Ok, so Jake (Sketchy29) is banned until January 19th, 2014 because he used internet pics in an effort to boost his rating. He is banned from everything but PMing, including commenting, posting, an the forum. He contacted me offline and asked if I would make a forum post about if you guys
1.Think the ban is fair or should be longer/shorter
2. Think he should delete his account and make a new one in order to escape the ban.

For the record, just because we are friends offline does not mean that I think it is ok that he stole pictures. I think his ban is fair (and am suprised it isnt longer/he didnt get his account closed,) and I also do not think he should close his account to cheat the ban.

Please state your opinion below.

The forum is not for things like this. If someone stole pictures then they should be banned.

If he stole pictures, he should be banned permenantly.
That is terrible.

Stealing internet pictures and uploading them claiming they are yours, it's wrong on many levels. It's cheating, and it just ruins the enjoyment of the website. No offense, but they should be permanently banned....

steeling photos and claiming as your own is the worst thing you can do in any photography community

To answer your second question, in my opinion he should just delete his account and never come back. People who steal photos and claim them as their own are not welcome here.

Agreed with all of the above. Stealing photos and posting them here is about as illegal as it gets on ES.

I think it's a fair (if not easy) punnishment. Most people who've done that have been banned permanently.
And if he deletes his account, he definately should not be able to make a new one. I hate when people make new accounts to get around that and then he'd repost everything.

STEALING PICTURES IS KINDA SCUMMY

Ok thanks for the input

I agree with everything said.

+1 agree with the ban.

What pics were he stealing?

Well... The Reventon first of all.
And the only other one I know about would be the 458/sls/california combo.

EVERYONE~ jake has read these posts and decided not to make a new account. He says thanks to all.