Please HELP me!

[mchong75]

As an avid Nissan 350Z enthusiast and a owner, I have been a forum member on a site called My350Z.com.

Long story short, I posted 3 of my photos for critique (My photography and PP proficiency) but thread started with immature teenagers mocking the model.

Yes, it offended me not because of my work but these immature people were attacking the model instead. They have also uploaded few of my pictures on the forum without my consent. (They edited my pictures by blackening the eyes out and making funny faces)

I know it was my fault for posting C&C on this forum in first place but since I initially posted (3 minutes later), I have deleted the photos and requested forum MOD’s to close/delete thread.
Here’s the link to the thread.

http://my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=319373

So, can these people upload and edit my photos even after I removed it and requested forum members not to edit and upload my photos without my consent?

[Tixeon]

"So, can these people upload and edit my photos even after I removed it and requested forum members not to edit and upload my photos without my consent?"


They certainly can if they copied the photo & saved it to their HD.
Illegal = Yes.
Virtually impossible to stop = Yes.
Good luck

[Woolburr]

Putting a photography critique request on an automotive fanboy off-topic thread makes almost as much sense as asking for advice here on how to swap cutter heads on a John Deere combine. You got the typical juvenile reaction....but there are no photos in that thread now....at least none of any female models. You can probably chalk that up to experience.

[mchong75]

It’s certainly my fault for posting on that site in 1st place.

Lessoned learned and hope the MOD's will delete the thread since members can't delete own thread.

[Woolburr]

I seriously doubt the thread will be deleted....that doesn't seem to be the style on that site...best to just walk away from it...and go with the lessons learned.

[BillsBayou]

Any time I see that sort of behavior on other sites, it makes me proud to be a member of the POTN community.

I've read the thread in question. Apparently they do not have the same "Don't comment on the model" rule that we do here.

As for copying the picture and reposting it: In order to post a photo, they must either upload it to the forum or host it on another site. In Internet Explorer, right-click on the photo and select "Properties". Take a look at the domain name of the hosting site. Then contact the site administrators of these sites to let them know that you are the rightful owner of the copyrighted material and that the photo has been stolen. (This may require a "Whois" search. If you cannot do a "Whois" search, let me know, I'll walk you through it.)

Provide a link to your photo on your own hosting site. On THAT site, your photo should be the entire, unedited photo (no cropping), sized larger than your original photo (it does not need to be the original size from your CF card, just larger than the stolen photo). Place a watermark diagonally across the image; "SAMPLE" should suffice. Having a better quality, larger, uncropped, and unedited photo on YOUR site will let the site administrators know that the image is yours and that their site member has stolen the image.

If you get a chance, see if you can find the user agreement of the hosting site. Stolen images are typically a no-no. Getting the copyright holder to complain can often be enough to not only get the photo pulled, but the user banned.

AT NO TIME SHOULD YOU MENTION THE DISCUSSION THREAD THAT STARTED ALL OF THIS. You need to be the wronged photographer. You do NOT need to come across as someone crying that they insulted your girlfriend.(*) Professional complaints are the best route to take.

How to tell if your target has had their image hosting account banned: (I've actually done this twice on another site.) Do a search of the site to see if they've posted other images hosted on their site. When the copyrighted photo disappears, see if the other hosted photos disappear from the other thread. If they do, your complaint had the desired effect. Don't gloat. It just starts flame wars. Everyone gets burned by site admins in a flame war. Take the high ground.

At 6:14 AM this morning, user "opathal" posted a comment that he/she has found the image in his/her browser cache and will post the image later tonight. You may want to keep track of this user's posts for a day or two. You may even want to contact the moderators ahead of time to let them know. Once this person reposts the image, it will be re-cached and right-click downloaded by everyone else who wants to keep the circus going over there.


(*) Note: I don't care if she's your girlfriend or not. I'm talking about apperances. I'm in the next office from the site administrator of our domain. He laughs when he sees "sour grape" complaints.

[mchong75]

Thanks for the info BillsBayou. I hope the forum OP is considerate and delete the thread as I have requested.

The model in question is not my GF, but nonetheless a friend of mine.

Like I mentioned, I careless about any immature remarks but to use my photo and edit them is another thing.

[mchong75]

UPDATE

Forum moderator, a fellow photographer has deleted the thread for me.

[BillsBayou]

The trick now, is to monitor the site for the next time the photo, or talk of your thread pops up.

Some sites actually do try to keep mayhem to a minimum. If things went bad with one thread, they frown on someone starting a new thread on the same topic. They also frown on threads discussing why the thread was closed as this will quickly turn into the same thing all over again.

Keep your eye on opathal's posts. Not just in that subforum, but on all forums on that site under his name. Any reason he has to post the picture would really be to slam you and your model.

[mchong75]

Thanks. I have already notified the moderator and I will be keeping my eyes open.

Thanks again

[Psychobiker]

Put up the pics here, I'm curious now! Lol a cousin of mine has a 350Z