Community guidelines

Artscapy exists for art enthusiasts to come together, connect, share ideas, and explore art in a positive and engaging environment. As such, our hope is that you will interact with others as peers and we encourage comments, discussions, and contributions from all our members.

We have a very simple request for you, which is to please stay on topic, respect other people’s opinions, avoid profanity, offensive statements, illegal content, and anything else that might otherwise violate our standard Terms of Use. You may disagree with an idea, but please be respectful of others at all times.

Beyond this little request, we’ll leave here below a few notes (common sense, really) that serve as guidelines for the kind of content and behaviour that we hope to foster within the Artscapy community, and those that we wish to avoid.

Note that by using our platform you agree to abide by these guidelines as well as our standard Terms of Use. If you don’t agree with these guidelines and policies, we won’t take offence, but perhaps Artscapy isn’t the community for you.

As a point of clarification, when we say online community we mean all of the places on Artscapy.com where members and visitors socialise and can contribute.

We may update these guidelines and recommend you check back once in a while. We'll also continue to introduce new community features which will fall under these guidelines.

Finally, we ask for your help in keeping the good spirits of our community alive by notifying us if you see or experience any behaviour or content that violates these guidelines or would generally be considered inappropriate. Throughout the Artscapy.com site you’ll see flags that let you notify us of things that breach the rules. Our only request in this regard is that you log in to report things – we think this is the best way to avoid abuse of this function.

You can always email info@artscapy.com with feedback, questions or issues about our online community.

1. Things to do
   • Be nice and respectful - We're a community of art enthusiasts from all over the world, who all have the right to feel comfortable and who may not think what you think, believe what you believe, or see what you see. So, be polite and respectful in your interactions with other members.
   • Enjoy and share your ideas and thoughts about art - This is your community and we have built and continue to develop Artscapy with the art lovers at heart... We therefore encourage you to be social and share what's important to you. Be sincere in your contributions and post with purpose: to inspire, enable or share with fellow art enthusiasts. See the art world through others' eyes, participate, find your muse, and expand your horizons!

     And while you’re at it, please stay relevant - we’re a community all about art, and we’d like to keep it that way. Off-topic discussions and links to other websites will be removed at our sole discretion, or moved and placed in the appropriate sections of the platform.

   • Welcome new users and members at all stages of their exploration into the art world - As an open community, we want to welcome all new members and visitors, whether they are big collectors or those who are just curious to learn more and cultivate their passion for art. We hope that you will share our open mind, and constructively engage in discussions in areas of your art interests.
   • Only upload artworks into your published collection and for sale that are in your possession - Our aim is for you to be able to manage and eventually share and showcase your collection (if you choose to do so), and do so only for artworks that you actually own. The same goes for artworks that you want to sell. This means don't upload into your shared collection any photos or videos of artworks that aren’t yours or other people have shared and pass them off as your own. We’re an honest community!

     If you are worried about being identified as a particular individual owner, rest assured knowing that your real identity does not need to be revealed, unless you choose to do so - like Banksy! ;) You can create your own username to ensure this.

2. Things not to do

   Artscapy is an open and welcoming platform, and we like to have everyone feel welcome to join and contribute. But, if we discover you stepping across any of these below lines, we will take action, which may mean we will reserve our right to delete the content or comment in the first instance. At worst, we may have to deactivate your account.

   • Don’t be a ‘know it all’ - Openly share your thoughts and insights, not your attitude. Inspire, rather than judge or dismiss someone’s views.
   • Don’t post personal details or private information about any other person (or otherwise violate our Privacy Policy - https://artscapy.com/page/privacy)
   • Don’t hide behind your username to act with impunity - We respect the right of our members to be anonymous, which may lead some people to say things they wouldn’t if they were in person. Don’t be one of those members or visitors. If you’re tempted, remember, we can see who you are, even if other members can’t.
   • Don’t be or feed a ‘troll’ (that is, someone who posts essentially with the aim of agitating others) - Trolls post messages or content deliberately designed to get the blood boiling. Replying to or arguing with a troll is feeding. The best pest control is to ignore, and use the flag to let us know about them so we can deal with it.
   • Don't upload in your shared collection, or in a way that can deceive other members, photos of artworks that aren’t yours - This includes other people's photos, video, and/or content you've copied or collected from around the Internet.
   • Don't violate copyright laws - Don’t post images that are not yours to post, without the appropriate permission and credit.
   • Don't upload content that is illegal or prohibited - This includes but is not limited to drug use, bestiality, and terrorism. If we find you doing it, your account will be deleted and we'll take appropriate action, which may include reporting you to law enforcement.
   • Don’t harass other users - Artscapy is not a forum for you to harass, abuse, spam, impersonate, or intimidate others. Be polite and respectful in your interactions with other users.
   • Don’t use hate speech - Artscapy is a global community and we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards attacking a person or group based on, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, disease, age, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. We will also not tolerate comments and content that are defamatory, indecent, hateful, sexist, disgraceful, vulgar or inappropriate.
   • Don’t promote or encourage self-harm - We do not tolerate promotion of self-harm or the encouragement of others to do things that might cause them to get hurt.
   • Don’t spam - We do not tolerate spam, period. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive favouriting, excessive commenting, deceptive tagging, deceptive photo titles and descriptions, or resource abuse.
   • Don't use the Artscapy community for commercial activity, unless you’re a professional member - The only allowed commercial activity of a non-professional Artscapy member is to sell artworks from their own collection, after successfully completing our verification process, by posting them to the Collector-to-Collector marketplace. To read more about how to sell a piece from your collection, see our ‘How to’ section on selling artworks on the marketplace.
   • Don’t try to sell artworks that are not in your possession - You may only submit artworks for sale through our Collector-to-Collector marketplace if they are in your possession.
   • Don’t be a flipper - don’t attempt to sell an artwork within 12 months of its primary release from the artist or his/her designated representative - Art should be enjoyed, not treated as a commodity. At Artscapy, we are firmly committed to not facilitate the resale of recently released artworks, whether it is for the purpose of making a profit or not. Therefore, please respect the artist and refrain from attempting to sell a recently released artwork by abstaining from placing it for sale on our platform. Such requests to post to the marketplace will be denied and we reserve the right to delete posts about selling such artworks from the feed, discussions, groups, and any other sites belonging to the Artscapy platform.
   • Don’t excessively post about artworks you wish to sell outside of the marketplace - You are welcome to announce on your feed that you have an artwork for sale at the marketplace by sharing the marketplace link, but please refrain from excessive posting about the item in the public feed and other sections of the Artscapy platform. We are first and foremost here for you to connect with other art lovers and to exchange ideas about art and engage in insightful discussions, not to act as a marketplace feed. We reserve the right to delete posts about artwork for sale that we deem excessive, at our discretion. Note that our platform already features tools that will ensure exposure of the artworks recently added and relevant for the other community members.
3. Guidelines for professional users

   All guidelines we have listed so far apply also to professional members, but above and beyond these, we also ask our professional members to abide by the following rules. We believe these are common sense, but we will monitor activities and reserve our rights to take action to prevent and remove inappropriate behaviour at our sole discretion.

   Artscapy is your community to interact with your collectors and customers, whether contractual or prospective, and to do so in a meaningful way. We greatly encourage you to share news about your organisation as well as publicise and invite members to events you are hosting, such as exhibitions, vernissages, or opening nights. You may sell artworks or other products/services through the relevant marketplace. Note that there is a professional marketplace to sell artworks (coming soon), and there is a separate marketplace for related products and services such as framing, appraisal, insurance, transport, storage etc. (coming soon).

   You are welcome to announce on your feed and in your dedicated group(s) that you have artworks or other products and services for sale at the marketplace, but please refrain from excessive posting about these in the public feed and other sections of the Artscapy platform. Artscapy is first and foremost here for you to connect with other art lovers and to exchange ideas about art and engage in insightful discussions, not to act as a marketplace feed. We reserve the right to delete posts about artworks and products/services for sale that we deem excessive, at our discretion.

   Similarly, we will not tolerate spamming of our non-professional members with any kind of sale solicitation. Interact with collectors and enthusiasts respectfully.

4. Reviews

   Collectors and art lovers

   We do not permit businesses to create fake reviews and will not allow them to rebut or contact our non-professional members. For fellow collectors and enthusiasts to get maximum benefit, remember to make your review constructive, balanced and full of as much context as possible.

   Professional users

   Collectors might review you on our website. We ask that you embrace the feedback, whether it is good or bad, as not everyone will have the experience you plan or hope for.

   Please don’t try and reply to a collector’s review on our website. Resolve issues on your own time, through your own channels. If you think a review constitutes defamation, please contact us and describe the occurrence at info@artscapy.com. Defamation is strictly prohibited. Upon receipt of a valid defamation notification, we will delete the review and contact the Poster/s in relation to their comments.