Quote Originally Posted by Mexikorn View Post
Why do you emphasize the copyright aspect so much?
It's because copyright issues are and continue to be a headache for all web sites, especially those based in the USA. Copyright holders must take legal action when copyrighted works are reported as misused (in the legal sense) or lose their copyrights. Failure of the web site to take action by at least removing the work when notified makes the web site an accomplice as well as having a whole second set of legal problems. Plus, there is the reputation of a web site and its associated trust for all of the artists involved. Based on experience, nobody who makes money at the craft seems to want to see their stuff used without permission.

In the long run, it's simpler for everyone (site owner and users alike) if the rules are made clear up front and enforced. That's especially true with a general topic that has had giant corporations grabbing public-domain stories, making an expression of those stories, and then putting enough marketing behind those expressions to make them the most commonly recognized versions of the stories. For example, a map of the story of the Snow Queen is just fine, but a map of a place named Arendelle with a silly-looking snowman in the corner and the word "Frozen" across the bottom in a specific font style clearly wouldn't be.

I would rather not see an endless army of gray drones with briefcases descend on us here. After all, a Guild is a place for price-fixing and suppressing the little guy, not a place for open warfare with larger criminal groups.