Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 12:06 AM
I emailed gilby and asked him 2 valid questions (one was how he funded his egold account, and the second was if we could work out a deal about advertising). I also told him I made my own site, and his sites were an inspiration for mine, and I hoped to fill the gap that he left when his paypal account was frozen. I said "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" merly as a cliche, and everyone I talk to knows its just that (a cliche).
He then responded accusing me of stealing his work:
QUOTE
Spartaman wrote:
> (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)
That may be so, but you did not just imitate. You copied some content
and that is ILLEGAL and violates copyright laws. Immediately remove ALL
content that was copied from Opt-in-Pays, LinkBurst, or Links2cash.
- Gilby
Nowhere in my email did I mention that I took content from his site.
Webmasters aren't supposted to yell and jump to conclusions and falsly accuse people, just doesnt work that way.
cheese
Feb 16 2003, 12:15 AM
maybe he's flashing back to the time when someone DID steal the whole look of his site? explain youself to him instead of coming on here and venting first.. it might have just been a communication problem
Zombie Master
Feb 16 2003, 12:20 AM
Did you should him the website or anything like that?
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 12:21 AM
Yup, I gave him a link, which is why I'm here venting. Its because he ASSUMED I stole everything from his site, and didnt even check. Then he yells at me.
wisper198
Feb 16 2003, 01:46 AM
It sounds more like he did check the site and feels that you copied his site. I don't think he assumed anything.
Zombie Master
Feb 16 2003, 01:48 AM
QUOTE (wisper198 @ Feb 16 2003, 06:16 PM)
It sounds more like he did check the site and feels that you copied his site. I don't think he assumed anything.
I would say he didnt. If Spartaman owns the site he can very much check what IP's access that site, if Gilby didnt access it then his IP wouldnt appear on the logs, if it aint there it means he didnt visit.
Juliette
Feb 16 2003, 01:49 AM
QUOTE (wisper198 @ Feb 16 2003, 08:46 PM)
It sounds more like he did check the site and feels that you copied his site. I don't think he assumed anything.
I'm afraid I have to agree..
gilby doesn't seem the type to make assumptions and speaking from someone who this has happened to its devastating when you take the time to create a unique site to have someone come along and steal your ideas and even use what would appear to be the exact same thing in some cases
I'm sorry Spartaman but thats the facts.. and I'm not saying you have copied exactly but just imagine what it would feel like? to some people imitation isn't flattery
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 01:58 AM
http://www.spartanbucks.comDoes that even SLIGHTLY resemble ANYTHING like his? No.
Juliette
Feb 16 2003, 02:00 AM
QUOTE (Spartaman @ Feb 16 2003, 08:58 PM)
http://www.spartanbucks.comDoes that even SLIGHTLY resemble ANYTHING like his? No.
its not whats on the outside necessarily that hes talking about
all I ask is that you calm down and think rationally.. I know you were shocked at the reply you got but sit down and think..
It is however kind of hard to create a 100% unique paid to site these days with soo many being out there so its unavoidable that some features etc are going to clash..
I'm sorry if you feel I'm being nasty I'm just trying to state things as they are
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 02:18 AM
But you didn't read it fully then. He said that I "copied some content". Which I did not, and in the amount of time it took him to reply, I am certian he didn't look at my site.
Also, he can't copyright features like automatic link placement, which is basically the only Idea I got from him, because if you could, then someone would claim that copyright, and say that sites like amazon.com can't have software to automatically place orders et cetera.
There is NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING he could have seen on my site that would resemble or look like somethign on his, I never COPIED anything of his, and thats why I'm mad, he falsly accused me of stealing his work. Which just backs up my point that he didn't look at the site, and is just basing all his claims on assumtions.
THAT is why I am mad.
Zombie Master
Feb 16 2003, 02:28 AM
Automatic link placement is something that he cant copyright, to do so would mean he would need to copyright e-gold, bit impossible... Or paypal, or any other payment methods.
But the site doesnt look at all like his... far from it...
bjrosen2
Feb 16 2003, 02:32 AM
i tend to agree with spartaman
I am sorry but i am a member spartanlinks and well the site doesn't resemble anything in the slightest of gilby's sites. I believe sparta was just making a kind gesture to gilby and i think its kind of rude and maybe even a little materialistic to say that sparta copied his site. Any member of spartanlinks could tell you that they wouldn't think the site is a spinoff of gilby's in any way shape or form
keep doin your thang sparta
CashedClicks
Feb 16 2003, 02:34 AM
um i think that this is just stupid....
the site looks nothing at all like opt-in-pays or anything. It is a very unique design, the concept is the same...but you cannot copyright a concept!
That would be like a company copyrighting a text box... no other program could ever use a text box in any way... Just stupid
sure you can copyright your scripts but you cannot copyright a concept..
just my 2 cents
mdenison
Feb 16 2003, 08:14 AM
You site looks nothing like opt-in-pays, it looks BETTER!
I think I'll join!
mdenison
Feb 16 2003, 08:29 AM
Ok I joined and the program looked a whole lot better until I started clicking. None of my clicks are getting credited, is there something wrong or does it just take a while?
amyfieldman
Feb 16 2003, 08:53 AM
i think it's just a problem with the script.
Gilby
Feb 16 2003, 11:55 AM
While the sites do "look" different. There is content that was copied word for word from Opt-in-Pays (or LinkBurst or Links2cash as they have pretty much the same text).
On Spartaman's site:QUOTE
For just $5, you can get lots of visitors to your site. We pay the first 150 unique visitors who click on your link 2 cents. However, we don't stop there, you'll continue to receive traffic as your link will be displayed on our links page forever, and it is ordered by the click through to payment ratio so everyone will get an equal chance!
Our users will get to your site in a variety of ways. These include having their homepage in their browser set to visit a random link each time they start up their browser, or clicking on your link from the links page. This ensures that you'll get lots of traffic for your site, well beyond the 150 paid click-throughs!
The more you fund your link, the more traffic you'll get! If you fund your link with instead of $5, you'll get double the traffic because of the way we order the links on the links page. Thats right for every $1 you spend you will get 30 more paid hits and your link will have a far better chance of being at the top!!!
On Opt-in-Pays:QUOTE
For just $5, you can get lots of visitors to your site. We pay the first 75 people who click on your link 3 cents. However, we don't stop there, you'll continue to receive traffic as your link will be displayed on our links page, will be put in the daily emails and ordered based on the number of click-throughs each link has so that each link will get an equal chance of being clicked on.
Our users will get to your site in a variety of ways. These include having their homepage in their browser set to visit a random link each time they start up their browser, clicking on the link in their paid emails, or clicking on your link from the links page. This ensures that you'll get lots of traffic for your site, well beyond the 75 paid click-throughs!
The more you fund your link, the more traffic you'll get! If you fund your link with $10 instead of $5, you'll get double the traffic because of the way we order the links on the links page and in the emails. First we order the links by how many paid click-throughs are left, then we order it by how much it was funded per total click-throughs so far. This makes it where the links that have had less click-throughs so far will appear at the top giving those the best chance at being clicked on.
A word for word copy with a few changes and omissions.
I don't mind that you made a site that is similar to my sites, but I do mind that you have stolen copyrighted content. Please remove all content that was taken from my sites or anyone elses sites. Write your own content.
Don't deny that you didn't copy that, just remove anything that was copied and replace it with your own text.
- Gilby
Gilby
Feb 16 2003, 12:02 PM
QUOTE (CashedClicks @ Feb 16 2003, 02:34 AM)
sure you can copyright your scripts but you cannot copyright a concept..
You get a patent on a concept.
Caesar3Wiz
Feb 16 2003, 12:32 PM
QUOTE (Gilby @ Feb 16 2003, 01:02 PM)
QUOTE (CashedClicks @ Feb 16 2003, 02:34 AM)
sure you can copyright your scripts but you cannot copyright a concept..
You get a patent on a concept.
that is very correct. I was just about to point that out...
also, I agree with gilby, that is blatant infringement, if you were to do that on any paper you wrote for college, you'd be ejected in a heartbeat (at least in the USA... don't know how other countries handle plagerism)
Changing just one or two words IS plagerism! Just because it's /slightly/ different doesn't mean it's not infringement... that's a common misconception. Anyway, I would recommend Spartaman to change this immediatly! Gilby is being VERY reasonable in giving you time to change it; alternatively, he could just file injunctions to lock your site and sue you for copyright infringement right now...
Yes, your heart may have been in the right place, it's just your actions were slightly misguided. Take this as a lesson in material rights; just change the content ASAP, and be glad Gilby is such a nice person
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 12:54 PM
I;m going to have to talk to my programmer, he typed in all the text and stuff because I didn't have my computer at launch. So, I am sorry for that Gilby, I didn't know.
mdenison
Feb 16 2003, 12:58 PM
Hey sparta, do you know why the clicks aren't registering?
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 01:06 PM
They don't have credit. I'm trying to get more advertisers for you guys, thats why I emailed glby in the first place.
I've told my programmer a lot of things that need fixing (most importantly, the need for something to show which links have credits, and which dont) and he decided to revamp the entire application (scripts). That means a new admin CP for me, and the ability to place more links for you guys FROM there, as well as all the bugs fixed, et cetera.
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 01:06 PM
Ok gilby, I changed it, I'm sorry about that.
Gilby
Feb 16 2003, 01:19 PM
QUOTE (Spartaman @ Feb 16 2003, 01:06 PM)
Ok gilby, I changed it, I'm sorry about that.
All 3 paragraphs were copied, but you only changed the first. Please also remove/replace the other two paragraphs.
Spartaman
Feb 16 2003, 01:44 PM
Ok, I have to go somewhere, and I'll be back in about 2 hours, then I'll change them. Again, I am sorry about this.
xray757
Feb 24 2003, 05:10 AM
@ gilby
just a short question: How long does it take to clear things up with paypal? It can't take months to clear the things with your account.
Thanks
serenemom
Feb 24 2003, 08:55 AM
To xray757 regarding paypal it can take as much as 90 days after the issues have been cleared up with a person's paypal account for them to release funds again.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please
click here.