WARNING: Copyright Infringing Vendors are Hunting Zone Users

[AnjaBear]

Copyright Infringing Vendors are Hunting Zone Users

I have been made aware many times this and last year that certain vendors who make copyright-infringing characters from famous games, ripping them from the actual games, and then rigging them for use in Daz Studio and fitting them to Genesis 8 or 8.1, and then selling them claiming they own the copyright to said characters. They have gone a step further and are using GOOGLE SEARCH to read and scan all the Forum Posts here and search for particular users to see if they are using the same names at the store, so they can identify who is sharing their products.

They have been reporting products every day to MEGA NZ and other services getting users' accounts canceled claiming THEY are the LEGAL COPYRIGHT HOLDER of characters they stole outright from GAME COMPANIES and are RESELLING. MEGA, however, only believes the first reporter claiming you infringed on copyright - it doesn't matter that it is a blatant lie.

Several users have been targeted on RenderHub and Renderosity for supposedly being ZoneGFX members sharing stuff. And they are losing their accounts without any defense. One Strike Rules.

I have begged Hunter and Eelgoo to refrain from making vendor information/products become indexed all over Google, showing them the pages, and the Blogposts via Google although they are NOT USERS HERE, Google skips that bit and shows everyone on the Internet the internal links.

So this is horribly dangerous. And bad practice. Especially since WordPress has methods of blocking Google and Bot Indexing of the site at the top level.

I found EVERY single vendor making these "ripoff characters" on Google Search, and almost every product they sell at their stores are listed in Eelgoo's Multi-Request posts, complete with the usernames of the FILLERs. Allowing them to stalk those people and look them up on the stores. Many users were not necessarily careful when they signed up here - and used the exact same user name they used at EVERY STORE they shop at. That is a big issue.

I just want to give a suggestion, as I do not share any of these custom rip game characters here, only the untraceable products. If you want these game rip offs, be aware not to buy them under an account with your user name there and here at ZoneGFX being IDENTICAL.

I am bringing this issue once again to the attention of the Admin and Owners of the site, as I can do nothing to prevent this from happening, only they can.

Just warning you all, as so far 4 people have lost their major store account and shopping history through their being outed by vendors at those sites who found their products shared here by those usernames. If you don't believe me, simply do a simple search on Google for people making those game characters from Bioware, SquareEnix, Disney, Marvel, DC, etc. ZoneGFX seems to show up at the TOP of the list, with the most HITS.

Regards,
AnjaBear
Moderator

[eelgoo]

That is why I never name the fulfillers.

[AnjaBear]

@eelgoo this isn't just about the Fulfillers - it's about the Requestors too, they are going after everyone to gather intel on who they can attack. They ask someone who requested it and ask them to share it, and if they get it, they can attack. Those who fulfill requests are the strongest targets. Keep in mind it was YOU who made the rule about posting items in the BLOG 7 days after sharing -- NO ONE DOES THAT ANYMORE, and many refuse to be listed as the FILLER, for just this reason. Now the particular vendors of these stupid game rip characters are being heavy-handed, and I get tons of DMCA Takedown PMs from the vendors using their VENDORNAMES here as users. I ignore them as Hunter instructed me to, but they come EVERY DAMNED DAY from BlopBlopFish, BigMadBruh, FoRender, GuhzCoitus, 3DUK, HID, and more.

The reason I mention your threads is that they are VENDOR oriented and you never purge the filled items on the earlier pages, it reads like a catalog of that particular vendor's catalog, every single thing. That is a huge RED FLAG for a vendor.

And like a Bull with a Matador's flag, they will see RED, and attack. I'm kind of tired of being the one getting the most attacking, as I am the most visible Moderator aside of Monk.

Maybe those long threads which are based on ONLY ONE VENDOR, should be PRUNED back, so the older already shared items are no longer there. Doing it this way gets super messy and is HELL to keep up to date. I have to repeat my request posts over and over in your threads cause someone may have filled one of the early pages requests - but skipped me. So I end up repeating my request again 5 pages later as new characters come out. Most of the users who fill these, know very well not to post them on the Blog anymore, as within a day or two, they will be removed due to a DMCA Takedown Notice, again and again and again. Maybe we really need to prune these back to only those not filled. I do not touch your Multi-Requests, they are yours to control and keep managed. I do all the rest in the Requests area with Monk closing them when I don't get to it.

I'm keeping this thread closed so only us Moderators and Hunter can discuss this openly. I don't want the users or Vendors to get involved here.

Cheers,
AnjaBear

[eelgoo]

I do purge them as they become unwieldy.

[AnjaBear]

That is the best way to keep those under the Radar. How do you suggest we go about dealing with the vendors actively seeking out information about our users sharing their products? Or are we still going with "it's the user's own fault for being stupid about using their usernames from the stores they buy stuff at?" I want to help the users but I don't have the rights to do that in the system, only Hunter can.

Anja

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