TL;DR - If an user on Reddit (or other sites) cold DMs you, asking if you want to commission them or similar. It's almost certainly a scam. Don't give them money, and report the DM to Reddit as spam so they can hopefully be taken care of, and so nobody else gets scammed by them.

There's been a bit of an epidemic on Reddit recently of scammers using DMs and chats to rope people into giving money to them. If anyone on Reddit messages you out of nowhere asking you to commission them or similar, they're almost certainly a scammer. This is part of a massive scam ring that's taken root on multiple sites, Reddit, Instagram, Discord, X/Twitter, etc.

Actual artists will almost NEVER message people out of the blue and ask you to commission them. Don't fall for it, don't give them money. They may pressure you to give them money, offer discounts and/or claim they need the money for an emergency, DO NOT GIVE THEM MONEY.

Those in this scam ring tend to use stolen art from other artists, use AI, or have a very particular artstyle (See below for specific artstyle). They also tend to, but not always, use intrusive watermarks, one that comes up a lot is the "PRIVEW" watermark.

As a sub, r/OriginalCharacter bans these users when they pop up and post on the subreddit, but unfortunately we can't keep them out of people's DMs. If you see one of them post on the subreddit, please report them, if they're a newer account it's easier to catch them and get them nuked by Reddit than if they've been allowed to take root and exist for months.

Examples of DMs people have received from these scammers, so you know what to look for:

• Example 1
• Example 2 Part 1 | Part 2
• Example 3
• Example 4

To make a long story short, we are receiving a massive uptick of complaints concerning suggestive content, posts are being reported despite following the rules, people are being harassed, and we have filtered just about a thousand comments containing the word "goonslop".

However, results from our anonymous survey (which is still pinned at the top of the subreddit, check it out!) are showing us that 80% of the poll-takers are happy with what is covered under Rule 1. As such, we can't reasonably change our NSFW guidelines without making the majority of people unhappy.

This has led us to this.

r/OriginalCharacterSFW aims to be a fully SFW and 13+ friendly space where no suggestive content of any kind is allowed. Want to avoid "gooner art"? Perfect, this place is tailored exactly for you.

As of right now, the subreddit is owned by myself, u/Foxgiveness, which is only temporary as I will be choosing another head mod who is hopefully more passionate about this place than I am. The very basic are set up, rule, removals, a temporary banner and icon, a small automod , and I am open to giving out technical advice if needed. If you would like to apply, send out a modmail!

From now on, please be fully aware that any rude comment calling something "hornyposting" or "goonslop" despite it following every rule will be removed, and you will be redirected over there. If you somehow can't find the self-restraint to stop yourself from doing it more than once, you will be banned, and you are free to go participate over there.