Monday, July 12, 2010

Chictopia: Yay or nay?

So a friend of mine decided to get on Chictopia. I went over to check it out and I ended up signing up to, but I haven't uploaded anything. Almost immediately after I signed up for an account, I ended up bumping into an article about problems Chictopia users have had with their uploads. Namely, other companies using Chictopia users' outfit pictures without referencing the individual, only, if at all, Chictopia as a whole.

I know that when you sign up to Chictopia, the user agreement stipulates that you are basically just...handing everything you post on Chictopia to them. And they can do whatever they want with it. I'm not too keen on this. Well, it's not like I'm going to be the Internet's next fashion sensation, but I don't like the feeling of losing ownership over things that are distinctly mine. The outfit was the culmination of a thought process from a particular moment. Time and effort was put forth to create the outfit and I don't like third parties to profit from that without even acknowledging the original stylist. I mean, Payless was using Chictopia pictures and the users whose outfits were pictures weren't even mentioned!

Needless to say, I don't know if I'll be posting pictures on Chictopia soon. I'll continue to browse it for inspiration, but I don't know if I can back up their philosophy towards member's ownership/recognition.

Maybe I'm just being silly, but I don't know. I just feel iffy about the whole thing.

4 comments:

Zeynep said...

Hmmm... I never knew of those issues!! That irks me out a little as well. Now I'm reconsidering my account!

Cheri said...

I'm the moderator for Chictopia and I can assure you that Chictopia does not "sell user images". Chictopia and Payless partnership was in a soft launch (not yet ready for public announcement) when another user discovered that the images were displayed. Since then, Chictopia has made sure all user photos have been credited with their names on Payless.com and anyone who wished to not have their photos displayed have been removed from the gallery. We also have a feature for users to choose not to have third party feature their images - you can set that in your account settings. Feel free to email me when you have additional questions. We value your membership and hope to see more of you on Chictopia!

Stella said...

Zeynep: According to Cheri, changes have been made! So don't quit on Chictopia yet?

Cheri: Wow, thanks for responding. I was not aware of those changes. Thank you for clearing things up. I hope be a more active participant at Chictopia in the near future!

Zeynep said...

I wasn't aware of the option to limit use of third parties! I just went into my account and checked it. So there you go!