What is appropriate and not appropriate to post on "Studs in Stone"

I've made a sticky on the PICTURE subforum after I had to remove images at the request of the original artist.

Please do not post copyrighted material here unless you have the copyright to do so. That means you're the original artist or you commissioned an artist for the material and you ASKED about posting it elsewhere. You can also ask the artist and get their permission to post it here. If they say "NO" then please do not post it.

I'm sure several of you would point out that I (as Freyr) and others have posted images here wherein we're not the original artist of the photo, it was found online. This gets us into a grey area of the law. Because of the nature and speed of the Internet, images can be distributed so quickly and easily it's not possible to tell who the artist is (or was). Given that, I ask all our visual artists to be careful where you get your material. If I do get a complaint about it, I will take the material off this site. If the offender continues to post material and I get complaints, that person will be banned from this website. I'm sorry to sound so harsh but I can get into serious legal trouble if I don't act at the behest of the artist.

This thread is also to discuss, raise questions and clarify any related to this topic. I'll do my best to respond as quickly as I can but my life is still in turmoil following the passing of my husband. Thank you for understanding.

The following is a list of what is and is NOT acceptable artwork for "Studs in Stone".

First, just to confirm this. Artwork, visual or written must be relevant to this site. It must be ASFR related and show males, identified or genetic, as the subject of ASFR. If you have any questions about the relevancy of the artwork to "Studs in Stone" please contact me BEFORE you post it. I define artwork as a hand-made, photographed or computer-generated visual depiction or written story that portrays people engaged in ASFR.

WHAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ON "STUDS IN STONE"

1) Artwork that your did not create or commission and you do not have permission to post elsewhere . This includes images, video, GIFs and written material. To expand on this, if you did not commission the artwork and do not have permission of the owner and/or artist, then please DO NOT post it on "Studs in Stone".

Images and artwork of private persons you find online for example thru Twitter or Instagram, cannot be be posted to "Studs in Stone" unless you have their permission to do so. If you have their verbal or written permission, then it's acceptable to post it.

Please do not grab image from various online sources and post it on "Studs in Stone" without any references to the original source and without asking the original poster. You might be surprised at the answer if you ask for it. Many people are flattered when you tell them you like the image and want to post it elsewhere. Of course, if you cannot get permission, then DO NOT post it.

2) When the artwork is of unknown origin, when the subject and/or artist is unknown or cannot be reasonably determined, then the poster assumes all responsibility for posting it to "Studs in Stone". If I, the Admin, receive a complaint about a specific piece of artwork, I'll take it down. If the poster continues to post and receive complaints, said poster will be banned.

WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO POST ON "STUDS IN STONE"

1) Artwork that the original poster created by whatever means. This includes images, hand-drawn or computer generated, videos, GIFs and written material. If you created it and want to share it, the please do so.
Artwork that you have permission to post on "Studs in Stone". You've spoken to the original artist and/or subject and have permission.

2) Commission artwork that you, the poster, received and paid for.

3) The nature of the Internet allows us to share lots of material. You can share images and videos from YouTube, Twitter and Instragram and other sources. By sharing material this way, it allows the original artist to keep their ownership of the material and letting it be shared for everyone's enjoyment. At the very least, you can copy/paste the URL for the artwork and we can visit the artist's site to enjoy it. If you do this, make sure you acknowledge the artist and the source where you found the artwork.
This is different from the first rule under "WHAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE". By sharing it thru links on the Internet you're showing something you found and the artist/subject generally wants to share. If in doubt, ask permission.

This list is open to interpretation and changes as time goes on. It is meant as a set of guidelines and not hard and fast rules.

Clarifications to acceptable and unacceptable artwork

One hard and fast rule, NO UNDERAGE MODELS!!

Written work

If you create a wholly new story with your own characters, this is fine to post on SiS and I encourage it.

If you use others' characters, this is a grey area. It's generally accepted to be fan fiction and as long as you don't make money from it, it's acceptable. Such work can be accepted with an acknowledgement to the original authors. A sentence or two at the beginning of the story saying "based upon characters from 'Marvel' or 'DC' comics, etc" is acceptable.

Other's work. Don't post it here. Provide a link to it, if possible. Otherwise, you can talk about it, but please DO NOT post it.

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Images and manipulated images

If you created the original image feel free to post it here. If you manipulate an image you created, again feel free to post it. If the image is a combination of several sources, that's a grey area. For now, I'll accept it and investigate the legal ramifications.

Images found online. This is where we have problems. First, determine who is the original artist. Then ask their permission to either manipulate the image or re-post it on SiS. Many images already on SiS were taken from online sources and finding the original artist is nearly impossible. I'm not going to stop this practice but be warned, if the original artist complains about it, the artwork will be removed.

Finding/asking the original artist isn't that difficult sometimes. You can find lots of images on Twitter or Instagram or other sources that would make great manipulations. In this case finding the original artist is easy. Please ask their permission! If they don't give their permission, then please DO NOT post the artwork here. Instead, provide a link to the site where you found the work. If I get angry complaints about artwork being "stolen" or "used without permission" that artwork or manipulation will be removed and the offending user possibly banned.

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Videos

Since we cannot upload videos, providing links is the best and safest way to share ASFR material that you find.

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A practice I want to encourage, acknowledgement of your sources. If you've ever written at college or university level, you know how important it is. For written work, if you use characters and situations based on someone else's work, acknowledge them at the beginning of your work.

If you created the image, I encourage you to create a copyright mark or sigil to indicate its your work. If you borrowed the original image, after getting permission to manipulate it, acknowledge it with the name of the artist and possibly a link to their own webpage. If you use an image wherein you cannot determine the original artist, acknowledge it was found online.

If you don't have permission to re-post artwork, either written or an image, a link to the artist's website and an explanation why you're linking there is good.

I think I've covered most situations here and I've tried to clarify the rules as much as I can. If you have any questions, please ask here or shoot me, Admin, a pvt. msg.