UPDATES FROM $realitysquared : “Credit” & “Disclaimers”.

This week I’d like to take the time to dispel a little ignorance of our rules and try to once again shake loose a popular myth which has become something of a blanket excuse for many people.

Among many websites and subgroups there is a general “rule” that if you provide proper crediting to the original artist this somehow allows you to then do whatever you wish with the work without fear or restriction. A mutation of this ‘rule” is that if you properly state that the images are copyrighted to [proper owner] this will also serve as a free pass to do whatever you wish.

Another very similar belief states that if you write a large disclaimer somewhere and swear on a stack of bibles that the artwork isn’t yours, wasn’t drawn by you, photographed by you or associated with you in any way shape or form this somehow entitles you to submit it wherever you want.

It is my task today to publically state here that as far as your deviantART submissions are concerned all three of these “rules” are complete junk and make no difference whatsoever in regards to our policies.

Our policies here require that you obtain permission or a legal license to use anything which wasn’t originally created by you as part of one of your deviantART submissions. The habits of any other website where you may submit are irrelevant.

No “credit”, “copyright to X”, or “disclaimer” will prevent the staff from deleting your work if you cannot demonstrate that you have proper permission for use of whatever it is you used.

We accept no excuses as to why it is somehow impossible for you to obtain permission. The fact that you don’t speak Japanese or that the company is too big to talk to you or the fact that you simply don’t even know who created the work in the first place simply will not be accepted as valid reasons why you should be granted an exception to our policies.


UPDATES FROM $damphyr : “Singled Out”.
FAQ #302: Why did I receive some sort of administrative action when someone else did not?

Sometimes administrative action leaves a deviant feeling ' picked on ', 'singled out,' or just like they've unfairly had their submissions removed. This usually occurs when a deviant comes from a small group of friends who all have a similar style of submissions, such as sprite editing, signature makers, or drag-and-drop or click-and-drop style dolls. Sometimes users find the majority of their gallery removed or moved to scraps, while the galleries of their friends are untouched. Why does this occur?

deviantART is a very large community with thousands of submissions an hour, due to this, not all violations are found and removed immediately. Violations are identified though reports from other users or by free administration browsing. Regardless of how they are found, they are removed as quickly as possible once identified, this sometimes means that one violation may remain longer than another.

If you see violations, you are encouraged to report these violations through our Report Violation Tool. This system is anonymous, meaning the staff will know who filed the report, but the person you reported will not know who reported them, be it a friend or a random deviant. You need only report a submission once, and if the gallery has multiple submissions, you may save yourself some time by reporting two or three and commenting in the field that there are other violations in the gallery. For further information on reporting, please read:

FAQ #155: How do I report a submission which I think breaks the rules?
FAQ #192: What evidence is required when we report stolen material?

"But it's not my job to report and I don't want to rat people out!"

Users who see violations are encouraged to report them, but it is not required. However, please be aware that "my friend does this also" is not a defense for submitting violations, and will likely result in your friends gallery being reviewed for violations as well.

For further reading on deviantART policy to help you avoid administrative action and learn what to report, please review:

FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?
FAQ #8: What does deviantART consider to be Art Theft?
FAQ #60: Are "Adult", explicit sexual or pornographic images allowed on deviantART?