What would Anil Do?

mena: http://littlesister.mcgraws.com/blog/
anildash: so that's who you stole your layout from?
mena: ha ha. she stole my source too.
mena: Motherfucking Beatrix Potter lover.
anildash: I'll give you a $100 if you post that.
mena: Make it this fondue pot and we have a deal.
anildash: you camgirl ho.

Comments

[ste]

That's messed up. The worst thing is that she also has a copyright statement that says "may not be used without permission" despite the fact that I assume she's using yours without permission. Wow. Makes one wonder...

[Mena]

If it wasn't for that glorious fondue pot, I would have just blown this all off.

Behold the power of cheese.

[daniel]

its both funny and ridiculous at the same time.

hey, at least she didnt try to copyright the layout, only the content. (if that counts for anything)

[Gretchen]

Holy crap, the nerve of some people. I've seen content being stolen from Stacy, and now your stuff gets hijacked. Is nothing sacred?

But, awwwww... wasn't she sweet? She even gave you a link on her "Links" page. How very very thoughtful... and in her very first post she at least says that she came across your blog. So at least she's provided proof that you were the first, Mena. Mmmmmm, fondue...

[Dan S.]

And her version is broken in Mozilla, while yours looks just fine. That's what she gets for stealing something she doesn't understand.

On the other hand, she claims to have donated to MoveableType in her first post. So she can't be all bad.

[Neal]

Mmm. Fondue.

[katie]

Why are people dumb enough to do that and then link you? LMAO And then she has a "for hire" section; what is she going to do? Rip off other people's sites and get paid to do it? Sheesh.

[Jodi]

Somebunny doesn't have enough talent of her own to create her own design. This is pissing me off to the core, for some reason.

[Jodi]

To make matters worse, she includes her charming "Little Sister"/Beatrix Potter site among those she designed. I'm hoppin' mad!!!

[Pfish]

Oh, dear...

This sort of thing happens fairly regularly to people in the design communities I frequent, and it's generally best if the person who was "ripped" sends a nice, polite note to the person, explaining how their lack of creativity is misleading and could cost the original artist/designer jobs and money as potential clients may have chanced across both site (don't laugh--this has actually happened) and become confused. Seriously. Even if she credits Mena, it may also seem that she could be implying direct association with Mena. Finally, it's just unethical, and she should replace the design with an original of her own creation.

(And what's up with that green stripe at the bottom. It scares me and it doesn't match anything else.)

[Elise]

Wow, that is absurd and infuriating. At least her colors are ugly. I can't believe she even went so far as to copy the fleur-de-lis you use as a spacer. I would say "imitation is the highest form of flattery" but whenever anyone tells me that I feel like grabbing them by the throat, because the highest form of flattery is flattery, not copying someone's work.

Also, has anyone else looked at the fondue pot and seen, on the list of "closely related items", the DVD of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? This begs for some kind of cheese-related pun.

[Annie]

What? It's happened again? First with the Currency Template and now this...Beatrix Potter site? That is just not right.

[Laila]

I was appalled that she also was offering herself up for freelance work. The nerve.

At least I never have to worry about someone ripping my design off. It's too boring. Heh.

[Jeff]

While ignorance is NO excuse, there are people who just don't understand what they're doing when they take others' designs and ideas. To them, I guess, "borrowing" is the highest form of flattery.

Not in my world.

[mihow]

how do folks sleep at night? jeesh.

maybe you should change your site name to "big sister" or something.

[Saima]

Her copyright notice looks vaguley familiar too. Megnut?

[geno]

I can't stop laughing. Are people that stupid? I guess so!

[Alejandra]

I'm still stunned that she even went so far as to copy the calendar too. And what's up with his Ben guy she's now mentioning on her site? She has to have a Ben as well?

Crazy-ass dollar store doppelganger!

[kiddo]

The thing that distresses me (aside from the obvious design rip-off), is that she says she's 18, yet her writing all sounds like something a dopey 14 year old would write. At 18, my web site was all about trafficking in pirated mp3s, not covered in bunnies and lists of my favorite things. Somehow I think she's too oblivious to the world to understand she shouldn't steal people's designs.

[kiddo]

The thing that distresses me (aside from the obvious design rip-off), is that she says she's 18, yet her writing all sounds like something a dopey 14 year old would write. At 18, my web site was all about trafficking in pirated mp3s, not covered in bunnies and lists of my favorite things. Somehow I think she's too oblivious to the world to understand she shouldn't steal people's designs.

[mike]

The Debinator is also trampling the copyright of Fredrick Warne & Co., who own the rights to the Beatrix Potter illustrations. She's really outdone her talent-hoovering colleagues.

[Shannon]

Damn, y'all are harsh. I've ripped off quite a bit of stuff in my time, and you guys know you have, too. My design is mine now that I have the know-how to build something from the ground up, but that wasn't always so.

I dunno. If she's copyrighting the content and not the layout, how mad can you really be? She's learning. From one o' the best, too.

[chris]

shannon, you're right that borrowing design elements and ideas is common. but to actually take an entire layout, source included - that is in amazingly poor taste.

[wKen]

Mena,

I read your response on Gretchen's site, and the comments here, and I have to admit that I still don't understand the fuss. You said that this post was supposed to be funny, but the comments here seem more angry than anything.

I'm not trying to be rude. I just want to understand the difference between borrowing design elements and ripping people off. I don't know enough about coding to understand how you know she stole your code. I thought it was just a modified MT page.

You both are using Beatrix Potter illustrations, but I'm sure that you aren't claiming exclusive rights to using those characters. If someone has Simpsons characters on their blog, and I make mine in a Bart theme, am I ripping off the other blogger, or Matt Groening?

Is Stacy stealing Robyn's idea of using sexy images of women on her blog, or is it the other way around. Maybe someone else did it before they did. I really don't know. I just enjoy the pretty pictures.

I'm really just trying to understand your opinion, as it seems to be a sore point with people that design for a living (which definitely isn't me). If she took your content, like some have done on other sites, or took your graphics, I could see it as theft.

Just imitating the general theme seems more like the White Stripes and the Hives using the same chords. Each song is just their own interpretation of a style that someone else started. Both of you took elements from other blogs and other websites in general, plus graphics that someone else did based on characters that someone else created. She may have borrowed from you, but it was after you borrowed from someone.

Am I way off in my reasoning? I sincerely do want to see your point.

[Mena]

Oh, I'm just sure this is why Anil dared me to post this link.

First of all, my post was meant to be humorous; there is absurdity in using "Motherfucking" and "Beatrix Potter" in the same sentence.

Because people in my comments expressed their frustration at the stealing, doesn't mean I'm trying to dwell on it.

But to the point of the ripoff-- she was originally using graphics from my site -- graphics I created. My clip-art is not Beatrix Potter, but Victorian clip-art from a CD-Rom that I purchased; the book states that the images can be used and reprinted under the laws of fair use.

My dollarshort.org design is not derived from a Movable Type template. I create a lot of designs that people to use for free but this design is not one of them.

That's not too much to ask.

That fondue pot better be worth it.