So as it happens, this seller on eBay has lifted a whole load of text from my page documenting the history of Chrysler's Highway Hi-Fi in-car record players, without a whisper of credit, thanks or linkback. Checking the page code, you can even see my CSS markup, which of course doesn't do anything without the stylesheet. He/she would also be hot-linking to the images and snagging bandwidth besides, except they discovered in the page preview stage that I have hot-link blocking and grabbed their own copies of the images (how do I know this? the whole affair started turning up in my stats yesterday). Now I know I can't complain about some aspects... the images and most of the text comes from old brochures, press releases and tech manuals (never mind that I'm the one who went to the trouble of typing all of that text in, from original documents, long ago in 1997, when there was practically nothing online on the subject). But some of the 'borrowed' text is my own commentary. And see, what really bugs me, besides this being just the latest in a series of cut 'n' paste free rides that people have taken on my Highway Hi-Fi page, is that these people don't get the basic idea of the web. Namely: You don't DUPLICATE the information -- you LINK to it. Sure, information wants to be free, but channel its flow the smart way. And have a little courtesy about giving credit. Gee, aren't rants fun? Nah.
Oh, darn. I was going to make Highway Hi-Fi potholders and sell them at cafepress. Now I'll probably have to give you a cut.
Posted by kitty62 at 12:46 PM, April 22, 2004.Quilted or macrame?
Welcome to the internet M. Ace! People have been using my comic scans for years, which is really ok by me. Others have been selling them, which is really not ok by me. The best I can do is holler at them, but you can't reason with that type.
They say, "Well you didn't write or draw the comics, did you?". No, I just spent three hours scanning the book is all.
MR
Posted by Marble River at 09:48 PM, May 06, 2004.