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A guide to scam prevention
Posted 14 years agoNow, over the years I've come to notice a slight trend in "Scams" going up, and "Intelligence" going down, what I'm going on about is comissions and the reaction that happens when something goes wrong.
The term "Scam" is thrown around like confetti in the furry community, it's sad to see, what's even more depressing is the fact that when the user in question is reported, the inevitable "Witch Hunt" begins, now I agree that users who purposely scam to try and get free work/money is something that should be reported and spread to others so that they can be warned of this persons intentions, what I don't agree with is the witchhunt that happens afterwards where the user is consistantly harrassed and targetted for being a "Scammer".
Now, I'm not defending scammers as some ..."People" have come foreward and said to me, no I'm definately against scamming in any form, what I am against is people wrongly stamping the term "Scammer" on someone that made a mistake, I know some people in the community will not believe this because they tend to live in a fantasy world full of gumdrops and rainbows, but we're human, we make mistakes and it happens.
Now, when it comes to the term scam it usually implies that the person is using trickery or deception to gain either free art, money or something else, this is completely different to the term "Stealing".
Stealing implies that a user forcefully took something from someone/somewhere, like when a user posts art made by another user, thats theft, if a user tricks someone into giving them art, thats scamming, major difference.
Now, a lot of people give me the reason of reporting users like this to "Warn other artists to prevent this from happening", but, as we can see this doesn't work because people do not have any safety guidelines in their terms of service or any safe methods of doing the work, or they get ahead of themselves expecting every single person to pay for artwork, this is a niave and moronic way to look at it, especially from a business standpoint.
Lets take a scenario here shall we?
Artist A offers comissions for X amount of $, customer comes forward and states they want this comission for $X and states they will pay them "When they get paid", Artist A accepted the comission and starts working on it before any payment has been made, Artist A then sends sketches/rough work (with watermark) to the customer, customer comes forward and states they do not have the cash to make this comission, Artist A then bitches on how they "Scammed" them and now spreads around that the customer is a scam artist.
Who is in the wrong here?
I bet over 50% of people who read this will say "The customer is wrong because he didn't pay for the work", right?
No, the Artist is wrong for starting work the person didn't pay for, therefor wasting their own time and effort.
How can this be prevented?
It's pretty simple really and i'll put it in nice clear to read text for people to read.
DO NOT work on any comissions until you recieve any form of preliminary payment from the customer
Why should you wait? It's simple really:
1) You reduce the chances of people scamming you out of art
2) Reduces the inevitable fallout from something like this (Such as witch hunts etc)
3) You look less of an idiot
4) The user who (If they are) scams you, will get -nothing-
5) You don't waste your time if the following is put into effect
If you state in your terms of service that a "Pre Payment is required for time spent on the comission" then they cannot report you for "Fraud" as its stated as a TOS for buying your work, ontop of that you make money and the user doesn't get the artwork in question if they don't pay the full amount, this also stops any form of "Scamming" as you do not work on anything until payment is made, if the user hasn't got the money? OH WELL, move onto the next person, rinse and repeat.
Something as simple as this will stop people from scamming you, it's not hard, it's easy to understand and overal it stops this mindless witchhunt mentality people get into when someone reports another user for their own incompetance.
Remember people, stupidity isn't an excuse for your own mistakes.
The term "Scam" is thrown around like confetti in the furry community, it's sad to see, what's even more depressing is the fact that when the user in question is reported, the inevitable "Witch Hunt" begins, now I agree that users who purposely scam to try and get free work/money is something that should be reported and spread to others so that they can be warned of this persons intentions, what I don't agree with is the witchhunt that happens afterwards where the user is consistantly harrassed and targetted for being a "Scammer".
Now, I'm not defending scammers as some ..."People" have come foreward and said to me, no I'm definately against scamming in any form, what I am against is people wrongly stamping the term "Scammer" on someone that made a mistake, I know some people in the community will not believe this because they tend to live in a fantasy world full of gumdrops and rainbows, but we're human, we make mistakes and it happens.
Now, when it comes to the term scam it usually implies that the person is using trickery or deception to gain either free art, money or something else, this is completely different to the term "Stealing".
Stealing implies that a user forcefully took something from someone/somewhere, like when a user posts art made by another user, thats theft, if a user tricks someone into giving them art, thats scamming, major difference.
Now, a lot of people give me the reason of reporting users like this to "Warn other artists to prevent this from happening", but, as we can see this doesn't work because people do not have any safety guidelines in their terms of service or any safe methods of doing the work, or they get ahead of themselves expecting every single person to pay for artwork, this is a niave and moronic way to look at it, especially from a business standpoint.
Lets take a scenario here shall we?
Artist A offers comissions for X amount of $, customer comes forward and states they want this comission for $X and states they will pay them "When they get paid", Artist A accepted the comission and starts working on it before any payment has been made, Artist A then sends sketches/rough work (with watermark) to the customer, customer comes forward and states they do not have the cash to make this comission, Artist A then bitches on how they "Scammed" them and now spreads around that the customer is a scam artist.
Who is in the wrong here?
I bet over 50% of people who read this will say "The customer is wrong because he didn't pay for the work", right?
No, the Artist is wrong for starting work the person didn't pay for, therefor wasting their own time and effort.
How can this be prevented?
It's pretty simple really and i'll put it in nice clear to read text for people to read.
DO NOT work on any comissions until you recieve any form of preliminary payment from the customer
Why should you wait? It's simple really:
1) You reduce the chances of people scamming you out of art
2) Reduces the inevitable fallout from something like this (Such as witch hunts etc)
3) You look less of an idiot
4) The user who (If they are) scams you, will get -nothing-
5) You don't waste your time if the following is put into effect
If you state in your terms of service that a "Pre Payment is required for time spent on the comission" then they cannot report you for "Fraud" as its stated as a TOS for buying your work, ontop of that you make money and the user doesn't get the artwork in question if they don't pay the full amount, this also stops any form of "Scamming" as you do not work on anything until payment is made, if the user hasn't got the money? OH WELL, move onto the next person, rinse and repeat.
Something as simple as this will stop people from scamming you, it's not hard, it's easy to understand and overal it stops this mindless witchhunt mentality people get into when someone reports another user for their own incompetance.
Remember people, stupidity isn't an excuse for your own mistakes.
The greed of the world holds no bounds.
Posted 14 years agohttp://hubpages.com/hub/Scientists_.....e_takes_notice
In a nutshell : Scientists have cured cancer, but pharmacy companies won't fund it because they won't make money from it because other drugs will become pointless.
In a nutshell : Scientists have cured cancer, but pharmacy companies won't fund it because they won't make money from it because other drugs will become pointless.
Stuff
Posted 14 years agoJust thought I'd put a new journal up to clear the 5month old journal from before.
Not much really going on, a lot of personal stuff, still trying to find work, uni's going all right but it's still stressful.
Hopefully, within time, things will straighten out and everything will be better, but only time will tell really.
Not much really going on, a lot of personal stuff, still trying to find work, uni's going all right but it's still stressful.
Hopefully, within time, things will straighten out and everything will be better, but only time will tell really.
Friend in need of some halp
Posted 15 years agoA friend of mine is looking to do some commissions to help pay for a Viv for her pet Hodgepodge (Hedgehog).
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1772080/
I'm sure any help is appreciated ~
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1772080/
I'm sure any help is appreciated ~
"Spring Cleaning"
Posted 15 years agoWell, I'm not at a stage where I seriously need to do a clean-up. Not of my room, or my house or my computer, but my friends lists on SA, FA, MSN, Skype, Steam and AIM.
It's gotten to a point now where I really question these "Friends" in my lists, most of them have either added me/befriended me to get something out of it. Unluckily for most of them I wasn't born yesterday which usually ends in either someone being majorlly "butthurt", or an all out bitch-fest, or both.
From a previous journal I put I pretty much predicted the responses I'd get, which in turn made me laugh my ever loving ass off, mainly because of the immaturity and the predictability of some people.
Either way, going to be clearing my lists completely, the way I see it if someone gets angry at me over, to my knowledge, absolutely bloody nothing, then they're not someone I'd want to be a friend with/associated with.
Now this is a message to anyone out there, if they actually want to read this, that I've met over the years:
I personally apologise to all of you if I have offended, caused harm or overall been a dick to you in any shape or form, I really didn't intent to insult anyone during that time. If there is any issues you have with me, please contact me privately about it so we can handle this like mature adults, last thing we need is another outbreak of drama on the internet.
If you want any of my MSN details or Skype details, send me a private note.
It's gotten to a point now where I really question these "Friends" in my lists, most of them have either added me/befriended me to get something out of it. Unluckily for most of them I wasn't born yesterday which usually ends in either someone being majorlly "butthurt", or an all out bitch-fest, or both.
From a previous journal I put I pretty much predicted the responses I'd get, which in turn made me laugh my ever loving ass off, mainly because of the immaturity and the predictability of some people.
Either way, going to be clearing my lists completely, the way I see it if someone gets angry at me over, to my knowledge, absolutely bloody nothing, then they're not someone I'd want to be a friend with/associated with.
Now this is a message to anyone out there, if they actually want to read this, that I've met over the years:
I personally apologise to all of you if I have offended, caused harm or overall been a dick to you in any shape or form, I really didn't intent to insult anyone during that time. If there is any issues you have with me, please contact me privately about it so we can handle this like mature adults, last thing we need is another outbreak of drama on the internet.
If you want any of my MSN details or Skype details, send me a private note.
Out of curiosity...
Posted 15 years agoI need to ask this, because a lot of crap has been happening lately especially with friends of mine i trusted.
Did I unintentionally stab Bambi or something? Lately friends of mine have either been blocking me, ignoring me or all out removing me from their lists, and to my knowledge i've done nothing wrong. There's still 1 case that to this day I have no clue what I did wrong (this case was around 2 years ago).
I mean seriously? What have I done to apparently piss of so many people?
If someone can enlighten me on this, and if I did supposidly do something wrong, provide evidence, so far anything i've been told is nothing but hearsay.
Help on this would be appreciated~
Did I unintentionally stab Bambi or something? Lately friends of mine have either been blocking me, ignoring me or all out removing me from their lists, and to my knowledge i've done nothing wrong. There's still 1 case that to this day I have no clue what I did wrong (this case was around 2 years ago).
I mean seriously? What have I done to apparently piss of so many people?
If someone can enlighten me on this, and if I did supposidly do something wrong, provide evidence, so far anything i've been told is nothing but hearsay.
Help on this would be appreciated~
Pokemans, anyone got it?
Posted 15 years agoSo, i got pokemans on the DS, soul silver version.
Anyone else got it?
Anyone else got it?
Getting to know you better
Posted 15 years agoYea, boredom sets in...
1. Your Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Film:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of FA?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarkey) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?
1. Your Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Film:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of FA?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarkey) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?
20 Today
Posted 15 years agoYep
Current Life stuff and activity boom on FA
Posted 16 years agoSo, lets get this shit started~
FIRST:
My life so far has been pretty boring, a few eventful things have happened but nothing to make everyone go spastic over, for example:
I got into university, starting in september but i have no clue when or what campus i'm on, so thats going to be interesting.
Jobs still the same, can't say where i work sadly due to my contract but eh, its just a job and it keeps food in my face
I've started to eat a bit more healthy, after i saw a pic of myself while at the i37 (Multiplay Gaming Lan Event) i was like "Holy shit i'm pretty big D:", so, i'm starting to eat a bit better and be a tad more active then i usually am.
I've seriously injured my knee while cycling, apparently i shifted something under my kneecap and its causing me HUGE amounts of pain, fun fun~
SECOND:
So, i've decided to become more active on FA, due to the fact i find myself being bored out of my mind, and i've always wanted to become a bit more involved in the fur community anyway, just i was a bit shy when i first joined the fandom but i think now after going through college and meeting some amazing furs that i've grown to be much more....open so to speak.
Even though i don't draw or anything, i do pretty good critiques, i've gotten tips over the years when i did try to draw to give me a pretty broad knowledge on artwork in general, and after talking with some artists they've told me that "Getting a good and fair critique is probably the best asset to any artist on this or any sites"
SO, i will be commenting more with any critiques (If needed of course) and i'm more then happy to comment on a peice of artwork if asked as well, i will try my best to comment on artwork and give fair comments.
Other then that, not much has happened and everything seems to be running smoothly (Somewhat).
FIRST:
My life so far has been pretty boring, a few eventful things have happened but nothing to make everyone go spastic over, for example:
I got into university, starting in september but i have no clue when or what campus i'm on, so thats going to be interesting.
Jobs still the same, can't say where i work sadly due to my contract but eh, its just a job and it keeps food in my face
I've started to eat a bit more healthy, after i saw a pic of myself while at the i37 (Multiplay Gaming Lan Event) i was like "Holy shit i'm pretty big D:", so, i'm starting to eat a bit better and be a tad more active then i usually am.
I've seriously injured my knee while cycling, apparently i shifted something under my kneecap and its causing me HUGE amounts of pain, fun fun~
SECOND:
So, i've decided to become more active on FA, due to the fact i find myself being bored out of my mind, and i've always wanted to become a bit more involved in the fur community anyway, just i was a bit shy when i first joined the fandom but i think now after going through college and meeting some amazing furs that i've grown to be much more....open so to speak.
Even though i don't draw or anything, i do pretty good critiques, i've gotten tips over the years when i did try to draw to give me a pretty broad knowledge on artwork in general, and after talking with some artists they've told me that "Getting a good and fair critique is probably the best asset to any artist on this or any sites"
SO, i will be commenting more with any critiques (If needed of course) and i'm more then happy to comment on a peice of artwork if asked as well, i will try my best to comment on artwork and give fair comments.
Other then that, not much has happened and everything seems to be running smoothly (Somewhat).
University.
Posted 16 years agoWell, I got a conditional offer to go to Kingston university to do a course in computer science :D
I have to achieve a minimum of Merit Merit Merit in the course im doing at college now, but i'm sure i'll be able to achieve that, I just need to get off my arse and work a bit harder to achieve even higher.
I'm still waiting to see if Surrey University has accepted me, if they have then that would be even better but i'm happy getting into Kingston as is :3
I have to achieve a minimum of Merit Merit Merit in the course im doing at college now, but i'm sure i'll be able to achieve that, I just need to get off my arse and work a bit harder to achieve even higher.
I'm still waiting to see if Surrey University has accepted me, if they have then that would be even better but i'm happy getting into Kingston as is :3
TF2 Server (Part 2)
Posted 17 years agoThis TF2 ( Team Fortress 2 ) server will host mainly Orange maps and a few other fun maps, it's dedicated in just fun, so we pretty much allow everything apart from harrasment/stupidity towards other players ( Example: OMG YOU KILLED ME WHEN I WAS RUNNING IN THE OPEN, YOU R HAXOR D:< etc etc )
TF2 IP Address : 85.234.149.114:27025
Also, if you wish to donate to keep the server up (If you like it of course) send paypal donations to:
davidnorthmore9898[at]hotmail.com
Happy gaming :3
Please note: We are still working on the server, so if it goes down then it's being worked on also, if you do join the server my game name is [C'] DarkStrider, just let me know who you are so i know this advertising is at least working [Just Kiddin]
TF2 IP Address : 85.234.149.114:27025
Also, if you wish to donate to keep the server up (If you like it of course) send paypal donations to:
davidnorthmore9898[at]hotmail.com
Happy gaming :3
Please note: We are still working on the server, so if it goes down then it's being worked on also, if you do join the server my game name is [C'] DarkStrider, just let me know who you are so i know this advertising is at least working [Just Kiddin]
TF2 Server
Posted 17 years agoWell me and a friend of mine have bought and setup a TF2 server, it won't use the default typical maps, it will host Orange maps and maybe a few fun maps. At the moment it's still in construction stage so you may experience a few downtimes here and there, and we're also having a bit of a problem with the server host, as the company we bought the server off accidently gave us 6 servers, so we have no clue what will happen in the next few days, but, if you want to join the fun here is the IP we're using at the moment (A NEW JOURNAL WILL BE POSTED IF THE IP CHANGES)
TF2 IP Address : 85.234.149.114:27025
Also, if you wish to donate to keep the server up (If you like it of course) send paypal donations to:
davidnorthmore9898[at]hotmail.com
Happy gaming :D
EDIT: If you would like to know anymore about this server, send me an IM and i will discuss this with you.
TF2 IP Address : 85.234.149.114:27025
Also, if you wish to donate to keep the server up (If you like it of course) send paypal donations to:
davidnorthmore9898[at]hotmail.com
Happy gaming :D
EDIT: If you would like to know anymore about this server, send me an IM and i will discuss this with you.
