I mean, you also see plenty of authors and/or translators complaining about their content being stolen... I find all comments like these to be silly, because like... Really, it is going to be stolen, that's just normal.
That said, I'm not trying to encourage people to steal art from others to make their covers for hobby stories... I'm just saying that IMO they can do it, because... Well, it's just a hobby story and they don't really need to put effort in those things IMO.
I mean, technically speaking even fanfics are copyright infringement... And well, I don't see any point in original authors to complain about people making fanfics based on their own stories (though well, some authors do file DMCAs and stuff against fanfics). I think of stealing art as basically the same thing as making a fanfic... It's technically wrong and it's technically a copyright infringement, but I don't see why it matters.
... For as long as the work is not made for profit that is. Trying to get benefits from someone else's hardwork is no good IMO, but just trying to make a hobby story with a stolen cover is not an issue to me~
... Ah, and we could even go a step further and say that using someone else's art for your RP characters or for your forum avatars is technically copyright infringement too, but again... I just don't see why it would matter or why anyone should care.
Oh, and fantranslations are copyright infringement too for the record... >.>
I don't really want to encourage people to use stolen images for their stories, I do think they should try using copyright-free stuff instead if they can't make their own covers, just... I don't like seeing people defending art as if it was a sacred thing that could not be touched either. It's a thingy in the internet, and it can be pirated just like any other... It just so happens that there are some free alternatives available that don't involve infringing into anyone's copyright, so they should be preferred, but I don't see why non-profit hobby works can't just use stolen stuff if they're too lazy to create their own cover and/or search for something nice amongst the myriad of copyright-free stuff... Which let's face it, isn't usually good cover material for anyone wanting an anime-style cover (well, Waifulabs exists now at least though~).
I don't think of art as holier-than-thou though. There are times where I get frustrated as well because there's not much of a good selection to choose from, the ones with alternative images. That said, I do get tired of seeing a lot of comments sounding like they're defending it and even supporting to just lift images off the internet. It may not be you, but I see quite a bit of these comments from time to time. A lot of times its more of I-don't-see-what's-wrong-with-it kind of comments and it in a way gives a nod that its okay for others to do it bc hey, everyone does it. To those that do stuff like this, hobby or not, all I'm saying is that its a bit ironic if you're fine with lifting others' stuff and defend that kind of action, then cry a river when someone does it to you. Its still shit and its still ain't right regardless whose work gets lifted, but its ironic and a bit of karmic cycle.
Perhaps I see more from the artist side of things than a person consuming/using content more. I've seen readers just lashing out against authors who tried Wattpad's program to monetize their work in trying to find a way to fund their writing hobby which takes up a good chunk of time they could use to better support themselves. The program had serious flaws, but man did those authors get a lot of flak from that (cussing, threatening, telling them to maybe just stop writing if you're gonna monetize it in a sense, etc.). That really opened me up to seeing how a lot of people care more about the content than the creator of that content itself. And you can see how sometimes that also bleeds into here as well, with how some writers feel burned by what readers expect from them.
Then there are things like where
people defend that its the internet so if you don't want it to get shared/copied/stolen then don't post it (even if its true, people
often do use this to defend their shitty actions a lot. And that's why I 'dislike' these kind of comments too. Case in point, artists who say do not repost their work, and then people just share it, sometimes not even crediting the artist until people try to dig up more information. And when people mentioned how the artist didn't want to be reposted, then the person who repost or took that artist work will say its the internet so if they didn't want to, they shouldn't have. When they say things like that, its disrespectful bc its only pretty for you to share, but the instant someone comments about it, you throw the artist who worked to draw on that under the bus. I've also seen some accounts got more followers than the original artist, and sometimes its hard to distinguish because you really want to find who was the original author, not the reposter. but you stick on bc maybe the reposter will say who the author is in the comments, but by doing so you give that reposter attention and perhaps even a follow for something that is not theirs. In the end it doesn't really help the artist, but the reposter). Partly why I sorta don't like how people use 'nothing is original anymore' sometimes.
What they say may have a point (its the internet so people are going to copy anyway, nothing is original anymore, etc.), but how they go about using it as an excuse to defend the things they do and how so many do this sometimes makes me turn the other way. And that is why I strongly disagree. I've seen too many use it as some poor excuse to thinly veil the stuff they do..
I am not outright completely avoiding these kinds of people bc there's so many its hard to even tell, but if they do come up and get found out and it all goes back to this topic and the way they continue to defend their actions, I don't feel much supporting them either.
All I'm saying is respect another artist work as a fellow artist (writer, drawer, etc.). No one's work is sacred like holier than thu, but ask before use.
