James

If they do ignore your ultimatum, then you can decide to come forward or not with a clear conscience that you tried all you could.  Whatever route you decide to take just remember that whatever consequences the artists face are due to their actions/ lack of action with you.  Assuming there's no worst case scenario involved here, keeping up with clients is part of the job.

Edit: and if you want to ensure there's no worst case scenario involved, you can also issue a lost contact which we will boost on our twitter.  It is not a beware, just a "hey I'm hoping to get in contact with this person".

Are people posting yelp reviews participating in call out culture?  What about google reviews?  Admittedly, I am a bit personally insulted to be equated to "call out culture" in our digital living room when we do our best to help people get closure for transactions that haven't been productive in a while.

You are a customer whom has received radio silence.  Presumably you have sent message after message.  In these situations an ultimatum would be your best bet, but with the paypal window long out the door you are left with little bite to deliver the ultimatum.  While I personally don't approve of people doing so, many others have used the threat of a beware as a means of an ultimatum.  "Please deliver the work within (timeframe) or else I'll have to write a beware on my experience."

Alternatively, if you haven't done so already, you can leave a public shout or a public tweet asking these individuals to please see your email/ note/ PM.  It's not necessarily a call out, but it's harder to ignore.

Unfortunately, if they're comfortable ignoring you shaking up the dynamic of the transaction may be your only way to garner a response.

Thank you everyone!  This topic is closed.  We will be contacting applicants for an interview once we discuss applications.

Howdy!

Artists Beware is seeking to bring new members onto our team.

Before we start here is the Moderator Code of Conduct.

What we need:

1. All moderators must use the moderator discord. This is non negotiable. There is both a desktop and a mobile version. We have to be able to reliably get a hold of you.
2. Availability in the US Timezones. All moderators work in pairs or more, so we need someone who can communicate with the group at large when we're discussing posts.
3. You must be able to handle disagreements politely and courteously. There will be instances where decisions about a beware will be split between your fellow moderators.  In that case a vote will be held.
4. You must be able to handle harassment and disagreement from users professionally. We will not tolerate "clap backs" or aggressive behavior.  However, we do not expect you to respond to aggressive users indefinitely.
5. Estimated working hours varies. It can be a few minutes worth of work per day, or sometimes a few hours per week. It's entirely dependent on queue load.
6. Potential moderators do not have to field user questions or moderate comments if they don't want to. We are looking for queue moderators primarily.  Queue moderators will still have to deliver Revision or Rejection notices.
7. You must be able to keep the contents of the queue and any PMs you receive confidential. Failure to do so will result in your immediate removal from the team.

Some notes:

1. Given how the site's notification structure is set up, you will receive a lot of emails.  Every submission and comment is emailed to all staff.  Most of us have AB only emails for this purpose.
2. Previous moderation experience isn't required, but it is helpful.  We will walk you through how to use the site's moderation system.

What to Expect:
Individuals who are chosen will be interviewed, and then will enter in a training period with the other moderators via Discord. During this period, if there's more than one of you, we will ask that work be limited to the times a senior member is online.  Once the training period is over, then you are free to work in any pair or more at any time.

Please fill out this form, and the applications will be open until September 18th, 2020.  To apply comment to this thread.  Your replies will be screened, thus invisible to everyone but current staff.

Length in Artists Beware: (How long have you been a member, including Livejournal)
Hours of Availability: (The hours you will best be able to do queue work.  Make sure and denote what time zone.)
Previous Experience: (Have you moderated before?)
Other Items to Know: (Are you a commission artist? Fursuit maker? Fluent in another language besides English?)
Best way to contact you?: (site PM, discord, email, etc.)

Howdy.

The site has had some issues in the past 48/ 72 hours.  Now everything is resolved, but the default theme is absolutely blinding.  You can change that by going to the bottom and choosing the dark theme.

In short, our automod application was unstable but our web admin kept it in a usable state.  When we updated the site the automod initially worked and we figured everything went smoothly.  But a week later the automod caused the site to essentially lock up.  Anything that called upon the application was in a traffic jam.  Normally this is where I go into the admin panel and disable it, but the automod locked up the admin panel as well. 

As some of you may know our web admin owns FurryLife.Online, and I call him when I've done all I can do.  Thankfully, while juggling FLO's recent surge in users, Alex managed to dig our automod out and restore AB. 

So, may our rogue automod rest in peace.  It's been put out to pasture.  I will more than likely forget that we took it out to pasture and keep trying to summon it for a while.

What site are you trying to link from?

Edit:  Oops, sorry the other staff have informed me I misread your post.

We can tinker with how the editor works after we do some cleaning up from our recent site issues, but for the meantime using the "link" button between the underline and quote buttons will prevent the preview.

Howdy!

We get this question often, so I figured it would be best to address it via a sticky.

"Is my situation bewareable?" / "Should I beware?"

The simple answer is:

Submit to the queue so the Queue Mods can review your post.

The long answer is:

In the past users would submit this question without full context. Full context can only come from the actual proof, which users can't submit. The community would leave their opinions, and the user would act based on these opinions. With full context in the queue, the queue mods sometimes rejected these posts. Thus the submitter would become frustrated and angry with us. After all, the community said their post was bewareable, right?

Thus, moderators will close questions of this nature. Only the queue moderators can say with accuracy wether or not a situation is archivable. We will review your post if you wish us to.

Howdy!

We get this question often, so I figured it would be best to address it via a sticky.

"Is my situation bewareable?" / "Should I beware?"

The simple answer is:

Submit to the queue so the Queue Mods can review your post.

The long answer is:

In the past users would submit this question without full context. Full context can only come from the actual proof, which users can't submit. The community would leave their opinions, and the user would act based on these opinions. With full context in the queue, the queue mods sometimes rejected these posts. Thus the submitter would become frustrated and angry with us. After all, the community said their post was bewareable, right?

Thus, moderators will close questions of this nature. Only the queue moderators can say with accuracy wether or not a situation is archivable. We will review your post if you wish us to.

Rules for Participation and Commenting

The following rules are for all users to follow.  Failure to do so will result in action taken against your account.

The goal for these rules are to keep Artists Beware as a constructive and a valuable resource.  Bewarees should feel welcome to comment.

Commenting Rules

1.  Comments are to remain professional, constructive, and on topic.  We are not a drama site.

• No name calling.
• No unnecessary hostility.
• Non-business related issues are off-topic.  (We don't want to hear about anyone's personal drama.)
• Transphobic, Homophobic, and Racist language will result in an immediate ban.
• Well wishes such as "I hope this gets resolved, OP!" are ok, but please see the "dogpiling" section on using the like feature.

2.  No excessive personal information or bewares in the comments.  This includes, but is not limited to:

• Financial situations.
• What someone is spending their money on.
• Personal disputes.
• Attempts to guilt trip artists / clients due to personal matters.

3.  Dogpiling will be handled at moderator discretion.

Do not wait for moderators to steer the comments back in the right direction.  If you see many comments sharing the same sentiment as you, please use the like feature instead.

4.  Do not pressure submitters over how they want their beware resolved.

If a user expresses that they do not want X or Y in relation to their transaction please do not force the issue.

5.  Do not imply a beware does not belong here or that the submitter should delete it.

Queue mods moderate submissions.  If it's in Artists Beware then it belongs here.  Users do not have the ability to edit or delete their own posts.

6.  Questions or comments in bewares directed at staff will not be approved.

We understand that users may feel the need to justify a comment if a moderator responds to it.  Moderator responses serve to keep the comments focused and in compliance with Item 1. Thus, responses or comments meant for staff will not be approved. 

Please PM one (1) staff members with questions, comments or concerns.

7.  No self advertisement in bewares or advice posts.

8.  Do not backseat moderate.

• Queue mods manually approve comments, so do not chastise other commenters.
• If a post needs the tags updated, feel free to PM us!

9.  Moderators will not approve an alternate alias unless it's 100% confirmed.

• No: "similar styles". 
• No: "types the same".
• Yes: Same email address.  
• Yes: Same art.  
• Yes: Same characters.
• Yes: Same full name.

10.  Users who spam/ harass Bewaree's with links to their bewares will be banned.

We do not condone harassment.  Let the original poster (OP) contact the bewaree in question.  First offense will receive an official warning.  Second offense is an official permaban.

When Contacting/ Responding to Moderators

1.  Please choose one (1) moderator to contact with questions.

• It's ok if you don't understand the instructions we've sent or need clarification!  We will be happy to help you.
• Questions should be only directed to our PMs or Twitter DMs.  Do not contact moderators on their personal accounts. 

2.  When responding to a Rejection Notice rude or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

• For Revision Notices: We will give you clear instructions on what to fix.  The items in your rejection notice are not up for debate. We will reject your post again if you do not make changes.
• For Rejection Notices: We will outline the conditions in which you may resubmit.  If there are none, then your rejection is final.
• Zero Tolerance Policy:  You will receive a permaban if you curse at, threaten, or harass our moderators onsite and/or on their personal offsite accounts. 

3.  The Report Content feature is for inappropriate content that requires immediate moderator attention.

• Don't respond to Rejection Notices, Revision Notices, or Mod Comments via Report Content.
• Report Content will be disabled by an admin if this feature is abused.

4.  Bewares are not deleted.

• If you have proof the contents of a beware on you is false, hand over the information to one (1) Administrator.  There are two options: Tag reversal, or complete deletion.
• See "So I've Been Posted to Artists Beware, Now What?"
• Legal threats will result in your account being banned from this site, all social media sites, and all communication ceasing.  We will expect communication only via your legal representative.

5.  Moderator action is final.

• Arguing with us will not reverse the decision.
• "Mod Shopping" aka contacting a different moderator will not reverse a decision.

Actions Taken Against Accounts

1.  Polite reminders are not official action against accounts.  

If your comment was not posted, then you aren't in trouble!  If a moderator responds to you with a "reminder" you aren't in trouble.  Moderators keep the comments focused, clean, and streamlined.

2.  Official warning notices come from the built-in warning system.

They are visible on your Profile Page.  After three (3) official warnings you will be permabanned.

3.  Temporary bans vs. permanent bans.

• Temporary bans are issued at moderator discretion if a user is becoming too heated.  They are not permanent strikes unless indicated otherwise. We need you to take a breather!
• A permaban is when a user reaches three (3) permanent warnings.
• Very poor behavior will result in an instant permaban.  
• Permabans from Livejournal have not carried over.  You are welcome to comment/ post again with a clean slate.

4.  Contact one (1) Administrator to Deactivate your account.

Deactivation does not remove your content.  If you wish for your email and username to be scrubbed, let the administrator know.

Moderator Code of Conduct Violations

All moderators are to adhere to the Moderator Code of Conduct.  In the event a moderator is violating these rules please contact one (1) Administrator.

Hello. The community at large is not capable of answering that for you. We've found in the past that posts like this have people saying "yes beware them!", but when they actually submit they are disappointed if the mod team doesn't agree when full context is put before us.

Thus, the only people equipped to tell you if something is bewareable is the queue team when they have full context via a post in the queue. If you feel a situation is something you want us to take a look at feel free to submit it.

Just for clarity's sake:  The jaw is supposed to move, but because the fit isn't custom to the client they don't fit in it enough to get jaw movement?

HI ZI

I do a few of these types of work-for-hire jobs here and there.  General rule of thumb is 3 - 5x commission cost to sell out rights.  Usually a simple contract will do just fine, but you can also use the copyright transfer form via Legalzoom.  

That would be up for you to decide if your money is worth it to you.  Not the community at large.  It fits within our submission guidelines, so if you want to pursue it then the option is there.

You know a lot of artists, myself included, are struggling mentally during these times.  The uncertainty is rough, especially when family becomes ill.  With that said, if they can't complete your work that's fine, but it's also important for artists to know their limits and offer refunds when necessary.  I agree with @VosurAekira but contact the artist first.

You can either:

• If you want the art have them refund and then you send the payment again so the protection window starts again.  Mind you Paypal takes out fees for refunds, so do this with the understanding that both of you will lose money.
• Ask for a refund.
• File a chargeback if they refuse a refund, and you don't want to wait.

Edited your post to fix the text.  It was unreadable on the dark theme.

It's really not "just a trade".  It's still a fair amount of money on your end.   Unfortunately, there's not going to be a solution that avoids confronting them.  You can offer for something they don't have to make since production seems to be their problem, and instead opt for merch or fursuit parts.  Or they can produce what they owe you, or give you a refund for the dollar amount.  If you're absolutely backed into a corner you can submit an AB.

18 hours ago, Vanessas said:

Hi Celestina,

Thanks so much for the info!! So let's say you charge$100 for a custom design, in total you would get either $100 + % of royalties OR it would be a flat $500. I can see that making sense!  So do you know what market prices are roughly for commissions? I think I read between $150-$300/shirt or paid hourly. I was thinking of marketing my services to big social media influencers who have a ton of loyal followers. In that case I think it would make more sense to do a fee upfront + royalties (what % is customary?).  Thanks!!

Yea that's right!  My simple designs end up being about $250 per design. They don't take me too much time at all. 

Hiya!

I have a few designs I've sold commercially.  All of them have been with smaller sellers, and I personally just stick to selling out my rights.  You can do licensing for X amount of time, but in the case of the designs I did they were custom done for the shop that is using them.  They were 5x commission cost to completely sell out my rights.

On 5/30/2020 at 10:02 AM, Alkraas said:

Update: Messaged them, they said markings should be changed (eventhough they accepted them in a WIP prior before I went to finish them).

Anyway, I changed the makings and they saw the updated images and again decided to ghost me.

At this point I'm getting rather frustrated considering the back and forth waiting and that they kinda slow down my progress and queue. I don't know what to do with this client 😕

Have they said anything since?  If you wanted to chase it up you can say that you please need them to respond so you can finish the commission, otherwise you'll take their silence as acceptance as the image as is.

"Hello!  I'm just following up since I've noticed you've seen the changes but haven't responded.  Is everything looking good?  I'm afraid that if these long lapses in contact continue I'm going to have to consider the commission completed."

 Here's the twitter link as some non-registered folks like to leave advice on posts.

Venmo is not for business purposes as per their Terms of Service.

Cashapp doesn't have buyer protection, however if you're using it for adoptables only it's fairly low risk for your customers.  Technically Venmo is too, but I'm personally unaware of any repercussions for using Venmo's services for business.

Neither option works internationally as a heads up.  (Though you didn't ask.  Many don't know this.)

Yea, refunding would be best for both parties in this instance.  

No, we wouldn't accept a post that's about a personal disagreement.  Choosing to block someone is a personal choice.  If they somehow try and escalate the situation then we would review it.

Oh yikes.  Nothing is more stress inducing than getting a response like that.  My instincts would also lean towards something being wrong.  You can either deliver those links, or if you're willing to make changes or hear out the client you could open the door for them to talk to you.

Something like "Hey!  I've noticed my messages keep being read.  I just want to check in and ensure everything is ok before I drop in the links?"

Here's your twitter link, as sometimes members respond there too!

Are you asking for any specific advice? Unfortunately this reads more like a vent post and a quasi beware update, which is not what this forum is for. If you don't have a specific question your post will have to be removed  @nanomonstar