Hi Mindy,
Had posted the below yesterday, please fix this. I never use watermarks and do not like the fact that all cards (not only mine) can be downloaded without any problem. Thanks!  
 
Quote from barbara_133221 on May 12th, 2009, 11:05am:
Hi Mindy and Shaun,
wanted to make sure that the watermark was not featuring anymore on my cards, so I went to my store, took one of the latest cards I had made, clicked on it, zoomed in large view.
Then, on an impulse, I thought, let's check if the "this image is copyright protected" function is working, so I right-clicked on the large view image- got the "This Image is Copyright Protected.  This function has been disabled." message, but right-clicked again, and could download without any problems my card!!  
Tried this with several of my cards - could download each and everyone, regardless of the message: "This Image is Copyright Protected.  This function has been disabled."
Tried it with cards from other artists - same problem - I could download every card without any difficulties  
Please check into this!
cheers, barbara
 

Quote from barbara_133221 on May 14^th, 2009, 9:28am:

 
We'll look into this.  It may be browser specific.  What are you using?

Hi Mindy,
I use Vista Windows and I can copy (only tried copying the large view).  Appreciate your looking into this.  I was going to stop using the watermark, but with this little glitch decided to stick with it for safety sake.
Kathy

Hi Mindy,
I can also drag with left click  to my desktop.
Now I'm wondering if I should set my default to include watermark, but that concerns only the new cards. Could you set the old cards also to "default watermark" ???
cheers, barbara

Quote from barbara_133221 on May 14^th, 2009, 9:28am:

 
Hello Barbara,
 
Just so you know, if you really don't want folks to easily be able to use your images by downloading or saving them from the GCU pages you really should reconsider using "watermark".  Personally I don't thinl there should be an option to disable this feature.  It may not look pretty and may be annoying to look at (and there certainly are far better ways to do it) but it is only REAL way to make your image somewhat "safe".
 
Disabling the so called "right click save" function or having it display a "copyright protected" notice is fairly useless as there are at least 2 other very simple ways to download almost any image displayed on just about all webpages.  The "Print Screen" button is by far the easiest. So only the solution is to "deface" your image somehow to make people not want to use it or make it unusable.
 
And if things continue to go the way they are in Congress ... in a few years this will be all be moot anyway.  If the Orphan Works Act is passed we will essentially have no copyright protection unless we pay to register each and every image and verse.  Won't that be fun ... and expensive!
 
Good luck to you
H    

Tom, these are perfectly valid points you make and well worth noting by new contributors, but I feel compelled to remark that you probably never would get to hear of cases of theft if the perpetrators pursued their goals cleverly enough. There is damage, and there is damage. I wonder how many outside readers of these forums are not silently thanking all of us for the ideas and the instructions we've been providing. Are you quite sure of the cause of your drastically reduced sales (which I sincerely regret, by the way; I also fervently believe your vision of the new menu is the view to take - different story, different forum)???  
 
Norval mentioned an intriguing possibility several posts earlier which sounds as if it should be looked into.

Tom  
 
Copyright infringement involving materials displayed online, particularly art, graphic images, and photographs, is rampant and constantly getting worse.  Proposed changes to copyright laws are already making people bolder.  There are many cases where some people are so arrogant they steal images from the very same POD’s they have the audacity to post their products on.  It’s not a good feeling to see your image on a card or some other product on someone else’s site … when you are lucky enough to catch it.  
 
And it IS mostly luck.  Most copyright infringement is never detected.  Image quality doesn’t have to be that high.  Many products are only printed at 100 or 150 dpi.  Profit doesn’t have to be direct.  Many cases simply involve the use of images as background or fill images for web sites and advertisement with no credit or payment to the artist/photographer … sure they aren’t selling the image but they don’t have permission to use it … that’s infringement.
 
“Watermarks” don’t have to detract from the image or be annoying … they just have to be difficult to edit or remove from the image.  One of the nicest examples is on a site called deviantart.com … and there is some beautiful contemporary art and illustration there.  Some folks use it, some don’t … but most of the professional artists and photographers there appear to.  Their site and “watermark” is very well designed.  If GCU knows for a fact that THEIR “watermark” is hurting sales of those who use it, then GCU needs to do a better job … it’s not an inherent problem with using “watermarks”.  If GCU knows for a fact THEIR “watermark” is hurting sales of those who use it and are not doing anything about it … well lets just say that doesn’t say anything particularly good about GCU.
 
There are a lot of contributors to GCU who work hard to create beautiful, artistic images.  Many are posting images of art they have spent a lifetime developing the skills to create or even creating the body of work displayed.  They have the right to protect and feel their images are being protected to the fullest extent possible.
   

Quote from Kathy_135811 on May 15^th, 2009, 7:57am:

 
Thank you Kathy ... I really don't come here often and I hadn't looked at the watermark in a while ... but the watermark was on my cards the last time I looked at them.  Well today it's not.  Can someone please tell me how to turn it back on???  I sure as hell can't figure out how.