply, repeat yourself one more time. If they actually do reply and they still don't take it down, here's a tip: don't be scummy. If you do, they will be scummy back and then you'll have yourself a war. Again, be polite. This is the best way to make them feel bad. If all else fails, report to the Scratch Team. Sure, it may take a long time before they get to the project, but if you aren't looking for a fight (you shouldn't look for one in the first place), then that's your only option.


❀Let me define the two meanings of furry. The first defintion is someone who draws an anthro version of an animal. The second defintion is someone who wears a fursuit of the animal. (credit to Naudia for summing up what a furry is).

❀I will talk about the first definition first. If you draw an animal standing up, then that doesn't mean you wear a fursuit. (if you are that though, I have nothing against it). I can't draw humans that well, so I make my animal characters stand up on two legs. Does that make me a furry? No, unless I want to be a furry. People misuse the definition of furry so many times to the point where it's not even funny.

❀If you are the second kind of furry, there isn't anything wrong with it. If you want to be like that, then no one can stop you. Do what makes you happy (unless you want to be evil, then you can't do it). And, let me say this, not every furry has a fursuit. Some classify as it but they don't actually possess one.


❀My last words on this topic (it might pop up again later), I really want to see some changes in Scratch. If this keeps happening, Scratch will not only lose popularity from people who got tired of receiving all this trash, but they will end up being a place no one wants to be.

❀Scratch can still save this website if they take up some of the ideas us Scratchers suggest.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

That was my rant, and I still agree with it. Art thieves are still lingering around, and most of them haven't been caught. (removed by moderator - please don't name and shame) has been running around, not taking down her stolen art. Her whole profile is stolen art (aside from some of the other things she's made herself)! I think the Scratch Team needs to be more responsible about these are thieves and do something about it.

Not saying I don't love Scratch! Scratch is a wonderful place and I'm really excited for 3.0, but I'm just annoyed that artists who have worked so hard, are getting their art stolen. And it's not just the artist being frustrated with these theives, it's other people! Spottyflight stole Wolfy's icon that was given to Kirah as a payment. It's not just a quick, “Credit to Wolfy for drawing this icon and Kirah for the character!”, no, of course not. It was paid for. Meaning; Spotty can't use it. It's been two days now and we haven't got a response. I even emailed the Scratch Team about it, but haven't heard back.

Please, when 3.0 comes, please, please! Make the Scratch Team a bit more responsible. I do love Scratch a lot, so please fix this and keep Scratch a wonderful place.

TWIZZLER_

I agree, when I first started I would do recolors but then I saw how people could get hurt by that and made my own art and am becoming a really good artist.

And it's one thing to remix a project and recooor, while it is still kind of annoying, but at least the Scratcher is forced to give credit to the original in that little box in the corner. But then cross platform and internal art theft from different pojects or different websites all together? How is that protected by Scratch's whole remixing and learning from others physcology? ~Athene

PokeNova wrote:

Welp, guys. Art theft is stupid and it just needs to STOP. Why can't there be a SEPARATE Scratch for little kids, I ask? It's because most of us fall outside of Scratch's original age demographic.

Sorry to interrupt this convo, but Scratch JR exists