Since we're on about sites having works from people here without permission, you all might as well check out:
http://www.topdownloads.net/wallpapers/browse.php

Just browse for your stuff... ... [I didn't give permission, either]

If you're an artist, and you feel like your works are there for people's enjoyment, you may not find a problem with someone liking it enough to share it with their friends. You have every right to shrug it off and accept it just as someone else has every right to feel rather offended by it. That doesn't mean you're wrong in any way in regards to your work. It just means you see things differently. There is always that broadened belief (edit: Believe didn't make much sense there) that one opinion applies to all that catches a lot of people. It's your work. You decide whether you want to tolerate it or not. What you believe, however, will not apply to someone else.

This is a load of absolute rubbish.

"you decide whether you want to tolerate it"....YOU DON'T GET THE CHOICE....THAY HAVE ALREADY STOLEN YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR WORK'S DISTRIBUTION.

Just because one individual may have cultural insensitivities to property rights does not make it RIGHT.

You take what is not yours and it is THEFT....esoteric idealism or socio-communistic philosophy will not change that.

If this Chinese site was REALLY DOING SOMEONE A FAVOR they would not be making people jump through hoops to restore their property rights.

Ignorance is no excuse in law.

What you have here is the [common] Eastern culture of 'take it, copy it, and disrtribute it' and to hell with its owners.

So the main way to contact them seems to be out.

You don't get it and probably never will...the artists SHOULD have no REASON to contact them....they should not be 'hosting' their property.

What you have here is the [common] Eastern culture of 'take it, copy it, and disrtribute it' and to hell with its owners.

Talk about "cultural insensitivity."

You don't get it and probably never will...

The Rules

This site is a community site. As such, we expect users to behave with honor and integrity. Treat the person you post to or comment on a skin to as if they are sitting next to you. Picture this place as a nice, comfortable resort surrounded by friends.

Shameless Designs....Elfkura knows exactly what I mean.

There is a history here which dates back long before your arrival on the scene...and long before Wincustomize.com, for that matter.

I'd respectfully request that you leave well alone....

The history between you and Elfkura is none of my business, and is actually irrelevant to my post. My objection was to your gross negative generalization of a whole class of people - "Eastern culture." Perhaps it may make of me an exhile, but I will speak up to anyone who posts that kind of slur on any culture.

When you spend as much time as I have attempting to have sites such as this relinquish property rights to their owners....the sites being most commonly from the 'Russias', China and Japan, and don't have your efforts thrown back in your face by someone who should have known better as a long-standing 'member' of the skinning community and instead be accused of 'fabricating the whole concept of ripping as a figment of my imagination and not important' then maybe I'll listen to you.

Otherwise, read post #25

There are rips posted on this board on a weekly basis, with sites from all over the world, including Western sites, even those sites in our own skinning community. Those at fault are individuals. The countries and regions you mention are comprised of literally billions of people. To characterize billions of people by the acts of a few hundred or even a thousand is hardly justified.

To paraphrase a statement you made earlier, "Just because some individuals may have cultural insensitivities to property rights does not make it RIGHT [to condemn the whole culture].

Some of my ancestors, non-combatants, were killed by the Nazis in World War II. I lost a cousin and a very dear friend in VietNam. My father's best friend had his business and home destroyed and he was severely beaten in the Watts riots by African-Americans. Since I and my family were personally affected by these individuals, then by your rationale, would I then be entitled to make negative characterizations in this forum about all those of Germanic, Vietnamese, or African origins? I sincerely doubt it.

[common] Eastern culture

One last time....the pivotal word is 'common'.

International Copyright Law is not quite as 'universal' as  would be ideal.

Even some Western signataries to it have different interpretations regarding the details.

Example....it is illegal to copy ANY media in any form for any reason in Australia....as there is no dispensation for 'Fair Use' as US Law interprets it.

This is also the case in the UK.

Countries with no accord with Copyright legislation as the 'West' [for the want of a better name] adopts to protect artists' rights can legally [for them] devote multi-storey department stores to the sale and distribution of Pirated Software....with movies, etc either 'copied' or 'cinema-filmed'.

When a culture is oblivious to the 'restrictive' rights of other nations they will see no 'issue' with it....but those on the outside looking in, particularly those who are directly affected WILL find fault.

There is no need nor reason to side-track this thread or its purpose of alerting people to another episode of their property being stolen, by detouring to tales about a war....other than to attempt to flame and incite.

Try not to interpret and assume.....rationale or otherwise.

I have no argument with you whatsoever regarding the importance of zealously defending the rights of individuals to control the distribution of their works. In fact, I very much respect and agree with your position on the issue of copyrights. I very sincerely respect you and commend you for your efforts in that area. But that has nothing whatsoever to do with the point of my posts.

And yes... the key word is [common]. That is the point. Your statement attributes this behavior commonly to all Eastern cultures. Having lived and worked in more than a dozen Eastern countries, it has been my experience that it is not common to all of the individuals in those countries.

But rest assured, this will be my last post in this thread. As you stated to Elfkura,

You don't get it and probably never will...

Oh for crying out loud....YOU attribute 'common' to mean 'ALL Eastern Cultures', not I.

YOU Insert the word 'ALL' and deliberately distort my statement to do nothing more than corrupt it and acquire for it an entirely different meaning.

That is contemptible.

A Ford is a common car in Australia.  There are OTHER cars in Australia.

Look for your fight/s elsewhere.

Better still, use all this energy for confrontational dissertation on getting the sites with the stolen works to remove same....you know,....what this thread is actually about.

[edited because 'Insert' wasn't]

[Message Edited]

eh...

It all boils down to ones choice being taken from them, Digital Artistic Rape...

No one, and I mean NO ONE has the right to upload anything anyone else created without first asking permission, period.

Now, if someone could figure out what it is about dickheads who seem to grasp a personal need to dent other peoples cars with doors...

But I do have a solution I find helps me deal with it when I have it happen.

I can snap kick a 150 body bags chains up and off it's hook and onto the floor

Make a hell of a Door dent also...

Justice might be the Lords domain, but payback is a mofo...

actually "COMMON" is the correct word when speaking of China and property rights violation of technologies, digital art and software...

Where else can you purchase Maya, AutoCAD, 3D Max, UniGraphics, CATIA and any number of other software, in the shrink wrapped retail box with barcodes, manuals, registration materials and all for $10.00 a pop?

Hum, $10 a pop. Maybe I should mail away for some.

Look up the word "common" in any dictionary. The first definitions are something on the order of this:

- Belonging equally to or shared equally by two or more joint: common interests.
- Of or relating to the community as a whole public: for the common good.

That is from Dictionary.com. I fail to see how my posts distorted anything you said. Certainly not to the standard of "contemptible." I found your statement to be offensive. I spoke out and explained why I found the statement to be offensive, with what I believe to be straightforward logic. Instead of even considering that the content of your statement could be seen as offensive, you attempted to justify the statement. This whole thing could have easily been avoided had you simply rephrased to more accurately reflect what you mean, rather than attempting to justify what you actually said.

I apologize for posting again on this thread. But I couldn't simply accept a personal attack upon my actions for standing up to something I truly believe is wrong without a minimal response.

Don't quote me dictionary meanings of 'common', simply remove 'all' from your statement.

What say you re-read this entire thread, omitting all inflamatory posts by you.

You will then see what the topic is about.

It IS a common Eastern Cultural trait...in fact it is considered NOT to be an offense....and there-in lies the problem.

Now, whether that is due to an 'evil intent' or whether it is legislated by government that these countries MUST act so....is open to interpretation and is immaterial, anyway, as we are left to deal with the results, not their cause.

Now if Bakerstreet were to pop up here he'd endorse my comments as he has long said that chasing sites for ripped content is ultimately futile when the majority of the world's population does not even consider it a 'crime' to do as they do.

I refuse to delve into details which prompted ANY of this - in public, except to say again 'read #25'.

Anyone got any popcorn.....?

There ya go Now how do those of us that do not want our skins on that site, ask them to remove the skins in question? I see no place for an email, and I cannot translate the page.
> It isn't the best skin, but it is mine the last time I checked. I don't mind sharing, but it will be on my terms. And I would like to decide where my work is available. Thanks.