Hello, and welcome to the Design Theft Opposition! This club's purpose is to talk about ways of politely asking someone to stop stealing designs, rant about design theft in general (do not explicitly mention specific cases of design theft), and come up with methods to prevent design theft!

The application form is found in the second post. NOTE: I, as the founder, reserve the right to decline any application. If you are in this situation, you are allowed to ask why your application was denied. I will PM you the reason(s). Also, in rare cases, I may accept a previously declined application form (Of course, this does not mean you are obligated to join the club. It simply means that you are allowed to join). However, I don't see myself denying applications very often, so this will not often come into play.

Application Form:

User ID:
1. Have you been a victim of design theft?
2. Have you participated in design theft?
3. Have you first-hand witnessed design theft?
4. Would you like to be pinged for contests on this thread?
5. Have you dealt with design theft that you were not a victim of (i.e. told the designer, politely asked the thief to stop, etc.)?
6. What are your feelings and opinions about design theft?

NOTES: Questions 1-5 are yes-or-no answer. Question 6 is open ended. There is really only one answer for Question 2 that will get your application accepted (Just kidding, tell the truth. It doesn't matter as long as you have stopped. Be honest!).

Please ping me!

Opposition Member List:

Shardial,
Wavypavy,
IvyCat,
Articu,
Dial,
Magyak101,
Lalalanmao,
Hopeless,
Ebonyflicker,
Dragonnadder,
Fiolei,
SkyRaven,
Sylestiafan123,
Nafila

Livinginmyownreality
Streamstar

Rules:
1. Don't steal designs. This is the most important rule here, and if you are caught breaking it, your membership will be revoked immediately.
2. Follow Rule Number One. Again, very important.
3. Don't explicitly mention specific cases of design theft in public. If you feel the need to rant about a particular case, feel free to PM me or other members!
4. Be polite when dealing with design theft. Remember, the thief has the right to say no. If you come across as rude or pushy, you are at a risk of being reported for harassment.
5. Always give credit. Even if someone gives you permission to use their design, credit them as the designer! It's the right thing to do and prevents confusion about who the designer is.


Reminders:
1. Follow the rules, especially Rules 1 and 2.
2. When hosting a design contest, please include a rule stating that contestants must not copy/use anyone else's designs in any way.

Levels of Design Theft:

Re-uploading color schemes/designs onto the generator. This is the lowest level of theft, however, it still does damage and is generally looked down upon. Although it may seem harmless, it is far from that. Re-uploading designs leads to confusion of the identity of the actual designer. Even if you do credit the designer, this still scatters the design farther from the designer's control.

Claiming someone else's design as your own. People spend a lot of time on their designs, and to take that away from them just like that is downright loathsome. And if you're thinking "Well, it's not like it does any harm," or something along those lines, then you are WRONG. This offense can lead to so many other bad things happening. Once, someone showed my design to someone else without telling them it was mine, and since the second person didn't know it was stolen, they considered using my design for their project. I was already using that design for my max stat project at the time, so I was notably distraught upon stumbling onto the person's post about using the design. The situation ended up being resolved, but imagine what would have happened if I had never seen the post. They could've used my design without me (or them) ever knowing it was stolen, and out projects would have had competing sales, and I would've been completely, totally devastated once I found out (if I ever did). What's the lesson here? Don't do it.

Entering others' color schemes/designs into contests. This occurs surprisingly often, and a lot of the time, the owner of the contest has already clearly stated in the rules that design theft is not condoned. This level of theft, although not the most serious, can quickly spiral out of a single person's control. Say the stolen design wins. The thief is rewarded for a design that isn't theirs, and if it is a regen contest, the stolen design is regenned by the contest owner, who has no knowledge of the theft. If the designer is already selling offspring of the design, then it gets even more complicated. The designer and contest owner need to work out a solution, and even if they do, someone always loses out. And it usually isn't the thief. Instead, either the designer has to deal with their design being sold by someone else without their permission, or the contest owner wastes two regen pets. Or maybe even something else happens. Either way, it's something that should be avoided.

Selling someone else's color scheme/design as your own. I have seen this happen way too many times, especially after a revamp. People commonly regen others' designs and sell offspring for their own profit, and usually, the designer is either already selling the design or planning to sell it. And believe it or not, but I have actually seen someone selling offspring from a pair; the father was a regen, but the mother was an offspring of the original regenned pair. Of course, stolen designs aren't always regenned. Although it happens significantly less often, people do sometimes use others' designs for breeding projects or dye projects.

The Goals of the Opposition:

1. Find solutions for generator-based design theft.
2. Create good methods of dealing with design theft.

Current Contest:

Make a template of a PM that users can fill out when addressing a design thief.

Example:
Hello ___________, I noticed your __________ design had the same color scheme as my _____ design. I spent a lot of time and effort working on it, and I would appreciate it so much if you removed it. Thank you!

Your template can be longer or shorter than the example. You can add reasons why they should take it down, space to add proof that it's yours, etc. Remember, the thief has a right to say no, so you can add something about that. These are just suggestions, feel free to do whatever you want!

Entries due sometime in early December, I will specify the date once people start entering. Ping me with your submission! Good luck!

Entries:
Wavypavy
IvyCat
Lalalanmao

A little bit of my design theft history

I used to design sylesties quite often. But I experienced too many times of being a victim of design theft- something I had seen and prevented multiple times before. I was so upset. It's horrible what some people do. Please, don't steal others' designs. It's their work and people should respect that. I am paranoid about people stealing my designs, and I know that others are too.

Threads:

Xavion's Saving Generator Designs for Friends ONLY