A: As we have said, this is something that we are still looking into and we have not made any decisions at this point on the actions to be taken. The truth is, no one can really stop this type of thing from happening except for the person that is doing it. We could delete an account and ban an IP address, and all that person needs to do is go to the library or an Internet Café, create an AW account, and they are back here with full access to our site and message boards. Unless we start doing background checks, requiring Social Security numbers and Drivers licenses before we let someone join our site, there is little that can be done to stop those that want to cause trouble. This is not a problem just for ArtWanted.com, but any website in the world. It's just too easy to be on the Internet anonymously or under a fake names and never reveal your true identity or intentions.
A: Our image policy on this subject is clear about what is allowed and not allowed. Female nipples are not allowed just like mail genitalia is also against our rules. We do make a distinction, but it basically comes down to the rules we have setup for the site. If our staff or moderators see these type of images, they are removed from our site and the member is reminded about our policy. We will normally not ban or delete an account on the first broken rule, but if it happens over and over and our warnings are ignored, that person's account is normally deleted.
A: The reason for this is consistency and also programming. We don't want one post to say it was deleted by a specific mod, and then another post not say who deleted it. It's also a lot more programming to build two mod systems, one public and one private. Right now, we have many more private than public moderators, so until we have more public than private moderators, it doesn't make sense to reduce the number of mods we have. A few mods will never be able to keep up with everything that goes on in our site.
A: As mentioned above, we do block that IP address as well, but there is no way that we can guarentee 100% that they won't come back. There are too many ways to 'appear' as another person on the Internet.
How far are AW prepared to go, to keep someone banned ? ie: immediate removal of those who are well known, but under a different guise?
A: These are reviewed on a case by case basis. It's a little more difficult to track someone that is pretending to be someones else, but we have have enough hard facts, then we can block the new account.
Are AW planning on Banning those who cause deliberate upset on the boards without 3 warnings ?
A: Again, it depends on the situation. The '3 strikes' is more of a guideline and not a rule. We have deleted accounts over one issue without any warnings, and we have givin other members more than 3 warnings. It just depends on the severity of what they were warned about and what rules that person is breaking.
Are AW planning on banning all those like me, who generally get on OK on the boards, but are always in the thick of it when a major row breaks out ?
A: Those that keep the rules, don't get banned, it's as simple as that. If you get involved in a personal attack, or break one of our other rules, then you are subject to be banned, just like anyone else would be.
A: Profanity and personal attacks are not allowed on our site, per our rules.
A: Naturally, our staff is not knowledgeable in every cuss word in every language, so it's hard for us to know when this is happening. It is against the rules, not matter what languages it is, but these would need to be reported to us, since we probably won't pick them out when reading a topic.
A: As a private company, we have made the choice not to reveal our exact sales numbers or revenue. This is a common practice with most private companies.
A: LOL - Yes Michael, we like your paintings.
I'd really like to know what areas of the world people are looking at my art page from. Do you think it would be possible to have a feature that shows the hits in the form of a world map? And maybe information on how many unique visitors we have to our page, rather than just an overall total?
Thanks again,
~Michael
A: We are always looking for more ways to improve our site, and we think this is a good idea. We have been looking for a 'world map' solution, we have just not found the perfect one yet.
A: If any member would like to organize an art charity, then we are fine with this. Just post the details in the 'art discussion' area, where you can talk about it freely. We don't really feel there should be a whole forum for this, but a topic within a forum is fine.
The ArtWanted.com name should be left out, unless it's something that we are promoting and sponsoring, but you can use any other name for this event.
Before you answer am I allowed to mention that it WAS art based and very contexual with it.
Thanx, Laz.
A: If a post is removed, there is a reason for it. It was either not posted in the right forum, or it did not meet the criteria for the boards or it broke one of our rules. There have been a few times where a post was removed by mistake, but it's pretty rare. If the person that made the post questions why it was removed, they can contact us privately via e-mail and we can review the post again and explain why it was removed.
Also thanks to the AW members who replied via email to my world map question! ;)
Which leads me to my 3rd question (yes, my brain IS on overtime!)....
Would it be possible to have an area on our main page in which we could have a typed message? Almost like a return of the old skool biography? People who aren't familiar with the site (guests) don't seem to notice the tabs.
A: At this time, we have moved any typed messages on to the 'bio' tab. We will consider your suggestion, but it's not currently in our plans. For those that are new to the site, they will quickly figure out where to read the bio on the artists after a few visits to artist portfolios.
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