(I think this belongs here, not offtopic, as it concerns the whole idea of graphic art and intellectual property, like pictures. So I moved it.)

In case somebody missed it, a plagiarist was removed from this website. All thanks to CAEDES for keeping those who steal intellectual property from uploading these purloined images to this forum. It seemed to me, sad to say, that most people were either unaware or unconcerned about the pictures that were posted by one aeenana, but they were almost all ripped off from other sites or were crude postcard tweaks. Nothing was original. Yet never an attribution was given for anything. She accepted all the compliments as if she had earned them. A cursory glance at her uploads would have sufficed for anyone to pick up all the inconsistencies in her "artwork." It turns out that this person did indeed rip off other artists and removed their watermarks. This is illegal, folks. Be aware, the theft of intellectual property is an offense to the art community.

And it is not something we should take lightly. And if you see some of your work somewhere on another website, you will have a good idea of who is responsible. She will probably change her screen name, but if you do see anything like that don't just
let it slide. It's a bad deal for all of us.

she isnt the first person to do this either so lets not put all of the presure entirely on her... but yes it is sad but it did show us some great images and i found myself a new great background... and i am glad that the rightful person got to claim the credit.

For the record, rather than simply pass judgement on aeenana I've removed the images untill I get some word from her. This is what I've been doing for cases in which I'm not absolutely sure that the images were improperly uploaded.

Bottomline: If you like someone else's images that are on a different site, post a link to the site or get the author to upload the images instead of uploading the images yourself.

Caedes, I wonder if you will ever get a response from her. Somehow I doubt she will respond, but it would be interesting if she did. I think this is her pattern, and she knew full well what she was doing. I'd love to hear her explanation if she ever gives you one.

"she isnt the first person to do this either so lets not put all of the presure entirely on her... but yes it is sad but it did show us some great images and i found myself a new great background... and i am glad that the rightful person got to claim the credit."

No, she isn't the first, but she IS the first to display other's work as her own so blatantly, and also the first to display a hand holding the Koran titled "Best in the World." She lied about her age, was deceitful, and generally lent nothing of any value here. Any time someone cheats in this low manner they deserve to be called on it and removed. If it's OK to plagiarize, then let's have another site and call it "the Plagiarize Site where NONE of the work is original." You either deplore cheating or think it's OK, there is no middle ground.

I totally agree.. If people here don't post their own work, then there's no point to being here.. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that the perpetrator got caught.. I just hope this serves as a warning to any other potential plagerizers.. Let's keep them off Caedes.net!

I think there are also people who don't know what the word 'plagiarism' means...

...the unauthorized use or close imitation of the ideas, thoughts, or words of an author and the representation of them as one's own work. This extends to any work, literary, graphical or musical. The word comes from the Latin plagi(um), to kidnap; akin to plaga, a snare. To anyone who is an artist of any kind it is one of the worst crimes because it is the theft of intellectual and artistic property. This property belongs to the creator until he or she decides to either sell it or lease it or give it away. And even then, the creator of the work gets attribution. There are several of us on this website who make our livings writing, so we may be more inclined to look upon it as morally corrupt and intolerable.

Everyone should look on it as intolerable.

...

Do you mean it's easier said than done?

Phoenix, does that translate as "the only thing one can do is to laugh?" Or "the easiet thing is to laugh?"

Well, it's good to know that the rightful owner of the images (Moodflow) is now on the site.

Well, I definitely thought things looked fishy, but I was also pretty sure that the site members would be able to tell pretty quickly if something was amiss. To everyone's credit, the cheating was exposed, and dealt with almost immediately.

no! i just wrote something and changed my mind... and i agree that it is an intolerable act

i must be the only one who didn't notice this person... i never noticed any of their work or their presence on the site... i think since the contest started i've been paying attention only to whats uploaded their, to the exclusion of the user gallery... i should stop doing that.

Do you want to look at the pictures of the new member 'noranda'. I asked some questions, but no answer. I rejected a picture named 'L'HIVER' with a 'C' in the top left.
It's possible all pictures are coming from magasines...

It´s a sad story if you are right :-(

I also was questioning whetever she/he is uploading she/his own work. I mean it is possible to get a picture of a wolf, but those look too good to be amature (if you get what I mean).

yes i was wondering about that... if that was someones real work then they could sell it for 15$ at Kohls or something... i dont know but it is really awful

No they actually look like some paintings/photographs i've once saw in some wildlife museum thats when i got suspicious.