Zazzle Content Review - Please Hide or Freeze *not* Delete Until the Facts are Known!

[whimsywhim]

I know this has been addressed, but it's getting seriously ridiculous now.  I just got a message about Saturn Devouring his Son which is all over the marketplace on various products.  I have had it myself for, at least, two years with many sales and no problem.  

Suddenly, out of the blue, it's a problem, and I'm going to have a canceled sale.  Why?  Because of excessive violence.  This is so ludicrous, I'm nearly speechless.  Again, I've had it for years on some products that have sold many times with no problem at all.  Further, it is all over the Zazzle marketplace.  

I get that, with numerous other situations, there are legal ramifications.  That is why I and others have advocated for Zazzle to PLEASE put these questionable items in a freeze hold off of the marketplace but NOT to delete them until the facts are established.  This is a prime example.  Another example - a couple of years ago, I had a similar situation where one of the Zazzle content team members thought Skull Smoking a Cigarette by Van Gogh was marijuana.  

We are all human, and we all make mistakes.  Saying that, to automatically delete our work out of ignorance is outrageous.  It takes a lot of time and effort on our part only to have someone on the Content Team delete our work out of sheer ignorance.  

[Mecpublications]

I don't know if Zazzle actively searches for the unacceptable content or if it's reported by someone and Zazzle bots accept the report automatically? There must be tons of reports and it can't be possible to investigate all of them. There must be an auto response and maybe if you object they'll look into it?  I know my images have been reported for copyright infringement occasionally and it's a pain to plead my case.  But content is restored when I show they weren't violations. I don't know an easier way to do it. 

 I admit I wouldn't know about that particular piece of art by Van Gogh either. Obviously the person who reported it missed the painting name and well-know artist's name in description. 

Hope you get it worked out.

Oh, I just remembered some of mine with the words "smiley face" or something like that were deleted. I had lots of products with the tag and title. It was a pain to replace them all. I had them a long time and I believe the problem was the person who created the yellow smiley face wouldn't allow the name to be used. I could have just changed name to smiling face. It wasn't even the image of a yellow smiling face. Making hidden and allowing me to change title would have been better. I see your point now.

[whimsywhim]

Regarding the Van Gogh painting - it was just pure ignorance.  It was a cigarette - not marijuana.  Yet, my products were deleted.  Yes, it was resolved, but I had to start all over again for absolutely no valid reason whatsoever.  

[ColsCreations]

I had no idea what "Saturn Devouring his Son" was so Googled it. Goya and Rubens did versions of it as well as a number of lesser known artists. They all depict a mostly naked baby (there's at least one version with the baby's genitals showing) with a mostly naked adult man doing whoknowswhat to the baby. Yes, it may be Fine Art based on Greek mythology, but the visual imagery is way too risky for a shopping platform like Zazzle. I'm no prude by any means but I wouldn't allow any of the versions I looked at either if I were Zazzle.

I googled it on Zazzle and got 48 results. Take away the 10 that had nothing to do with this and that's only 38 results for this imagery. The ones I clicked on were all only rated G which I don't think is right but even if rated R I still wouldn't allow them. This is a shopping site, not a museum page or art history site, for the hapless shopper who knows nothing of the work or the myth behind it and is only happening on the image, it's disturbing and could be construed as bordering on you-know-what without that needed context. From a purely business angle, I wouldn't allow it, I wouldn't go anywhere near anything that anyone could construe in that way.

I get that you are angry but this isn't a matter of IP infringement so there are no facts to know; it's an issue of content matter which is subjective and totally within Zazzle's right to decide what is and is not appropriate for their platform.

[Anne]

Col, I don't think the issue is this particular image, but in general, when something is reported or for whatever reason (mostly accidentally) violating some rule, it would be helpful to allow the designer to modify it. It could be just a tag or something in the description that could easily be changed. It is very disheartening to have products removed without being able to correct any possible mistake.

[whimsywhim]

We are human and people make mistakes.  To have our work deleted because of ignorance is outrageous.  Freezing and hiding the work in question until the matter is resolved is a better solution.

[whimsywhim]

It's a matter of this content has been on Zazzle for many years.  Mine, personally, for two plus years.  Several sales with no problem.  There is mythology art on this site that makes Saturn Devouring His Son look like a toddler skipping through wildflowers.  Further, mistaking a cigarette for marijuana on a Van Gogh painting is not a matter of merely being subjective but more a matter of being ignorant.  Perhaps only Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood should be allowed.  

[Mecpublications]

I really think it's an auto thing and I believe someone viewing the product reported the image. I've never used the report function so don't know if you can write in reason for reporting like "this skull is smoking a marijuana cigarette." They didn't say weed or pot so probably not familiar with what a "marijuana cigarette" looks like. I also wonder if it was someone who accidentally pushed report.

Because of these possibilities and considering the work needed to create products not to mention the product will now have no history of views, likes  reviews, hidden or whatever freeze is, would be more appropriate.

I wonder if someone who has same product image wanted to step up in search.

Once again I'm going the route of "it's someone out to get you." Apologies. Even so...

[whimsywhim]

I think it's more like profound ignorance.

[Mecpublications]

It's a definite possibility. Whimsy. If we could only lift the curtain and see who the wizard really is. I think it's good you brought this up in the forum. At least Zazzle is aware of the issue now. 

Your posts are a hoot to read. You made me laugh a couple times now.  Keep on Zazzling. 

[whimsywhim]

Glad I could make you laugh.  😊  I really do try to be diplomatic, but in some situations like this one, I slip because it's just so absurd.  

[Barbara]

Because you mentioned the loss of a sale, it indicates it was a human who made the determination of the image being unacceptable. The final place our work is checked is when it starts in the printing process, and if the person looking at it decides against the design, it is, as you say, the loss of a sale. I've had it happen a few times where the designs contained names like Elvis or the Olympics, which were found during printing. I had to remake them. That part I understood, given that the names were part of the printed design. What I don't understand is what appears to be a process wherein an algorithm not only spots errant tags but also summarily deletes the products they're attached to and then generates an automated email to the designer. Tags are so easily and quickly corrected; remaking an entire product, not so much.

Colorwash's Home

[whimsywhim]

That's why holding / freezing the product(s) off of the marketplace in the meantime is more logical.  

[Artsiren]

Kind of a tangent here, but I think deleted designs must still be around on the system for a while after they are 'deleted'. I once had a bunch of products yoinked off the marketplace based on having a background made of different colored stripes. I queried it, as I couldn't see how stripes could be offensive or infringing on intellectual property, etc. I literally chose the colors using the color picker on a logo that was also part of the design, so it all matched nicely.

All the products got restored. So they were still somewhere on the system. But there are definitely ones I've had removed, where I probably could just delete a tag and been fine - instead had to re-create the whole listing. In those cases, like you (OP) say, it would be nice if the design was just Hidden pending amendments to the design, tag, or whatever.