He quote retweeted a small twitter saying a gay joke he made in a tweet sucked and then went on to post about how he loved it when people deactivate after he responds to them (said person did so fearing further harassment and doxxing) then went on stream and said doxxing doesnt matter and isn’t worth worrying about in defense of himself, then he got doxxed almost immediately afterward and now if you search dream on twitter you’ll just see his entire shit
[id: a reply from @/biomic reading “what happened this time” / end id]
The Patreon Mafia/Cowbuild Gate/Tracking/Doxxing Summary and Links
We’re seeing a lot of people confused or just catching up about the situation so here are some helpful links:
The rundown is some big creators like Cowbuild, Bergdorf, Hermajesty Builds, and Anto had a list of their’s leaked where they were exchanging private information of suspected leakers. In violation of Patreon TOS, EU law & UK Law privacy laws.
Anto has since apologized and confirmed the existence of this list and that some members of this group were tracking their cc. His apology has been deleted.
The methods used to track is the warehouse tab in sims file share, baking user info into blender files and by monitoring download links. This is why so many permanent paywallers make their patrons beg for links, so they can track each piece of cc.
Last week we also released a post that documented more information that Cowbuild has been committing Copyright Infringement and Intellectual property theft, this has been confirmed by one furniture brand. Thats all for now.
The screenshot is fake of course. EA support can’t do anything without Origin account names and as far as I’m aware, the two people you have such a vendetta against @mack3030 and @simbelene have not posted them publicly. They’re not going to chase people off platform because they said things you don’t like. You are not besties with EA.
Also, apparently the gurus are not actual EA employees so does that mean that other photoshopped screenshot saying that perma pay-walling is alright as long as you made that mesh from scratch is alright holds no weight now? Never did lol.
ALSO! There are a lot of discrepancies between your EA support chat and mine I had less than 10 mins ago~
I ran these through the FotoForensics site and they do a damn good job at letting me know of photo manipulation between a legit convo and fake one. You can also notice how my convo has an EA icon next to support’s response while her’s does not.
I must be bad at math cause this shit ain’t adding up.
These people are becoming so damn desperate and afraid that’s its making them unhinged to the point they tell on themselves. Expect to see more of this as this continues to pan out. Cause what you know, that post is gone, I wonder why? surely if that’s a legit conversation, there would be no need to delete. Seeing a lot deleting/deactivating lgoing on suddenly..mmm.
Also, forgive me guys, I totally forgot to share this of last year. I sent this immediately over to rebels to sound the alarm, so they can take extra measures to be safe.
Of course they confessed this on the one site they knew it would be safe to hide their identity. But hey what we know, after all “there’s no doxxing ring” right?
Also for the record, I am literally in a school building with cameras and computers with open screen monitors and I have been here since this morning. I have not had TIME to remotely open tumblr or send any sort of threat. And my work can verify that and I have witnesses!
IF someone did this (which I doubt because lies have ABOUNDED during this entire process) then they are responsible for their own actions. Because NOWHERE in my entire blog have I ever told people to send death threats.
Also I find it super suspicious that the “videos” posted are super short and only show small parts of the “conversation” and not the part in question. But then again I may not be able to see all of them as PV is blocked.
Or: Let’s Discuss the REAL Issue Here in the Sims Community
-
I’ve seen the argument again and again: “You don’t have to support them if you don’t want to. You’re not entitled to someone’s content.”
It’s not about being entitled to content. NO ONE is “owed” content. Period.
It’s about the situation that paywalls put the community in and it is about respect–paywalls foster a division between the people who have money in the community and those who don’t, and it breeds attitudes of undeserved superiority and entitlement on the part of the permapaywall “creators.” It’s not harassment to point out that these people are toxic as hell and it doesn’t help that people keep defending them, but then do nothing for nothing for us early-access and free creators.
This whole fucking mess is REALLY about treating people fairly and having respect for the community and other artists. The fact that permapaywall defenders are so hung up on the materialism of it is proof enough that this community has a serious problem.
I am an artist and a creator and a member of this community too. Do I not matter because I am not ~a brand~, or because I am not ~luxe~ and popular enough? Are the people who download content somehow less deserving of respect than CC creators? Permapaywallers do not deserve to act as though they are above being held to account for how they treat others, for lying about where their CC comes from, and for acting entitled to people’s money. Again, it is about treating people fairly and permanent paywalls will do nothing but divide a community whether or not someone chooses to support them.
God forbid someone shares something with someone who cannot afford it, and then they get doxxed and have their privacy violated as a result. How is that fair or respectful? They PAID for the content. They BOUGHT it. It was a business transaction, end of. So, why is that someone not worth having their privacy respected, but a permapaywaller can get away with such behavior simply because they put items up for download?
I will say it again and again: This is about how we as a community intend to treat each other and permapaywallers are not above being held accountable for their actions, PERIOD.
NO ONE IS ENTITLED TO CONTENT. AND NO ONE IS ENTITLED TO MONEY.
This is an unpopular opinion, I know, but allow me to clarify what I mean by that.
No one is “owed” content. If a creator isn’t feeling up to doing x, y, or z projects, the community should be respectful of that. They should not demand an artist’s time and they should be considerate of an artist and their life outside the computer. Artists SHOULD be compensated for their work. So many people want to take advantage of people offering commissions and freelance work to get something for cheap/free.
HOWEVER.
No one is entitled to someone’s money. Especially not when the product(s) provided is/are derivative. If a friend shares a set on a Discord server because a lot of people can’t afford the permapaywaller’s prices, and that person gets doxxed simply because they shared a product THEY BOUGHT with people who were unable to pay for it themselves… Who is in the wrong, here? The person doing the doxxing, obviously, because it is a direct intent to violate a person’s privacy in retaliation for sharing a product they paid good money for.
Bottom line: People should not be punished for sharing CC they bought with actual money and people should not be punished for not having money to buy it to begin with. Putting a derivative work up for download does not mean you have the legal right to treat people like shit, harass, or violate a person’s privacy, in retaliation for sharing your content.
Now time for some strawmen!
“You don’t have to support those people.” Yep, I sure don’t. And the problem with that statement is the ignorance of the broader culture around permapaywallers and their “brands” and exclusivity.
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the Sims community in the last 5-7 years, which is where the most exclusive and popular content becomes the predominant content in builds shared widely across multiple platforms. I see free content creators’ work get sidelined because God forbid the latest felixandre or harrie set not be featured in someone’s build, because we all want to suck up to the big name creators and builders, we all want to be exclusive to get those notes, etc.
It’s become harder and harder to find and promote free content because people seem to just not care if it’s not posted as a CC Kit and if it’s not bougie and exclusive enough. And if you can’t admit or even be bothered to see that non-exclusive creators are getting sidelined by this, then I don’t know what else to tell you. (And before someone says, “you’re just jealous”–I’m really not. I have a day job and I also maintain anywhere between 55-65 patrons and have done since 2020. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, to the point that I’m willing to give my early access content away if someone is excited enough and is nice enough to ask for it before the 2 weeks are up.)
“Artists should be compensated for their work!” Yes, they should. And don’t you dare act as though that means anyone who monetizes content is suddenly above being held accountable for their actions. Don’t you DARE use the sanctity and respect creators deserve as a platform to gaslight people into thinking toxic and aggressive behavior is OK. Consumers are taken advantage of just as much as freelance creators, usually by the biggest companies or, in this case, the people who make the most money–and usually with meshes that have been proven to be stolen or converted and then lied about.
“I don’t blame people for going after pirates!” No artist worth their salt is going to be okay with violating people’s privacy–ie, breaking the law–simply because someone shared their pixels after purchasing them.
I’m gonna say it louder for the people in the back:
No artist who is actually a real proper creator would be okay with breaking the law simply because someone else shared content that was purchased from them.
“But it’s piracy!!” You don’t seem to care about that when you ask for the game crack to TS4, or literally any other game or free download. Also, it isn’t piracy to copy and paste a file that is based around derivative work that is actually owned by a proper company (in this case, EA). That’s like saying it’s piracy to repost a fanfic you commissioned, with proper credit given to the original writer. You bought it, it’s yours, and just because other people’s eyeballs looked at it doesn’t mean the original creator loses out on traffic or revenue.
As long as credit to the original creator is given, derivative work is not piracy. It is literally just free advertising.
When someone subbed to my Patreon and threatened me with spreading my early access content, I thanked them, and offered to refund them the money. You want to pay me money to spread my content around? Fucking SURE. That is literally advertising and I’ll let you do it for free.
“You’re hurting the artist making their living!” If they’re such a damn good artist and creator, they should join actual communities and websites who make a real living creating 3D models. Plenty of people DO do this as a job and they make actual good money doing it because they’re good at what they do. The reason a lot of these people aren’t doing that is because they use assets and free softwares based around EA’s Sims 4 coding and they take 3D models other people have made and convert them. So, no, it’s not actually hurting anyone for that reason either.
Strawmen are done now.
-
At the end of the day, this is about what kind of community we want to build and how we ultimately want to treat each other. The fact is this community DOES need to reckon with how it treats its creators and how the creators treat the community.
Paywalls are dividers between the haves/have nots. Trying to deny that juxtaposition and its cultural/psychological effect just makes people look thoughtless and short-sighted. We need to be more supportive of each other period, and that means not kneecapping or dividing ourselves. It means not cheapening the heart in CC creation by putting more importance on content than on the community itself.
The community has fallen over itself (in large part) for “luxe urban luxury” exclusive CC. But I think it would be silly to just blame that on immature people/kids when it’s really a result of the capitalist nightmare we’re living in. It’s like blaming a fever on wearing too many layers instead of addressing the infection as the source.
As for how to change that… well, I don’t know, honestly. I really don’t know where to go from here. But what’s important now is that we bring these issues out into the air for discussion.
We need to figure out where we’re headed as a community and how we want to treat each other going forward. And we need to figure out how we’re going to deal with the people who don’t want to play nice with the rest of us.
And, to the people who disagree and don’t want to be mature or civil about this: Just like you say we don’t have to buy CC, you don’t have to read this post, or participate. Go run along back to Twitter or wherever it is you want to be rude and snide. I don’t care. I have a life and a full time job and I also know what grass feels like. Take time to pet a cat or dog, touch some grass, tell someone you care about that you love them. It’ll do you some good.
Since apparently reading is a little too much to handle for people who want to take legal action over being held accountable for DOXXING OTHERS???
-
CLIFFNOTES VERSION:
1. IT IS NOT ABOUT WANTING FREE CONTENT. IT IS ABOUT TREATING EACH OTHER WITH RESPECT AND PERMANENT PAYWALLS ARE INHERENTLY TOXIC AND HARMFUL TO COMMUNITIES. PAYWALLS ARE DIVISIVE AND HAVE SUPPORTED AN “EXCLUSIVE”, OBSESSIVE COMMUNITY TREND THAT ACTIVELY HARMS FREE AND EARLY ACCESS CREATORS. THIS IS ABOUT COMMUNITY, NOT CONTENT.
2. NO REAL ARTIST WOULD DOX SOMEONE FOR SHARING CONTENT THAT PERSON PAID GOOD MONEY TO RECEIVE.
3. CREATORS DESERVE SUPPORT AND RESPECT. SO DOES THE AVERAGE COMMUNITY MEMBER. IT GOES BOTH WAYS.
4. SHARING CUSTOM CONTENT THAT IS LEGALLY OWNED BY ELECTRONIC ARTS IS NOT PIRACY. GET OVER IT. ACCEPT THE PAID ADVERTISING.
5. WHEN SOMEONE DECIDED TO “””STEAL””” MY EARLY ACCESS CONTENT, I OFFERED TO REFUND THEM. THAT’S BECAUSE I’M NOT DOING THIS FOR THE MONEY. AND IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS FOR A LIVING, THERE ARE LEGITIMATE AVENUES FOR DOING FREELANCE 3D WORK, SO I PAUSE TO WONDER WHY PEOPLE DON’T USE THOSE INSTEAD. ALSO, IT’S NOT THEFT IF IT’S INTENDED TO BE FREE.
6. CUSTOM CONTENT IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN COMMUNITY.
7. NO ONE OWES YOU MONEY FOR SOMETHING YOU DO NOT LEGALLY OWN. IF YOU WANT ENTITLEMENT, LOOK IN A DAMN MIRROR.
8. PERMANENT PAYWALLS ARE POISON ON THIS COMMUNITY AND WE CAN ONLY MOVE FORWARD BY GETTING RID OF THEM AND LEARNING TO RESPECT AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
9. STOP TRYING TO ATTACK PEOPLE WHO ARE VICTIMS OF DOXXING. GROW THE FUCK UP AND LEARN NOT TO BE A MONSTER. IF YOU CAN’T TAKE WHAT YOU DISH OUT TO PEOPLE, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN CAUSING HARM TO PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
10. WE NEED TO LEARN TO UPLIFT EACH OTHER AND BOYCOTT PERMANENT PAYWALL CREATORS.
This ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️ ☝️☝️☝️
This speaks VOLUMES as a WHOLE community! It’s not that hard.
I DO NOT SUPPORT THE CREATORS IN QUESTION WHO ARE DOXXING AND STEALING CONTENT AS WELL AS CLAIMING THEY MADE IT.
Yes I have patreon but I’m one of the few who still actually make my own cc. And everything I make is something I’ve made from scratch.
I support what @littleblackbooksims is doing and applaud these hard working individuals!!! It’s disgusting what these people are doing to this community.
I dug too deep you guys…..I wasn’ t supposed to know all this!
Ma'am, I’m just here to write my fanfic okay? (which I still need to work on. I have to somehow make Loki and Doctor Strange like each other.) I shouldn’t know all this, but I do. And now you have to too!
As most of you already know, I’m pretty vocal when it comes to people acting like assholes online. I’ve already been dubbed the vigilante of simstagram.
“And with great power, comes great responsibility” - Uncle Ben
In doing that, I find like minded people (or they find me). On more than one occasion I’ve had people ask me if I could dig into[insert creator here]. Sometimes I find stuff, sometimes I don’t. But this here found me!
Before we even get into the tea, let me say this (and I cannot stress it enough): I DO NOT HAVE A LIST! Don’t even ask cause I'mma tell you right now, I ain’t got it! All I have are these screenshots that were presented to me and the power of deduction!
What?! Cowbuild part of a doxxing ring? Noooo wayyyyyyy.
One thing to note is the various ways she cooked up to plant user information into files. On Blender and S4S warehouse, certified weirdo behavior. Someone come get this girl, this is next-level paranoia, and the worst part is she’s getting all worked up about………………..
He quote retweeted a small twitter saying a gay joke he made in a tweet sucked and then went on to post about how he loved it when people deactivate after he responds to them (said person did so fearing further harassment and doxxing) then went on stream and said doxxing doesnt matter and isn’t worth worrying about in defense of himself, then he got doxxed almost immediately afterward and now if you search dream on twitter you’ll just see his entire shit
I took my sweet time drawing this page. Haha. But hey! It was worth it in the end. :D
Don’t forget that you can view exclusive Mistika bonus comics and much more on my Patreon for as little as $1 per month! Head over to my page to check it out
I’ve been fielding questions from friends that don’t make cc or do 3-d imaging about how these screenshots mean they stole meshes and did the behind the scenes work to doxx people. So I did a bit of an ELI5.
CC is made up of a few parts,
the mesh, or form that makes the item look 3-d;
the UV Map, or textures, the part that has color;
the programming that allows it to work.
When we recolor something, the texture is split into 3 more layers:
the diffuse layer- the picture
the normal map, also called bump map, an embossed layer that adds dimensionality without polygons;
the specular map, also called spec map, way of telling the game engine where to add shine and how much in what way. (I have a deep dive into spec maps here)
When they talk about baking a watermark into the normal map that means that they are changing the bump map to have a very slight difference that won’t show very much in game, but will in their image editor. Assuming they keep a database of serial numbers and who they sent them out to, it would be easy to keep track of who got what. This is what is meant by “trackers in the cc.” It isn’t a key logger or something, it’s more like how you know if the cash you are handling is legal tender.
Watermarks are so old that the term comes from the parchment and papermaking trades of the Middle Ages. They would take a stamp and press it into the damp sheet and create a thinner area. This would create a mark that would be distinct to the shop that made it and would show when held up to the light. Such things are still employed today by paper makers. Someone who is experienced at editing images and making images wouldn’t need to ask how to make a watermark. It would take experimentation to get it looking the way they wanted it, but it wouldn’t require them to consult about how to do it at all. They might want to see if there’s an easier way or post about how they do it asking about how others do it so they can compare.
In the example about the doll, they are concerned about the level of detail in the doll’s mesh. Every object in the game, including the sims and their clothes is made up of polygons (called polys) that at their most basic look like a pyramid. The more polys something has the more complex it is and the more detailed it is. Think about the way that Mine Craft is compared to The Sims 4 and Grand Theft Auto. If you look at the doll, it is extremely detailed. I can see parts of its eye, the way its cloths wrinkle, individual strands of hair. She says that it has 2,000,000 polys and she would like to get them down to about 20,000. This would reduce the complexity by 99%.
The doll in the Twitter post looks unchanged to me from the original model she purchased, but with a diffuse layer. If 99% of the polys had been removed from that promo shot, then I wouldn’t be able to see the details in the hair and the face in the same way as the mesh shot. I am a rank n00b at blender, but it seems to me that after removing all that detail from the mesh, it would lose most of what attracted me to it in the first place. I would probably be better served by making a new, simpler mesh and then adding the unique details on the diffuse layer. The fact that she’s asking for help to remove this much details suggests that using the decimate tool is too hard for her or that creating a new mesh inspired by this one is beyond her skills.
And finally we come to the lamp which she is wondering how to unwrap. Unwrapping the UV Map is the process of making flat shapes that can be made to cover the mesh. Imagine taking your clothes apart at the seams to lay the pieces flat. This is a basic task someone who was able to make such a complicated lamp would’ve been able to do. There are multiple ways to approach this, generally you’d go for a long trapezoid for the lampshade and various sizes of rectangles for the base.
To sum up: Given these three examples, there is no way she would’ve been able to make the hundreds of items in her back catalog. If she had attempted to make even a quarter of them, she wouldn’t have needed to ask these questions.
Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast but we bring you a PSA about a Doxxer, Harasser, Stalker, and troll in our midst! He has been a problem on several discords and attacked several people on tumblr.
@alecus2013 should be approached with care, blocked, reported, etc in order to keep this community kind and full of love and sexy times….not doxxing lethal threats!
Here’s a big shout out to anyone who continues to NOT respect people’s wishes about their privacy in the community. Congratulations. You have ZERO place in this community and remember what goes around comes around, and karma is a bitch….
I found the guy who probably outed @m-ary and @ffafeed and I reported him to the fbi I hope they do something about him
He’s a danger to our community and he’s a terrorist
PLEASE BOOST AND REBLOG
PLEASE REBLOG THIS! None of us need to just sit back and take this from anyone! @reallilaclizard has gotten this started, now let’s all help take out the trash!
You all know I am a “Free” creator and I will stay as such! I am a house wife and mother…sitting here in my house, creating CC that I like and share with others that may also find my creations useful for their game.
Creating takes time and energy…It’s not as simple as just adding a cube in blender and slapping a texture on it and calling it a day. I work on sets at my own leisure. Can take a few day…can take a month or longer but it is a hobby that I enjoy doing.
I am not saying that I disagree at all with patreon and people who use it…I’m not! Although I do not support any “Early Access” patreons, I do wait to download when they become free! There are so many creators that I love and I enjoy their CC! My concern is…and I am generally worried for peoples safety…I just don’t understand people not seeing the red flags, especially with all that has come to light! If you have to “BEG” for a link when you are already paying for it (up to $20 even more) …is that not suspicious to you? If they have to DM you with your own personal link…is that not suspicious to you? Permanent Paywalls…is that not suspicious to you? Shady people that are known thieves…is that not suspicious to you? There are terrible people using and sharing your personal information! Is this still not suspicious to you? I feel like people have become blinded by shiny pixels and think, “that will never happen to me” or “DOXXING isn’t real.” It is very real and scary…it is your life, your identity, your safety at stake!
Support your favorite Free or Early Access creators… If for any reason you question the creator…Listen to that little voice inside your head! It’s trying to tell you something!
