Irony, copyright, and site design
Website 02/25/2004 |First, read what this gentleman has to say about the appropriation of content from other weblogs:
I was reading Dawnkeyotie’s blog and she links to the story of Tequila Mockingbird and how some young punk wannbe blogger has been stealing her material.
Now I’ll admit to being influenced by other sites, like my About This Site page borrows rather heavily from the About page at Ani Moller’s site, but stealing word for word… Just not cool. Etiquette is the name of the game… If you want to use text, at least give proper credit, or a trackback if possible. If you want to steal my life, go ahead, I dare you… I Double Dog Dare You™ Mofo! I may not display a copyright notice, but it’s in the source of every page on this site.
Now, with that firmly in mind, head on over and check out his site design. Look familiar? It looks awfully familiar to me. Funny, there’s no credit given, and he’s replaced the copyright notice in my code with one of his own, implying that the design work is his. According to his about page, the last major redesign to his site went live on Monday, Feb. 2nd of 2004. Checking his archives, here’s what we find for the redesign announcement…
You like?
I though I’d lost this new look, but luckily a few files were still on my server so for the last 12 hours I went through everything with the virtual equivalent of a fine tooth comb and cleaned it all up and finally finished what I started some 2 weeks ago. I think it’s much nicer, but then anything is much nicer than the old b2 default template, so it makes this place my own at last. Before you ask, yes, it looks a bit unaligned in Internet Explorer, but it looks great in Mozilla Firebird and seeing as that’s the browser I use mostly, get used to it. If I can find a way to realign in IE I will, but until then it’s just cosmetic differences.
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p>Yes — he definitely made this place his own — as long as “his own” is rather loosely defined as “blatantly stolen from someone else”.
Sigh.
The really ridiculous thing about this, though, is that I actually do like the way my design translates to a two-column layout. Considering I occasionally toy with the idea of going back to a two-column design rather than this single-column design, if I used the same base overall look, I’d end up looking nearly exactly how he does now. Would I then have to turn around and give him credit for inspiring some of the design?
Again — oh, the irony.
(Many thanks to Firas for the tip-off.)
Update: All’s well that ends well.
[See also: Welcome back WaSP | Happy Birthday to me, new site design | Redesign in progress | Site design: why CSS? | Validation favelets ]
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14 Responses to “Irony, copyright, and site design”
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medhat abbas
Ryan Waddell
Sponge Bob
rawad
February 25th, 2004 at 8:12 pm
What a hypocrite. I hate it when people do crap like that. I’ve watched you fiddle with this site for the past couple of years, so I can at least say that I’ve been a witness to it all. Well, I hope he gets what’s coming to him. What goes around comes around.
February 25th, 2004 at 8:27 pm
You’re welcome… I just happened to click through to his page from a PubSub subscription for “Grey Tuesday”.
What’s funny is that his ‘feeds’ page copies your text too, but also that “OK then… But “lay it on a flat surface like a Polaroid picture” doesn’t sound nearly as cool does it?” is also taken from a Reuters story. Habits manifest themself in all sorts of ways, don’t they…
February 25th, 2004 at 8:34 pm
I’m thinking of going to his site and tipping him off to your site, just to see what he does … .
I’m so glad my site’s look is so close to a stock MT site, no one would want it.
February 25th, 2004 at 8:39 pm
Hum… I like your single column design better. I don’t think you should worry about changing your design. Your “friend,” however, needs to do some serious redesigning! How hypocritical and rude!
February 25th, 2004 at 8:45 pm
It would appear, unfortunately, that your blog is just too sexy for you.
Shame. =D
February 25th, 2004 at 8:46 pm
You’ve gotta start designing some skank ass sites that nobody will want. Your only solution. j/k
February 25th, 2004 at 9:28 pm
What a rube for thinking he could get away with it, throw the book at him…
February 25th, 2004 at 9:55 pm
Stand down, folks! Our fellow at Scamcity has owned up to his mistake and taken the design down. That and having sent an apology letter should be enough. Not many people own up to their mistakes, even if others help them do it.
February 25th, 2004 at 10:46 pm
All’s well that ends well — Gregor has removed the appropriated design, and apologized on his site and via e-mail.
I just sent him the following e-mail (and comment):
Now, if only everyone was so accommodating!
February 26th, 2004 at 5:08 am
There was a man once that made his living doing a Louie Armstrong impersonation. Copying the talk as well as the trumpet. Don’t you know that one day in the middle of his act he noticed Louie Armstrong sitting in the front row! He finished his set and went back stage and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough Louie Armstrong comes back stage. Having been caught red handed he begs for forgiveness. Louie Armstrong puts his hand on the guys shoulder and says.
“Son, Many people have painted the Mona Lisa but they still line up to see the original.”
Michael, you are an original and regardless of how many people copy you or rip you off you will always be an original and we’ll always line up for you.
February 27th, 2004 at 1:41 am
I’m still surprised that you take such umbrage at all this. If someone “steals,” “borrows,” or even impersonates your site design what’s the big deal. Consider it a compliment and leave it at that. The sincerest form of flattery is still to take something as if it were one’s own. Admittedly it might be fun to hold any poser to task - but what’ the ultimate gain? Is squashing a insect that rewarding? Consider it a form of ego-sharing. He doesn’t have one or his isn’t adequate so he has to steal the persona of someone else. You, in this case. That makes you the stonger individual and - again - you should just leave it at that.
February 27th, 2004 at 2:14 am
So, what - I should fly to Seattle and take Michael’s G5 as if it were my own? By your logic, he’ll be flattered. (In the real world, he’ll be coming after me with a baseball bat.)
February 27th, 2004 at 2:43 am
I find it a big deal (and I’m not alone in this) because I put a lot of time and effort into coming up with a design that I like. I write the code by hand, I take the time to ensure that my code is as clean as possible, if I find features I want to incorporate (such as the live comment preview here) I give attribution if I’m using someone else’s code or bang my head against the javascript until I get something working on my own, I create what few graphics I use myself, etc., etc., and so on.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, according to the old cliché, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying when someone appropriates something that I’ve put a lot of work into and claims it as their own. Were someone to use my design and attribute it to me, I might be less annoyed — I’d far prefer it if they were to ask first, but if they at least had the good grace to say that they were using my work rather than presenting it as their own (or implying such), I’d be less aggravated.
I don’t relish taking someone to task over their actions, but neither will I shrink away from doing so when necessary. I don’t consider it “squashing an insect”, nor do I assume that they are doing so due to lack of ego. I merely assume that they found my site at some point, liked my design, and for some reason decided that it was permissible to use it themselves — which is not only annoying, but it involves removing the copyright notice embedded in the code, which brings up legal issues. Admittedly, they are legal issues that would be (for me) prohibitively expensive and possibly difficult to prove in court, so all I can really do is make some noise and hope that the parties reconsider their actions, but I will at least do that much.
If you’re comfortable being that casual about the work you do, well, more power to you — that’s certainly well within your rights, and I wouldn’t attempt to convince you otherwise. I do wonder, however, what you might think if I took one of your panoramic photos and posted it here, claiming or implying that I had taken it myself during a walk around Seattle. Maybe you’d be fine with a “eh, whatever” shrug of the shoulders and let it go — and maybe you’d rather that I cite you as the source of the photograph.
I can’t convince you that my approach is “right” or “wrong”, nor do I expect you to change your views — and if that means you think a little less of me, than so be it. All I can do is do my best to explain why I feel the way I do about such things.
February 27th, 2004 at 1:37 pm
I suppose you have an interesting point regarding my photo work. I’m not sure I wouldn’t go the route you’re going. I can do a few things, though, with the VRs I can embed copyright information into the file. I have published these things using the Creative Commons approach with just a request for attribution. I don’t deny your point nor your pique - AND, your site is certainly one of the most fluid I read and one of the most interactive. I know it’s that way because of the hard work and artistry you put into it, so I’m not saying your worth is not “worth it.” I was simply trying to say that this particular “thief” seems to be cheapening himself and not at your expense - at least as I saw it. Yes, I probably am a little freer with my output than you might be and that’s both our right as coders or artists. It just seemed to me that you were getting caught in a downward spiral and that didn’t seem appropriate. I have a higher regard for you anyway - the theft of your work doesn’t lessen that regard nor does it detract from your effort. And, yes, it’s a lot more difficult to maintain copyright over source material than it is over rendered QuickTime or Photoshop files. The other guy is simply being an ass (well, he did relent, so he changed from being an ass, which is good).