People must like my design

by
This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on October 30, 2003). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

One of the many things that I’ve enjoyed about the numerous comments I’ve received over the past few days is that I’ve gotten quite a few compliments on my site design. As I’m generally not much of a designer (trust me on this one — my previous attempts were not horrid, but certainly not great), that’s always a nice compliment to get.

However, there is a potential downside to this that I hadn’t foreseen — that being people ripping off your site design.

The top of the page

The bottom of the page

Even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) is how I found out. Normally, things like this aren’t always easy to spot. I found out simply because as I was looking through my referrer logs, I noticed a link that I hadn’t seen before — not uncommon over the past couple days — only it didn’t seem to be pointing to one of my pages. Instead, it appeared to be pointing to itself. Odd.

So I bounced over to take a look. Imagine my surprise when I found my very own site design staring me in the face! I was not at all happy. Then I pulled up the source code for the site — and started laughing. Just to give you an idea:

  1. The title of the page is still ‘eclecticism’.
  2. The meta tags still hold all of my information: this site’s tagline, RSS feed, and FOAF file.
  3. The code has been mangled by Microsoft FrontPage 5.0 — always the hallmark of a top-notch site designer. ;)
  4. The trackback RDF data for my posts is still in the page.
  5. While the images in the “ad banner” at the bottom of the page have been replaced, the title arguments are still the same.
  6. It still has the TypePad statistics tracking code at the bottom of the page (which is why it showed up in my referrer logs).

The best part of all of those, though, was that he’d not altered the CSS stylesheet at all — so he was hotlinking the banner image of the Seattle skyline that I use (while it was displaying on his site, he was still pulling it off of my images directory here on TypePad)!

So, in an effort to be polite, I searched around the site for an e-mail contact link so that I could ask him to take my design down. Unfortunately, he hasn’t provided one. So I’ve been forced to resort to slightly more drastic means.

A quick recode of my stylesheet to replace my banner image here on this site with an identical one, so that it won’t be disturbed, and a little bit of quick and dirty Photoshop work on the image that he’s linking to, and instead of my skyline graphic, he now has a banner proudly displaying to the world that ~~his site design was stolen from me~~.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery. But this — this was just clumsy, stupid, and poorly executed. I hope he finds another design soon. Just watch your referrer logs — his next design just might be yours!

(In addition to my screenshots, Phil has provided .pdf screencaptures on his site — thanks!)

41 thoughts on “People must like my design”

  2. LMAO! I can’t believe people can be so incredibly stupid. I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes him a while to figure out what’s going on. He’ll probably think his site got hacked.

    By the way, your design does rock! :-)

  3. Nice thievery. There’s a Google cache of that domain right here. It lists [removed by Michael] as a mail address on the bottom. Dunno if this is the same Naval cadet but you might zip that address an email to see . . .

    If you’re feeling really mean, you could send mail to the USNA in Maryland with that URL and let them know one of their young charges is participating in unwholesome, dishonest activities online. Military schools tend to frown on that kind of thing. ;)

    Sorry to hear you lost your job . . . best of luck getting hooked up with a new one soon!

    EDIT: Whoops, more webidence here. He brags about coming in behind a couple of Princeton teams in a rowing race, and sure enough there’s a [removed by Michael] on the USNA crew (boat A listed right here). Go get ‘im tiger!

  6. As someone else said….if you are feeling vindictive, simply making it known to his superiors that he is violating his oath’s to the Navy will land him in a heap of trouble.

  7. any word from your new friend? i’d give him the weekend to take it down and then step up with some additional action. it’s one thing to be “inspired” by someone’s design and to use chunks of code when working through your own designs, especially if you are not a designer, but it’s another matter to rip someone off wholesale including linking to images on their website. wish i would have seen the doctored image you provided him.

  9. Michael,

    You made my morning with this :)

    BTW, email me … I am looking to redesign my blog, like your work, and maybe we can work out some side work :)

    -John

  10. Man, his ** NEW ** design is sweet with your new banner. I think I may hijack HIS site now. Oh wait, that will be like a 2nd degree hijacking of your site won’t it? Crap, maybe I better re-think my plan of attack here ;)

  15. I just sent the following to [deleted by Michael], and cc:’d it to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the USNA:

    To [deleted by Michael], freshman, United States Naval Academy:

    Yesterday it came to my attention that an unknown individual had appropriated the design and underlying HTML code of my website, http://www.michaelhanscom.com and was using it, unattributed, for their page at [deleted by Michael]. Not only had the code been taken and used without my permission or credit, but enough of the code was left unedited that my full name and much of my website’s information was still contained in the code of [deleted by Michael] — and further, one image integral to the design of the page was being used by linking directly to the original image on my webserver, using a small amount of my allotted bandwidth whenever a visitor arrived at [deleted by Michael].

    I searched through the various pages of [deleted by Michael] in an attempt to find a contact e-mail address for the site owner, but was unable to do so. Faced with the inability to contact anyone directly, I instead resorted to a less-subtle means of attempting to make contact with the site owner. Because the image at the top of the page was being pulled from my server, I replaced that image with a new image in an attempt to call attention to the theft, and the copyright infringement inherent in appropriating someone else’s work without their consent or knowledge. I also posted my findings on my website ( http://michaelhans.com/eclecticism/2003/10/people_must_lik.html ).

    This morning, readers of my website were kind enough to do some extra research, and were able to provide me with your name and e-mail address.

    I request that you _immediately_ remove my HTML code from your website.

    Should you be interested in commissioning a new design for your site, I would be happy to offer my design and coding skills at a rate of $60/hour. However, I do not appreciate finding that I have provided my services for free without my knowledge or consent.

    Thank you for your time.

    Hopefully that’ll do the trick.

  16. It appears the asshole thief (who was acting in a manner unbecomming of an officer and/or cadet) removed the site eniterly from the net. I hope that the PDFs captured the site well enough to push for some corrective action to be applied to this future ex-cadet Officer. $60 per hour? Michael, ya shoulda hit him harder… “Normally I would have charged $60/hr, but as you have decided to infringe upon my property and rights entitled to me by U.S. Copyright Law, I will have to charge you a 30% surcharge.” — but then again I am a bastard :)

  17. I just received this from the Associate Dean:

    Dear Mr. Hanscom,

    Thank you for providing this information.

    Since you are alleging conduct that is in violation of the Naval
    Academy’s Honor Concept, it is being brought to the attention
    of appropriate authorities here.

    Between that and the sudden disappearance of the site, it looks like we’re done. :)

  18. please please please put up a link that shows the banner you put on his site… or does anyone have a screenshot??

    i hate being so far behind. :)

    what a great fucking story! too bad the guy is likely to get some serious punishment outside blogland for his actions, but he submitted himself to those rules by enrolling at that school, so I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles…

  21. Hey, Michael.. I really like the design of your site! Can I use it too? ;)

    Good luck with the job search! When you find one, put in a good word for me. ‘k? Thanks!

  22. I had my site design (old one at http://chucklolsen.blogspot.com) stolen several times when I was featured on Blogger’s home page. At first I was confused and furious, but then I realized it was just people who didn’t know what they were doing trying to start a blog and liked my design. It didn’t really harm me in any way, and those blogs usually didn’t go anywhere, so I didn’t sweat it.

    But… I’m still cackling at your “stolen from…” banner!

  23. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. Yeah, he used the site design on his own site. But it was just so ham-handed with the use of your banner and everything, and it’s not like he was profiting off of it. And now they probably kicked him out of the Academy or made him clean toilets or whatever it is that they do.

    Of course, it was your choice to handle this the way you wanted to, but all the same…

  24. Glad your site is yours alone once more. I might have mailed just the guy at first and then taken it to his academy if that failed to convince him of the error of his ways . . . I do hope the kid comes out of it disciplined, but not too harshly. It would be a shame if he lost his spot at the school because of a stupid choice in his online life.

  25. While I hope he’s not unduly punished, I stand by my decision to “out” him, as it were. Should someone not want to take the time to create their own site from scratch, there are plenty of freely-available templates and designs on the web that can be used without resorting to using someone else’s code without permission.

    As it is, the situation has been resolved — my code has been removed, his site has been changed, and I have received a note of apology from him. While I don’t want to remove this post from my site, I am going to go through and remove his name from the comments in the thread. As I trust that the lesson has been learned, I see no need to leave his name on here any longer.

    Here’s the message I received from him (sent with the subject What can one do but apologize):

    Michael,

    The subject says it there. Thank you for atleast searching for an address to e-mail me first. I should apologize even more for using your bandwidth since I did not even realize that The title image was still being grabbed from your server (but i guess i would have gone on longer using your design if i hadn’t). Now that you have pointed it out, i guess i would upset if somebody used a design for their site which i had put time into. But in putting together my first site that didn’t come to mind.

    Sorry agin

    And that’s the end of that.

  26. I’m surprised nobody’s commented on the strange parallel with your own story here.

    Your line on what happened to you at MS is that you were wrong to do what you did but wish that you had been given a chance to delete the offending material and accept a warning rather than have your employment trashed.

    Well …. here’s a guy to whom you could have given the very treatment you would have wanted for yourself and instead you have initiated a course of action that may have a similiar or even worse affect on his future.

    Do you feel good now?

  27. Chris —

    As I mentioned in my original post, I did at first attempt to find a contact e-mail for the owner of the website so that I could contact him directly and ask him to remove his page. As there was no e-mail listed, I was unable to do so.

    When I was provided with a name and e-mail address, it was through a Google cache, and it was not certain that it would necessarily reflect the correct name and address of the current owner of the domain.

    It was because of that uncertainty that I cc:’d the school administrator in my e-mail message. If the name and e-mail address that was found did not belong to the current owner of the site, then the school would be able to track down the correct student to have them remove the site.

    I certainly understand, and agree with your point. If I had been more certain of who I needed to contact to resolve the situation I would have done so without bothering to go further “up the food chain.”

    As it is, I have just removed any mentions of his name, the links to the Google cache and Wayback machine cache, and all direct links to his page, as well as editing the graphics to blur his website address, any names, and faces in the photographs, in an attempt to minimize any further damage to his name.

    As far as your last question goes, I don’t feel good about possibly causing problems for him (though I do hope that his infraction was not so severe as to cause serious long-term repercussions). I do, however, feel good about protecting the work that I have put into the design and code of this site.

  28. Sorry, but I do not think that the fact you couldn’t immediately identify an email address for him justified taking such serious steps — and your earlier comments clearly show you realized how potentially damaging what you were doing could be for him.

    I see two similarities here: the question of “crime and punishment” and the debatable nature of the harm done.

    Crime and Punishment
    Surely the whole point here (for his case and for yours with MS) is that someone can be wrong and merit punishment but the penalty should be proportional to the offense. If you can’t take action that’s appropriate then it’s better to do nothing rather than go overboard. (Of course with hindsight you now know that you could have waited a day or 2, had the email address given to you and probably got the same appropriate action and apology from him).
    Maybe (hopefully?) some managers at MS now wish they’d been in less of a hurry in making their decision.
    Apparently neither they, nor you, are ready to admit that yet!

    The harm done.
    You were probably silly to take / publish that photo but you meant no harm to Microsoft and it’s hard to see how they suffered from your actions though it’s clear how you’ve suffered from theirs. Of course they can always say it’s their right to protect their intellectual property, information or whatever…
    Similarly, this guy was clearly being silly (out-and-out plagiarism) but meant you no harm. And it’s equally difficult to see what real harm he did you. Sure he didn’t respect your work but to claim you had to “protecting the work that I have put into the design and code of this site” is a similar exaggeration of the threat isn’t it? Certainly it’s hard to see how you’ve suffered from his actions.

    What’s really sad about all this is that it demonstrates how we live in a world where people are very quick to condemn and hurt each other but slow to learn from the experience.

    Me too of course ;-)

  29. I concur. As a designer myself, I think it would be flattering, in a very optimistic sense. Smile man… he was just a freshman and wanted his first site up there and thought yours would be a good one to mimic. You could have asked him to provide credit on his website instead of all this furore over a juvenile mistake. You could have directed him to remove a couple of things you mentioned that were just novice… obviously not intentionally plagiarist. “Damage to his name”? I believe you have done enough already given your readership. Sheesh… and to think that weblogging was a “community” thing ;)

    BUT… infallibly, all this is at a more humane level. I agree completely that you have ALL right to defend the product of your labor and reserve all right to be pissed. But, like “Chris” above said, don’t you wish you attacked this obvious infringement with a little heart? Particularly since you had a chance to do so and your previous employer didn’t?

    P.S. FrontPage DOES make decent looking, standards-compliant sites if you so desire it to. Demonstration? http://www.freeOrange.net. Fire away! :D

  30. “…obviously not intentionally plagiarist.”

    Before anyone nickpick me on this one, I meant him using the verysame META tags, pulling images off Mike’s server, etc. I am somehow tempted to think the poor chap didn’t do it on purpose. Sorry for the double post.

    Cheers!

  31. Chris, Nik —

    After sleeping on it, and reading your additional comments this morning, there’s nothing much more I can say except that you’re right.

    I’ve e-mailed an apology to the guy for reacting so quickly, and have posted that apology here on the site, also.

    As I say in the title to that post — this hasn’t been my best week. ;) Thanks for the comments, and for pointing out that I was being a bit of a jerk myself. Much as I try to avoid it, it can happen at times, and I’d rather be called on it than let it go unchecked.

  32. Gee…

    One thing I really, really appreciate in people in the courage to accept responsibility for anything they might have bungled and you’ve done just that; in this case, as well as in not flaming Microsoft (not too horribly!).

    You’re so nice :)

    I’ve been fired from my job cause of flame on my weblog (which is what attracted me here), only to be reinstated as a happy designer after I admitted to my boss that she was right and I wasn’t. I wish you had so much luck, but I hope you find a nice job!

    Cheers!

  33. Totally agree with Nik … and you now :-)
    Hope we’ll soon read how you’ve landed a great new job that you’re much happier with than the last one, you deserve it.

  34. Hi hi,

    I like your design as well! Especially the way it folds so you can a preview but can click to expand
    the post….

    Would it be too greedy of me to ask for your source code, please? As you can see mine, it’s just a basic
    template….so much for originality. I’m not great on html and designing (i can’t draw for peanuts anyhow)).

    Anyhow, you’ve got a new job? Congratulations…..and you’ve got lots of fans. Keep it up (the blog I mean =))!

    With your permission, can I link up to yours?

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