TMLForum Is Ripping Me Off?
October 5th, 2008 by SteveImitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I don’t really mind if people read my blog, or link to it elsewhere… actually I’m quite glad if they do since it means I’m talking to someone other than myself.
I don’t approve of blatant plagiarism though. Which brings me to TMLForum poster Stephen Harper… I mean NAFFAEL, who is apparently a founder and commissioner of the site.
Last night I was checking through my link-throughs and found this:
http://www.tmlforum.net/index.php?topic=11926.0;prev_next=prev#new
With zero credit granted to me for writing the damn thing… on May 19th… 4 and a half months ago. My article is RIGHT HERE. He posted it at about 1:00 am yesterday, and there’s no mention of me on it anywhere that I could see. Heck he even ripped off the photo of Harold Ballard that I used.
Since I felt zero inclination to join the forum and tell him to take the damn thing down, I figured I might as well rip into the site on my own personal forum.
So I’ll just say it more clearly here: Don’t post my articles without my permission unless you plan on giving me credit. It’s not only rude, it’s bordering on the illegal. If you’re using it for financial gain and I’m the author you actually should be paying me for it.
I don’t actually expect anything to happen because of this by the way… I’m just venting. Thanks for the continued readership.
Posted in Uncategorized
18 Responses to “TMLForum Is Ripping Me Off?”
By Famous Amos
on Oct 5, 2008
Oh man that’s blatant. Steve you’re doing a better job of keeping cool then I would. The amount of work that you put into your posts I would be blowing a gasket. I’ll take this as an opportunity to say thanks for the great reads every time I stop by.
By eyebleaf
on Oct 5, 2008
Wow, that’s brutal, man.
By David Johnson
on Oct 6, 2008
I have sent them an e-mail and requested they take it down immediately as this is not acceptable. I have had some of my stuff stolen in the past. It’s not like this NAFFAEL guy is out Prime Minister or anything. I’ll keep you updated.
By David Johnson
on Oct 6, 2008
NAFFAEL was apologetic for not providing a reference link and put one up but I told him the proper way to do what he is doing is to just post a portion of the article and link to the rest. Cutting and pasting a complete article is still copyright infringement even if he provided a reference link. Instead of only posting a small portion of the article and linking to the rest he chose to take the article down.
By Chemmy on Oct 6, 2008
What a jerk. I’m glad you got in touch with him DJ.
By Tony Rose
on Oct 6, 2008
David,
I mentioned to you in our email correspondence and you were made aware that this was a very bad over site on my part to not including the source.
If look at any of my posts the source is always, always included, in a full or part article, always.
I do understand why you would be hot, but I did apologise for not including the source and put it there as soon as you brought it to my attention.
There was absolutely no intention to “rip you off” or to claim the work as my own in any way. I merely posted the article because I thought it could be beneficial for our members, well written and very informative and I also made a public statement that this was an error on my part.
The article was also immediately removed when it became obvious that you where not happy with me attaching the source to it.
Again, my sincere apologies for this error, but the notion that I wanted to rip you off is ludicrous.
Tony Rose (aka naffael)
Founder
http://www.TMLForum.com
By Glenn
on Oct 6, 2008
Good job, instead of spreading good info around and having other well read sites post differing points of view, they will just post none of the material to avoid the hassel.
Maybe next time it should be brought up as a positive thing that any material here might be thought of as valuable to the masses.
By David Johnson
on Oct 6, 2008
Glenn, anyone is more than welcome to discuss what is written here on their website. They are even able to post small portions of it to backup whatever point they are trying to make and are more than able to post links to the complete and full article here. But they cannot simply just cut and paste anything and everything they find anywhere without permission.
Besides, the person who posted the article did nothing to expand or extend the discussion. It was posted solely to benefit the growth and development of his web site.
By Will
on Oct 6, 2008
Off topic.
But the Leafs preseason is reminiscent of last season. Most goals for in the league and most goals against. Plus many of these goals against came in the last few minutes to change the outcome of the game.
The good news is the SENS ain’t much better tying us with 6pts total. Managed to score only 10 times in the process.
By Stephen
on Oct 6, 2008
David,
Although you raise a valid concern, perhaps you should have pursued this with NAFFAEL privately instead of making yourself look like an aggressive idiot.
Based on his posted apology and the action taken on his site, you could’ve resolved this peaceable. Believe it or not, there are honest mistakes in this world.
Regardless, you’ve just discourage a lot of people from reading your articles and spreading your posts… myself included.
Stephen
By mf37 on Oct 6, 2008
I had a portion of a post lifted wholesale at Maple Leafs Hot Stove. I wrote the author who apologized up and down, but his post is still up and there’s been no love thrown my way in the way of credit or even a link…
By Michelle
on Oct 6, 2008
Hilarious article. I am glad you posted the link to his site because its a great place for Leafs fans!
The only thing I took out of this was that your trying to get some attention. And that you have quite the temper.
NAFFAEL, I’ve bookmarked you! Looks like you’ll get some exposure even though you respectfully took the article down.
Mich
By Steve
on Oct 6, 2008
Ok, before anyone rips David for anything he did, I was the one that wrote the posting that was “ripped off”, and I was the one that posted this part to complain about it.
Temper has nothing to do with it. If you want to use someone’s work you should reference it and cite the source. The site that posted it is a PAY site. The idea that I should have to “reasonably” contact the person that is posting my writing as if it is their own is absolutely ridiculous.
I was never contacted “reasonably” to ask if my writing could be posted, there was no link to my article on the site, and there was no reference to me as the author anywhere on the posting. Oversight or not, it’s a pretty big one.
If you choose to not post what I write on your site that’s fine. As for attention, I don’t actually see how my writing this article gains me any more attention than anything else I write in here. Thanks for the illogical analysis though.
By Steve
on Oct 6, 2008
Oh, and by linking to NAFFAEL I’m sure you’ll get to enjoy other things I write in the future? Way to go?
By Tony Rose
on Oct 6, 2008
Steve if you wrote the article and this complaint I apologize to you also.
*IMPORTANT NOTE* and just to clarify, as this is really being blown way out of proportion, my site is NOT a pay site. I have never ever charged anyone to use it nor have I officially asked anyone for money of any kind ever.
It was a genuine error, period.
If you like we can start all over and I will be more than happy to repost a part of the article with the source included this time. If not I hope this is dropped as it really is a very unfortunate incident that probably could have been avoided by a simple source code that I missed.
By Steve
on Oct 6, 2008
I accept the apology.
As I said in the original posting, I didn’t expect much to change with it, so if you want to post with a proper link through I’m fine with that.
I also apologise for the impression I had that it was a pay site.
Case Closed.
By Tony Rose
on Oct 6, 2008
Done…:-)
By David Johnson
on Oct 6, 2008
Just for the record, as Steve pointed out, it was Steve’s article that got posted and this article that we are all posting in was Steve’s. But as owner of this site I like to defend my bloggers so I contacted Tony.
Tony was very apologetic and I am certain he didn’t mean any harm by it all and he quickly acted to resolve the issue. I have dealt with people re-posting my stuff before and not all of them have been as cooperative. No names were called nor were any threats made. All is good and we have come to a happy resolution. I think we can all get along now.