Peace, Love and Underhanded
Joelle said around mid-afternoon on June 14, 2007 while listening to Massive Attack - Black Milk
So, I’m cruising our referrals over on the Moxie Design Studios site and I see a link coming from something called the Humanity Center. I almost didn’t click the link because we often get hits from people who have downloaded one of the free templates we designed offered by ExpressionEngine. But, unfortunately for the hippie half-wit at the other end of that link, I did. (Next time you rip someone off, you might want to change the links to point to your website, Mensa.) Behold the blatant (not to mention hideous) rip off of my work:
This ticks me off on assorted levels:
- The obvious “hey, that’s my work!” factor
- The fact that it’s a project in which a lot of “back and forth” happened, so the project was fine-tuned to the client’s spec
- They not only stole it, but made it decidedly less attractive
- They’re supposedly humanitarians
This, directly quoted from their website:
There is a growing, spreading consensus about the world we are envisioning:
Interdependence, economic and social justice, peace, democracy and ecological integrity.Can we be ambassadors of a new world that we envision, a world of shared humanity, understanding, and care? This is an exploration of tangible, practical principles, challenges and proposals for actually creating that world.
I don’t know, can you? You’re well on your way Bullshit Ambassador, I can tell you that. Their whole website goes on and on about community and uniting the world and a bunch of other new age malarkey that would be all well and good if they hadn’t just stolen something that clearly didn’t belong to them. I especially like this gem:
The Conscious Business Alliance is a group of businesses and customers who promote humane ways of selling and buying.Our goal is to support each other in creating a business climate where doing good is just as important as earning money. We seek to be honest, caring, and thoughtful about all the ways in which doing our business has an effect.
That’s just aces, Skip. Too bad you’re sketchy and think that shade of green is appealing.
I did some clicking and found another website called Huzanity.org. I called the number listed at the top, but it’s no longer in service. I was very interested in having a little chat with Captain Humanitarian. I’m trying to figure out how to broach it next… I’ll attempt one of the forms or leave a comment or something, since the contact links all still lead back to my client’s website.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it certainly doesn’t pay the bills. Bah!
Moxie Design Studios™
Deja Vu! Wow, I swear, I just read this on Lisa’s site...well, not this...but damn! Smart thieves at least know to change the links first. lol
pee ess: some of your longer captcha words are chopping off, I’s gots to reloads to get a new one just sos I can reads dem.
Okay, really, that last sentence hurt to type.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@Danalyn: thanks! I am adjusting the window as we speak.
They probably thought, “Oh, I’ll just change the color to green and nobody will know the difference.” Idiots.
You could register humanitycenter.org and put up a page with your list of grievances. I’m sure it would eventually show up nice and close to their website in Google searches.
from Crazy, USA
Uh, yea - what Danalynn said lol
What I said in my post:
I could apply that post to your situation and it’s the same, same same…
These people wouldn’t know a humanitarian if it bit them in the ass. Heeeyyyy - I know a humanitarian, maybe I could arrange a little ass biting? Heh.
Chin up, chicky - you rawk and there is a humanitarian out there somewhere who wishes they had that kind of talent!
from Oregon
I enjoy that when you click the “contact us” in the upper right hand corner it takes you to the Active Woman site. So anyone trying to contact them is also going to realize they stole all of the code too. Wow, they’re smart.
from Las Vegas, NV USA
New reader, long time fan of you and your partner’s work…
This is just so blantantly obvious that I think they will truly show how dimwitted they are if they were to actually reply back to your initial attempts of contact!!
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
I sent an email to them via their Huzanity.org website contact form and registered for their HumanityCenter.net website. No response, so I filed a DMCA notice with their host and copied them on it. Perhaps that will light a fire under Mr. Humanity.
@Karlana: Thanks for commenting! It’s nice to hear from lurkers!
from FL
I guess you got their attention. Their site is down, the host must have pulled it for TOS violation. Good.
Sorry you got ripped off, I bet that stings. I can’t get over the fact that they didn’t change the links. Geez Louise!
from bremen, germany • Cocktail: gin & tonic
great, of course i’m too late (stupid time-difference) and the site is already down… but it still is BS. can you do anything legal against them? i mean, this ist clearly a TOS violation so they should PAY!
oh also, TGIF!
from Aurora, CO • Cocktail: Strawberry Daquiri
Dang, that is just so rude. I sometimes can’t believe the gall of some people. At least their host seems to have hosed them. How stupid can one person be?
Cocktail: Cosmo - with LIME
I’m sure the host pulled it for the TOS violations. It’s a shame you have to resort to all THIS to protect your work. But it’s necessary.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
I spoke with their host last night and we got it all squared away. Hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson.
Yay, for their host! Hopefully, they learnthe right lesson, which is not to steal other people’s designs and not the other lesson of needing to clean up their tracks better (i.e. cleaning up the links etc).
from Houston • Cocktail: Mango Mojito
Ahhh Jo baby. I know it sucks, but it’s also a testament to how fucking fabulous your work is!
I want my old sassypants template back. The one with the cool changing headers. I may be a bit biased (just a bit--a teeny weeny HUGEFUCKOFF bit) but it’s still my fave.
Humanitarian Buttholes. But hey--I do dig that active women site!!
from Midwest
I find it hysterical that they couldn’t steal properly, but they are going to solve the problems of humanity.
I weep for our future, because people just seem to be getting more and more stupid.
Glad it all worked out. You go!
If you hear anything from the owners of that site, either in attempt to explain themselves or apology, post it in here, okay?
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@Deltus: I will. I’ve heard absolutely nothing from them. I’m kind of interested to see what their response is, though I doubt I’ll hear from them.
Cowardly fucktards.
from Mouseville™ • Cocktail: Amaretto Sour
I love it when you go all gangsta-style on someone - it makes me hot.
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@robyn: hahahaha!! Yes, I’m so bad-ass. :\
from Washington DC
While it always sucks to have your work ripped off, it can be rather gratifying to watch the thief squirm when they’re found out.
I remember taking a web design class in college and one student’s final project was a site obviously well-beyond their technical capacity about some obscure Japanese rocker. I did a search on the name and found only one result on Google: the exact page as the artist’s website.
You’d figure that with a name that only gets one result on Google, the student would have at least thought to make an intentional typo to cover their tracks, but a lot of web thieves just aren’t that intelligent.