Voxann’s Blog

Another two dragons and their scary powers. Kralkatorrik and Mordremoth.

It is quite relaxing to work traditionally. I hope I will manage to do more.

It’s the best month of the year for all of us autumn aesthetic lovers, and what better way to celebrate than to give out a good old fashioned trick or treat, with more treat than trick, purrhaps~

Similar to my last giveaway, I’ll be giving away some items throughout the month! Here’s what’s up for grabs!

Grand Prize: Shrouded Bench of the Final Judge (Given away to one lucky person at the end of October)

Weekly Prize: 10 Black Lion Chest Keys or an Outfit of your choice

Interested in winning? Here’s how we’ll be determining the lucky winners~

Reblog +1 entry

Like +1 entry

If you happen to be one of my 47 followers before this post goes live, you’ll receive an additional entry in the giveaway for putting up with my slow activity and lack of actual content, despite posts and updates pledging otherwise. However, you don’t need to be a follower of mine to enter this giveaway! Just make sure you follow these simple rules and guidelines!

Make sure you own GW2, and aren’t thinking of dropping it soon. While this isn’t really a rule or requirement so much as it is a guideline, I’d like to give an opportunity to players who’ve had put in a lot of playtime without much to show for.

Please don’t sell it. Again, another guideline really, but if you’re going to be entering this giveaway to sell the chair back for a quick return, then please consider purchasing it yourself.

If you already have the chair and happen to win, please let me know if the chair is going to be a gift for an acquaintance, guildie, etc and provide a screenshot that you did send it to them. Just to be safe.

No giveaway accounts please.

Winners! Make sure to be ready to claim your prizes within 24 hours! I’ll be tagging winners and messaging you directly through Tumblr, so please remember to check if you happen to get the notification!

This giveaway/contest will run until October 30th @ 17:00 CT, with weekly drawings being done on each Saturday @ 17:00 CT except for the last week.    As a general disclaimer, this giveaway is in no part sponsored by ArenaNet.

Hi :3 Hope you like it!

I uploaded it on my gallery on deviantart too

https://cherrylights.deviantart.com/art/Guild-Wars-2-Rata-Sum-undercity-736249892

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

Gᴜɪʟᴅ Wᴀʀs 2: Pᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ Fɪʀᴇ