Ah! Grasshopper.....

His name is Gordon and I think he's got fleas

The detail is amazing

hmmm....mechanical bugs call for a mechanical bug catcher.......

That's great Syd   Where did you get that from?

had it for years....can't remember where I found it......it's a cool wall though....love my venus flytraps...

grasshopper very clever too......

...and Merry Christmas to you too Leo........

I don't think it is a good idea that you post walls from other websites even if you post the link unless you have exlusive permission from the author, Im not trying to be a jerk but Jafo is very particular when it comes to this issue...

Diafragma, I understand your concerns but then that could be said about anything. A product perhaps. That would mean you would need permission from anyone if you were going to write something about a piece of art, a piece of software.........You name it............. :NOTSURE: 

Jafo or other admin...........Please see Diafragma's comment...........Please advise. I don't want to thread on anyone's toes  :NOTSURE: 

I think it's more about the author maybe not wanting his/her work posted here. They might not mind, but then again, they might...

messiah1, every picture or image you see posted on these forums belongs to someone. It could be a wallpaper, it could be a 'smiley' or a personal icon etc etc. So where do we go from there?

Dunno Leo,

It's just digital, just information... what right does anyone have to lay claim to any information? ...unless, of course, someone wants to control something...

Do the images I create Really belong to me??

yes they do . its called intellectual property and it does belong to the Creator/artist as well as the rights to its distribution. this could be copyright infringement in the sense that the images can be easily extracted/downloaded, while unintentional it is still a form of distribution. we do moderate Screen shots to obscure enough of the walls used as not to easily extract them from the Screen shots. this may apply here as well.. hopefully an Admin will give a better heads up of the sites reg's on this matter.


The images we use and or upload here are of our own or have permission to do so.

Most of what is seen here on WC is not readily extracted for use as it is shown. a SS of a desktop can show a winamp skin in full. But it cant be easily extracted and reused as a winamp skin.. (It would take some work to get the images cut up and coded to a skin.) "Most" users here are not capable of this. while the images shown in this thread are easily copied to HD and used as they stand or resized with little effort.

other images/skins you see on WC are put up by Stardock/artists for viewing/use by the members/visitors thus we are given permission to view/use them personally, not redistribute them..

It's a grey area at times but it's typically safe to error on the side of caution..;)

I would say resize the images to a degree where they would be not easily used as a wallpaper or add a water mark stating for blog/news purposes across the middle. this would deter folks from grabbing it, without visiting the authors site...

Avatars uploaded here and most else where i believe are uploaded with the intent of the masses using them as such...so they would fall under GPU general public usage. or an implied Permission to use as avatars. Also those who use regular images and resize them as 50x50 avatars, aren't distributing the images in a usable state except as a avatar ( the image would deteriorate upon resizing up to a wallpaper size. so I would see no problem with them.

But like I said an admin would have a more concrete definition of WC standards. ..

I have removed the image as I do not want to offend anyone or breach the high standards set by the site.

HG_E. Many of your points make sense but there are many grey areas that I can see. To start talking about them would be 'opening up a can of worms' so I'll wait for the boss to make a ruling on exactly what they want to do.   

it is a tough call, one I can offer my opinions on and "my" understandings of the rules. but the bosses will know the full answer...

I too am guilty of this and would like an affirmation of the sites rules on this.. ( did a bit of this in the LOLcatz thread) until Diafragma pointed it out, I hadent thought of it that way..

The same moderation rules apply in the forums as in the screenshot gallery.

Wallpapers (or other art images) must be obscured enough to prevent their distribution.
The other way is to downsize the image to the point where it cannot effectively be re-used. Or to reduce the image quality (bootskins).

Avatars are fine as they are. They fall under fair use/fan art, and are not re-usable as larger images. The same goes for dock icons etc.

The image in #3 at 800x640 is borderline... I'm sure there's someone out there with a 800x600 screen who could use that as a wall

The original image had already been reported when it was wisely removed
The link to the original image is much better - even better if it had a thumb as part of the link.

Thanks, Fuzzy. Makes sense and I'll leave it at that. Thank you   

Leo.. here is the link to the fly trap wall.. WWW Link

Right, but that someone either uploaded it themselves or somebody had permission to do so. Smileys and avatars, unless otherwise noted are generally public use images. Wallpapers belong to their creator only and they decide where they get posted. That's the way I see it anyway. I personally woulnd't mind if someone liked a piece of mine and posted it at another community site as long as they noted that I created it...but that's me.

I see above that fuzzy un-fuzzyed this topic a bit. I just wanted to post my own thoughts/feelings in regards to your comment. Like Diafragma said, not trying to be a jerk, just stating my opinion I guess.

Thanks, Brickhead. Much appreciated   No worries, Messiah. I understand and I don't want to 'rock the boat'   

I'm just beginning my day today, and what a great round of discussion! Kudos to all I'm bookmarking this thread, I'm certain it will come up again. I'm glad you posted this Leo, I got a lot out of it and I hope it will continue.

Digital rights are a huge issue. Radiohead released their latest album "In Rainbows" and only asked we pay what we felt it was worth. A lot of folks downloaded it for free, that was in October.

Many artists were outraged by this act. A few applauded it. Thoughts?

Also, Leo, no guilt. You did everything right. I'm certain the individual you linked us to would enjoy the fact that I looked at all the other things posted on his site. It's a wonderful, linked community. I consider what you posted to be advertising for a really good artist. Same for Sydney, you never claimed ownership. If the artist would object, take it down or apply the appropriate footnotes.

Size? From what I understand, it matters

Anyway, Sizing, credits... all important. What we don't want to do, in my humble opinion, is be afraid to share important, creative works that inspire.

Thank you, Ward for your sentiments. I really appreciate it. I must admit I did feel rather 'stupid' because I have been around this site for five years now and feel that I should have known better. I have not been able to actively participate for the last three years because to a huge overseas work committment and I guess I either missed something or forget to do the right thing.

I love sharing my 'finds' with our community here and I see Wincustomize as 'the site' when it comes to OS Customization. But that does not mean we have to be a 'walled garden' and think that what is produced by this site is the 'be all and end all'. There are some fantastic things being produced by many artists in our area of enjoyment on other sites BUT and here is the crunch....not everybody has the time or inclination to search or even know where to go to find some of the outstanding works. Here's a classic example.....How many people have seen this Windowblind and suite WWW Link. I bet only five per cent of the community are aware of it's existance, if that. I like to think that Wincustomize is 'the leader and the hub' of the Customizing Community and as such is fully aware of what is going on in it's sphere of activity and is a shining example to many who can only follow in her wake.

I have never received a 'cease or desist' message from any artist on any work that I have done a 'little feature' on and some of those arists have actually taken the time to send a little message of appreciation. Several have actually joined this site as a result and have published their work here.

Still, my mother always taught me that humility is a good thing. In this case the rules of the site are there and there for a very good reason. I not only respect them but totally agree with them. The Moderators gave me the priviledge of Journeyman status a long time ago and with that goes a certain amount of respondsibilty and in this case I failed to live up to their expections or the high standards I set myself.   

no sense in beating ur self up leo.. I too didn't think of the alternate aspects of it until it was pointed out..That and not always is it easy to guess what the rules would be until it is brought up.. such as it has been here... We live and learn..

To share is great and much appreciated. a small thumb offering up a direct link to the skin in question, or a screen shot you made using the skin, can showcase the skin as well as keep within the sites guidelines for distribution.

There's a fundamental difference between posting a graphic as a link [datamine] from another site and uploading a screenshot image here [or elsewhere] of someone else's unobscured wall/image.

The former happens all the time.... the issue of 'redistribution' does not necessarily apply as the image is not hosted/uploaded here but is sourced from the site where the owner/artist uploaded it.

With the screenshot example a third party is uploading the image here which if unobscured [partly] can be argued as actual redistribution of the artist's image outside of the artist's control.

The basic difference is that if the artist of the image shown here were to remove it from the source [Deviantart.com] then the link/image here also disappears...so his rights are intact.  This does not happen with an uploaded screenshot, hence the difference...;)

All that sounds a tad convoluted....the 'real drama' only applies if you download the artist's image from his source...and then reupload it elsewhere....here or image shack, etc...and thus actually physically 'redistribute' ...;)

I was referring to a obscured SS as not to violate the sites policy, thus offering the Wall im a used form and showcasing the image being complimented by other skins.. etc.. I no way meant to just up a SS of the full image...I should have been more clear i guess...

Thanks Jafo for your explanation. I understand and concur. Thanks HG_E too, it's good to know that I have not been the only one to transgress.