I am sitting here wondering if I should be flattered or just irate.
I decided to settle down and get some final coding done on a HelpDesk integration for Timok es’s new site, and before I got to it, I checked email. Now, I get my statistics from the lovely Mint delivered right to my Thunderbird via RSS. So I decided to quickly check over to see if anything new was up, and became instantly surprised at seeing MY website design in my reader. Praise for RSS as I may not have ever known since the hit was two days ago.
Ok Lori. Stop. Breathe. Zenful thoughts…
Apparently, she ripped the site, uploaded to her server, and while working on the form for the contact page (that she apparently forgot to remove the absolute url for my formmail program as she tested) and sent a hit to me. Now that was smart wasn’t it.
Seeing my design being ripped really bothers me, but I think it is worse seeing my actual hard thought out text still in place on this person’s domain. IdeatePlus Creations (ideateplus dot com) took no time to change the bulk of my wording, ripped my forms, resources and contracts.
In the source code, my name is still in the META tags of some pages. On the front page she has commented out some of my text – not physically removing it. Ugh. She did not even bother to remove the script for StatCounter OR my Google ads. Unreal.
See for yourself the RIP.
Front Page
Front Page Source Code
My Resources
My RFP
My Design Contract
I have sent Melissa at IdeatePlus a Cease and Desist Letter with an action date of April 20th. I love my Mint!
Stay tuned…
I don’t understand how someone can not only rip the design of your website, but rip the code, including your Google adwords, statcounter, copy, etc. What kind of person could do this? A person from another country that thinks that you will just never see it? A person that thinks she can pass off GOOD DESIGN to try and sell her own half-@$$ed design?? I’m sorry, I’m just livid. Some of us spend a lot of time researching and creating good design and then people like this come along and just rip it off (and not even well). UGH!
Sheila, from down under, maybe Zoe can find her?
@Jason – you personally know how much work I have put into this site over the years it has been live, so you know just how livid I am.
@Denny – would that not be nice?
Lori,
I am upset for you! I checked out that site for myself and it looks like yours! You know I am not into the technology of the work aspect of web design, but I do know that it is a difficult and time consuming work. I noticed that she has on the bottom of her page, Copywrite 2004!!! As if she wrote it herself. What bothers me as a person not familiar with web design, is how many others are advertising web design, us (clients) pay a lot of money for a specific designers work, and then come to find out it isn’t an original. She copied from you and she advertises innovative and fresh web design for a pitch. Yet, she stole it from you. How ironic is that??? I am truly sorry! Beth.
You might want to join http://www.flickr.com/groups/ripped/ and post your screen shots.
I personally have a former classmate in my web development class who site rips (and who has yet to cease to do it despite being caught). It disgusts me. She actually thinks it’s all right to directly take someone else’s design, delete their copyright information, and replace it with their name. She honestly sees no harm in it, and does not realize how wrong it is to plagiarize someone else. Our class was taught how wrong that was, she just never learned.
Unfortunately, these people are all too common.
As a person who has worked incredibly hard to try and become a better developer and designer and pushed every day to learn, these kinds of people who don’t realize the meaning of work are scum on earth.
I wish there were a way to stop people like this from ever doing web design again. A stamp on their forehead or a bracelet that electrocutes them when they come within 5 clicks of web development would do nicely.
Hope this works out and doesn’t cost you, she needs to be stopped.
This is where places like iKarma come in very handy.
Personally, when I put alot of time, money, and effort into building a website, I feel like it is a custom painting. Although you may take some ideas here and there, it the collaboration of all these works that makes it unique. So when someone uses a design element from my site, I do feel flattered because they are basically learning from your design.
Holly Cow!, I was about to rip your site L 🙂 wink..wink..
To be honest, I check sites source code, whole idea is learning something from it..I am sucker for a good code of CSS elements – how they do, what code they use…I don’t see anything wrong with that. However, it is quite wrong that if someone complete rips your site and tell the entire word “I did it”…so wrong…