Saradas and the slow death of amazon art/story/video sites

[Silentcrs]

Normally I don't like to get on soapboxes, but I feel this has to be said:

Amazon art, video and story sites are dying. Saradas is the cause.

I can say this because I know it. Working on one site now (Amy's Conquest), we can trace our content back to Saradas. Speaking with other sites (some that have been around for a decade or more) we're all feeling the same pain.

I know people like to get free stuff. It's human nature. But sites like Saradas cause us to lose revenue. When we lose revenue, we can't afford new content. Sites die.

We've tried to reach out to Saradas. I've even gone as far as to post some of my personal content to try to get enough "karma" to see the links and take them down. The site admins are good (in a technical sense). They track IPs and sometimes outright take your content and repost it under another account so you get no karma. It's an uphill struggle.

I love this community. If you love it too, please don't pirate content from Saradas. I hate using scare tactics, but you're going to see some very well known sites disappear if this continues.

[scissortoy]

As a writer who has contributed to Amy's Conquest (I'm John Castle), I agree. Content piracy kills revenue, which kills any incentive to create new content. Why should I bust my ass creating new stories for a site that can't afford to buy them because they haven't been getting paid for what they've already produced? They lose -- result is, I lose -- result is, you all lose.

I have a mainstream novel coming out. I'd like to keep food on the table while I write it by working on stuff you all will love. But I won't do that for free, or even for chump change. I put the same work into every story that I do for the mainstream stuff, and I'd like to think that it shows. I put stories into my stories, not just cheesy setups for bow-chicka-wow-wow stuff. I put real, honest work into these tales.

And I expect to get paid for it. What craftsman doesn't expect to get paid? We don't do it just for the money, none of us does, but without the money, we might as well be hucking spitballs at the moon.

So, please, for the content creators -- if you find a site that produces stuff you like, support it. Could be AC, could be any site -- but keep it above board. That keeps us in business, and us being in business keeps writers and artists producing the stuff you love.

They've also caused a lot of prejudice to the m/w world for many years by outing the real name of about all m/w session women wanting to keep it private. Many of them, fans, even Bill Wick tried to explain how destructive this was but it fell into deaf ears.

Concerning copyright why don't you file a complain collectively with other creators and producers.

That's what I know about Copyright :
- Copyright is the right of the owner to reproduce or permit someone else to reproduce copyrighted works.
- "Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device" [U.S. Copyright office].
- Copyrightable works include : stories, pictures and graphics, music, plays and screenplays, adiovisual recordings such as movies, etc…
- Even if a document or image on the web does not have a copyright notice, it is still protected by copyright laws.

[galaxy advisory]

Folks, thank you for posting this.
My dad used to say, "There ain't no free lunch." I was very poor at one time in my life, and I'm certain (probability-wise) that many lovers of this fetish aren't swimming in free cash (or must "hide" it to some extent), so the allure of piracy is amplified.
That still doesn't make it right. "Oh, just this once.... After all, what HARM can it do?"
But of course it does, not only financially, but psychologically and motivationally, to the originators (to whom I tip my hat).
Let's hope for the sake of all that everyone can keep their collective chins up... and NOT allow opportunists to be architects of demise.
-A.

[squeezing2]

Yes I'm the owner/creator of one of those decades old sites and wholly agree that this Saradas site/forum has gotten way out of hand. I can overlook content being shared person to person(or even really old stuff being posted), but when it is posted (especially within days after first appearing online) to the big file sites and downloaded - sometimes over a thousand times - it goes too far. I wish I could talk directly to some of these VIP members(and the 100% karma people)on this site to let them try to realize they will soon be sharing just the same old images over and over again, as we will not be creating anything new that will be ripped off as soon as it goes online. Perhaps someone could think about it the next time they click to some file server site and notice the file they are about to download has been downloaded so many times before…think about what that number means to us creators. Potential $ for paying artist, writers, models, etc. Or just making a living so we have the time to create more material we all love to read/view and collect. If you actually have the income to afford a membership to our sites please join us and keep the golden goose laying … at least until the internet goes belly up. Cheers!
LH

[Darkdragon]

why dont you just mark your files with some sort of code and then you can easily found out which user is spreading your content and then confront that user.
Also to be honest only 3% of the user who pirated would have bought your stuff anyway.

[mixfightor]

Sorry, this Saradas place... Isn't it just bodybuilding stuff? I remember looking at it ages ago and dismissing it. I'm sorry if it is stealing your hard created materials but if you want to keep people away from there, perhaps drawing attention to it might not be the best method. I had forgotten it even existed.

[StarWars1977]

Unfortunately, this just isnt the case. Not taking a stand against crime (and make no bones about it, Saradas and everyone who posts copyrighted material there are criminals), pretending its not there, forgetting its happening, is not the way to make it disappear, in fact behaviour like that only allows it to flourish.

Like LH, my Amy's Conquest site is also affected quite severely by what Saradas is promoting, rewarding their members who post our copyrighted material that is not theirs to post, so others (very probably, Many others) can get them for free.

As mentioned above, when this happens on such a large scale, this means less members join our sites, meaning we make less money, meaning we cant afford to keep commissioning the top notch products for our members that we would like to, and around and around it goes. In the end, this means the end of sites like ours, and that means Amazonian themed sites that our fans love and enjoy, will be no more.

This all starts with the Illegal Mass Distrubition of our material on Saradas. They know what theyre doing, they know theyre hurt sites like ours, and they dont care. But, I would like to think that WE, admirers of all things female muscle, amazon, etc DO care, that WE care enough to not support Saradas, which in effect is hurting us, Big Time.

And for those who think its just LH-Art and Amys Conquest that are being affected with this, think again. Saradas is Stealing material from HEAPS of different sites, artwork and video themed, and each time someone posts our material there (and for what, for made up karma?), its another nail in our coffins.

This isnt what might happen, I can say first hand, this IS happening now. Im not trying to be selfish or greedy here, Lord knows I give away Heaps of free material for you all to enjoy, but when people and sites profit off of our work, our funding, taking away what should belong to us, well that can only go on for so long before alot Amazing sites disappear, leaving fans of this genre (myself included) with nothing.

Turning a blind eye to this, pretending that it doesnt exist, thats just not an option for us, and if youre a fan and supporter of ANY of the multitude of sites that Saradas is ruining, that shouldnt be an option for you all either.

Thanks, DTM.

From a quick Google search it seems that these are the actions to take :

1. File your creation to your country's copyright office
2. Keep the proof of stolen content (screen prints)
3. Write a formal "Cease and Desist" letter to the website administrator
4. If no response or compliance do the same to the Host
5. If not solved file a DMCA complaint to Google to have it banned from Search Engine
6. If not solved → copyright lawyer.

On whois.net it shows that saradas.org is hosted by DomainsByProxy.com a Godaddy company based in Scottsdale Arizona.

[iceman75]

I'm sorry to say that at one point I did take part in the degradation of great sites like Amy's Conquest and LH-Art by using Saradas to get their content, but not anymore, I made a conscious decision about a year ago that I would pay for that content, I am a member of LH-Art.com, so I will get those stories and illustrations there, and now I buy any Amy's Conquest stories I want by using their store, which is easy and safe to buy from. I suggest that if I can do that, a lot of other people here at this site can do the same. It's really not all that much money in the long run, I highly recommend paying the original artists and contributors rather than getting them second hand off a site like that.

I will say though that there are great original stories at Saradas, but that's the only good part about it anymore.