# FYI - Submission Agreement (SA) Update



## Dragoneer (Jan 18, 2009)

*FUR AFFINITY
SUBMISSION AGREEMENT (SA)*
*Revised: *Jan  19, 2009​ 
By clicking the "Submit" button on Fur Affinity (FA) to upload art, photographic imagery, digital music, sound recordings, Flash animations, video or text-based works, you affirm that you understand and agree to the all of the following terms and statutes:

                     Upon submitting to FA you grant the website non-exclusive rights to transmit, resize, store, display, publish or alter any submission media within the boundaries of the site's domains. Submissions may not be uploaded with intent to maliciously target, harass or cause harm to another individual. In addition, submissions uploaded must be of your own creation or must have been created expressly for you (and then, only posted with permission from the original artist(s)). All sources (inspirations, sampling, references, copyright) must be cited, credited and documented within the submission's description. Failure to do so may result in removal of the submission without notice. By finalizing the submission, you agree that any and all information contained within the description of said submission is truthful and accurate.

If you are seventeen (17) years of age or younger you must have explicit permission from a parent or legal guardian before uploading to the server, and you agree that they have read and consented to both the TOS, SA and AUP. By submitting any media which is mature or adult in nature, you state that you are legally eighteen (18) years of age or older. Users under the age of eighteen (18) are not allowed to submit mature or adult content. Users thirteen (13) and below are prohibited from using FA and its services, as per the TOS.

You waive FA and its staff from liability resultant from uploaded submissions or information transferred to the site. You also accept that any submission uploaded to the FA domains is done of your own volition, and you accept full responsibility for any consequences which may arise. You agree that FA is in no way responsible for monetary damages or losses incurred as a result of any submission or information uploaded.

Submissions transferred to FA shall not violate the law of the United States of America, be it State or Federal. Copyright is to be respected, maintained and credited at all times. In the event of legal action, you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the State of Virginia and no other domain within the U.S.A.

                     FA promises to do all that it can, within reason, to protect your information, submissions and intellectual property on the site. Any action taken upon submissions will be performed by the staff with non-bias and fair treatment. Users may dispute admin actions they feel to be in error, but must do so with civility, and through proper channels, via the official FA forums.

Harassment or retaliation against staff for enforcement of the site rules will not be tolerated.

FA retains full rights to modify or change the terms set forth within this document at any time. Any changes will be posted publicly via news updates and/or administrative notices. Any and all changes made to this document become retroactive. No submission shall be "grandfathered" in prior to any changes made to the SA.

                    Users have full right to terminate this contract at any point.
​


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## TORA (Jan 18, 2009)

Curious what was changed here too.


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## Dragoneer (Jan 18, 2009)

TORA said:


> Curious what was changed here too.


Very little. Mostly changing "Fur Affinity" to FA and "Terms of Service" to "TOS" and yadda yadda.


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## Armaetus (Jan 19, 2009)

Maybe italicize or underline what was edited?


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## Deimion (Jan 19, 2009)

:V was the "no one under 13 allowed " in there before? I never read the original myself XD;;


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## BlueKewne (Jan 19, 2009)

Deimion said:


> :V was the "no one under 13 allowed " in there before? I never read the original myself XD;;



I believe so...


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## Dragoneer (Jan 19, 2009)

Deimion said:


> :V was the "no one under 13 allowed " in there before? I never read the original myself XD;;


Yes, that was always in there and the TOS both.


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## Tachyon (Jan 19, 2009)

Dragoneer said:


> your own creation pr created expressly for you (and then, only posted with permission from the original artist(s)



Ordinarily I wouldn't be such a lame pedant, but being a somewhat legalese document... 2 typos: p/o and a missing closing parenthesis.



> Harassment or retaliation staff



And that should probably be "retaliation against staff", or similar.

Otherwise, seems fairly standard and sensible to me.


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## Dragoneer (Jan 19, 2009)

Tachyon said:


> Ordinarily I wouldn't be such a lame pedant, but...


Fixed!


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## The Vole (Jan 19, 2009)

Dragoneer said:


> Very little. Mostly changing "Fur Affinity" to FA and "Terms of Service" to "TOS" and yadda yadda.



.diff plz D:

</*nix-nerd-mode>


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## TehBrownPup (Jan 20, 2009)

Dragoneer said:


> If you are seventeen (17) years of age or younger you must have explicit permission from a parent or legal guardian before uploading to the server, and you agree that they have read and consented to both the TOS, SA and AUP.



... Why?

I'm betting 100% of users under 17 have not asked their mommy and daddy if they can upload to FA. I certainly didn't (I AM 17 NOW DON'T SHIT BRIX), because I want to shut my parents out of my life. You cannot seriously expect people to adhere to this rule. Seriously?!

"Mom, can I start drawing anthropomorphic characters and submit them to a porn website?"

That'll go down well. (And yes, in essence, FA is just another porn site.)


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## Valerion (Jan 20, 2009)

TehBrownPup said:


> ... Why?
> 
> I'm betting 100% of users under 17 have not asked their mommy and daddy if they can upload to FA. I certainly didn't (I AM 17 NOW DON'T SHIT BRIX), because I want to shut my parents out of my life. You cannot seriously expect people to adhere to this rule. Seriously?!
> 
> ...



This is legal insurance against "Big $$$ lawsuit because bad Ferrox LLC allowed my precious to upload to a porn website!  Bad Dragoneer!"  

The law says you may not watch porn, and FA is liable if you do.  So they make sure you agree not to do it.  The real people who should be responsible is the parents, but what's the chances of that?


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## Runefox (Jan 20, 2009)

Pfft, how many 12 year olds are uploading smut to FA _right now_? I'm sure the answer isn't zero. They'll get by it, but so long as there are rules in place (and at least attempted to be enforced), it's an effective "Cover-Your-Ass" move.


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## PervDragon (Jan 20, 2009)

"By finalizing the submission, you agree that any and all information contained within the description of said submission is truthful and accurate."

I have a feeling you meant this to be:

"By finalizing the submission, you agree that any and all *such information about sources* contained within the description of said submission is truthful and accurate."

Otherwise, any fiction in the description - and we furs love our fiction - would be considered against the terms. 

Also, you may want to revise the terminology.  As far as I can tell, the word "Description" is never used in the submission process.  There is a "Comments" section, if that's what you mean...

If I'm wrong, please feel free to slap me with whatever appendage strikes your fancy.


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## LizardKing (Jan 20, 2009)

PervDragon said:


> "By finalizing the submission, you agree that any and all information contained within the description of said submission is truthful and accurate."
> 
> I have a feeling you meant this to be:
> 
> ...



I would assume it means not to upload a picture of a dog dildo and then have the description saying "LOOKIT MA CAT HAS A MUFFIN LOL".

Or something. Though I get what you mean about the fiction part. I guess if that's what the picture was intended to be about, it's still 'truthful'.


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## TehBrownPup (Jan 20, 2009)

I don't like how it says you have to cite inspiration.


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## PervDragon (Jan 21, 2009)

TehBrownPup said:


> I don't like how it says you have to cite inspiration.



As far as I know, citing your inspirations doesn't really grant you any more legal safety than NOT citing them, but it does do something more valuable to the furry fandom - it helps reduce drama.  There's already enough people screaming "ART THEEF!" that one less person who has to do so is worth the effort.

And, of course, I doubt you have to cite ALL inspiration.  I assume in this case it refers to inspiration drawn from another person's work (be it story, picture, etc.).  If the inspiration is yours alone (say, from your personal life), you probably don't need to cite it.


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## PervDragon (Jan 21, 2009)

Dragoneer, another thought: You may want to add a bit specifically requiring users to label the maturity level of their submissions to the best of their abilities.  Something along the lines of:

"When uploading a submission, you agree to select an accurate Submission Rating for it.  You acknowledge that it is your responsibility to classify any material that could be considered pornographic as either "Mature" or "Adult".  The failure to do so will result in [admin intervention]."

I'm not sure if this would be better here or in the AUP, but it should probably be in one of them.


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## DigitalMan (Jan 21, 2009)

TehBrownPup said:


> I don't like how it says you have to cite inspiration.



Exactly what I was thinking. How did that slip by people until now? "Inspiration" is a concept far outside the boundaries of any law, to the point that its only boundaries lie in the imagination. If that - most inspiration is likely subconscious, in most cases, and people aren't even going to be _aware_ that something inspired them, let alone give credit where it may not even be due. I realize it's probably just there for ass-covering, but seriously.



PervDragon said:


> "By finalizing the submission, you agree that any and all information contained within the description of said submission is truthful and accurate."
> 
> I have a feeling you meant this to be:
> 
> ...



Also a problem. With nothing technically being a "description", everyone is freed from that. On the flip-side, if the _comments_ had to be truthful and accurate, anyone giving some fictional backstory to a drawing is breaking site rules. Definitely needs some more specific wording.

I'll have to look over this and ponder it some more. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's finding loopholes in the rules.


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## Tiomara (Jan 23, 2009)

"Upon submitting to FA you grant the website non-exclusive rights to transmit, resize, store, display, publish or alter any submission media within the boundaries of the site's domains."

So let me get this straight. You could take say fox amoore's music, put it on a cd, and sell it through FA without him giving you permission and it would all be legal? I don't know if anyone has caught this yet, however I feel that this can't be put in there. I can see store, but display and publish? That is infringing on copyright, which will cause you a loss of a lot of users.


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## Kangamutt (Jan 23, 2009)

Tiomara said:


> "Upon submitting to FA you grant the website non-exclusive rights to transmit, resize, store, display, publish or alter any submission media *within the boundaries of the site's domains.*"
> 
> So let me get this straight. You could take say fox amoore's music, put it on a cd, and sell it through FA without him giving you permission and it would all be legal? I don't know if anyone has caught this yet, however I feel that this can't be put in there. I can see store, but display and publish? That is infringing on copyright, which will cause you a loss of a lot of users.



Read what has been made bold, and your question shall be answered.
As well, putting out a Cd like that would be DISTRIBUTION, which is NOT mentioned.
This is essentially copypasta from any online gallery site, like DeviantArt, Myartspace, etc.


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## Tiomara (Jan 23, 2009)

Kangaroo_Boy said:


> Read what has been made bold, and your question shall be answered.
> As well, putting out a Cd like that would be DISTRIBUTION, which is NOT mentioned.



It is also publishing. As long as all transactions are handled through FA, the bold has nothing to do with it. All the bold part means is that it remains within Furaffinity.net.

This means say someone like dragoneer could make a print of your work, and sell it off, and you would never know, because since it was FA and his site, he wouldn't have to answer or ask you.


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## Kangamutt (Jan 23, 2009)

But it's only WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE DOMAIN. As long as it's within "www.furaffinity.net/whatever" it's kosher.


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## Tiomara (Jan 23, 2009)

I rescind my statement and slap myself in the face for stupidity.


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