You are minding your own business, checking your messages... one of them just so happens to be from a close buddy here on dA. They tell you that someone has horribly recolored one of your prized pictures using MS Paint.

This is a common message that undeserving deviants have been getting recently. Help stop art thievery! Watermark all of your dearest pictures. Slap your signature somewhere on the picture so people will know it's not their work. Don't just disallow downloads, as the "Copy" and "Paste" procedure is still a must for these idiots.

To the rippers: Isn't it just simple enough for you to grab a pencil, pen, and paper and DRAW? No, I guess it isn't. Or can you draw, but you don't own a scanner and you're just itching for publicity? You people have the NERVE to wonder why people are flaming you, when in actuality, they're giving you straight facts. Guess what- truth hurts. A lot. People will not like you for recoloring Shadow's quills, or giving Tails some eyelashes and renaming him. No one likes when you give Naruto blue hair and a purple jumpsuit. People hate seeing Mew Ichigo colored black instead of pink like she should be. It's absolutely ugly, hideous, and you will not get a job as a graphic designer anytime soon. Grab a freaking sprite sheet, and do some work with that! Don't take other people's characters and color them any which way- ESPECIALLY if they are copyrighted. You won't get anywhere in life. You will get sued for something like plagiarism or copyright infringement.

On a second note, ripping really good art is the worst form of flattery. If you want to impress somebody, GET SOME FREAKING SKILLS- not ruin the work of someone else. If someone allows the general public to use an avatar, but says "Ask before using", you don't proclaim "hope u dont mind". Just because you say "I'm using this!" doesn't fix the issue. And don't automatically assume that person will feel sorry for you if you say "ok, i'm sorry! ". Some people aren't nice. Welcome to the real world. (And don't start whining when you get banned.)

Most of these rippers are an estimated nine to thirteen years, and do not know how to type proper English and grammar.

Help create petitions, and raise the minimum age for people to join websites. Also, this is great reason for bans to be created on other sites. Thank you for your support. I hope you have learned something today.

~Kanetsu-no-Kaji