Please me to say it. This post *coughs* is different than the others. You know what I mean. Lately there has been some gallery drama that I'm not -yet- aware of. But from some creations I saw it became known to me. They refer to the drama that's been going on these weeks. So sad, but I have two (2) options. Either stay on the gallery or leave it for short (or long).
My choice has been made. Since I don't get stolen this much like experienced creators in there (I've been stolen 7 times) I'm lucky to have not survived the terrific July 2019 bullying. But also lucky to tell you I'm staying on the gallery to share my creations. Some are leaving, some aren't. I'm with the second option I was given. Continue my work and my uploading. I don't care if it's stolen but I try to warn the thieves strictly and politely about re-uploading my work. Like "Can you please stop re-uploading other people's work (including mine)? It's disrespectful towards the original uploader and how many hours they spent creating.". This seems so polite for me. But I don't want to report stolen items, nor attack people by words.
Attacking other people is called bullying. Either verbal, or physical. On the gallery there's the verbal one. You can see A LOT of random people bullying good creators. Somebody asked me about an elevated bedroom I made for the gallery (for sure it took me long). He asked "they can't get to the bed???". I warned him on his profile that they need to be tested in game with the "testingcheats on" cheat. Of course politely. I don't have time to test them in game, respected for that!
But there's a lot of random, irrelevant (and again random, irrelevant) re-uploading. It was supposed to be stopped through the "creators4fairplay" group on Facebook. I was about to join it, but I instead thought it'd need forums. Then the group was disbanded. So, I carried on with school some time and I couldn't get to the gallery for my uploading. It's been going on for years. 4 years as of 2019. I wasn't a Sims 4 active gallery user back in the day. After September 2018 I was. Made ALL my creations myself. Never thought it'd take many hours, but I shared them no matter what. Even if they had something to be fixed I stated it on the descriptions ALWAYS!
That random re-uploading starts from a CHILD. Remember that all re-uploaders are children up to 14 years old. When I was 14 I was a happy middle school student. Now 14 year olds have TONS of problems and don't know how to get rid of them. They sometimes act like 18 year olds or something. I mean, drink, go partying till late in the morning... Nothing like this is similar to the Sims 4. If there's one playing The Sims 4 they'll for sure re-upload others' work just to brag about how good they are! Imagine seeing something like this on the gallery: "Hey guys, I'm 13 and I'm better than most of the good creators on here!". This is rude. This is rude. REPEAT? This is rude. Well, I can tell they brag about their skills... why don't they get some talent? It doesn't cost this much, it's free. How many times have some creators stated on their descriptions "be creative"? MANY.
But they instead don't care. I have over 500 items on my catalog... but I don't steal, copy, claim or re-upload others' work! In January I had a disagreement with another player because of the #stopstealing. Here's what happened. I shared a Rottweiler dog, made him out of the norm (the majority is aggressive etc etc.) but he/she attacked me about the #stopstealing. Because he/she wasn't rude to me (at first I thought he/she was rude) but in the end he/she thought I didn't know much about dogs. I should've told him/her "creators4fairplay? Did you miss that bit??? If only YOU stopped lurking on my catalog and warned me, I don't care. I'm not 9 years old or whatever! If so I'll report you to Maxis" (kinda childish here).
I took the item down. This user stopped lurking on my catalog. I share ONLY my original work! ONLY original items under hard work. I will have to repeat but anyways. Since then I shared ONLY original items by ME. No matter if they have glitches I state them on the comments myself!
One of the cases that was brought to me in February was the Glass4Swan (now PurplePuffster) scandal. She was a common thief there. Even received a MAXIS FAV for a kitchen she DIDN'T make herself (March 2017). That time I was coping with high school. Should I report her for the stolen kitchen? I didn't have the game at all. ALL her items were stolen, including paintings that are spent a ridiculously long time by some creators! She stopped using the game in September 2018. There were times other creators reported to EA on the phone about her behavior; knock yourselves out, because she disabled comments regarding her childish behavior on the gallery!
I didn't catch her in the act back in the day (2017-2018) because of MANY things: In March 2017 I was coping with 10th grade. In the summer of 2017 I was an avid Stardoll addict. In November 2017 I bought The Sims 4 with Get Together. In 2018 up to early October I was a Sims 3 addict (with Sims 4 in the summer). After October 2018 I was a Sims 4 addict up to now. Duh. I forgot school OMG! It was my final high school year and I wanted to study. What's more? She was brought to me in February, while I was searching for gallery items under the query "stolen by"...
Also in February it was the time when the first gallery thief for me was brought in the act. Simsfamily68. She's been stealing paintings, households and rooms quite a lot. Mostly last year. NONE of my creations were stolen back in the day, by absolutely anyone....
Back to the main topic! A random re-uploader is a CHILD. Always a child. I rarely see it on adults. But, as I mentioned adults here I can tell you that I'm turning 18 in October. I've NEVER EVER EVER attacked anyone on the gallery. Just warned them politely, there were times that I was a little abrupt because of exams. Stress. I apologized for that every time! Even if you're a little rude you apologize for that. And when I uploaded "Pure & Humble Fixed!" again (this was a re-upload) I stated the minor change. The roof clipping and the frieze part missing. The "Original By:" part was not missing - it was by mikrolactaki3 (me). THIS meant the change I made.
I always state the change I make on my shared items; prior to you is reading descriptions before uploading items. THINK right before you upload, especially with households that are base Sims. E.G. "the original base sim was made by #X (X is a random gallery user) and it was styled by me" or "this house was originally built by #Y (Y is yet another random gallery user) and it was renovated by me" or stuff like that. REMEMBER you can give credit before uploading if you use others' work as yours when it comes to renovating or styling Sims.
My choice has been made. It's time to say it. I am staying in the gallery to share my items. Despite the terrific bullying. And, in the words of Depeche Mode "never again, is what you swore the time before". This line was a part of their song "Policy of Truth" in which this article was named after.
Stop bullying / public shaming now! It's bad and stupid to harass other people no matter how different. God made us the way he did, no matter if we're light-skinned, dark-skinned, disabled or anything else that's a matter of DNA or experience or age. The gallery will always be a peaceful and fun place for every Sims 4 player!
Be creative with your own design no matter how good you are. Have integrity and play fair no matter how old or experienced you are! Do not re-upload other people's work or claim them as yours! Respect their work and talent!
Happy simming!
Joanne
