[BEAR.]

Good evening everyone!

The staff has recently received an email from our host stating that they were made aware of content theft on WCO, specifically images being used without artist / photographer permission. As per our host's policy on content, anything posted on WCO or accessible through WCO must not be in violation of the content rights of another individual, which means all artwork/photography must be credited, you must have written permission to use it, or it must be available through the public domain.

We were notified of this issue after our webhost reviewed the site's files and found several instances of uncredited images on our site that members didn't have permission to use. We were given these options: remove the content, or lose WCO.

IMPORTANT: If WCO does go down, you will see a 403 error. If you go to WCO and get that error, be assured we are trying to get the site running as soon as possible.

Given how many threads and character bios there are, it'd be impossible for the staff alone to take down the content. Although we will remove it if we see it, we're asking users to credit or remove any artwork as well as photography they may be using on forum posts, biographies, and character sites*.
*Why character sites, since it isn't technically on WCO? Our host stated content theft could not be accessible through WCO, so that means character sites with uncredited images will have their links removed on site.

Users have until March 1st @ 10:59 PM Eastern Time to remove or credit any offending images. After this date, the staff will begin to remove or take down linked sites or posted images.

How do you know what you should remove or credit? It's simple:

• Did you create the piece of art or photo (modifying it DOES NOT count)? If so, you don't need to provide credit.
  
  
• Was the photo or artwork made for you or gifted to you by the original creator? If so, you should provide credit to the creator.
  
  
• Did you find it on DeviantArt, Google Images, or another image site, and decide to use it? There's a good chance any DeviantArt images were commissioned pieces or the artist asked for it to not be reposted or used without permission, so please look into that. If you can't find the creator for some reason, ask me and I'll try to help. Photography taken from Google Images needs to be credited, but you are not expected to find the original source.

How do I credit art / photography?

In most cases, you can right click an image and Search Google for image. You will get one of two results: the image you searched with No other sizes of this image found. to the right of it or you will get the image with Find other sizes of this image:
All sizes - Small - Medium - Large.

If you can't find any image results, you should remove the image. Some images won't appear on Google Images due to the source site's settings blocking the search engine.

If you can find image results, an easy way of crediting them is taking the results link (hit 'All sizes' and use the new URL) and make a link on your page with all the appearances of the images.

DO NOT USE DEVIANTART IMAGES IF IT DOES NOT SAY IT IS EXPLICITLY FREE TO USE.

All DeviantArt links include the user near the end of the URL. There are no excuses for not being able to check the preferences set by the artist.

If nothing is indicated on the post, send a note to the DeviantArt user and wait for a response before doing anything with the image.

IF IT IS A COMMISSION OR GIFT FOR SOMEONE AND NOT MADE FOR YOU, DON'T USE IT.

If you are found to be using commissioned or gifted artwork and it doesn't belong to you, action will be taken against your account.

How can I find images that are for sure free to use?

Google Images offers a filter for usage rights.

First, look up the type of image you want to search for (e.g. "cats").

Under the Search Bar, you should see Settings and Tools to the right. Select Tools.

The toolbar should appear below. Select Usage Rights and pick Labeled for reuse.

This will filter out any images not labeled for reuse and you will not be required to seek permission for these images. However, you should still credit the site you found them on.