mar52
Dale, your posts weren't the only ones used.
Buffetbuster (Profile)
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Those weren't the only ones he used, either. He (I'll use "he" instead of he/she/it/they) had posted a few of my threads too, and I shot him a PM asking him to take them down. He didn't just re-post pictures (also called "hot linking"). He "grabbed" (took) my photos (as well as others'), edited them and then hosted them on his own web site for his own purposes. I don't know how anyone could NOT consider that to be stealing. This is an example:
The reality is that "hot linking" is a fairly common practice on the Internet. I would be willing to bet that to the true letter-of-the-law, it is also copyright violation - and I am not going to be so self-righteous as to say that I have never done it. Of course, there is usually no malicious intent involved, and often times credit is given as to where one found the photo or credit given to the photographer. Either way, the photo is not removed from the host site, edited and then re-posted elsewhere without permission - which is what was done here.
I sent the PM because I didn't like my "stuff" being used without my permission - least of all for a web site that I know nothing about. I don't know what plans he has for my photos or how many other he plans to take in the future. But, if I post something here on roadfood.com, that was my intended audience for what I chose to post. It's my words, my photos, in my context, etc.
EatingTheRoad sent me back a message - and apologized for misappropriating my material. He also took down the information that I requested. However, the rest of his message was pure BS - and I knew it at the time - and I should have called him on it publicly at the time. Instead, I just mentioned it to a few select friends. But, this is what he wrote....
....Just as a point, my intentions were not to "steal, swipe or plagiarize" your work I was just blown away by how great the food looked and how helpful the lists were so I decided to compile them neatly. In all honesty it was more an homage than anything. I do greatly appreciate and enjoy your trip reports. Further, just to note, there is no monetary or other gain intended from my blog, it is a personal log of my travels and is no way commercial. I also made sure to give all credit to the derivation of the lists and photos and was not trying to "play them off" as my own..... The
bolding is, obviously, mine. Of course he was in it for a monetary gain. I guess the idea of having a "store" on your web site is not about making money (the link has since been removed, but he was selling poster-sized versions of his flow charts). As has been evidenced by the tone of this thread, I don't think anyone had any trouble identifying that his goal from day one was to drive traffic from this site to his own site for the purpose of making money. I don't begrudge anyone making money - but, do it on your own work. If I wanted to have a blog of my own travels, I would. If I wanted to contribute something to another site, I would. It was not long after this message from him that he put up the PayPal donation button. I mentioned it to
buffetbuster when it first went up - having felt vindicated that I correctly identified this dude for what he is/was. From Day One, he was attempting to build a brand of his own - and he did it successfully, too. He has parlayed his "personal log" of travels into a paid blogging gig. Good for him. But, I hope he keeps a better eye on how he uses other people's intellectual property, or he will end up getting people with some deeper pockets in trouble.
<message edited by The Travelin Man on Mon, 01/11/10 11:23 PM>
