Identity crisis, anyone?

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

I'm new here.

A brief introduction: My name is Dane, and I'm one of the more 'quiet' and elusive members of the online art (mainly anthro) community. Dark, cartoonish art is my specialty, but within the past year, I've drastically reduced the amount of new artwork I post. I'm very "underground", the majority of my work is now shown only to close friends. As a result, I'm not very well-known within the anthro-art fandom.

Anyway, getting to the point: I just thought I'd mention that I recently encountered a very disturbing case of plagiarism/art theft/"identity theft". I'm posting it here, because I think that other artists should be aware of this individual since she is part of the art community that's associated with artists_beware.



Offender's name: Ernestina Salsedo (also goes by Ernestina I. A.)

Her Aliases: Red13, RedXIII, ErnDawg, erndawgy, digidydog, RabidRonso, RabidHyena, OodlesOfPoodles, HolliWould

Aliases she "borrowed" from me: RiotDawg, Riot Dog, Riot, uglydog, the ugly dog, uglydawg, rabidriot, and variations of these.

Links:

http://digidydog.deviantart.com - Her most recent DA site
http://erndawg.deviantart.com - Older DA site
http://redxiii.5u.com/ - "Public" portion of her web site
http://fanart.lionking.org/Artists/OodlesOfPoodles/?+hi+O++ - Her TLK archive (formally under "Red13 or DigidyDog")
http://fanart.lionking.org/Artists/HolliWould - Another TLK archive
http://www.livejournal.com/users/digidydog/ - Her LJ.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rabidhyena/ - Her other LJ.

(Please note that these are her "public" links, not the locations of the stolen material)

What she's done:

- Common "art theft": tracing and re-posting my pictures, as well as making her own "versions" of mine. Most of the art that was stolen was from my old Side7 gallery. Most of this was done in "private" (for instance, she never uploaded stolen artwork to public archives such as DA or TLKFAA)

Example #1

Example #2 taken from this older drawing I posted on S7. Notice how the description is also copied.

Another one, not traced, but very heavily.. uhm, "inspired" by this (please excuse the bad art and childish angst, its old.. we've all been there)

- My character's name is Riot. She created a similar character whom she calls Riot (also making it an alias for herself) No, this isn't "theft", and in any other case, I would have dismissed it as a coincidense and shrugged it off. But here, it's obviously another one of her attempts to "become" me (more on that in a second)

- Plagairized entries from my old journal, and re-posted it in various places, including (but not limited to) blogspot and angelfire. Only minor text changes were made (her name in place of mine, "she" instead of "he", things like "sister" changed to "cousin", etc). She continued to do this until I made my old journal friends-only.

Example #1 (the top one's mine, again; please excuse the childishness, it's an old entry)
Example #2

Also, compare my DJ profile (left) with her angelfire site (right)

She also used one of my journal entries as her "bio" on a site which has apparently been removed. I saved screenshots, but the entry was particularly angsty and embarrassing, so I won't show it here (if you want to see it, feel free to e-mail me, but I think the evidence i've shown is enough)

- Copied & pasted many of my image descriptions.

- Created an AOL screename "The Uglie Dog", which she was likely using to pose as me. She also created at least 2 e-mail adresses under my aliases.

- Made several copies of my old web site, "Overkill", stolen artwork included. Again, only minor text changes were made. Most of these copies seem to be defunct now.

Example (compare to my site.)

- I also discovered an icon of one of my characters that she drew, which she may have been using on a forum somewhere.. again, posing as me.


Please note that what I've shown here is just the tip of the iceburg. The whole thing is much more extensive than it looks. Several websites were created, covered in plagairized material, I've only shown you a small piece of the entirety of what she's done.

What disturbs me the most about this case is that this person did this as though she has absolutly no mind of her own. She shamelessly took pieces of my profiles and copied/pasted them into her own, as seen here. She used to have 23 interests listed on LJ. Only 3 of were not identical to mine. 'Theft'? No. Fucking creepy? Yes. What the hell, honestly.

To resolve the issue, I sent her a 6-paragraph warning a few days ago, via e-mail. Her reponse was a whole two sentances, and she apparently removed the plagairized journals and the most recent web site which contained stolen material. The artwork itself still exists within her web site's directory, which I'm going to contact her about, again. Also, some of her older sites still seem to exist, though many of the links are broken.

It is very possible that I am not the only person whose identity/art/writings she's "borrowed". Most of what I discovered stemmed from a search I did on one of my screen-names, which she happened to be using. It was all downhill from there. One of the web sites she created was called "De-Illusion", which is not one of my names, but I remember seeing the name somewhere.

Any advice or information that anyone can offer will be greatly appreiciated. My e-mail address is riotdog@roadfly.org

Edit: Fixed some links.

Comments

[hellhound.livejournal.com]

Why is this happening so often now? o_o Less than a month ago, this very same kind of identity theft happened to an artist named Jennadelle. The thief was even copying/pasting Jenna's journal entries, word for word, and tracing her original artwork.
Sorry this happened.. I'm actually familiar with this artist. I noticed she bore a very similar style to yours, but never noticed any theft. x_x

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

Didn't that girl actually start dressing like and posing for similar photos as Jennadelle? Oo

[hellhound.livejournal.com]

Yes, it actually did get to that point. x_x It's.. disturbing as to how obsessed some people can get.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

....Like the twenty million Elvis inpersonators?

[wereguitar.livejournal.com]

Ho-ly Shit.

This girl is seriously sick.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

Go look back a bit in her journal. I can't remember how far it is back since I was linked at the time, but she's got pics of the girl and her in the same pose and almost identical clothes.

[thornwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah I saw that. Went through a lot to do that I'm sure. Its beyond conscious effort at that point, its /obsession/.

Dane, firstly I'd like to say I'm a big fan of your art, you rock, your style is your own and highly recognizeable even if you're not "involved" so yay..go you for making an impact =)

As for your stalker, I seriously don't know what to say other than what...the fuck. The best way I can suggest to counter this is, above all, try everything you can with webspace providers/gallery owners etc etc, but other than that, just get the word out as far and wide as you can that you are the real Uglydog/Rabid Riot etc. The only thing that will really put a stop to it is if she doesn't have anyone to buy into her bullshit, so do so by proving her to be the freakshow.

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I am a fan of your work as well :D

I see what you're saying.. the fortunate thing is that most of her shit was done away from public galleries and whatnot.. to the extent of my knowledge, only a couple of her friends knew she was doing this and believed her. Her latest "private" site only had like.. 13 hits, and some of them were from me after I found it. The plagiarized journal sites also looked pretty deserted..

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I first found out, it reminded me of what happened to Jennadelle recently. I don't know much about the person who leeched off of her, though the whole thing with the photos made me sick. I thought the two cases might somehow be related, but it doesn't look like it.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

Actually it remindes me more of Banrai (http://www.livejournal.com/users/lukadia/174299.html)... and if this girl is anything like banrai well.. it's not going to stop. -_-

The only way any of these cases are related are that.. they may all have the same 'mental disorder' .. >_>

[korrok.livejournal.com]

That's extremely creepy. I think we need to ask ourselves whether these people are at all stable mentally, it seems they need professional help! o.O

[driftwoodwings.livejournal.com]

I hope this is the begining of the end of her bullshit.

[sepp.livejournal.com]

man..
I have been a fan of your artwork for a long time, Dane, or at least for what I could find on the net.
when someone does something like this, artists everywhere die a little inside. 9_9 I don't know how I could help, but I really really hope the bs ends soon for you. guh.

[bailzzararco.livejournal.com]

It's got to be really embarrassing to be caught coping someone else's art work...not that I would feel sorry for them. This artist didn't even make an attempt to make it look like her own work. I just wonder how they ever thought no one would ever notice? The internet is a big place, yes, but still.

[filthy-animal.livejournal.com]

Aye. I hope this bullshit stops. This isn't just art theft, it's soul rape.

[growing-rose.livejournal.com]

Man. I remember when I was first into the anthro community. Yours was some of the first stuff I found and, man, did I ever enjoy it. To remember your name awhile later and find that nothing new existed saddened me, to know that things had been happening that you decided to keep your art off the net was a disappointment to me. I was hoping for new stuff and instead found something too personal for you to share so publically. I hope you don't mind the random attempt at comfort from a stranger.

On this girl, gods. I hate people who can't even create their own life. Or ones who can't seem to decide who they are (y'know, the internet and IRL personality changes in some people). Good luck with this girl and do keep us posted, will you?

[kimpers.livejournal.com]

Man. Art theft is bad enough - but at least they just steal your art. I can understand why people steal art to some degree - to get praise and the like. While it's very wrong, I can still understand to a certain extent.

Identity theft is just creepy and weird, and something I don't understand at all. Why try to be someone else? Guh. >.< I hope you get all this straightened out.

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

Identity theft is just creepy and weird, and something I don't understand at all. Why try to be someone else?

That's exactly what I was thinking when I found out that this was going on (especially with the copied journals.. apparently she doesn't have a life of her own...?). People like this are either hopelessly confused.. or just plain sick, I guess.

[oshawa.livejournal.com]

Yeesh. That is.. pretty darn creepy.

[alaitallon.livejournal.com]

Dang, I'd seen this person on TLKFAA and thought, "Ooo, good artist." Apparently not, though. o_O;; Thanks for warning us. I'll be sure to steer clear from this person from now on. o_O Good luck with this crap. I've always admired you, but no one deserves to have to put up with this kind of junk.

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

What confuses me is that she obviously does have the ability to draw/use photoshop (i actually watched her on DA under her first account). Most art thieves seem to copy other artists' work because they "can't" draw and they're too lazy to learn. I don't understand why someone who can draw would want to do this.

Sucky Artists

[acexcat.livejournal.com]

Two thoughts on the matter... Probably not even worth a penny each, so keep your pelting change for something else....

#1 If someone is DESPERATE to get attention, my guess is that ANY attention will do. First step is to skip the newbie stage and become an instant art-god(dess) by sealing from someone with talent... Like Dane, apparently.
After they get caught and all the sudden everyone hates them for stealing art and lying about it, they get all jiggly inside because now that everyone hates them, they're getting even MORE attention, so being loved was cool, but being hated is even more cool because people know their name.
....granted it's the same way everyone knows names like "David Koresh" or "Random" (from, but no longer tolerated in, FM) or "Sadam".... it's not a good kind of knowing their name. Instead of being cool, they just screw over other people for their little ego-trips, consequences, ethics, morality and manners be damned.


That sort of brings me to the next point...
#2 Jack@$$es like this make being a lousy (or at least unrecognized and unwanted) artist kinda nice. You get your art stolen while I dance around taunting, "HAH! I Suck!"

Re: Sucky Artists

[kittiepink.livejournal.com]

First off, I gotta say "LOL" to that post on #2. Too funny. But I know exactly how you feel. A part of me is sitting there going "yay me! I suck!! woot!!" and yet another part is screaming "*in her best Joe P. voice* WHAT!? Am I not GOOD enough for you to steal MY work? HUH? is that what you're sayin'?". hehe.

But in all seriousness, that's just, creepy. *shivers* It's one problem to steal people's work, but it becomes another when you take on the identity of that person. *shakes her head* That's just.. beyond wrong. It's psychotic. *shiver* o.o;

Hope you get things worked out, and she leaves you alone. :P .. You're work is somethin' else Dane! ^.^ Chalk another fan up on your board! hehe!

[synchra.livejournal.com]

I just hope she stops after all this.. I hope she sees this too, because she obviously doesn't understand how serious what she has done is.. :/

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I doubt she will. My husband's sister had someone (mostly outside of the internet) attempt several times to "be her" over the course of 6 years, right down to abandoning her children to be more "like" Emma, and attempting to date and integrate with people in Emma's friend-circle to greater and lesser attempts. She kept re-appearing for some time, and eventually dropped the Emma act, but has no doubtedly picked up someone else to assume.

[huskie666.livejournal.com]

what the hell.. freaky ass people ;.;
~~Huskie

[huskie666.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, and i remember your art from back when i was on Yerf :D
~~Huskie

[melskunk.livejournal.com]

Waaaay back in the day :D

[theredwolf.livejournal.com]

Along with others, I'm a big fan of your art and remember seeing it for the first time when I joined the "Fur" community.

As to the theift, can you report her to her galleries/hosting service, and let them know she is literally stealing your identity?
I have no suggestions. Wish I could be of more help.

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

As to the theift, can you report her to her galleries/hosting service, and let them know she is literally stealing your identity?

I could, and I am strongly considering it, especially for the sites she still has up on Angelfire. I know that its a violation of most TOS agreements to post other peoples' work, and I have plenty of evidence and all of my original material still exists, so it's not a bad idea.

Thanks :D

[tsunami-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Sheesh. I'm sorry you've got to deal with this repeated identity and art theft.

In regards to her site in the Lion King art gallery, drop an email to the administrator, Brian. He's a really nice guy who respects the artists using his site. Email him what you said here (evidence included), and he'll probably do something to help, either banning the artist or sending the artist a reprimand. His email is btman@lionking.org

Good luck.

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice, that's a good idea. I don't know Brian, but I've only heard positive things about him from the artists on his archive.

[tsunami-ryuu.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I used to actively upload to the site (yes, my inner Lion King fan surfaces in occassional fanart), and I've had to deal with art theft there before. Brian has always handled it gracefully and well.

[huskie666.livejournal.com]

That is fucking creepy as shit. Ive had children parade around wearing Huskie masks and posting my art and pretending to be me.. but not to -that- extent o.o;
have you considered resurfacing into the 'public eye'? being active and making it -very- clear you only post here and you have this email address and this is your lj and blablabla usually deters people from doing such things as that. having a central hub with the links to your galleries and whatnot also helps (hence my shitty little Furnation site :D)
good luck with this fucking child..
~~Huskie

[rabid-riot.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I agree, it is best to make your presence known. I'm just starting to resurface around DeviantArt and LJ and whatnot.. mainly leaving comments and updating my profiles, etc. Having a site is a very good idea, I'll probably end up reviving my old one. I think this particular dipshit made the mistake of assuming that I wasn't around anymore, and therefor I wouldn't catch her.

[labrat882.livejournal.com]

I finally read this thing and.. holy jeesus with tuna sanwich!
I remember when I commented once on her side7 account and told her that her art looks too much like yours, I said it really kindly to her and she drew a horrid emo-picture with too much tears and angst to even describe.
I felt sorry for her being so naive and ignorant.
Now I've learned that that kind of people deserve no mercy :D Yay! d_d;
Honestly.. what a butt-wipe!

I'm interested seeing more the stuff she did. I kinda knew her personally back in side7, so I'm curious what has she become..