Reminder for NEW graphics forum rules

1.STEALING

A stolen graphic pertains only to those stolen from Marapets members.A graphic stolen from a site outside of Marapets should be reported to that site. We will only be dealing with member to member theft. Please remember ideas cannot be stolen.
Self-written tutorials may be sold but please remember a lot of members create these for free so you will probably not find many buyers.

If someone has stolen your graphic then send in a support ticket. If there is someone regularly stealing and/or repeatedly buying graphics to sell on please mail me and I will deal with it.

PUNISHMENT FOR STEALING
1.Minimum-graphic removed, fine and profits removed
2.Minimum-graphic removed, larger fine and profits removed, forum ban over a few hours
3.Minimum-graphic removed and profits removed, one day underaged
4.Minimum-graphic removed and profits removed,1 week underaged
5.Minimum-graphic removed and profits removed,underaged indefinately

2.KEEPING YOUR WORK SAFE

We need evidence before we can stop graphics theft. Times and dates are important. Please use one of the following to protect your work-
Watermark it
Upload it to another site and send the link to yourself in mail at the end of sale
Mail yourself daily with a list of who you have sold to and describe the graphic

There will be NO paid protection teams of any sort from this point onwards to chase after stealers or to defend you if you are being harassed.Report to staff instead,its what we are here for. The report button is there for a reason.

3.CRITICISM OF OTHERS WORK

Please be polite when offering opinions on others work. There are people behind these monitors! Where possible try to offer something positive too, people are far more likely to pay attention to someone who makes them feel they have a chance.Even "Good effort but...." is far more likely to make them take notice and want to improve than a comment of "You suck" We will not tolerate members being persistently spiteful to others about their work.

If someone tells you how you can improve constructively that is not a reason to report them. If you do not wish for comments then state it in your first post.

4.WORKING TOGETHER

We ask that while browsing the forum you add a post to someones topic that might be near the bottom that hasnt been seen. It doesnt matter whether they are well-known or not in the forum, everyone appreciates a little acknowledgement. If you believe someones topic has been ignored because their work isnt very good then a passing comment to encourage and tell them how they could improve would be a friendly gesture.
We are not asking people to do this constantly, just when you have the time while browsing.

We ask that members make only one rating topic per day unless its for a totally different item,a layout and a siggy for example. You can edit the topic to add a new graphic if you need to. If people post more than one please politely remind them of the limit.If they create a third then report the second and third posts.

No groups or Queens/Gods/Rulers of the Graphics Forum are allowed. We want the forum to be one big community for everyone that posts. We are aware some people have felt the need to take it upon themselves to try to improve the forum but with these guidelines and a bigger staff presence that should hopefully be unnecessary now.

5.THE FUTURE

We have heard your requests for sub-forums and a Graphics Mod and are considering the possibilities.What happens in the future is largely dependent on how things work out with the new guidelines. We need to take this step first before further decisions can be made.