all the items and skins i create are for personal use only it says that in the description of every object i make.

How about never giving away a file that you had to pay for somehow.:D

The Sims Thieves site came out of the Sim Cloning Wars era. Very dark days for many gamers and artists, it was.

JD, the rule you posted, not word for word, but that idea came out of those times, too. A Sims Golden Rule, as it were.
and the only rule for fans and download users.

Now if you want to come up with Sim Artist Rules for those artists with or without a website:

-Display the Sim Golden Rule on your site, making it highly visible, or don't.

-All your object, wall, and floor downloads contain a readme file. Title should be unique, not just "readme," Using [object name]-readme is favorable. Include Sim Golden Rule in your own words, credits, thanks, placement instructions, disclaimers, site address, and such or not.
---You can use "infringement" and "copyright" in your golden statement or not.
---Never threaten what you can't backup.

-If a download becomes an issue of corruption remove it from your site until repairs are made to the file or don't. A short explanation is a courtesy or an inconvenience to you.

-If you find one of your items on another site without your permission, contact the site owner to resolve before complaining to their site provider or involving forums, or don't.

-Double check link html. Test all new links.
Test for broken links or appoint a link proofer/fixer and display their email address for link problem reports, or don't.

-When using other artists work in your displays, give credit to them giving their site link in the mention or expect 'where can I get ___' emails, or not.

-Add Disclaimers to your Maxis relationship, corporate/copywritten images, etc. in full view, can help your case if company lawyers get huffy...and find you...or not.

-Use/Subscribe to one or more of the Artists Rules or you might receive boodles of emails with repetitive questions, or not.

Ok, what have I missed?

There's a Yahoo egroup called "Sim Thieves" that get together just for this very thing...They've contacted me several times because they found some of Homeslice's goodies in egroups and on other sites. It's nice to know that people are looking out for us.

It's harder to watch out for JD's items though. Since this is a paysite, people aren't as familiar with what is here. I'm sure people get away with much more because of that.

Ok, well its pretty much what you said jd, dont tamper with ANY usermade thing without their permission, i started putting that in my readmes:)

I guess the most important rule is that you NEVER redistribute a skin or object without the permission of the artist themselves.

Check out the fine print on websites, there may be permission already there.

Let me clarify on what rules we are looking for...

- The recoloring, distribution and altering of objects and skins from Sim sites.

I have a solution for all the shady yahoo groups and other groups with the same format.

If they do offer our downloads for free, then we will find out how many times the item has been downloaded and times it by $4.00, and there is how much they will owe us. Sound Fair?...I think so.

I was chatting with Blade and we both agree that clear cut rules for this community need to be established to eliminate any confusion.

We all have these "unwritten rules", that we expect everyone to know.

Lets come up with these rules together, please post a rule or two that you believe in. After the messages stack up, we will go through and edit and create a set of rules based on them.

;)