Neil van Niekerk - Hi there ...
I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to add to Michael Andrew's comment. As he mentioned, I had my entire website ripped off.
I blogged about it here ...
http://planetneil.com/tangents/2007/09/01/you-know-youve-arrived-when/
password: Mandy
I just let Google run with it to the point where the posting was higher on Google than her own new website. I kept it up for a few months more to drive the embarrassing point home, and then made it a private entry.
On the topic of having stuff ripped off from websites ... my BIO is the most plagiarised item on my website. Isn't that ironic? Photographers who claim to be creative and unique .. having to rip off someone else's bio. That's just incomprehehsible.
Neil vN.
New York City Wedding Photographer - Such a great cartoon! I always get shots of the "Uncle Bobs" at weddings they make my day. These are the people who know photography is a bit more than point & click. Thanks for sharing!
Peace,
Parris Whittingham
Janice - Melissa - looks like you're in good company. The studio's photography website bears a remarkable similarity to Mike Colon's website. I, too, think you were classy in the way you handled this. To the person that posted a couple of comments back, the September 21st entry was just deleted, but the blog still exists.
J Sandifer -
I do think this is a bit crazy...just goes to show how small the industry is and how we all have input into the way it is shaped going forward. There will always be leaders and followers, you are a leader and the way you have handled this shows that!
Regis - By him stealing your blog post, how are we to trust that the photos in his photo gallery are all actually his... would it surprise anyone if he stole some of those photos from someone else? And the irony is that in his bio, he thanks God for his gift of creativity... perhaps he needs to thank Melissa also, as well as any other photographers that involuntarily contributed to his work.
Julie - hmmm....he took his blog off of blogger. I could click on it this morning but it is gone now! He went into hiding! :)
DJ - lol ... I can't believe he's kept it up.
Ann - Woah... wierd... I'd be kind of upset here... I went to go check this guy out and he's actually kinda good! Some crazy glow lighting going on but all in all, not bad *shrugs*
Jennifer Bowen - Just happened to me too with the Eight Levels... someone took *exactly* what I wrote and used it again. Guess you are right, it is a form of flattery, but you are also right that hopefully people can re-word things to make them their own :)
Good post Melissa!
Kelly - Just had this happen to me recently -- someone took the verbiage off my website and used it on their own. I never realized I was such an amazing writer :)
elizabeth - Hey Melissa,
I will agree on your comment about the flattery. You are one to follow that is for sure... you classy gal!
Keri - hahahaha... that is priceless Melissa!!! totally made my morning - i love it!
Lisa Roah - I just love how you took the high road on this one - you are a class act.
Michael Andrews - On the subject of "borrowing" (ripping off), Neil van Neikerk (sp?) had someone rip off his entire site design AND images just recently. He blogged about it, but i can't find the post right now. You can try to find it on planetneil.com.
Tammie - oops...I wasn't done typing.
YOU ARE A SUPER * S*T*A*R*!!! :)
Tammie - I saw a link to your on DJ's blog. That's CRAZY!!
Mike Olbinski - I actually think this is pretty bad, and Google's search engine will delete stuff from their DB if they find multiple versions of content at many different sites. So it's bad on another level as well.
Angie - This is theft and should not be tolerated on the web among bloggers. You are far kinder than I would be under these circumstances. Your blog is part of the way you make your money. It is your business as much as holding a camera. I for one think it stinks!
Strong letter to follow...
Angela - OMG people are insane these days! Someone stole my bio once LOL