2015 Contest Art Thievery

It's been brought to attention that the NA Costume Contest for 2015 is having some issues with art theft. Apparently, people are stealing entries from 2014 (and elsewhere) and uploading them as their own. If you see an entry there you recognize that may have been stolen, contact the original artist about it if you can and let them know. Additionally, create a ticket and report the entry(s) to the staff if possible. (Here's a thread on their forums looking out for such theft.) Also, if you're not entirely sure if it's actually stolen or the original artist submitted an older entry, ask! You'll find the truth immediately.

I also want this to be a reminder that stealing someone else's art and claiming it as your own is never okay. You will get caught eventually, and you will be punished for it. Artists put in their own time and effort to create something wonderful, and it is nothing more than a complete and utter insult to see someone take something they made and claim it for their own (or even worse, scribble all over it). It is also what discourages artists to create content out of fear of it being stolen. They are the very people who create stuff you can enjoy, and you can do so respectfully without resorting to stealing it.

On another note, if you believe someone in this group has been uploading work that is not theirs and claiming it as their own, send the group or me directly a note with the offending work(s) and a link to the original(s). People found to have been doing this will have the works and the person removed from the group. (Just no false reports, you may be the one getting in trouble instead).

Play fair, all, and be on the lookout. Enjoy the rest of the day!

_{Thank you to ShiyumiChan for bringing this up, I hope the issue will be resolved for you and everyone else. I really hate art thieves with a passion may they all burn in Veteran Commander's flames of glory.}