…When Others Take Credit For Your Work
What should you do…….when others take credit for your work?
If you’ve read this site much in the past month, you know I’ve released a few Wordpress themes. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and finally, I decided to just do it. I have quite a few theme ideas hidden away in the proverbial closet of my mind.
Putting that into action has been a lot of fun for me……and it has brought some traffic to this site(which is one of the main reasons to offer a theme for free).
For those that don’t know, if someone links to your Wordpress site, that information is revealed to you in the Wordpress dashboard. Every now and then, I take a few minutes and look at sites that link to me - especially since I’ve started releasing themes. I like to not only see what types of sites are using my theme, but also what changes they make - some make some very creative changes. I don’t look at all of them, but I enjoy checking them out randomly. This past Friday, a new website activated my new YellowJacket theme. The title sounded interesting enough to me that I wanted to see what it was.
The first thing I noticed was the change in the header image - which is fine with me. However, I also noticed that they removed the attribution link in the footer of the page.
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*NOTICE: This has been resolved.
sounds like “XXXXXX XXXX” is lame.
haha, yeah, I guess you could say it like that.
I don’t know, that Galaxie looks like a cool car. I just want them to do the right thing.
I think removing the link in the footer that points to the designer of a theme is not bad or wrong, I’ve seen a lot of “free wordpress templates” that has no link to the creator of the template…. although I prefer when a blog leaves the footer link in place, cause there’s someone in front of a computer actually working on those themes, I think the least someone can do, is leave the link there… but it’s no big deal, it is to be expected when creating wordpress templates and making them available for free.
BUT!! When a company claims it’s their own creation (like they created the site from scratch), then I have a problem with that. I will never ever do business with XXXXXX XXXX Web Design (never heard of them aanyway, but they sure will never have my business, and I’ll never recommend them), and you know how it works, 1 satisfied customer will talk to 2 friends about it, while 1 unsatisfied customer will tell 20 friends. Thing is, we’re not even customers!
In the blogosphere you kinda have to watch that kinda things, bye bye XXXXXX XXXX Web Design!
PS: there are laws in place, to prevent companies like XXXXXX XXXX Web Design from doing what they’re doing. Maybe you can check with creative commons licence or something. Man it’s copyrights violation, if it doesn’t work, contact their hosting provider. Maybe that will work. Never know
sorry for the long reply hehe
Yep, they’re out there.
I’d suggest putting no-follow tags on your post links to them just to kick things off.
I don’t know how much you can do, or if it’s really worth the effort. That’s the problem with this sort of thing.
Spreading the word is a good start. Maybe get some advice from other designers on web design sites. I’m sure a lot of people have dealt with this before.
And ranking this post for “XXXXXX XXXX Web Design” and “Galaxie 500″ is another good idea!
Jonathan,
I prefer that the attribution link be left in the footer for two reasons:
I agree it’s somewhat expected that someone will remove the link. It happens. I’ve done it before myself, not realizing what a link-back was.
I’ve seen my themes used several times already with the link removed. I let it go. I’m not going to get “worked up” over it. But, when someone blatantly claims it as their own design, I must admit, it ticks me off. Not only are some of the graphical ideas mine, but so was the time I spent putting it together.
As far as legality, I think bad press is more effective.
Shane,
Per your suggestion, I added the no-follow tags. Also, your thoughts about the post ranking is exactly what I was thinking.
*Now, I’m gonna let it go.*
I was thinking of maybe “borrowing” their design for a new blog I’m working on, I’m sure they would love seeing their design, I would of course say I built it myself from scratch! hehe kidding
He told me a couple of days ago that it would be changed, I’m not sure what he’s waiting for. He should know I’m going to be checking it until he does. My patience is running thin.
I’m checking too!
well, I’m guessing some people think bad press is just as good as good press… I don’t know man.. If you had sent that e-mail to me.. I would’ve put the link back right away, or switched to another theme.. and apologize… (note to self: don’t expect other to do what you would do)
well, anyway, this is not the way to make friends online, or get more business that’s for sure.
You know what they say.. make 1 customer happy and he’ll tell 2 friends, screw just 1 customer, and he’ll tell 20 people!
a good read:
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/
Thanks for that article, Jonathan. It has some really useful info.
They finally changed to another theme, so I guess I’m satisfied….
Personally, I like to keep the attribution link of the designer or creator because I think that’s the least that they deserve.
I know someone who removes the attribution link in the footer of the WP themes that he uses. I asked that person why and this person just told me that they don’t like it. I don’t know what causes them to dislike the attribution link(s), but I definitely cannot agree with this person’s action. I am not a theme designer or creator myself; you can say I’m just a leecher. Therefore, I’m not speaking in the position of a designer/creator. I’m sure the designer/creator of anything would like to be appreciated and recognized for their work. I know some designers/creators put spam links in the footer of their themes/works and I can understand why people would want to remove those, but at least give the designers/creators/authors who have provided you (general you — not pointing fingers) with whatever you’re currently using.
Sorry for the long rant. ^_^