Advice, commissioner requesting art removal due to personal issues

[lavenderpandy.livejournal.com]

So, this came about months ago where an old commissioner requested removal of their commission due to their significant other having major issues with the artwork. The image was of their personal character with someone else's character which was not allowed in their relationship or something. I'm not entirely sure. As the commissioner described, it got to the point of constant arguments and threats of self-harm. I said no as the image was pretty much 2 years old and had obviously been spread to multiple places by now. I'll admit I asked that if they wished for me to remove the image, I would need a privacy fee paid.

That didn't go well and the commissioner went on an emotional tirade, blaming me for the discourse and "profiting" off their issues. I didn't respond.

Months later, the significant other asked for the art to be removed, explaining that the personal drama was still going on (ironically, the image was in their favorites on their page...okay???) They said they would pay the removal fee but instead I just broke down and removed the image and blocked both the users, telling the SD never to contact me  about any of these matters  again.


Did I handle this properly? What rule in my TOS would be a good way of handling this? I've had an usual number of people ask for their art to be removed at the beginning of the year due to miscommunication between the participants, but not with like this. I'm empathetic but I don't want my artwork weeded out due to emotional situations like this all the time.

Comments

[ramthedragon.livejournal.com]

If I was in your shoes I would've just taken the picture down, as you said it was 2 years old so really it's not as if it was garnering tons of attention or views. I'm not really a huge fan of the privacy fee either.

I agree their drama is none of your business but I still think it's a nice gesture that I don't think really affects you that much at this point.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

Artists get commissions by sharing the work they produce. Requiring a fee to not share the work or to remove it is fair because they lose those views that will get them more work. Even if it is a few years old, people still see it. I've commissioned many artists because I found them in someone's faves from an image that was a few years old.

[metallik-hasse.livejournal.com]

I agree completely with Mazz; several of my older pieces are shared more often than many of my newer works. I'm sure this is for a variety of reasons, but just because a drawing is old, it doesn't mean the it isn' valuable to the artist.

I've commissioned artists by finding hecka old art by them shared around the web or in the depths of someone's favorites.

(Edited for typos and reworded parts for clarity.)

[thaily.livejournal.com]

"If I was in your shoes I would've just taken the picture down, as you said it was 2 years old so really it's not as if it was garnering tons of attention or views."

Disagreed, there's a few pieces of mine people clearly favor, some are older. I had a piece from 2014 I had to re-upload so I could have it in my gallery and spread awareness that it was mine, because I got tired of people tracing/re-uploading it as their own.