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Of all the posts somebody would steal, I would never think someone would lift my post about my very dead hanging baskets, which was posted in May of last year. (The post is here.) But they did! And thanks to the sharp eye of reader Patricia, who stumbled across the site, they were found out. She emailed me with the link. Frustrated and annoyed, I posted the link, along with the original post link, on Facebook, really just wanting to vent. You guys are AMAZING. That guy’s server probably about crashed from the hits to the stolen post, and his email box filled up with outrage.
I have NO IDEA what will appear on that page by the time this post publishes, but as of 5 p.m. Eastern time last night, it said this (with my post removed):
Apology To Chickens in The Road & Author Suzanne McMinn:
Some time ago (August 2010 to be exact) we received the photos and the article on re-using hanging baskets from a fan of our site.
I personally liked the article so much we included it on our site in its entirety. We were unaware that it was copyrighted material.
We receive a lot of hanging basket material from our fan base and we use our site to share information and tips on hanging baskets with our everyone who shares our passion for this hobby.
I apologize that we did not take the time to verify who the actual author was.
We will do this in future should the situation ever arise again.
Yours sincerely
Mark Slattery
While I appreciate the apology, there are numerous problems with this statement, including that it came from a fan of his site and he posted it WITHOUT crediting that supposed fan EITHER. And we’re to believe a “fan” sent him well over a dozen photos along with the entire text, and yet he posted it with no credit to that person? It’s a clearly personal post, mentioning my son’s name, flowers he gave me on Mother’s Day, my cow, and my puppy. All of that is why it felt pretty personal to me to see it posted without my permission or knowledge on another site without credit. It’s not a site I would have given permission to run my post. It looks like a scraper site that steals content so they can draw search engine traffic to their ads. (And REALLY? A “fan” sent him the ENTIRE word-for-word text of my post with over a dozen photos–photos that were inserted in the post EXACTLY as they appeared in my post? REALLY?)
If the apology post is still there, you can find it at this link.
I did eventually receive an email from Mark Slattery that said approximately the same thing as was posted on his site, blaming his nameless fan, along with some mildly amusing/insulting comments about the “few emails” he received and some pumping-himself-up remarks about his “several thousand” readers (really??). Some of my readers also forwarded me some very testy emails from an Ed Nicholas who appears to be the webmaster of the site. In one email, he complains about the protest over a post they published a year ago. Am I supposed to be LESS upset because they didn’t post it yesterday? Should I not be MORE upset that they’ve been using it for a YEAR? (I sense a certain lack of genuine regret all around, which is not surprising. It’s always more about the regret over being caught.)
Thank you all! That’s one for the good guys!
By the way–the above photo? With the rooster in the basket? That’s the BEST photo in that post and the ONLY photo from the post he didn’t lift. (Odd! Maybe he couldn’t figure out a way to explain the CHICKEN. He did not, however, bother to remove my son’s name……..)
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on July 14, 2011
1:13
am
http://myhangingbaskets.com/basket_blog/birds%20and%20hanging%20baskets.htm
http://myhangingbaskets.com/basket_blog/basket_blog_Aug_2010.htm
2:04
am
I thoroughly hope he was bombarded with “you idiot” emails. I wonder if he has ANY idea how many fans you have, and how puny his “several thousand” fans seems in comparison. Moron.
2:15
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2:25
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Nothing is more irritating than an apology with snarky comments thrown in. That right there shows he’s guilty!
3:14
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This arrogant @%#$@ needs slapped with a bill!
3:33
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5:21
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Seems this guy isn’t even aware of intellectual property laws. I’d go ahead and send an invoice for the same amount you asked of Countryside, along with the penalty fee, and tell him you’ll be turning this over to your attorney. And include his webmaster in the info (from reading his responses on facebook he’s flipping you off, too).
Just gripes my butt to see your hardwork so casually stolen, re-used, and then everyone complaining flipped off! But they haven’t heard the last of your groupies
5:33
am
/end web design rant/
He’s using the photo on multiple pages: http://myhangingbaskets.com/basket_blog/basket_blog_Aug_2010.htm
5:50
am
Registrant:
Mark Slattery
2108 NE 25TH STREET
WILTON MANORS, FL 33305-1530
US
Phone: +1.4406687028
Email: mark.bluepacific@gmail.com
Registrar Name….: Register.com
Registrar Whois…: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com
Domain Name: myhangingbaskets.com
Created on…………..: 2009-04-05
Expires on…………..: 2012-04-05
Administrative Contact:
Mark Slattery
2108 NE 25TH STREET
WILTON MANORS, FL 33305-1530
US
Phone: +1.4406687028
Email: mark.bluepacific@gmail.com
Technical Contact:
Registercom
Domain Registrar
575 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10018
US
Phone: +1.9027492701
Email: domainregistrar@register.com
DNS Servers:
ns7.ns0.com
ns184.pair.com
~~~~~~~~~~
And here’s the info from his gardensquirrel domain:
Domain Name………. gardensquirrel.com
Creation Date…….. 2009-05-06
Registration Date…. 2009-05-06
Expiry Date………. 2015-05-06
Organisation Name…. Serenity
Organisation Address. Private Bag 611
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. GREYMOUTH
Organisation Address. n/a
Organisation Address. GREYMOUTH
Organisation Address. NEW ZEALAND
Admin Name……….. Serenity .
Admin Address…….. Private Bag 611
Admin Address……..
Admin Address…….. GREYMOUTH
Admin Address…….. n/a
Admin Address…….. GREYMOUTH
Admin Address…….. NEW ZEALAND
Admin Email………. gardensquirrel@gmail.com
Admin Phone………. 1.4406687028
Admin Fax…………
Tech Name………… David Clark
Tech Address……… 6278 N. Federal Hwy
Tech Address………
Tech Address……… Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Tech Address……… n/a
Tech Address……… Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Tech Address……… NEW ZEALAND
Tech Email……….. david@26northmedia.com
Tech Phone……….. 11.9544958898
Tech Fax………….
Name Server………. ns2.theplanet.com
Name Server………. ns1.theplanet.com
The takeaway is that he’s either hosting at http://pair.com or http://theplanet.com, which redirects to http://www.softlayer.com/
So if he won’t respond to our complaints, we can go over him to his webhosting.
6:14
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7:29
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7:49
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Suzanne…go get him!
7:50
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Krista posted this on Facebook. If I can figure out how to do this, I’m doing it! (I might, you know, clean up the language, LOL.)
7:59
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8:07
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8:11
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Another tool is when you write a post, before publishing (I know it’s a pita, but what’s the alternative), set up a Google Alert ( http://www.google.com/alerts )for certain key phrases used in the post. Then you’ll be notified if anyone else is using them, sooner rather than later.
8:24
am
Suzanne, you’re a talented writer! I’m sure you’ll scare the pants off of him. Funny that he think his thousands of readers would matter more to you than Countryside’s millions!!! And look what you made them do!!!
8:49
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9:16
am
What can you expect of an increasingly immoral country?
9:30
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9:49
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10:00
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10:03
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http://myhangingbaskets.com/basket_blog/birds%20and%20hanging%20baskets.htm
10:18
am
I’m glad to see he atleast replied and acted quickly, even as lame as it was.
10:22
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11:07
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12:25
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Maybe that’s just my perception….
good to see a community of on-liners come together for something like this!
12:40
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12:58
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1:51
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6:27
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9:26
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8:22
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http://www.killsometime.com/videos/6720/Hopping-Sheep-Plays-Tag-With-Dog
Didn’t see a credit to you, so thought it was more of the same old thievery. When will the world ever learn not to take what is not theirs?