[quote=@BrokenPromise]
When you create a work, you do technically have "copyright" over the image. But you do need to pay to have it realized by the Copyright Office so that you can actually prosecute. Which is why I say I doubt very many people have paid the 35-40$ per photo to have their work [i]truly[/i] protected. But that's not really something the forum needs to be looking down the barrel of what few times it does happen. It's much easier to just remove said art.


[/quote]

I don't think it was ever a legal argument as much as it was a common sense/respect argument. Just because you can take something doesn't mean you should. 

The real issue is that moderators have conflicting tasks - they need to safeguard RPG's reputation and status while also maintaining the common decency of members. The fact that an artist requesting/demanding the takedown of an image is even [i]considered[/i] to be [i]possibly[/i] harassment is quite stupid to me, but whatever. 

If we have any measure of seriousness about being 'writers' then we should show equal measure of respect for people in the same branch (who, I dare say, do much harder work). Telling them to fuck off is unacceptable in this situation no matter how rude they are about it all.