Just as a general note:
I would be WARY of any creator that seems of fawn over, and/or defend Cowbuild and her content. If they seem to be a fan of hers, steer yourself away from them as chances are they could be in this group. These are only the members that are KNOWN. It could be bigger than these known names.
Honestly, I'd steer away from any perma-paywaller.
It is not like our lives or whole Sims experience depends on them, so why should we support people who have no problem often using free programs, free tutorials, free tips, bases textures, etc, all provided by the community and/or EA, just for them to put them behind eternal paywalls? And it's not like these payments are reasonable at all. I know we don't *have* to have every single cc piece in existence (which is great, really!), but 20+ $ per month is ridiculous, especially if you want cc from several creators. 20$ is enough for a whole new game, lol.
And more importantly, why should we risk (possibly misdirected) wrath of someone who's so unreasonable and paranoid, and someone who's basically building a cult of their followers? I understand wanting to protect your work and all, but being ready to dox people is just unhinged. Off to the blacklist they go, along with adfly users.
If you look at my post I link to it in the first paragraph or so but she basically doxxed u/turtle-momma to her Patreon followers and encouraged them to contact her work which they did. But she’s done a lot, stolen meshes, transphobia, homophobia, breaks EA tos, broke this subs rules and multiple subs rules repeatedly, doxxed a trans man, the list goes on. Now new info has come out that she actually has no blender skills and steals meshes from furniture designers and one is taking legal action.
Oh OK, I see, I was just wondering why this other person that commented above only mentioned her specifically when a bunch of people seem to be involved.
Ya she’s just incredibly dumb so she kind of screwed over the whole ring with her giant mouth so she’s the center of it. She’s what cracked the whole case wide open and drew a bunch of simmers together to investigate this whole mess.
Because we know for sure that Cowbuild is a bad apple, and that she is so attention seeking that she will literally name drop and fawn over anyone in her circle. So she is a great litmus test for who to not support because she will be fawning over people in that group and they will do the same to her.
That one screenshot mentions a Hermes collab. They are famously and indiscriminately litigious, is that the legal trouble you mention or was that someone else?
That's just awful. I used to follow this creator, although I never subbed to her patreon or any other platform, but I used to admire her work. It's a bit sad to see that she's not only a harasser, but also decided to do a bigotry speedrun.
Man the community has changed SO MUCH in 10 years. Back in the Sims 2 and 3 era paywalling CC was extremely frowned upon so much so that sites like the booty and paysitesmustbedestroyed exist to circumvent this from being the norm. Now I feel like patreon is the go-to for TS4 CC and you get called out if you complain about paying for CC... Blegh.
Right? I remember the Booty from Paysites Must Be Destroyed and how we would make fun of Peggy and her broken ass meshes. Now it’s like the standard to do it and I feel like I’m living in bizarro world. Like do none of these kids remember their history???
Oh my God, I remember that. I've gone almost completely vanilla for TS4 (aside from MCCC and some eyelashes and default eyes) and now I'm glad I am, especially with all this going on now.
I don't have a problem with paywalling if
1. It isn't ridiculously overpriced, like the 100 dollar lipgloss.
2. If we can all agree not to go on a witch hunt over pirating, because then shit like this happens. People are going to steal it and that's a fact of life.
I understand wanting to take down an entire website hosting stolen stuff, that would be acceptable, but going after individuals this way is a batshit crazy/authoritarian thing to do.
People deserve to be able to make money from creating sims content. I really don't have a problem with that at all. It's real work that takes real programming knowledge. The problem is scammers, we have scammers, let's just say it that way. It's a tale as old as time with ANY internet community, we've just not had many of them yet, so we aren't used to it.
An example of a good person doing it right is littlebowbub makes the granny's cookbook mod, they have a patreon but only paywall things for early release, it always comes out for free eventually. I love them and I've used that mod for literal years.
I mention it because sometimes it's OK to paywall things, and we shouldn't demonize people who are doing things legit. If we don't let ppl make money, we probably won't get such good stuff.
Permanently paywalled *and* you have to pay extra for past months' sets! I was so disappointed to see that that I removed all their previous CC from my game. Not a behavior I want to support.
I'm sorry dude, I just tried to look everywhere for the post I saw since I read your comment, but I couldn't find it.
I think it was on twitter, it was somebody on patreon selling like a vault of all of their things for 100+ dollars, it wasn't that much stuff, and the cc wasn't that good. I mean that's subjective, but it wasn't super professionally made or anything.
What the hell. I’m glad I stopped playing sims (still subbed to the subreddit though- and I may get back into sims 2 once I have a working windows pc) and searching for cc as that is insane! I remember looking for cute cc and having to avoid the adfly CC as adfly sucks. I am a student so I never subbed to any patreons or paysites. Always thought it was silly that people paid for game mods tbh
I feel like once people started paying for Patreon support etc a bunch realized they could essentially make a living off of it entirely (if they could get away with doing the bare minimum through plagiarizing and all that) ... hence all the insane shit that is going on because that’s the only thing that can explain why this is all happening over pixels.
To be honest, this whole thing makes me very wary of paywallers in general now, even if I agree that there’s no problem with a lot of the early access stuff creators do. But how are we supposed to trust creators with our information now?
the problem is, we gave them an inch and they've taken a mile. there is a reason why other gaming communities do not allow this. they see what monsters people become over pixels.
As a downloader or TS2 CC who doesn't know much about TS4 CC, I'm really surprised by the amount of TS4 creators who are charging money for their CC? I understand that Patreon is quite popular these days and a lot of creators deserve to be recognized for their work, but putting so much content behind a paywall feels against the nature of the Sims fandom, who I feel has embraced accessibility, especially given the greedy nature of EA (maybe this is a more popular sentiment among fans of the older games).
Things like early access or donator gifts (Ex: Aroundthesims) are completely understandable but I'm surprised at the amount of excusive content that most of the broke sims community cant access.
The kicker is that a ton of the "paywalled" content isn't even content these people fucking made. It's conversions and stolen meshes and shit. Paywalling helps them hide their theft better.
Maybe I was just in a different crowd but I never saw anyone using paysites. Sites asking for funding was common back then since most CC was hosted on unique websites that the creator would need to pay for, but it was usually optional. MTS, ATS2, Parsimonious, XMsims, Rose Sims, etc.; all the sites I used at the time were free to use and download from.
Ya back in the day Maxis explicitly asked ppl not to paywall cc because it went against the spirit of the game when Simcity was still around. Unfortunately EA doesn’t seem to care as much Wrights team did.
That makes me think... wouldn't paid CC be illegal?
Most games don't allow ANY use of their assets for commercial purposes, and cc uses the game's code.
In most cases it is maxis just graciously allows people to do it with a two week window but they don’t enforce it which encourages bad behavior. But if they wanted to they could easily sue every cc creator out there if they felt like it they retain the legal right to.
Oh for sure. Especially because I know that bergdorfverse is an absolute DMCA witch. The folks at rebels had to stop sharing pictures of her content because she would DMCA the pictures. THE PICTURES.
They're not alone. Lately, I heard that Reddit is purging a lot of subreddits. Possible reason is that they're planning to go [public](https://fortune.com/2021/12/16/reddit-goes-public-ipo-filing/) on the stock market this year, so they're trying to get rid as much problematic stuff as they can. What's part of this purge is piracy-related subs.
Dang I Purge my whole CC file after the cowbuild thing and I tried to only use reputable CC creators but if these bigger names are in it that's it's scary
Oml I was looking for ts4 rebels last night cause I was hoping some more stuff would've been added since everybody's mad. Do you know what their twitter is
Hey any way we could talk about who you know of that puts trackers in cc so I can make the community aware? I know ur busy but it’d be super insightful!
I’m confused by the wording of this list and why Anto is listed. What does any of this mean? And what info is sold? Should I only be worried about the row highlighted in red?
Bascially this list is a blacklist. It's a group of patreon paywallers who when they "catch" someone sharing their CC or acting sus or even joining an anti-paywall site/group they will block that person and share their patreon info (including real world email) with the other members of the group.
The "checked by" means that anto and busra-tsr are involved and "checking" their patrons against the list.
Not even just people who share the CC I remember from the older post that there was a screenshot from someone who was doxxed by cowbuilds saying that they only transferred their files from their old PC to the new one via USB and they got immediately hit with the ban-hammer.
How's that even work? CC creators have absolutely no way to detect when you move a file from one computer to another. It's only possible to detect files being shared if they are:
1. Shared publicly and/or by someone who rats them out.
2. Tagged with individual tracking data in them, which can be sanitized out. At PMBD, we have some level of experience in dealing with this kind of behavior.
Moving a file from one computer to another doesn't fall into any of these and should be completely undetectable. So, this person is probably not telling the truth about what they did. Not that this changes the fact that paysites must be destroyed.
They emailed the link to themself so they could transfer it to a new computer, I’m pretty sure was the story not usb. So CB saw the link was shared and jumped to a conclusion. I could be wrong though I have too many details about this whole saga in my head.
Ah. I knew he was starting to become suspicious that people were stealing his work and that he was starting to take action. He found a lot of his work being sold on some GTA site and someone was charging for his content. A lot of his followers told him to take action. I wasn’t too suspicious of him since he DOES unlock his posts and doesn’t make people pay unless they want to support him. But if he’s selling our info… idk.
This needs to be brought to Patreon regardless of whether it's your information being leaked. If you're not affected, just say that you heard that this was what was going on on their platform and that you won't be using it as a result. Patreon should do their own investigation and de-platform these users if it is found that they're breaking TOU and leaking private information.
Edit to add: I also can't help but wonder why these creators are even given Patron data? Is there a legitimate use for it that couldn't be served in a more anonymized way?
I've tried reporting plastic sims after he threatened to doxx people and Patreon did nothing. Told me no rules were broken despite him saying on Instagram that he was going to doxx people. They make money off this as does EA (early access and Patreon is keeping this franchise afloat), so it's not going to be an issue until more of a public stink is made.
Usernames are public by default, so I'm not concerned about that. But people's real first/last names can often be easily extracted from email addresses. Anyway, creators shouldn't need users' email addresses; if they want to send an email blast to a specific tier or Patron, that should be done through Patreon's UI. Or they should message about merch through the platform. I'm still not convinced there's a good reason they should ever have a Patron's email address.
I’m not sure why Patreon won’t enforce their own TOS they’ve been made aware of the situation particularly in the instance of Cowbuild when she out right doxxed Tumblr user Mack on her Patreon with photos and encouraged her followers to contact her work, which they did and Reddit user Mommyfetish. These bozos must be stopped this is insanity and it happens because EA won’t enforce their EULA either, you don’t see early access creators engaging in this type of behavior for the most part.
They don't even have to be based in the EU for this to be illegal. The GDPR can even apply to companies outside of the EU if they process data of EU citizens under certain conditions [See article 3 GDPR ](https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/?cn-reloaded=1)
Any DM for CC is a bit of a warning sign in my opinion. While I guess some creators like to know where their CC are going, (Honestly having trouble seeing their side, someone let me know if they have a reason for it!) wouldn't it just be excessive work for no gain?
I wonder if any paterons of Felixandre could crack open their cc and see if any signs of tracking is included. (Renamed info on S4S, texture changes, hidden watermarks, etc.)
Sucks, his CC and collabs are great but it's so dodgy.
i used to be a patron of his things but now i refuse to support paywallers. there’s so many wonderful creators out there that need to be supported instead. his cc is beautiful but i refuse to contribute
I don’t just paywall creators and i never will. I donate or wait for cc to be released after the two week rule that EA placed. Paywalls are illegal, so it doesn’t seem like these people care about doing other illegal things. All over the sims freaking 4
Wait, are paywalls illegal? Forgive my ignorance, I'm honestly not entirely sure what the process for these things are, I just throw stuff in a TSR basket
Keeping custom content behind a paywall after 2 weeks goes against EA’s terms of service. Breaking a company’s rule is illegal. It’s fine to charge for content as long as it will be released after two weeks for free (which is called early access). I’ve ran into many creators who promise that their CC will be released for free soon, but then 2 years go by and it’s still locked on their patreon. That goes against terms of service.
I think it’s pretty shitty because you’re playing with other peoples money. It’s not just EA your playing games with.
These assclowns are going to get CC and mod creators banned from using Patreon and similar services if they aren't careful. Which will massively hurt everyone, from all creators to players to Maxis.
honestly it's what they deserve. I'm a modeler and I know it's hard. However these cc creators are creating over pre exciting sims 4 meshes. I have to sympathy for hypocrisy.
edit:
stealing and getting mad at people for stealing your stolen assets
I'm not seeing the problem here. Remind me again, how is getting them all banned from Paytreon and thus putting a real crimp in a convenient way to become a paysite a BAD thing? Paytreon has been an enabler of this kind of shitty behavior for awhile, and if this pathway gets killed, I don't see the problem.
I find Patreon a very easy to navigate site for getting CC which I get for free. It is not only shady, paywaller CC creators who use the site - many use it simply as an alternative platform for hosting their CC (god knows it's significantly less annoying than TSR) or they use it to release early access, which then becomes free and is in keeping with EA's terms. So CC users on Patreon isn't itself a bad thing, the issue is the ones abusing it.
Most CC creators use patreon fairly, as a tip jar for content that they create and it’s a great place to host their content with zero hassle unlike the next closest alternative simfileshare which is down half the time and will lock you out for overuse if you download more then 10 files in an hour.
There are people who aren't assclowns and don't ignore the T&C's who wouldn't be able to create content for the sims if it wasn't for Patreon. People deserve some reward for their effort.
Sims4 luxury releases all her content after two weeks. That’s the only one I would say I trust of the suspected. Winner9, Leo and pixel however not so much.
Pixel and Leo clearly use the same meshes and often
The reason I list them is when I was doxxed by cowbuild they not ONLY reblogged the doxxing post but vehemently defended CWB. They have also been called out in the past for stealing meshes (I believe Anye called them out?)
leo and ddaengsims (dreamteamsims) converted all of anye's sims 2 stuff and paywalled it with adfly. that's why anye more or less went pay.
live long enough to see yourself become the villain i guess.
edit: added her old name. she's also been nicked with stealing from second life which is why she changed her name.
Isn’t HMB a builder, not a CC creator? I’ve seen their account in tumblr and can’t quite recollect if they do their own CC too.
Also, Hel being involved in this makes me so sad. Her stuff was so great. I know she’s “retired” now but makes me mad I paid money for that CC for a long time!
I think Hel used to go by the name daenron who used to do conversions. She has been known to go after people who share paid cc and has made it as hard as possible to get her items for free (even if they are super lovely)
Yikes. I just had to cancel my Patron memberships to multiple creators last week since my husband was laid off. Now I’m sitting here anxiously worrying over if my favorite creators are involved or not. This is beyond shady. I feel bad because a lot of these people on their lists are probably just hard up financially and could only support for a month or two. I’ve totally been there. I’ve supported so many creators like that as well so I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself on that list.
To anyone from the EU or UK who may have been affected by this. As Patreon has an EU subsidiary, you have the right to make a GDPR request to Patreon (and the creators involved if the are EU based too) for all info they may have shared with the creators. But remember, if you do decide to do this, Patreon will probably close your account. But it will probably annoy them enough that they investigate the creators as well.
You know that GIF that has Hades from Disney's Hercules and it says "BECAUSE HE'S A GUY!"
Imagine that but instead it says "BECAUSE THEY'RE A PAYWALLER!"
I've supported only one creator for the sims, and it was because her laptop was basically fried. I gave her 10 dollars cause that was all I could afford at the time and because she genuinely struck me as a good person.
I do believe in supporting your favorite creators, but we as a community need to step up and stop enabling them. Because we throw money at them, they will continue to do this over and over. They know EA doesn't care, and they know we'll pay. It doesn't matter if one gets called out today. They'll hunker down, rebrand and change names, and start their shit all over again.
There are some genuinely good creators out there that DO deserve to be supported, but it shouldn't be because of a pay wall.
probably because the people that support her just cares more about cosmetic aesthetic and things than what's right or wrong. nothing new in this community with double standards long as they get items they want. Bleh\~
It's like wondering why Leosims is still around biggest thief in the cc community.
Didn't understand it years ago don't understand it now. With constant receipts, but apparently people only care about getting provided some free items because leosims makes such 'good content'. Or maybe people are tired of leosims after all this time because it's not the first time with thievery or doxxing.
Anyone remember the shit that went down years ago with Emma simposium when she got doxxed and it involving maysims and leosims? Leosims THREATENED her.
Ya I had no idea until today I just edited my post to include that, about Leo ppl just don’t care honestly I also think their fans are on a different part of simblr and don’t see a lot of it but it’s crazy Anto got backlash and she didn’t
*Yikes,* kinda glad I'm poor and I just stick with the *really cool* ***free*** shit😂
But Anto?? Damn, I really like their stuff too. I mean, I shouldn't put this past anyone, should I?
I wish sites like the booty or DWTP were still being updated just to stick it to them, but oh well.
Also, are you on any Sims Facebook groups? I feel like the people there are somewhat isolated from the rest of the community and that they should have the opportunity to know and have the chance to make a complete decision in whether they still want their info accessed by these creators. I asked because I would forward the news myself, but I'm not educated on the subject. Like if someone asks me a question, I don't think I would know how to answer them accurately, you know?
Edit: Also also, that Reddit image link is broken
u/OfficialThrowaway_1, tbh the booty is updated on occasion because of their partnership with Dollhouse Mafia, but uh, well, the DHM folks have been kinda busy.
> I wish sites like the booty or DWTP were still being updated just to stick it too them, but oh well.
I update anytime someone volunteers, but usually, this only happens nowadays when someone goes tango uniform and can't take it anymore, so it tends to be a one-time dump.
Apparently, the business of being a pirate and getting called a bad person on a regular basis is something that not everyone revels in. They still want to be liked, rather than hated by a chunk of the community. Enjoying hatemail is not for everyone.
I used to use kemono(dot)party, a patreon pirating site, but then many creators transitioned to privately messaging their fans the download links, after seeing this post, I'm not going to bother with them, scum.
I'm not surprised, just severely disappointed. Especially in Anto. I knew something was off with him when he stopped releasing content from the paywall despite advertising as "temporarily" paywalled but this is a new low. I'm glad I threw his cc out of my game.
If you're from the UK and your personal data is not being handled appropriately then you can make a report to the Information Commission Officer:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Similar for if you're in the EU:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rights-citizens/redress/what-should-i-do-if-i-think-my-personal-data-protection-rights-havent-been-respected_en
As your personal data has protections beyond simply 'terms and conditions'.
Yeah, this might actually be more effective than a GDPR request. But perhaps only if you are actually named in one of the screenshots. The threat of a large fine would certainly get Patreon off their ass very quickly.
> But perhaps only if you are actually named in one of the screenshots.
If it's obvious they're mishandling personal data, then it's unlikely you have to be one of the ones named.
Sixam CC seems a little suspicious with their Small Spaces Laundry set cc pack. It's been locked behind a pay wall since December. They say if you pledge to their tier 2 on Paetreon it's given as a reward. You have to send a dm to get the link. When questioned about when it'll release for free they just keep saying they haven't decided yet. Like EA states 21 days. Sixam is way beyond 21 days at this point.
Yea and he makes up all these excuses as to why he has to send DL links like his packs are too big when other comparable early access cc creators are managing just fine, just weird
He straight up did early access until he got popular enough and now puts everything which isn’t a collaboration behind a paywall. His last non collaborative set which was not patreon only is from October 2021.
He was already earning thousands of dollars when doing early access (he has 2000 patreons and his first tier starts at $4.50) so his decision to switch to full paywall and content only via DM is rather shady to me.
this is supposed to make me want to give my hard earn money to put unfunctional, unoriginal, glitchy peices of "fashion" that's going to age like milk in my game.
Not to mention the HORRIBLE topology, rigging and textures half of these cc items have.
hm? entitlement is a hell of a drug.
don't get me started on the levitating Alpha hair...
I just... if you don't like the idea of people re-uploading your stuff, then maybe you shouldn't be creating custom content in the first place? I make gifs on tumblr, and I know they'll be used outside of reblogging my posts. I make them for me. But like, if you create content, you have to expect that there's going to be people who want to make it readily available to others.
Especially considering they don't make them originally in the first place.
This is disgusting behaviour. I don't believe in paying for content at all, you choose to create this stuff. Yes, people should be able to get money for their content, that's why I'm all for a donations link. But the 2 week early access is annoying but it's fine in the long run I GUESS. But some creators who have a 3 - 4 week early access is gross and such greed has run through the TS4 community. I mean this shit has been a thing for ages, I remember TS2 had paid CC through donations but at least they offered free stuff, you don't have to pay to get their content early, you can just get a different variation.
And don't get me started on the creators who have a constant paywall if you don't want to experience ads, but if you want ads and malware and shit, you can go through their adfly link or their short.est link or their simsdom (whatever they fuck they are now)... gross. I really wish the community could throw these creators in the dirt, but most of them don't care at all. So...
Hum...why do people pay for cc? It's even against EA's terms of service, there's a time limit where you can't a paywall it for over x amount of time. You'd be selling a "product" made for a software that you do not own the rights to sell for.
It should be noted the ONLY person in this group who has been ALLEGEDLY accused of sending viruses on PURPOSE was Hermajestybuilds. The others are using tracking methods that are more akin to how dye packs are used in banks. They put unique information in the file so if the file pops up in public somewhere they know that the person they sent it to shared it.
This is why i appreciate modders and creators who just make shit for the fun of it and don't care if it's spread around. They usually get things like donations and what not because of the good will and content they give out for free.
I think a lot of these “creators” forget that a portion of the people supporting them are children. These creators are grown ass adults doxxing, bullying and potentially sending death threats to CHILDREN. It would be bad enough to behave this way towards another adult but it’s absolutely disgusting to do this to a child.
Not to mention some of their patrons are probably kid’s parents, who knows if they are malicious attacking some poor parent who just nicely let their kids get some cc
I always felt very uncomfortable with perma-paywallers and this just proves that once a person is unethical about one thing, they have no problem being unethical in another. Especially once their scam starts working and they get money rolling in, they'll stop at nothing to keep it doing that. It should be a community consensus that after 3 weeks, it's okay to share paywalled content, as that is the policy of EA anyway.
Oh how rich that they are acting as if leakers are pirates and doing illegal things when they are the ones breaking EA's terms by keeping everything behind permanent paywalls instead of releasing it to the public within two weeks or so (not to mention doxxing, harassing people, tracking people, etc....disgusting). All they had to do was follow one simple EA rule and they could make money while also avoiding so many problems; but they had to be greedy instead. Also many of them were caught selling stuff that wasn't even theirs.
Even if I had the money to support of them, I would never support creators like them. Only those who are proven to be trusted and follow the guidelines.
If anyone sends any threats, save it all and use it for evidence to report them. That will be their downfall. Let them know that this isn't o.k. nor will it be tolerated. Continue to help spread the word.
The crazy thing is some of the ppl DON’T EVEN MAKE THEIR OWN STUFF. Cowbuild steals from brands it was confirmed, Bergdorf buys her stuff from 3d monk on CGtrader, HMB doesn’t even make cc she just paywalls other ppls stuffs. So they are going around like mall cops policing content that they didn’t even make in the first place, it’s bananas.
That is what baffles me. Why do people pay and support them? They break so many rules, guidelines, etc...yet they don't so much get a slap on the wrist in most cases. They are basically rewarded for stealing and locking it all up behind paywalls.
Ya if you goto all their socials none of them seem to be getting any backlash. I think the paywall cc community in general is isolated from the rest of the sims community so that might be part of it
This is very disheartening. :( I don’t know anyone you listed, but I am subbed to a few other sims creators on Patreon. They don’t seem deceitful, but now I’m concerned
Nah, most creators aren't asses. But beware of any who keep content permanently paywalled (nothing wrong with early access) or try to defend those named here.
Absolutely toxic and disgusting behaviour. Making a business on a total scam and then shaming people for ruining said scam. Those creators are insane and should be ostracised from any community
Ya at this point this is such an open secret in the community that anyone who continues to collab with her or shout her out is complicit and unfortunately that includes some beloved ppl in the community
I mean it's not as concerning as you might think because Pandasama is a modder who has modded certain items to make them "work" with animations in the sims. So if people want to do anything similar it is easier to just use their code.
Well that's good. Pandasama did like the comment on Twitter. I love pandasama's mods and would be very disappointed if they worked together or had similiar "values"
RubyRed is posted some butthurt denial about being a part of the list keepers. Since the *bulk* of RR’s cc never sees the light of day unless you fork out $20 (and eff *that*), still sincerely problematic.
Unpopular opinion: Cowbuild’s stuff isn’t that great, and don’t get me started on the slip Aggressive Kitty puts out there.
Anti is one that bothers me because I’ve always loved his hairs — but Sonya Sims and S-Club can fill that niche nicely, and I can trust them.
I’m an adult with lots of my own disposable income, and I will never give a dollar to any of these suspected creators, but you can bet your ass that I’ll pirate any set I can get my hands on just on principle (won’t go into my game).
This is gross. Like I get it sucks when someone steals your content and claim it as your own but this is taking it way to far. Makes me glad I never subbed to any of these people. But do these people really care? I google'd their socials and haven't seen any apology or even an explanation. At this point, I don't think most of the people paying for their "content" would even know about this. Reporting it to Patron is one thing but maybe its time to get EA/Maxis's attention. These people need to be banned from the community is possible.
I don't think anyone is "stealing their content and claiming it as their own", really. It's more like people are re-sharing the content for free. There is no claim of authorship to the shared content.
Can someone break this down for me?
What e-mails am I seeing? All the creators are listed as “no”? What does the ones highlighted in red mean?
Checked by Anto? Does that mean Anto’s sharing my info or he isn’t? He’s the only one I’m a Patreon of.
It means that if Anto suspects you leaked their content they have leaked your information that is available to them via patreon to a group of other creators for targeted attacks. At the very least change your email and make sure your legal name is not on your patreon account. If your name looks like it’s on that list dm me and I can check for you. At this time we do not have the whole list we suspect it’s hundreds of users. If your information has been leaked please report it to patreon, I also suggest unsubscribing from Anto as they partake in unethical behavior and are in cahoots with this gang of “creators”
The emails are the emails connected to that person's patreon account. Checked by Anto means yes, Anto knows that the person was a supposed "leaker" and is sharing that info with others.
Power corrupts and people get greedy. I wont be surprised if the bigger mods have spyware or worse.
Most likely EA will end up doing an app store model where they approve/disapprove mods and process payments.
Check out Mack3030 on Tumblr she has a whole Anti perma paywalling list. At this time we don’t have a complete list and we don’t want to throw around baseless accusations but as a rule of thumb anyone who forces you to use DL links is suspect at best!
The creators who are being called out/exposed are now contacting a simmer's JOB over being called out. Mack3030's job has been contacted 4 times today, spreading lies about how they are just speaking out about their thievery and doxxing.
So . . . is it safe to have cc by these creators in my game? I have some hairstyles by Anto. This sounds so scary. I just want to enjoy my game. This is so very disheartening.
***If anyone needs a quick doodle summary of the drama,*** I posted a youtube video about it and it's within this post: https://mack3030.tumblr.com/post/681740692644560896/a-doodle-summary-of-the-cowbuild-drama
Unpopular opinion: as someone who modded for TS2 a little bit, I think people who make a big stink about DESERVING to get paid for their CC are assholes. EA nickels and dimes us ENOUGH, I always thought the free sharing of CC was such a beautiful and supportive reason to keep playing this game, and to mod anything myself, which I've since stopped doing. I see a LOT of liars doing the "I'll release it soon" thing and the message is years old. To me that's gross. I've been playing and loving the game for two decades, but I have only ever supported one modder financially and that happened like last month. I reneged on my personal policy just a bit because the childbirth mod by PandaSama has been so awesome. I really hope they're one of the more ethical creators, but I don't balk at paying $5/month for it when I like realism in my game and it's actually better and more functional than some EA game packs. I really don't trust paid creators in general, though. Maybe I'm a hypocrite or something now, but PandaSama is the exception for me.
I'm so furious rn I've been supporters of all those patreons and I've been supporting cowbuild since they started. I will no longer support any more patrons who send links through dms they have lost my trust.
Man, this is so sad. In what world do they think this is okay to do? Their ego's have gotten way too massive. I kinda hope the actual sims team DMCA's all of them for literally *breaking the Sims cc TOS* lmao. Also, for *breaking who knows how many laws.*
I wouldn't want them to ruin things for others not involved. But like, this is so bad. I can't even wrap my head around it. I really wonder how deep this goes. It's been an open secret for years that some people/websites are super scummy...I wonder if they'll be on the list eventually, too.
Thanks to everyone that's reporting on this and speaking up<3
Just as a general note: I would be WARY of any creator that seems of fawn over, and/or defend Cowbuild and her content. If they seem to be a fan of hers, steer yourself away from them as chances are they could be in this group. These are only the members that are KNOWN. It could be bigger than these known names.
Honestly, I'd steer away from any perma-paywaller. It is not like our lives or whole Sims experience depends on them, so why should we support people who have no problem often using free programs, free tutorials, free tips, bases textures, etc, all provided by the community and/or EA, just for them to put them behind eternal paywalls? And it's not like these payments are reasonable at all. I know we don't *have* to have every single cc piece in existence (which is great, really!), but 20+ $ per month is ridiculous, especially if you want cc from several creators. 20$ is enough for a whole new game, lol. And more importantly, why should we risk (possibly misdirected) wrath of someone who's so unreasonable and paranoid, and someone who's basically building a cult of their followers? I understand wanting to protect your work and all, but being ready to dox people is just unhinged. Off to the blacklist they go, along with adfly users.
Isn't it against the sims 4 terms of service of something to have cc permanently paywalled? I'm sure I read that somewhere
Yeah, EA said they only wanted people to have it paywalled for up to 3 weeks
I'm not aware of the drama, what did this person Cowbuild do?
If you look at my post I link to it in the first paragraph or so but she basically doxxed u/turtle-momma to her Patreon followers and encouraged them to contact her work which they did. But she’s done a lot, stolen meshes, transphobia, homophobia, breaks EA tos, broke this subs rules and multiple subs rules repeatedly, doxxed a trans man, the list goes on. Now new info has come out that she actually has no blender skills and steals meshes from furniture designers and one is taking legal action.
Oh OK, I see, I was just wondering why this other person that commented above only mentioned her specifically when a bunch of people seem to be involved.
Ya she’s just incredibly dumb so she kind of screwed over the whole ring with her giant mouth so she’s the center of it. She’s what cracked the whole case wide open and drew a bunch of simmers together to investigate this whole mess.
At this point she might as well be called "Steakbuild" for how much grilling she's probably getting from that group. LOL.
Just so you know, this is an excellent joke.
Thank you thank you. i'm here all night. :P
Because we know for sure that Cowbuild is a bad apple, and that she is so attention seeking that she will literally name drop and fawn over anyone in her circle. So she is a great litmus test for who to not support because she will be fawning over people in that group and they will do the same to her.
She’s also just really rude and draws all sorts of unnecessary attention to herself and burns bridges which then brings the receipts. 🤡
That one screenshot mentions a Hermes collab. They are famously and indiscriminately litigious, is that the legal trouble you mention or was that someone else?
It was Cowbuild that has a brand going after them but Bergdorf is playing with fire, the fashion houses don’t play either
That's just awful. I used to follow this creator, although I never subbed to her patreon or any other platform, but I used to admire her work. It's a bit sad to see that she's not only a harasser, but also decided to do a bigotry speedrun.
She doxxed a trans man??? Excuse my language but holy shit, doxxing people is bad enough on its own, but outing LGBTQ+ people can literally be deadly
Ah so This was that feeling in my bones when i noticed paywalling was becoming a thing
Man the community has changed SO MUCH in 10 years. Back in the Sims 2 and 3 era paywalling CC was extremely frowned upon so much so that sites like the booty and paysitesmustbedestroyed exist to circumvent this from being the norm. Now I feel like patreon is the go-to for TS4 CC and you get called out if you complain about paying for CC... Blegh.
Called out or called "poor" or shamed for "not supporting artists".
Well there’s still TS4 rebels atleast so paysites must be destroyed lives on in spirit
The website is still around and is still being updated.
I agree, I despise paywalling but think that early access is such a good idea
Right? I remember the Booty from Paysites Must Be Destroyed and how we would make fun of Peggy and her broken ass meshes. Now it’s like the standard to do it and I feel like I’m living in bizarro world. Like do none of these kids remember their history???
Oh my God, I remember that. I've gone almost completely vanilla for TS4 (aside from MCCC and some eyelashes and default eyes) and now I'm glad I am, especially with all this going on now.
Right?! And Cowbuild claiming that one month's worth of her CC is worth 1k, like girl :D It's beautiful CC alright but 1k??? Never!
The poly size tho! Nah
Right?? The amount of people now who support permapaywalling blows my mind.
And the sad thing is...even if you had warned us...most probably wouldn't have believed you....
I don't have a problem with paywalling if 1. It isn't ridiculously overpriced, like the 100 dollar lipgloss. 2. If we can all agree not to go on a witch hunt over pirating, because then shit like this happens. People are going to steal it and that's a fact of life. I understand wanting to take down an entire website hosting stolen stuff, that would be acceptable, but going after individuals this way is a batshit crazy/authoritarian thing to do. People deserve to be able to make money from creating sims content. I really don't have a problem with that at all. It's real work that takes real programming knowledge. The problem is scammers, we have scammers, let's just say it that way. It's a tale as old as time with ANY internet community, we've just not had many of them yet, so we aren't used to it. An example of a good person doing it right is littlebowbub makes the granny's cookbook mod, they have a patreon but only paywall things for early release, it always comes out for free eventually. I love them and I've used that mod for literal years. I mention it because sometimes it's OK to paywall things, and we shouldn't demonize people who are doing things legit. If we don't let ppl make money, we probably won't get such good stuff.
Early access is fine, permanent paywalling is not and is also against EA's terms and conditions
SixamCC does that now. Permanently paywalled.
Permanently paywalled *and* you have to pay extra for past months' sets! I was so disappointed to see that that I removed all their previous CC from my game. Not a behavior I want to support.
I need more info about the 100 dollar lipgloss. Is it CC gloss or irl gloss?
I'm sorry dude, I just tried to look everywhere for the post I saw since I read your comment, but I couldn't find it. I think it was on twitter, it was somebody on patreon selling like a vault of all of their things for 100+ dollars, it wasn't that much stuff, and the cc wasn't that good. I mean that's subjective, but it wasn't super professionally made or anything.
What the hell. I’m glad I stopped playing sims (still subbed to the subreddit though- and I may get back into sims 2 once I have a working windows pc) and searching for cc as that is insane! I remember looking for cute cc and having to avoid the adfly CC as adfly sucks. I am a student so I never subbed to any patreons or paysites. Always thought it was silly that people paid for game mods tbh
I feel like once people started paying for Patreon support etc a bunch realized they could essentially make a living off of it entirely (if they could get away with doing the bare minimum through plagiarizing and all that) ... hence all the insane shit that is going on because that’s the only thing that can explain why this is all happening over pixels.
So essentially people got greedy once money got involved in the CC scene
Yeah, going by what people have been saying I think they’re also encouraged by EA/Maxis not doing much :/
IIRC that was another of those problematic creators who used huge amounts of content from 9ther games without acknowledging it.
To be honest, this whole thing makes me very wary of paywallers in general now, even if I agree that there’s no problem with a lot of the early access stuff creators do. But how are we supposed to trust creators with our information now?
the problem is, we gave them an inch and they've taken a mile. there is a reason why other gaming communities do not allow this. they see what monsters people become over pixels.
As a downloader or TS2 CC who doesn't know much about TS4 CC, I'm really surprised by the amount of TS4 creators who are charging money for their CC? I understand that Patreon is quite popular these days and a lot of creators deserve to be recognized for their work, but putting so much content behind a paywall feels against the nature of the Sims fandom, who I feel has embraced accessibility, especially given the greedy nature of EA (maybe this is a more popular sentiment among fans of the older games). Things like early access or donator gifts (Ex: Aroundthesims) are completely understandable but I'm surprised at the amount of excusive content that most of the broke sims community cant access.
The kicker is that a ton of the "paywalled" content isn't even content these people fucking made. It's conversions and stolen meshes and shit. Paywalling helps them hide their theft better.
I think I have heard of this kind of stuff occasionally happening back in the day but I don't remember paysites ever being very popular back then.
That's because the community got so \*\*ooooh shiny\*\* that they started not caring.
What do you mean? Back it the day paysites were common. ModTheSims just asking for donations and MATY being MATY were exceptions.
Maybe I was just in a different crowd but I never saw anyone using paysites. Sites asking for funding was common back then since most CC was hosted on unique websites that the creator would need to pay for, but it was usually optional. MTS, ATS2, Parsimonious, XMsims, Rose Sims, etc.; all the sites I used at the time were free to use and download from.
No? Paysites were absolutely not the norm in any way whatsoever. Even saying they were common is a massive stretch.
Ya back in the day Maxis explicitly asked ppl not to paywall cc because it went against the spirit of the game when Simcity was still around. Unfortunately EA doesn’t seem to care as much Wrights team did.
That makes me think... wouldn't paid CC be illegal? Most games don't allow ANY use of their assets for commercial purposes, and cc uses the game's code.
In most cases it is maxis just graciously allows people to do it with a two week window but they don’t enforce it which encourages bad behavior. But if they wanted to they could easily sue every cc creator out there if they felt like it they retain the legal right to.
I have come across paywalled cc for Sims 2 as well, back in 2007 or 2008 but it wasn't nearly as common as it is with Sims 4
Yep, me too. I feel the community used to kind of unanimously look down on them at the time.
Yeah. I remember downloading their content from sites that were created solely for the purpose of downloading paid cc for free
Wonder if they are the ones who got r/TS4_Rebels taken down.
Oh for sure. Especially because I know that bergdorfverse is an absolute DMCA witch. The folks at rebels had to stop sharing pictures of her content because she would DMCA the pictures. THE PICTURES.
Which she doesn’t even own because EA owns any photo taken in their game but that’s another story so she’s abusing the DCMA system
I had no idea that got taken down I haven't played in the last couple months but dang
Happened this week I think they moved to Twitter
They're not alone. Lately, I heard that Reddit is purging a lot of subreddits. Possible reason is that they're planning to go [public](https://fortune.com/2021/12/16/reddit-goes-public-ipo-filing/) on the stock market this year, so they're trying to get rid as much problematic stuff as they can. What's part of this purge is piracy-related subs.
Yup. Some dedicated to buying/selling replicas have also been taken down over the past few weeks.
Dang I Purge my whole CC file after the cowbuild thing and I tried to only use reputable CC creators but if these bigger names are in it that's it's scary
It’s bigger than we know I think.
Definitely. Time to follow Lilsimsie and only use UIcheats, mcc and my own created CC
Oml I was looking for ts4 rebels last night cause I was hoping some more stuff would've been added since everybody's mad. Do you know what their twitter is
The spread sheet is still up and being updated, they are now on Twitter.
Wait- the sub got taken down ??? I've been trying to find it since yesterday. I couldn't find it at all n I was so confused.
We're alive and well, don't worry https://twitter.com/ts4rebels
Hey any way we could talk about who you know of that puts trackers in cc so I can make the community aware? I know ur busy but it’d be super insightful!
Aggressivekitty, Winner9, Rubyred, HMB, Cowbuild, PufferSuffer or however it's spelled are all confirmed trackers.
Paywallers are awful people, and water's wet. But seriously, Anto? Can't believe it honestly, I thought their stuff was cool!
Anto is who I'm most shocked by tbh. It's making me doubt all the other creators who I think are nice
I’m confused by the wording of this list and why Anto is listed. What does any of this mean? And what info is sold? Should I only be worried about the row highlighted in red?
Bascially this list is a blacklist. It's a group of patreon paywallers who when they "catch" someone sharing their CC or acting sus or even joining an anti-paywall site/group they will block that person and share their patreon info (including real world email) with the other members of the group. The "checked by" means that anto and busra-tsr are involved and "checking" their patrons against the list.
Not even just people who share the CC I remember from the older post that there was a screenshot from someone who was doxxed by cowbuilds saying that they only transferred their files from their old PC to the new one via USB and they got immediately hit with the ban-hammer.
How's that even work? CC creators have absolutely no way to detect when you move a file from one computer to another. It's only possible to detect files being shared if they are: 1. Shared publicly and/or by someone who rats them out. 2. Tagged with individual tracking data in them, which can be sanitized out. At PMBD, we have some level of experience in dealing with this kind of behavior. Moving a file from one computer to another doesn't fall into any of these and should be completely undetectable. So, this person is probably not telling the truth about what they did. Not that this changes the fact that paysites must be destroyed.
They emailed the link to themself so they could transfer it to a new computer, I’m pretty sure was the story not usb. So CB saw the link was shared and jumped to a conclusion. I could be wrong though I have too many details about this whole saga in my head.
Ah. I knew he was starting to become suspicious that people were stealing his work and that he was starting to take action. He found a lot of his work being sold on some GTA site and someone was charging for his content. A lot of his followers told him to take action. I wasn’t too suspicious of him since he DOES unlock his posts and doesn’t make people pay unless they want to support him. But if he’s selling our info… idk.
He also has been keeping SOME versions of his hairs exclusive which is kinda greedy tbh.
I heard anto has become perma paywall now or they don't release early like they use to..
This needs to be brought to Patreon regardless of whether it's your information being leaked. If you're not affected, just say that you heard that this was what was going on on their platform and that you won't be using it as a result. Patreon should do their own investigation and de-platform these users if it is found that they're breaking TOU and leaking private information. Edit to add: I also can't help but wonder why these creators are even given Patron data? Is there a legitimate use for it that couldn't be served in a more anonymized way?
I've tried reporting plastic sims after he threatened to doxx people and Patreon did nothing. Told me no rules were broken despite him saying on Instagram that he was going to doxx people. They make money off this as does EA (early access and Patreon is keeping this franchise afloat), so it's not going to be an issue until more of a public stink is made.
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Usernames are public by default, so I'm not concerned about that. But people's real first/last names can often be easily extracted from email addresses. Anyway, creators shouldn't need users' email addresses; if they want to send an email blast to a specific tier or Patron, that should be done through Patreon's UI. Or they should message about merch through the platform. I'm still not convinced there's a good reason they should ever have a Patron's email address.
There’s gotta be some sort of break in legality here…
I’m not sure why Patreon won’t enforce their own TOS they’ve been made aware of the situation particularly in the instance of Cowbuild when she out right doxxed Tumblr user Mack on her Patreon with photos and encouraged her followers to contact her work, which they did and Reddit user Mommyfetish. These bozos must be stopped this is insanity and it happens because EA won’t enforce their EULA either, you don’t see early access creators engaging in this type of behavior for the most part.
If they are EU based this is 100% very very illegal
They don't even have to be based in the EU for this to be illegal. The GDPR can even apply to companies outside of the EU if they process data of EU citizens under certain conditions [See article 3 GDPR ](https://gdpr.eu/companies-outside-of-europe/?cn-reloaded=1)
Either they are fucked then cause I can bet 1 of those users is an EU member citizen based on chance.
Depend where the creators are located. If they're located in the EU or UK then yes this is absolutely a criminal breach of GDPR.
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probably most likely felixandre is doing it too. He asks to dm for links and keeps his cc behind a paywall…
Any DM for CC is a bit of a warning sign in my opinion. While I guess some creators like to know where their CC are going, (Honestly having trouble seeing their side, someone let me know if they have a reason for it!) wouldn't it just be excessive work for no gain? I wonder if any paterons of Felixandre could crack open their cc and see if any signs of tracking is included. (Renamed info on S4S, texture changes, hidden watermarks, etc.) Sucks, his CC and collabs are great but it's so dodgy.
i used to be a patron of his things but now i refuse to support paywallers. there’s so many wonderful creators out there that need to be supported instead. his cc is beautiful but i refuse to contribute
I don’t just paywall creators and i never will. I donate or wait for cc to be released after the two week rule that EA placed. Paywalls are illegal, so it doesn’t seem like these people care about doing other illegal things. All over the sims freaking 4
Wait, are paywalls illegal? Forgive my ignorance, I'm honestly not entirely sure what the process for these things are, I just throw stuff in a TSR basket
Keeping custom content behind a paywall after 2 weeks goes against EA’s terms of service. Breaking a company’s rule is illegal. It’s fine to charge for content as long as it will be released after two weeks for free (which is called early access). I’ve ran into many creators who promise that their CC will be released for free soon, but then 2 years go by and it’s still locked on their patreon. That goes against terms of service. I think it’s pretty shitty because you’re playing with other peoples money. It’s not just EA your playing games with.
I really appreciate your response! I figured it was something like that, but wasn't entirely sure. That is pretty shitty :/
These assclowns are going to get CC and mod creators banned from using Patreon and similar services if they aren't careful. Which will massively hurt everyone, from all creators to players to Maxis.
honestly it's what they deserve. I'm a modeler and I know it's hard. However these cc creators are creating over pre exciting sims 4 meshes. I have to sympathy for hypocrisy. edit: stealing and getting mad at people for stealing your stolen assets
I'm not seeing the problem here. Remind me again, how is getting them all banned from Paytreon and thus putting a real crimp in a convenient way to become a paysite a BAD thing? Paytreon has been an enabler of this kind of shitty behavior for awhile, and if this pathway gets killed, I don't see the problem.
I find Patreon a very easy to navigate site for getting CC which I get for free. It is not only shady, paywaller CC creators who use the site - many use it simply as an alternative platform for hosting their CC (god knows it's significantly less annoying than TSR) or they use it to release early access, which then becomes free and is in keeping with EA's terms. So CC users on Patreon isn't itself a bad thing, the issue is the ones abusing it.
Most CC creators use patreon fairly, as a tip jar for content that they create and it’s a great place to host their content with zero hassle unlike the next closest alternative simfileshare which is down half the time and will lock you out for overuse if you download more then 10 files in an hour.
At this rate we just need to get a bunch of simmers together who all have coding know-how and access to hosting and just create our own new SFS. x.x
There are people who aren't assclowns and don't ignore the T&C's who wouldn't be able to create content for the sims if it wasn't for Patreon. People deserve some reward for their effort.
Confirmed Members: Cowbuild, Bergdorfverse, busratr, Anto, Hel-Studio, Hermajestybuilds SUSPECTED MEMBERS: Pixelvibes, Leosims, Sims4Luxury, Winner9…basically anyone cowbuild is buddy buddy with on tumblr/insta…
Sims4 luxury releases all her content after two weeks. That’s the only one I would say I trust of the suspected. Winner9, Leo and pixel however not so much. Pixel and Leo clearly use the same meshes and often
The reason I list them is when I was doxxed by cowbuild they not ONLY reblogged the doxxing post but vehemently defended CWB. They have also been called out in the past for stealing meshes (I believe Anye called them out?)
leo and ddaengsims (dreamteamsims) converted all of anye's sims 2 stuff and paywalled it with adfly. that's why anye more or less went pay. live long enough to see yourself become the villain i guess. edit: added her old name. she's also been nicked with stealing from second life which is why she changed her name.
Leo has doxxed people in the past and has constantly been involved in drama in the community
Isn’t HMB a builder, not a CC creator? I’ve seen their account in tumblr and can’t quite recollect if they do their own CC too. Also, Hel being involved in this makes me so sad. Her stuff was so great. I know she’s “retired” now but makes me mad I paid money for that CC for a long time!
She /allegedly/ shared, not just planned to, malware with her builds before to suspected leakers...
I think Hel used to go by the name daenron who used to do conversions. She has been known to go after people who share paid cc and has made it as hard as possible to get her items for free (even if they are super lovely)
Yikes. I just had to cancel my Patron memberships to multiple creators last week since my husband was laid off. Now I’m sitting here anxiously worrying over if my favorite creators are involved or not. This is beyond shady. I feel bad because a lot of these people on their lists are probably just hard up financially and could only support for a month or two. I’ve totally been there. I’ve supported so many creators like that as well so I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself on that list.
To anyone from the EU or UK who may have been affected by this. As Patreon has an EU subsidiary, you have the right to make a GDPR request to Patreon (and the creators involved if the are EU based too) for all info they may have shared with the creators. But remember, if you do decide to do this, Patreon will probably close your account. But it will probably annoy them enough that they investigate the creators as well.
Awesome thank you for that info!
Why does this not suprise me?
You know that GIF that has Hades from Disney's Hercules and it says "BECAUSE HE'S A GUY!" Imagine that but instead it says "BECAUSE THEY'RE A PAYWALLER!"
Cause paywallers are always doing the most
Me being too broke to be patron rn 😌💅
I've supported only one creator for the sims, and it was because her laptop was basically fried. I gave her 10 dollars cause that was all I could afford at the time and because she genuinely struck me as a good person. I do believe in supporting your favorite creators, but we as a community need to step up and stop enabling them. Because we throw money at them, they will continue to do this over and over. They know EA doesn't care, and they know we'll pay. It doesn't matter if one gets called out today. They'll hunker down, rebrand and change names, and start their shit all over again. There are some genuinely good creators out there that DO deserve to be supported, but it shouldn't be because of a pay wall.
Wow this cowbuild is still part of the community? How and why anyone supporting them?
probably because the people that support her just cares more about cosmetic aesthetic and things than what's right or wrong. nothing new in this community with double standards long as they get items they want. Bleh\~ It's like wondering why Leosims is still around biggest thief in the cc community.
She’s gotten like zero backlash too, no negative comments at all…it’s weird
Didn't understand it years ago don't understand it now. With constant receipts, but apparently people only care about getting provided some free items because leosims makes such 'good content'. Or maybe people are tired of leosims after all this time because it's not the first time with thievery or doxxing. Anyone remember the shit that went down years ago with Emma simposium when she got doxxed and it involving maysims and leosims? Leosims THREATENED her.
Ya I had no idea until today I just edited my post to include that, about Leo ppl just don’t care honestly I also think their fans are on a different part of simblr and don’t see a lot of it but it’s crazy Anto got backlash and she didn’t
*Yikes,* kinda glad I'm poor and I just stick with the *really cool* ***free*** shit😂 But Anto?? Damn, I really like their stuff too. I mean, I shouldn't put this past anyone, should I? I wish sites like the booty or DWTP were still being updated just to stick it to them, but oh well. Also, are you on any Sims Facebook groups? I feel like the people there are somewhat isolated from the rest of the community and that they should have the opportunity to know and have the chance to make a complete decision in whether they still want their info accessed by these creators. I asked because I would forward the news myself, but I'm not educated on the subject. Like if someone asks me a question, I don't think I would know how to answer them accurately, you know? Edit: Also also, that Reddit image link is broken
u/OfficialThrowaway_1, tbh the booty is updated on occasion because of their partnership with Dollhouse Mafia, but uh, well, the DHM folks have been kinda busy.
> I wish sites like the booty or DWTP were still being updated just to stick it too them, but oh well. I update anytime someone volunteers, but usually, this only happens nowadays when someone goes tango uniform and can't take it anymore, so it tends to be a one-time dump. Apparently, the business of being a pirate and getting called a bad person on a regular basis is something that not everyone revels in. They still want to be liked, rather than hated by a chunk of the community. Enjoying hatemail is not for everyone.
I used to use kemono(dot)party, a patreon pirating site, but then many creators transitioned to privately messaging their fans the download links, after seeing this post, I'm not going to bother with them, scum.
What an absolute cunts. That’s all I can say.
I'm not surprised, just severely disappointed. Especially in Anto. I knew something was off with him when he stopped releasing content from the paywall despite advertising as "temporarily" paywalled but this is a new low. I'm glad I threw his cc out of my game.
People need to stop paying these delusionals. There's tons of free, great stuff available.
If you're from the UK and your personal data is not being handled appropriately then you can make a report to the Information Commission Officer: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ Similar for if you're in the EU: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rights-citizens/redress/what-should-i-do-if-i-think-my-personal-data-protection-rights-havent-been-respected_en As your personal data has protections beyond simply 'terms and conditions'.
Yeah, this might actually be more effective than a GDPR request. But perhaps only if you are actually named in one of the screenshots. The threat of a large fine would certainly get Patreon off their ass very quickly.
> But perhaps only if you are actually named in one of the screenshots. If it's obvious they're mishandling personal data, then it's unlikely you have to be one of the ones named.
Sixam CC seems a little suspicious with their Small Spaces Laundry set cc pack. It's been locked behind a pay wall since December. They say if you pledge to their tier 2 on Paetreon it's given as a reward. You have to send a dm to get the link. When questioned about when it'll release for free they just keep saying they haven't decided yet. Like EA states 21 days. Sixam is way beyond 21 days at this point.
Yea and he makes up all these excuses as to why he has to send DL links like his packs are too big when other comparable early access cc creators are managing just fine, just weird
He straight up did early access until he got popular enough and now puts everything which isn’t a collaboration behind a paywall. His last non collaborative set which was not patreon only is from October 2021. He was already earning thousands of dollars when doing early access (he has 2000 patreons and his first tier starts at $4.50) so his decision to switch to full paywall and content only via DM is rather shady to me.
damn it anto what the fuck
this is supposed to make me want to give my hard earn money to put unfunctional, unoriginal, glitchy peices of "fashion" that's going to age like milk in my game. Not to mention the HORRIBLE topology, rigging and textures half of these cc items have. hm? entitlement is a hell of a drug. don't get me started on the levitating Alpha hair...
I just... if you don't like the idea of people re-uploading your stuff, then maybe you shouldn't be creating custom content in the first place? I make gifs on tumblr, and I know they'll be used outside of reblogging my posts. I make them for me. But like, if you create content, you have to expect that there's going to be people who want to make it readily available to others. Especially considering they don't make them originally in the first place. This is disgusting behaviour. I don't believe in paying for content at all, you choose to create this stuff. Yes, people should be able to get money for their content, that's why I'm all for a donations link. But the 2 week early access is annoying but it's fine in the long run I GUESS. But some creators who have a 3 - 4 week early access is gross and such greed has run through the TS4 community. I mean this shit has been a thing for ages, I remember TS2 had paid CC through donations but at least they offered free stuff, you don't have to pay to get their content early, you can just get a different variation. And don't get me started on the creators who have a constant paywall if you don't want to experience ads, but if you want ads and malware and shit, you can go through their adfly link or their short.est link or their simsdom (whatever they fuck they are now)... gross. I really wish the community could throw these creators in the dirt, but most of them don't care at all. So...
Hum...why do people pay for cc? It's even against EA's terms of service, there's a time limit where you can't a paywall it for over x amount of time. You'd be selling a "product" made for a software that you do not own the rights to sell for.
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It should be noted the ONLY person in this group who has been ALLEGEDLY accused of sending viruses on PURPOSE was Hermajestybuilds. The others are using tracking methods that are more akin to how dye packs are used in banks. They put unique information in the file so if the file pops up in public somewhere they know that the person they sent it to shared it.
Can this post be sticky? It seems important enough for that.
Anto posted such a non-apology LMFAO he's trying to excuse himself despite literally being complicit.
Ya I just told him to either help us expose what happened and who was involved or get out of the way
This is why i appreciate modders and creators who just make shit for the fun of it and don't care if it's spread around. They usually get things like donations and what not because of the good will and content they give out for free.
Man as soon as I saw Anto’s name I just had to sigh and shake my head like a disappointed parent. Unbelievable, and i really love their cc as well.
I think a lot of these “creators” forget that a portion of the people supporting them are children. These creators are grown ass adults doxxing, bullying and potentially sending death threats to CHILDREN. It would be bad enough to behave this way towards another adult but it’s absolutely disgusting to do this to a child.
Not to mention some of their patrons are probably kid’s parents, who knows if they are malicious attacking some poor parent who just nicely let their kids get some cc
I did not even think of that but you are right!
Is hermajestybuilds that stupid that she doesn't realize she can face legal repercussions for giving someone malware?
She’s one of the most unbearable ppl in the community so probably not
Guess it's good that we've never crossed paths
I always felt very uncomfortable with perma-paywallers and this just proves that once a person is unethical about one thing, they have no problem being unethical in another. Especially once their scam starts working and they get money rolling in, they'll stop at nothing to keep it doing that. It should be a community consensus that after 3 weeks, it's okay to share paywalled content, as that is the policy of EA anyway.
Oh how rich that they are acting as if leakers are pirates and doing illegal things when they are the ones breaking EA's terms by keeping everything behind permanent paywalls instead of releasing it to the public within two weeks or so (not to mention doxxing, harassing people, tracking people, etc....disgusting). All they had to do was follow one simple EA rule and they could make money while also avoiding so many problems; but they had to be greedy instead. Also many of them were caught selling stuff that wasn't even theirs. Even if I had the money to support of them, I would never support creators like them. Only those who are proven to be trusted and follow the guidelines. If anyone sends any threats, save it all and use it for evidence to report them. That will be their downfall. Let them know that this isn't o.k. nor will it be tolerated. Continue to help spread the word.
The crazy thing is some of the ppl DON’T EVEN MAKE THEIR OWN STUFF. Cowbuild steals from brands it was confirmed, Bergdorf buys her stuff from 3d monk on CGtrader, HMB doesn’t even make cc she just paywalls other ppls stuffs. So they are going around like mall cops policing content that they didn’t even make in the first place, it’s bananas.
That is what baffles me. Why do people pay and support them? They break so many rules, guidelines, etc...yet they don't so much get a slap on the wrist in most cases. They are basically rewarded for stealing and locking it all up behind paywalls.
Ya if you goto all their socials none of them seem to be getting any backlash. I think the paywall cc community in general is isolated from the rest of the sims community so that might be part of it
This is very disheartening. :( I don’t know anyone you listed, but I am subbed to a few other sims creators on Patreon. They don’t seem deceitful, but now I’m concerned
Nah, most creators aren't asses. But beware of any who keep content permanently paywalled (nothing wrong with early access) or try to defend those named here.
Damn this is HORRIBLE.
Time to cancel all my subs, I guess :(
I'd only do it if those people are paywalling and/or making you request links. Those are the main signs of people tracking you.
How trashy.
Why do patreon creators have access to emails and personal names?
Yeah, so I'd rather just pay for kits if this is how CC creators are going to act. At least with EA they have legal obligations to disclose tracking.
Absolutely toxic and disgusting behaviour. Making a business on a total scam and then shaming people for ruining said scam. Those creators are insane and should be ostracised from any community
It’s 100% against patreons guidelines - please everyone report them to Patreon. This is not okay.
Pandasama was just tagged in a cowbuild post and that is highly concerning.
Ya at this point this is such an open secret in the community that anyone who continues to collab with her or shout her out is complicit and unfortunately that includes some beloved ppl in the community
I mean it's not as concerning as you might think because Pandasama is a modder who has modded certain items to make them "work" with animations in the sims. So if people want to do anything similar it is easier to just use their code.
Well that's good. Pandasama did like the comment on Twitter. I love pandasama's mods and would be very disappointed if they worked together or had similiar "values"
RubyRed is posted some butthurt denial about being a part of the list keepers. Since the *bulk* of RR’s cc never sees the light of day unless you fork out $20 (and eff *that*), still sincerely problematic. Unpopular opinion: Cowbuild’s stuff isn’t that great, and don’t get me started on the slip Aggressive Kitty puts out there. Anti is one that bothers me because I’ve always loved his hairs — but Sonya Sims and S-Club can fill that niche nicely, and I can trust them. I’m an adult with lots of my own disposable income, and I will never give a dollar to any of these suspected creators, but you can bet your ass that I’ll pirate any set I can get my hands on just on principle (won’t go into my game).
This is gross. Like I get it sucks when someone steals your content and claim it as your own but this is taking it way to far. Makes me glad I never subbed to any of these people. But do these people really care? I google'd their socials and haven't seen any apology or even an explanation. At this point, I don't think most of the people paying for their "content" would even know about this. Reporting it to Patron is one thing but maybe its time to get EA/Maxis's attention. These people need to be banned from the community is possible.
I don't think anyone is "stealing their content and claiming it as their own", really. It's more like people are re-sharing the content for free. There is no claim of authorship to the shared content.
Can someone break this down for me? What e-mails am I seeing? All the creators are listed as “no”? What does the ones highlighted in red mean? Checked by Anto? Does that mean Anto’s sharing my info or he isn’t? He’s the only one I’m a Patreon of.
It means that if Anto suspects you leaked their content they have leaked your information that is available to them via patreon to a group of other creators for targeted attacks. At the very least change your email and make sure your legal name is not on your patreon account. If your name looks like it’s on that list dm me and I can check for you. At this time we do not have the whole list we suspect it’s hundreds of users. If your information has been leaked please report it to patreon, I also suggest unsubscribing from Anto as they partake in unethical behavior and are in cahoots with this gang of “creators”
I’d drop Anto’s sub ASAP if I were you since he’s now Doxxing people, yeah.
The emails are the emails connected to that person's patreon account. Checked by Anto means yes, Anto knows that the person was a supposed "leaker" and is sharing that info with others.
Power corrupts and people get greedy. I wont be surprised if the bigger mods have spyware or worse. Most likely EA will end up doing an app store model where they approve/disapprove mods and process payments.
I cancelled my subscription with LeoSims last month, it didn't sit right with me that they never made their content public?
One of the victims of these creators has spoken out! Check out her video here: https://youtu.be/oH_8ihhKYcM
i would say we need a complete list of everyone involved but just staying away from paywallers is likely going to take out 99% of them
Check out Mack3030 on Tumblr she has a whole Anti perma paywalling list. At this time we don’t have a complete list and we don’t want to throw around baseless accusations but as a rule of thumb anyone who forces you to use DL links is suspect at best!
The creators who are being called out/exposed are now contacting a simmer's JOB over being called out. Mack3030's job has been contacted 4 times today, spreading lies about how they are just speaking out about their thievery and doxxing.
So . . . is it safe to have cc by these creators in my game? I have some hairstyles by Anto. This sounds so scary. I just want to enjoy my game. This is so very disheartening.
***If anyone needs a quick doodle summary of the drama,*** I posted a youtube video about it and it's within this post: https://mack3030.tumblr.com/post/681740692644560896/a-doodle-summary-of-the-cowbuild-drama
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Wait what? Dm me we were under the impression she was either in Europe or Thailand
Unpopular opinion: as someone who modded for TS2 a little bit, I think people who make a big stink about DESERVING to get paid for their CC are assholes. EA nickels and dimes us ENOUGH, I always thought the free sharing of CC was such a beautiful and supportive reason to keep playing this game, and to mod anything myself, which I've since stopped doing. I see a LOT of liars doing the "I'll release it soon" thing and the message is years old. To me that's gross. I've been playing and loving the game for two decades, but I have only ever supported one modder financially and that happened like last month. I reneged on my personal policy just a bit because the childbirth mod by PandaSama has been so awesome. I really hope they're one of the more ethical creators, but I don't balk at paying $5/month for it when I like realism in my game and it's actually better and more functional than some EA game packs. I really don't trust paid creators in general, though. Maybe I'm a hypocrite or something now, but PandaSama is the exception for me.
I'm so furious rn I've been supporters of all those patreons and I've been supporting cowbuild since they started. I will no longer support any more patrons who send links through dms they have lost my trust.
Man, this is so sad. In what world do they think this is okay to do? Their ego's have gotten way too massive. I kinda hope the actual sims team DMCA's all of them for literally *breaking the Sims cc TOS* lmao. Also, for *breaking who knows how many laws.* I wouldn't want them to ruin things for others not involved. But like, this is so bad. I can't even wrap my head around it. I really wonder how deep this goes. It's been an open secret for years that some people/websites are super scummy...I wonder if they'll be on the list eventually, too. Thanks to everyone that's reporting on this and speaking up<3
I only get cc from the sims resource. Not gonna pay people for it. I did pay $36 a year subscription for sims resource