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Sirius bizniss.
May. 23rd, 2008 12:12 amOkay, fanits, a note:
If you find a beautiful fanart on Google Images (or wherever!)and decide to use it for your FanLib story image, GIVE CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST. It's easier than it sounds. See, all you have to do is click on that lovely link that says "Original Webpage" and then you can see if the page says something like "My Fanart, (c) 2008 by Your Name Here" or something else, like "by Jane Doe, (c) 2007." The best thing to do is ask Jane if you can use her artwork on your story-- ask via email, if you can find one, or other contact messages left in the web page, like an IM name or a LiveJournal link where you can PM them.
If you can't find such a thing and/or you're too gung-ho and use the image anyway, at least provide the name and URL of the original page where you got it somewhere in your Author's Notes. Seriously, IT'S NOT THAT HARD.
This concept of crediting the people who originally create something is not NEW. People have been using disclaimers to supposedly fend off hoards of evil lawyers frothing at the mouth for decades. Disclaimers don't really stop lawyers from issuing C&Ds if they feel like it, but it's very nice to know that some people care that fanfiction or fanart means just that: it's FAN-created, not wholly original, and has its roots in someone else's work. It's nice to credit that someone who inspired you so, don't you think?
The same concept applies to fic and art: would you like it if someone took YOUR fic or YOUR art and put it up somewhere else. Wouldn't you like them to at least mention your name and where they got it from, even if they didn't ask you originally?
I'm not talking about out-and-out plagiarists here, who take things like art and stories and pretend that said creations are theirs. But technically, if you don't SAY something isn't yours, you're NOT claiming that it isn't. Thus, if you use someone else's art and don't credit them, you're stealing. You're "plagiarizing" their work. And not only is that not nice, it can get you seriously fucked up the ass in fandom. Especially defensive fandoms who really love their fellow fen.
I'd say Yu-Gi-Oh is definitely one of them. We may have splinter groups of people who either don't know the BNFs of one area or another (or if they do, they don't know enough to care, which is fine; it's like that in a lot of fandoms), but that doesn't mean you mess with the people who ARE close friends with one another.
I'm just hoping this (because this IS a real situation, and this is a real "letter" to someone who will probably never read it) will blow over quickly and easily, without any whining. FanLib's far from being perfect, but they do have at least a system in place for reporting people that use images or stories without authorization. They also seem to respond faster than FFnet does (which means they actually respond AT ALL).
Another note: There is no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0. There is also no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Shadow Games. If you spent a split second looking at the freaking ORIGINAL a.k.a. Toei series, you would realize a few things:
(1) It is based off the early manga, therefore it is much more violent, uses different wording for many things, and different colors, characters, and much, much more.
(2) It has no subtitle. It is simply "Yu-Gi-Oh." PERIOD. END OF STORY.
(3) There is no such thing as a "Season 0" for any show. There are unaired pilots, cut episodes, deleted scenes, etc., but there is no Season 0.
A completely different studio released a completely different SERIES of Yu-Gi-Oh, before the creation of the show that we all know and typically recognize as "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Said show has never been (and plans have never been announced so that it will ever be) released outside Japan. It will probably NEVER be officially licensed and dubbed into English, at least not by any of the current license holders. It has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER to the show we call "Yu-Gi-Oh!" other than in name and via a few characters. The show that got licensed and dubbed all across the globe, the series that led to the spinoffs/sequels GX and 5D's, the show that inspired the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG and eventually the TCG is called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. The spin-off is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX.
The only animated show that does not have "Duel Monsters" in its title is the newest, 5D's, and that's not because they don't play Duel Monsters (they do!), but because it's been over a DECADE since the start of the second series animation, so most people have long since stopped associating Yu-Gi-Oh! (the Toei series) with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as a whole.
STOP CALLING TOEI'S YU-GI-OH! SERIES EITHER OF THESE TITLES. THEY ARE WRONG AND ONLY SERVE TO CONFUSE PEOPLE UNNECESSARILY. Call it what it is: Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh. PERIOD. It's FOUR freakin' letters, and not that hard to remember.
That is all. Move along, move along.
If you find a beautiful fanart on Google Images (or wherever!)and decide to use it for your FanLib story image, GIVE CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST. It's easier than it sounds. See, all you have to do is click on that lovely link that says "Original Webpage" and then you can see if the page says something like "My Fanart, (c) 2008 by Your Name Here" or something else, like "by Jane Doe, (c) 2007." The best thing to do is ask Jane if you can use her artwork on your story-- ask via email, if you can find one, or other contact messages left in the web page, like an IM name or a LiveJournal link where you can PM them.
If you can't find such a thing and/or you're too gung-ho and use the image anyway, at least provide the name and URL of the original page where you got it somewhere in your Author's Notes. Seriously, IT'S NOT THAT HARD.
This concept of crediting the people who originally create something is not NEW. People have been using disclaimers to supposedly fend off hoards of evil lawyers frothing at the mouth for decades. Disclaimers don't really stop lawyers from issuing C&Ds if they feel like it, but it's very nice to know that some people care that fanfiction or fanart means just that: it's FAN-created, not wholly original, and has its roots in someone else's work. It's nice to credit that someone who inspired you so, don't you think?
The same concept applies to fic and art: would you like it if someone took YOUR fic or YOUR art and put it up somewhere else. Wouldn't you like them to at least mention your name and where they got it from, even if they didn't ask you originally?
I'm not talking about out-and-out plagiarists here, who take things like art and stories and pretend that said creations are theirs. But technically, if you don't SAY something isn't yours, you're NOT claiming that it isn't. Thus, if you use someone else's art and don't credit them, you're stealing. You're "plagiarizing" their work. And not only is that not nice, it can get you seriously fucked up the ass in fandom. Especially defensive fandoms who really love their fellow fen.
I'd say Yu-Gi-Oh is definitely one of them. We may have splinter groups of people who either don't know the BNFs of one area or another (or if they do, they don't know enough to care, which is fine; it's like that in a lot of fandoms), but that doesn't mean you mess with the people who ARE close friends with one another.
I'm just hoping this (because this IS a real situation, and this is a real "letter" to someone who will probably never read it) will blow over quickly and easily, without any whining. FanLib's far from being perfect, but they do have at least a system in place for reporting people that use images or stories without authorization. They also seem to respond faster than FFnet does (which means they actually respond AT ALL).
Another note: There is no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0. There is also no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Shadow Games. If you spent a split second looking at the freaking ORIGINAL a.k.a. Toei series, you would realize a few things:
(1) It is based off the early manga, therefore it is much more violent, uses different wording for many things, and different colors, characters, and much, much more.
(2) It has no subtitle. It is simply "Yu-Gi-Oh." PERIOD. END OF STORY.
(3) There is no such thing as a "Season 0" for any show. There are unaired pilots, cut episodes, deleted scenes, etc., but there is no Season 0.
A completely different studio released a completely different SERIES of Yu-Gi-Oh, before the creation of the show that we all know and typically recognize as "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Said show has never been (and plans have never been announced so that it will ever be) released outside Japan. It will probably NEVER be officially licensed and dubbed into English, at least not by any of the current license holders. It has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER to the show we call "Yu-Gi-Oh!" other than in name and via a few characters. The show that got licensed and dubbed all across the globe, the series that led to the spinoffs/sequels GX and 5D's, the show that inspired the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG and eventually the TCG is called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. The spin-off is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX.
The only animated show that does not have "Duel Monsters" in its title is the newest, 5D's, and that's not because they don't play Duel Monsters (they do!), but because it's been over a DECADE since the start of the second series animation, so most people have long since stopped associating Yu-Gi-Oh! (the Toei series) with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as a whole.
STOP CALLING TOEI'S YU-GI-OH! SERIES EITHER OF THESE TITLES. THEY ARE WRONG AND ONLY SERVE TO CONFUSE PEOPLE UNNECESSARILY. Call it what it is: Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh. PERIOD. It's FOUR freakin' letters, and not that hard to remember.
That is all. Move along, move along.
