General Discussion Rules: Please Read First!

[infernalis]

Ignorance is no excuse! Failure to make an effort to understand and adhere to the rules will result in a ban. A maximum of 3 strikes will be tolerated (3 for minor offenses, as little as 1 for more severe).

No threads or links to mature content.

No profanity or racism allowed in threads.

No political or religious discussion.

No personal messages. ie. 'so and so, empty your PM box.'

No cross-posting (posting threads in two or more forums).

No advertising of animals or objects for sale/trade.

No advertising of other forums (spam).

No abusive/threatening/disrespectful language towards to moderators (we are just doing our job), or other members.

No "naming names". This is not the C/BOI, please refrain from mentioning individuals or business names in negative light.

The above rules also apply to the other forums on this site. The below applies to this forum, or any other general forum if there is a corresponding forum for the species/subspecies in question.

No species-specific threads in this forum (if there is another suitable forum on this site for your thread, use it!). If you are not sure where to put it, check out this thread.

[infernalis]

Some of you may not know, but this forum is under a new management / ownership.

This is just part one of the clean up process, Thanks for your understanding.

[infernalis]

Lately there has been a large amount of photographs appearing on the forum that are of of animals that are not the property of the person posting.

First and foremost - it is technically illegal to "steal" other peoples pictures, As well it's quite rude to post another person's photographs without giving credit to the photographer or the site the pictures originated from.

"I found this on google" is NOT giving credit to the person who took the photo. Follow the link back to the site the picture is from and either...

A. ask permission via e-mail to use the photographs

OR

B. Paste a link to the original site into your post and acknowledge the origins of the picture you wish to show us.

Otherwise you will be hovering right on the edge of plagiarism.

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means

• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

So for future reference, please be more careful about including other peoples images in your posts, myself included.

Little things like avatars, expressions, motivational and facepalms will be overlooked.

[CanadianEryx]

Thanks, Wayne! That is important information and, as a writer, I do it automatically, but was wondering if I should say something. We all need to give credit where credit is due!!

[Sapphyr]

I know who brought this to your attention(not stating names out of respect), and they'd also said, to me, at least, that it's fine if it's watermarked. Is this also ok with you, Wayne, or do we still need a website link to it even if it's watermarked by the original owner?

[infernalis]

Even though a member did bring this up, I do have to admit, I was starting to notice quite a few posts lately with pictures "taken" from the net incorporated into the posts.

For the purpose of a real discussion, yes go ahead and post pics. Just try to be courteous to the author. For instance, if we are talking about animal health, and you know of a photo that will help make a point, then please use it...

as for starting threads with bunches of other peoples pictures, please refrain from that unless the photographer specifically gave permission to use the photos.

A good example - "Check out these vipers"... Greg (last name withheld by his request) sent me those pictures for the purpose of me using them on various web sites. He specifically asked to leave his association with those photos out of the conversation, since like many hots keepers, he is over it with all the controversey that arises from him posting them himself.

Other pictures that I commonly use that were taken by others, I asked permission and I water mark them myself, just to make sure credit is given when credit is due.

[Sapphyr]

So pretty much don't use images in mass unless you ask the several sources you've found them. I personally don't agree, sorry.

I discussed the very same thing with the one that brought this up in the first place. Most of the locations I find these images come from blogs and websites that feature other people's photographs. They are NOT the original but are often the only place it can be found without spending hours on end trying to locate the person if they're even still out there(I say this because they could have had their own website and lost the domain, deleted their account, etc.).

It's just less of a hassle to give the link to the website/blog/whatever you found the image from instead of spitting out several emails at different people asking if you can use this image in a forum post as an example of this or that. Especially sending these emails to people that may have long left the internet. You'd probably never get a response or be waiting years for a response in said case.

I only bring this up because, I understand respecting the original photographer, or at least the origin of the photo, but some of us are people that like to look at stuff and show off pretty, interesting, weird, etc. photos we find floating around the web. It kind of sucks the fun out of socializing with others when you say we can't share them, even with a link, unless they're only beneficial to the health of an animal, an example being the ball python often used to get people to stop feeding live prey.

I also bring this up to clarify so I don't misunderstand. I'm taking it as maybe one photo, at least with the origin of the photo(link), per... 50, 100 posts? And only a limit of 1 - 3 photos in that post? I also take it as the limit is void if it's meant to prove a point in regards to an animal's health.

Or is the limit only there in regards to starting a thread, similar to my Vine Snake thread? I only did that to give examples of the animal so people know what I'm talking about. Also because I thought some of the photos were funny, pretty, etc. and I wanted to share them as a good example of the animal. All but one of those images were watermarked by the original owner. The one that wasn't I went back and gave the origin link. Is it still not ok, even then?

[infernalis]

Please don't get carried away with this.. If we all just stopped using outside photos, it would get really boring on here really quick.

Just a little something to think about, that's all.

[marvelfreak]

Wayne how do you water mark a picture? Some of my better pics i wouldn't mine doing this to.

[infernalis]

PM sent chuck...

[ilovemypets1988]

ur inbox is full infer, cant send anymore to you atm