Tue, August 31st, 2004 by Brandon Stone
In a recent comment it was pointed out that Theblogger.net has lifted the Photoblogs.org design.
Does anyone know anything about these people or their site?
What they did is uncool.
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August 31st, 2004 at 7:03 pm
Here's the WHOIS data:
Administrative Contact:
TemplateMonster
Terje Tyldum (terjetyl@hotmail.com)
+47.90990067
Fax: +47.90990067
Olav M Troviks v 28 H0301
OSLO, 0864
NO
August 31st, 2004 at 7:11 pm
But don't bother emailing that address (or using the 'contact' link on the site, which redirects to that address) as his/her mailbox is full.
You could try this page though:
http://www.templatemonster.no/kontakt.asp
... which lists Terje Tyldum and the CEO & Marketing Director of TemplateMonster.no.
August 31st, 2004 at 8:35 pm
wow, you guys are sly bastards.
that is to say, good work.
August 31st, 2004 at 8:36 pm
wow, you guys are sly bastards.
that is to say, good work.
August 31st, 2004 at 8:42 pm
We were just discussing this topic in another thread here. This is what selfish people do when they lack good ideas of their own. It's so lame...
August 31st, 2004 at 8:53 pm
"... which lists Terje Tyldum and the CEO & Marketing Director of TemplateMonster.no"
oops; that should have read "which list Terje Tyldum AS the CEO & Marketing Director of TemplateMonster.no".
August 31st, 2004 at 10:02 pm
I find it pretty incredible that they have the narbles to post "Theblogger.net © 2004" on the site....
However - anyone remember when apple sued microsoft for "look and feel"
September 1st, 2004 at 2:42 am
I agree it is uncool, they copied alot of the same features, however, not trying to be disagreeable or unpleasant...(hope I dont get booted for this)here's what I've been thinking the past couple days...
As someone pointed out, djn1 also started a thread about design rip-off, and frankly even though it is annoying, especially when you slave away at perfecting your stylesheet, but is it that much of a big deal.
I mean, it seems like more and more people are trying to bring down other sites in eyes of others, just because they lifted a few of the same ideas. Personally I still believe in OpenSource, that's what makes the internet so wonderfull, and that concept seems to be dying off....sad really...
Yeah, what Theblogger.net did is uncool as you stated, they even snagged some of the same links for crying out loud!
As a webdesigner, I am seeing alot of the same layouts all over the place, sometimes the exact same colors used as well, I think it's this "minimalist design -do it yourself" age, which is new to alot of people, and they have no idea how to go about it, so they copy what they think other people find cool.... did that make sense?
I also have clients that send me links and say "I want that site!" Course I always do something to make it more personal to the client, but people want what they like....
What's crazy about Theblogger.net, is that since they are exchanging links with TemplateMonster, they should have had the decency to have them create a custom design for them.
sorry bout the long post
September 1st, 2004 at 3:07 am
wow they didn't even try to make it look much different. It's got this really cheap rip-of feeling to it too. Not as classy as this site.
September 1st, 2004 at 4:34 am
damn, that's uncool! they're even in the same domain, for crying out loud! brandon, are you planning on contacting them? if so, please let us know the how things turn out.
September 1st, 2004 at 5:06 am
They say that plagarism is the highest form of praise.
September 1st, 2004 at 6:02 am
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Plagarism is not good in any way.
September 1st, 2004 at 6:02 am
Looks like this discussion scared them off.. the site was down last I checked. Justice.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:24 am
Pixie said:
"Personally I still believe in OpenSource, that's what makes the internet so wonderfull, and that concept seems to be dying off....sad really..."
I'm a huge proponent of open source. I even wrote an open source program a few years ago:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/apb/
I agree that open source is wonderful, but I disagree that the concept is dying off. I'd say that it's stronger than ever and it will continue to grow.
The particular issue at hand, though, isn't about open source, it's about identity... If a completely unrelated site has a very similar identity, then people may be confused about the ownership of the site. As Ronn said in his initial comment:
"just wonder if both are belongs to Brandon."
Obviously identity is very important. When one site flat-out clones another, there is confusion. Both sites become associated with each other in people's minds... even if the two are completely unrelated.
The web makes it easy to learn from others and easy to copy the work of others, but along with that people need to play nice and respect each other. It all comes back to the same couple of things:
- Contact the person and ask them if what you're doing is acceptable.
- Give credit where credit is due.
Those two simple things will go a long way.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:29 am
Also, I received the following in an email from Terje Tyldum:
"I apologize for copying your layout. The intention was to create a clean blog layout and since I am not a great designer I based my layout on your site. I see that the sites maybe are too alike and I will take it down until I have changed my layout."
September 1st, 2004 at 9:05 am
I think his plagiarism was inexcusable, but I did notice an interesting wrinkle, in that it looked like he was hosting images too. In the past, Brandon, you've talked about the lack of rewards associated with the many hours... Not sure if you would want to spend some time thinking about something like that.
I also thought his thumbnail hub was an interesting idea... Imagine if you had a page of the 100 (or so) most recently submitted thumbnails, linking to members' photoblogs? You wouldn't have to host the thumbnails, members would have to provide a url for the thumbnail and the link it takes them to, no more than one submission in 24 hours. Put your own ideas for implementation on it, and it's different enough. (Maybe what I've already suggested is sufficiently different enough.)
September 1st, 2004 at 10:17 am
Now this is just me being suspicious. But if I were starting a new photoblog listing even while I realized that photoblogs.org was the standard, it seems to me that the best way to get traffic, you know, besides asking, would be to get a link from photoblogs.org and the best way to do that would be to incite some anger and some passion by copying their design. And if I were really sly I would wait to launch my clone until, say, a week, when photoblogs.org was already incited by plagiarism.
And only after I had got all the attention I was after, but before I got sued, I would say I was sorry and change my designs.
Now that I think of it, it might be this exact quality that always gets me excused from jury duty.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:02 am
Frank said:
"In the past, Brandon, you've talked about the lack of rewards associated with the many hours... "
Just to clarify... It's true that I have worked hundreds of hours on Photoblogs.org, but I've *never* felt that there has been a lack of rewards here. I've certainly spent more money than I've made on this site, but money isn't the only kind of reward.
My main concern with Photoblogs.org right now isn't to make money, but rather to maintain the site's integrity and to make sure everything is in a good balance. Right now things are growing at a nice steady semi-predictable rate and (in most cases) I believe the site is achieving its goals.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of areas Photoblogs.org can grow, and I think some sort of thumbnail idea (like the one you mention) might be very helpful... but I just want to make sure that when this site grows, it grows in the right directions and for the right reasons.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:09 am
Maybe we should move this last idea to the Wiki?
September 1st, 2004 at 11:18 am
Good idea, Frank. Wiki-wiki-wiki!
September 1st, 2004 at 11:19 am
I just got this in an email from Terje Tyldum:
"I have made some redesign to my site now. I know my site still uses some design elements from your site, but i think the identity of the sites should be quite different.
Are you ok with my site as it is now?"
--
Honestly, I don't have time to email back and forth with this guy to define the limits of what is and isn't acceptable. Can any of you help to shed some light on the subject for him? I don't think he gets it.
September 1st, 2004 at 12:10 pm
Welcome to the internet
This is what happens.
You could say that every online stoer looks the same, or every vBulletin forum runs the same as well.
September 1st, 2004 at 12:33 pm
If Terje would have emailed me *before* he made his site public, then I'd be much more likely to want to spend time conversing with him about this. Who knows... We may have had a friendly conversation at that point and could have shared some ideas.
Now I'm just pissed off.
He's taking credit for my hard work and he's wasting my time.
Fuck that.
September 1st, 2004 at 1:46 pm
hi, Brandon and all photoblog friends.
just to let you guys know: after I bring up this matter to your attention, I was unable to access to theblogger.net main page! (access denied, forbidden blah blah blah...).
anyway, there is no regret for me if it is just a kind of 'sweet revenge' from them. at least I am happy to know the truth and the progress so far.
Terima kasih! (or Thank You in Malay language).
September 1st, 2004 at 6:40 pm
Well - I'm unimpressed - his big design change is to manipulate a few colours. Anyone know how to do a DNS blast/
September 2nd, 2004 at 8:20 am
~Brandon, after viewing the site it appears similar, but not the same. I believe you'd have a hard time fighting them, legally, for copyright infringement, did you register and go through a legal process to copyright the design of this site? If not, you'll run into some roadblocks (I believe) if you approach the owner/author of that site...it's definitely jive to mirror someone else and their design/function, photoblogs has been nothing but a success IMHO, your iprovements and dedication to the integrity of the site is well noted~
April 1st, 2005 at 3:54 pm
I think it is wonderful with open source. It protects you from anyone else to take the copyright of your idea.
Even more interesting is it that you actually throw a nice ball into the air and there is a good chance that improvement arise somewhere. You can just sit back and wait until some people comes up with some brilliant improvements. Your copyright remains.
Just some thoughts from Norway
René
webmaster http:://visiuality.com
June 11th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
I mean.. what happenend to the theblogger.net... Why i cant access my page?
February 24th, 2006 at 2:08 am
you can report rip offs to http://www.invision-graphics.com/.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:48 am
The site really doesn't do much other than post and slander the supposed graphic thiefs but its a start.
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