I hate thieves…
I swear it never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to rip off somebody else work. I've been ripped of more times than I can count, and every time it seems like the ripper does more work to steal it than it would have taken to create something original.
Check out this idiot : http://www.seaulf.com/chapterOne/index.html
Original Work: http://www.cruciallimit.com/chapterOne/index.html
And the guy doesn't quit there...going through his portfolio, my work is all over the place, This guy probably steals from the collection plate at Church... (and I do know of at least one Church he has stolen from)
Another Rip : http://www.antalyahus.com/
Original work (done by me) : http://thevillagechurch.net/
The guy even has some of my downloads on his site claiming to have done them himself.
This is comical really, but it still irritates the hell out of me.
But I'm not the only one he ripped, here's his latest act of thievery :
http://www.seaulf.com/chaptertwo/index.html
Original - (Checkout e21Golf Project) :
http://www.amberfly.com/main/index.html
Now to a degree I would agree that imitation is the best form of flattery. Inspired work is very flattering, directly ripped and outright stolen and passed off as his own work is just irritating and maddening. I took a look at his copyright statement today and its even more insane then the rip of the site, I especially love the line:Â "Please do not steal from me, Make your own site." what a joke.
It blows my mind the lengths lazy people will go to try and avoid doing the work themselves.
/***** UPDATE 05-08-06 *****/
I received an email from Ulf Nilson (owner or http://www.seaulf.com/) This is a message from seaulf.com
I im so sorry David. My web is down.This is not going to hapend again and yes I am starting og building a new web in this moment,but this time with just inspiration.
Best regards
seaulf.com
/***** UPDATE 05-13-06 *****/
Well the copy of my site, as well as the Amberfly work has been removed. However, after several emails requesting the material be removed I had not received and response from Mr. Ulf Nilson. The site in question is the still yet to be removed Antalyahus website (a copy of my original work for The Village Church). I was forced once again to take the offensive and blast emails to Mr. Ulf Nilson, his coworkers, his clients, his friends who signed his guestbook, forum posts, guestbook posts, etc... in the hopes of shaming this individual into doing the right thing and taking the ripped site down. I finally received a response, apologizing that the site had not been taken down that he was trying to get in touch with the client. I requested a formal apology to the Village Church as well as to my self and asked that this matter be taken care of quickly or the onslaught will resume until it is handled. I received this email this morning:The Village Church.Your church deserve an apology from me and I am so sorry that I have copied your website. I have learned now, and I only hope that you can forgive me for my stupid action. This shouldn't have happened. I have send a E-mail to the owner of the other website regarding my stupid action and informed him about my unlegal action,and that im going to mage him a new one as soon as he take contact whit me. I promise that I wil keep you posted on what is/is not happening with this.Best regards from seaulf.comHave I mentioned that I hate thieves?!
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May 6th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
I’m usually the last person to concur on these type of posts, I can usually allow for a liberal dose of “influence… but the silly methodical nature of this guy’s plagiarism is undeniable. Just laugh, mate… It’s hard to see how imitation artists actually enjoy their day’s work.
BTW, I don’t see the correlation with your last case example (made by someone else).
May 6th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for the reply. The second example isn’t a rip on Amberfly itself, but rather the design they did for E21 Golf. Inside their Featured Projects section you will see a listing for E21Golf, clicking that link will display some images to the right and a secondary navigation down the right side of the image, clicking through the different views you can see the different states of the site, or you can checkout the live site for E21 Golf. They have since pulled the interactive version down, but you can see the design is still intact at http://www.e21golf.com/.
May 6th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
yeah, i mean, he obviously had knowledge of flash enough to de-compile it and edit it. why not just do your own?
What’d he say when you sent him an e-mail?
Let us know when, and we’ll start hitting him with hate mail =).
Funny, his poem looks like an e-mail chain letter.
May 6th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
He hasn’t responded. I’ve sent him a few emails and also notified the client of his that they were sold a plagiarized site as well. The guy obviously does have some skill, which is the most puzzling part about the whole deal. He really took way more effort to decompile and duct tape back together my work, then it would have taken him to do a whole different original site on his own. The only thing I can figure is that he has technical skill, but absolutely no creative thought whatsoever.
On top of all that he ripped a site that is 6 years old now and uses technology that is out of date (Flash 5). You’d think he’d want something a tad more current, God knows I do
. I suppose that’s why he ripped Amberfly’s Golf site.
May 6th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
It would depress you to know that most of the Flash Devs and Creatives out there are BS Artists. One contractor who we paid to do the work for us and teach us some of his Flash skill, turned out to sub-contract out the work and provide us with the sub-contractor’s final swf, but never an FLA.
When pinned down to start explaining how things worked, he quit.
There are always two types of people out there:
1) People that crave knowledge and better themselves
2) People that rely on the first type to do it for them — and stand there to take credit.
May 6th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
I hate the same thing with folks that ‘borrow’ code. They could atleast have the courtesy to rename variables. I even had a guy at a place I used to work ask me to give him a hand with some code he had written… it was an easy fix since he lifted it out of a flash/.NET example I had posted online a year before… some people.
May 6th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Hey Dude,
that guy sucks!
You would still from a church?Even if it is there website, that is just wrong!
In todays age of opensource,and almost free templetes there is no need to steal. I am a newbie, and when I e-mail peole, “WOW, that is a cool design, can I use something like it?” They always get back to me,and offer their help. Point is stealing somebody’s design, well there is no need for it.
I can understand your rage, but I would laugh at this guy as he is a LOSER! Somebody once had stolen my java applet(a surf calculator),and it pissed me off, but after a while it broke for them,and they actually e-mailed me looking for support, un-real as that sounds this was done at my University!
Well that’s all for my 2 cents, don’t feel bad as it takes an artist to create something, and anybody can steal, takes no talent, so in my eyes your the good one.
I check out your site,and you do great work`-`
Johnny
May 6th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
well, liefting behind the scenes code is a lot lot lot different then lifting the actual design. it’s borderline stupid to think that no one will ever find out. the biggest fun part of flash is the process anyways.
keep us updated if he replies or not.
what were those awards on the site? were those yours he ported over, or did he win those?
May 7th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Thanks for the replies. Yeah it does make me laugh a bit when I see the quality of work this guy does its easy to see why he doesn’t try and design something on his own. But your right, there are so many template sites out there where you can buy the source files and LEGALLY use a design that isn’t your for less than $100. However that would assume that this guy had a small bit of logical thought, which it seems he doesn’t. One thing I have learned over the years of working with different designers/developers is that some will create everything on their own and enjoy it. Others will do what they can on their own and “borrow” the rest. It is depressing that this industry that allows people to be as creative and expressive as they want tends to generate more lazy no talent thieves then it does creative works of art. If these people had half a brain they would uses these sites that they rip as inspiration and learn how to get better at doing it themselves. But then again that’s why there are so many people in jail for stealing, its easier to just take what someone else has then to get off your ass and do it yourself.
For the record I’m all for inspiration and helping to better the community. I am inspired by others work on a daily basis, several times a day in most cases. But I’m inspired to go do something on my own. When I see others work that is really good it gets the creative juices flowing and I want to go build something, I don’t get the urge to go copy, rip, steal. I participate in several online communities, answer every email I get personally, and give away more free advise and source code all the time. To me that’s what’s so great about this community, its openness and willingness to share. Every now and then you get someone who thinks they have something so cool they won’t tell you how they did it, but I think that’s the exception. I’ve had several emails asking for the full source code of my site, I’ve never given it away but have explained everything I have done. In fact one of my best friends introduced himself to me several years ago by asking for the source code to my site, we’ve been great friends every since. Lets face it, nothing I have done here is earth shattering and its nothing that can and hasn’t been reproduced over and over again, hell the sites 6 years old even. I didn’t invent any special effect, wasn’t the first guy on the block to do anything you see on my site. But what my site and my work is are my vision, my hard work, my creative, my time and effort… its my work. I would gladly share how I did anything on my site, and do. All this prick had to do was send an email and I would have shared any advise on how to apply it to his vision. That’s not what he was after apparently, he wanted it all. Like someone who robs a store rather than apply for a job at the store.
This is a lost cause for all practical purposes, I know. But thank you all for allowing me to rant a bit, your comments are most appreciated. And yes I will post any updates should I ever get them, for now I will continue to email this slug as well as everyone who signed his guestbook and everyone is his corporate work directory (I found out where he works :evil: ) until I get a reply from him. Maybe if he doesn’t have the balls to standup and admit what he did was wrong and take the site down, his friends who signed his guestbook, or his coworkers he sees everyday will shame him into doing the right thing once they know what a lowly scum piece of crap he is.
May 13th, 2006 at 10:39 am
FCUK HIM – tear off his wings and let him try to fly.
crucial im behind ya 100% – anything i can do or “not do” lemme know
May 15th, 2006 at 10:45 am
[...] As I wrote in my previous rant, I do hate thieves, but I want to clarify something, the part of this whole thing that irritates me the most. Truth be told if the guy had emailed me and asked how I did ANYTHING on my site I would have gladly helped. I have never once not answered an email asking how or why I did something. I always have provided either step by step instructions, code samples, direction,… whatever the question required. I answer every email that I get from the sites, about the sites, or regarding the sites I build. There’s no magic here, there’s nothing I have done that can’t and hasn’t been done 1000’s of times over elsewhere. The only thing I’m protective about is the final compilation and arrangement… the presentation. I will show anyone, anywhere how I did anything if they ask, as long as they don’t copy what I have done verbatim, and put their own look to it. In the end that’s all we have, the look and feel and interaction. The code means nothing. The visitor doesn’t care how we did something, only that it works and is usable. [...]
September 4th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
You know that I also hate thieves… And now, not only they steal our work, but also they’re going for our business names and goodwill!.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:18 am
you know, ive been ripped off in my adult boutique store in Newport Australia about once a week and i dont call the police, i handle them with slander and abuse while i push them out on the street so everyone in the street notices. i hate theives to the point that i shake. i wonder one day what i will be capable of doing to them. Typically they are junked up, some are old grandmas, others are in groups so that one attracts your attention while the other rips you off. I logged onto google to find a site about retail theft but there is none, so my key words were “i hate theives” and your site was the first to appear. why cant we post there picture on a site in every country, just so everyone gets an update everyday. thats payback but its illegal here in australia. who wins???? they do.