Mod Post: Artist's Beware Situation Report Template - DRAFT

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

You asked for it. We discussed it. This is what we have.

Below the cut is what I like to refer to as the Situation Report. Its laid out to be simple for anyone to follow, when writing a report for the community and effective enough for you guys to reply with your best advice and assistance.

Please review the template carefully and feel free to add your opinion on what is there and offer up any further ideas (just keep in mind we're trying to go for quick n' dirty). From there, we'll discuss suggestions, clean it up and post it again in its finality for community use.



This is the Artist's Beware Situation Report template. This template is here to assist you in getting your beware written out in a clear and fluid manner, get it approved in a much speedier fashion, and get your answers and advice to you must faster than before! But before we begin, please take note of the following:

- Due to the potential lengthy nature of these forms/posts, please be prepared to insert an 'LJ-cut' into your post. How to insert a cut: *LINK TO FAQ*

- Screencaps (images taken of what is on your screen), are pretty strongly suggested to be included into your post (they will be addressed in the template for where needed). They are a big plus to your case, and can often answer any questions a community member might have for you.

----- The Form -----

Online Handle/Full Name of Artist/Customer/Business in Question: If person in question can be found on multiple handles, list them all.
- Please note that if the artist or client does not use their legal full name in their business dealings, you must omit it (this goes for screencaps as well).

URL where they base their business out of: Again, if there are multiple, please list them all.

Time Period: From initial conversation, to 1st payment (or agreement of trade) to signs of trouble to now (now being this post).

Item(s) Ordered: Was it physical art, digital art, sculpture, fursuit, jewelry, etc? Were there multiple parts to this transaction? Here would be a good place to put any screencaps of conversation (emails/names that are appropriately blurred, PMs/Notes, IM logs, etc.). By conversation we mean the details hashed out between you and the Artist/Customer for said order(s).

Proof of Purchase: State as well as place any screencaps/scans of Payment (Paypal screencaps with emails appropriately blurred, Money Order receipts, etc.)

Explanation of Situation: Tell your side here. What happened, what went wrong, where did it go wrong, have you attempted to fix the issue(s), ask for updates, refunds/legal warnings, etc. Post any additional screencaps here that correspond with your explanation. Be as clear and concise as possible, without use of insults and slurs, please.

Comments

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

Might want to note that if its multiple items from the SAME artist but with DIFFERENT problems that they clearly separate the timelines and screecaps/payment for each item so it is clearer what information applies to which item. This does mean that they may need to post some the info twice to form the seperate timelines, but it makes it sooooooooooo much clearer for everyone which item has which problem.


It's not that common, but we do sometimes see that come up where they ordered several things at once and have different issues with each item. Those can often get REALLY confusing really fast.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Suggestion noted.

[minimalismo.livejournal.com]

Looks great!

[ocelotish]

I don't think the proof of purchase is always needed if both sides seem to acknowledge the transaction.

I think something that would be more important would be proof of dispute. If one side is saying it never happened, then then it would be the proof of purchase, but if one side is just dragging their feet, the series of messages asking "What about ____" would be far more useful than a paypal screencap. Similarly, if something arrives in subpar condition, you don't need the paypal info so much as the original listing and photos of how it arrived.

Now, obviously in some cases the two will overlap, but half the time it's disputes about the contract rather than payment.

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

I agree with this comment. I think the proof of purchase is unnecessary UNLESS there's a specific dispute about whether an item was indeed paid or not. It's more useful to see what the agreement was for in terms of content than it is to see how much money changed hands. An email or private message may be more suitable for that than a Paypal receipt in many cases.

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

Maybe instead of calling it "Proof of Purchase," you could call it "Proof of Agreement" since purchase kind of denotes money was exchanged and sometimes we get bewares about people partaking in art trades or situations where there was no money exchanged between them.

[stormslegacy.livejournal.com]

This makes sense to me =) I agree with this suggestion. As long as SOMETHING from the artist acknowledges that the trade took place. Also, it only applies to commissioners posts really so might note that =3

Other than that it looks nice, straightforward and easy to follow.

[ocelotish]

I agree with this and it was kind of what I was trying to get at. It's the agreement that's important, and that can cover payment, delivery, terms of use, edits, etc. It's much more useful to cite the agreement when buyer421 is using the artwork inappropriately than posting the proof of purchase.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Suggestion noted.

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

"if the artist or client does not use their legal full name in their business dealings, you must omit it"

Is this a typo? I'm not sure why it should matter if we omit fake names or not...

[ocelotish]

Oh, what they're saying is that if I don't use my full name "Alan Smithe" online, "Alan Smithe" shouldn't be included in the list of aliases, just "artist342 and roleplayer452." On the other hand if I go by "Alan Smithe" online, it would be included in the aliases.

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understand now, thank you for clearing that up.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

It's against LJ TOS to use real names in any posts anyway... real names should never be posted I would think.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

Yesterday morning, I searched all over the TOS and couldn't find where it said you couldn't use someone's real name. I saw where it says you can't post their address, work info, phone number, etc. and where you can't harvest personal info/identifiers for marketing, but can't find anything about real names. I must have a blind spot or something. XD

Could you please help me out and point out where you found it says you can't post real names?

[grygon.livejournal.com]

I will try and remember to search for it tonight but you might have already found it and just read it with a light weight perspective. (I'm at work now, difficult to search for things on my cell)

A few times I've had posts removed from people trying to use my real name, LJ doesn't take it lightly. I also seem to recall a post or two here where a comment was deleted or post edited to take out a real name.

[marlinkhylacat]

As I understand it, you used to not be allowed to post people's real names at all--I remember very well that being a problem in a community I was on about ten years ago. It got suspended because it kept mentioning LJ users by real name without their permission. And a few years back, this policy became more lenient; LJ didn't have a problem with naming people as long as you didn't make the post public. *But!* My experiences with posts naming people over the past year or so seem to indicate that LJ's gotten even *more* lenient about naming people..

I've been through the TOS a few times recently whenever a debate over using someone's name in a post comes up, and all I can find is what you found. It seems like now, you *can* post someone's real name if you're not doing it for the purpose of trolling. If that person complains and their complaint is deemed valid, however, LJ will lock the post so it can't be accessed publicly anymore. And it also seems that LJ will only lock the post if they receive a complaint from the actual person being named. At least, all that is what happened the last few times I've tried to report people for posting personal info without permnission.

Matter o' fact, I just went through the process again a few months ago, when I reported a post on another community. It contained someone's real name for the purpose of getting users to harass that person.

LJ Abuse told me that only the person named could report the entry, that they had to be a registered LJ user, and also that LJ Abuse would have to determine whether or not the post was actually harmful before LJ would take action (apparently just naming someone is not considered a harmful act in itself).

So someone else made a decoy account to pretend to be the person named and reported the offending entry again. LJ Abuse responded to the decoy to say that the post was deemed harmful and locked it to "Private" so no one could access it. LJ Abuse didn't have a problem with the person's name being posted; the problem was that the entry specifically called for the harassment of that person.

(This, of course, is just my personal experience, and may not actually be LJ's standard action or rules for this situation. We all know from various LJ comms how two different moderators can give two different results, so I don't know that LJ Abuse would be any different! Also, my brain is kinda scrambled right now. I really hope I made *some* sense.)

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Fake name = Nickname/Online handle/Alias (ex: XxBambooPandaxX)
Full Legal Name = What you sign on legal documents, etc. (ex: Nicole Austin)

If you only do business under your alias (but lets say your email shows your legal name), and someone needed to post a beware about you, they can only put it under your alias, not your legal name. This is to curb potential 'stalkers' from going out and hunting down additional private information, as well as keeping us somewhat in line with LJ, as to avoid an Abuse report.

So you must omit/blur legal names in your bewares, UNLESS they do business under that name.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

I ask this because it has come up before: would the fact that Starfinder does business under her real name on Deviantart (her username is her real name in full) make it acceptable for us to use her real name? And in that case, if she asks for it to be removed, would A_B comply? (Does LJ have a rule about that? I'm not sure.) Just curious.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

I believe this was answered in a Starfinder post before, but since I was not the one to answer I cannot remember. I will have to look for it for you. I would rather use that answer than say something that would sound contradictory.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry to make you repeat yourself, I must have missed it. Thank you for checking.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Answer: Unless you did business with her under her deviantart and only her deviantart the answer will lean towards no. We actually had to go and remove her name from the tags, as she approached the mods citing harassment (to her employers) when her real name was placed in the tags (via a post/comment chain that revealed it). But if one was to use her DA as a site for an additional point of contact, we would not ask for its removal, as that is a valid location to locate her at.

And yes, LJ Abuse does have policies regarding disclosure of private information (addresses, numbers, etc.) to prevent offline harassment, which is also why we ask for the censoring of anything that could lead to it, while still keeping the beware a beware.

[grygon.livejournal.com]

That's a shady line imo. I mail out/sign emails to clients/ etc with my real name cause it's a habit. I sign some of my art with my real name. That doesn't mean I am doing business under my real name, it means I'm being courtious and wanting the post office know who I am... I would do everything in my power with LJ and more to get my real name taken off this community if someone dared use it, even in a good way. And I've done it before elsewhere with LJ to know they take this seriously. Everyone knows starfinder as starfinder, she only briefly used another alias right? so why would anyone use her real name just because she signs emails and mails packages using her real name? Very shady reasoning to me.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

But your business does not revolve around your real name, grygon, therefore if anyone was to report you here and tried to include your legal name, we'd already be on it to have it removed. You work off an alias, like a majority of us do.

If your business revolved around your real legal name, like for example Ellen Million (http://www.ellenmillion.com/) and only that (NO known aliases), how else are those posting a beware about you going to be able to identify who they posting the beware about?

In cases like Starfinder, she came to us to have her legal named removed from her tags, citing the harassment of her RL ocupation, and I believe we honored that. But the post that started it, does not have her deviantart, which does uses her legal name, removed as that is essentially a point of contact for the users who need to contact her in situations of 'where's my crap?'

Again, it is a shady line, but we're always going to side with 'keep as much private information out of the report as possible,while keeping the beware valid and informative.' Example: We rejected someone's post regarding Star days ago because they were pretty invasive and rude almost to the point of being a wannabe ED page. A weak one, but still the same.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

But she doesn't just sign emails and mail packages under her real name, I never said that. Her real name is her username on DA.

Here: http://cristinapenescu.deviantart.com/ I believe she also does art under her real name through wildlife galleries.

[obsidianwolfess.livejournal.com]

I'd put the item(s) ordered above the signs of trouble part, just to make it easier to follow.

Otherwise, I like this template very much. I hope it serves well in the future!

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Suggestion noted.

[pariahsdream.livejournal.com]

Everything looks good so far. I think this is very helpful, because it'll help the people making the posts remember things to include as well that they might not have at first.

[ocelotish]

I might also add a disclaimer "This is a generalized template and it may be modified to suit an individual situation through the addition, removal, or editing of fields."

[kappyjeanne.livejournal.com]

Just to note, the LJ-CUT portion still says "Link to FAQ" instead of an actual link.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

This is a draft. When its finalized there will be a link.

[ocelotish]

Sorry forgot another suggestion: It generally reflects poorly on the poster if they attempt to bring an unrelated secondary drama into the issue, it's best to just keep it about your transaction.

Just because this is a bit of a style guide too?

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Falls under Be as clear and concise as possible, without use of insults and slurs, please. If we must we'll extend it to say 'be as clear, concise, and to the point (no additional drama) as possible.'

[ocelotish]

Ah! Fair enough! Just sometimes you have things where in an email the person will mention a second project that's really not relevant to the whole thing.

[maddogairpirate.livejournal.com]

'Explanation of Situation' seems to be the one that's really the clincher. That's where we figure out, just what happened, who didn't deliver, how they handled it.

I'd honestly like it if the requirement for such a section was at least one image/screencap/link, something, that details and backs up what happened. We've had a few AB folks that don't give much in that department.

[marus-puppy.livejournal.com]

It looks good to me, but I wonder if it would be possible to have an example post with a fake artist transaction so people would have a visual on how to format it? I'm personally a visual learner and I try to base intro posts based on previous intro posts, for example, so while the guide is super helpful, until it starts being used as standard, it may be a little tricky to set out what is needed in the post.

[riskyrussian.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. I used to help mod an RP group with a form for samples, and you wouldn't believe how many people didn't understand the form. I believe once we had an example set up, it helped a lot with people who were unsure how to word things and what not.