Geek Love

Well, Isn’t That Sweet…

I sort of slid my reference to TechTV and Sarah’s Blog Report in to my hacker post last night. You see, Sarah had written in her report that you should just steal other blog owners CSS and code.

Uh, NO. Not unless you want someone to go carnival freak crazy on you. (Yes, I love that line and I’m abusing it today.)

Several people, including Kristine, Melissa and myself, contact Tech TV and complained about the article. How could Tech TV allow someone to say on their sites that it is ok to steal code? (She even titled the section “Steal, Steal, Steal” … no, don’t, don’t, don’t.)

Now parts of the article are changed. There is a message to “Chill out, it’s just research”. No, Sarah, if you were suggesting that I look at code and then create my own – that’s research. Taking it outright and using it is stealing. Then she added that “Stealing stuff pisses people off”. Gee, glad you noticed that.

I don’t agree with her statement that her tips are a great way to help you understand how MT works. CSS has nothing to do with MT and only helps you figure out how to lay things out on the page.

And it’s mighty generous of her to tell people to steal her blog’s code – since it’s a Blogplates design that she doesn’t give credit.

By Christine

Christine is an Avenger of Sexiness. Her Superpower is helping Hot Mamas grow their Confidence by rediscovering their Beauty. She lives in the Heights in Houston, Texas, works as a boudoir photographer, and writes about running a Business of Awesome. In her spare time, she loves to knit, especially when she travels. She & her husband Mike have a food blog at Spoon & Knife.

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27 replies on “Well, Isn’t That Sweet…”

That’s it! You hold her down and I’ll get the Crisco and Twister game and we’ll force her to play Naked Criso Twister with Tattoo from Fantasy Island. That’ll show her! Or would it just indulge one of my own lusty fantasies. Hmm…

what is ‘go carnival freak crazy’? Could you please give a definition?

What’s wrong with copying someone else’s css code? Why re-invent the wheel? Besides, the whole spirit of the internet is to share. Let me guess, you NEVER downloaded an MP3 ever, or used an image that you didn’t pay for? I didn’t think so. It’s just code. Chill out.

it’s not the copying that’s the problem.
it’s the not giving credit to who wrote it in the first place that is. code is just words in the end so copying code without giving credit is the same as putting information in an essay or article that you didn’t write and not putting a footnote or other citation. it’s not cool.

Hmm. I wonder who left that comment? There’s a big difference between reinventing the wheel and stealing someone’s wheel. If someone has original content on their website, it’s theirs. Taking it and using it as is, is stealing. End of argument. To condone and even encourage that is just plain wrong and deserves a good flogging. 😉

Sorry, “me”, but I won’t chill out if someone takes my site design that I spent hours and days creating so I would have something that is somewhat unique. There are enough sites out there that offer templates for use for free – there is no need to steal my code.

To say “the whole spirit of the internet is to share” doesn’t make it right to take the things that people don’t want to share. I share a lot of information – but I don’t share it all. My blog designs are one of the things I just won’t share.

I don’t lump downloading an MP3 into the same category because if I download it, I’m using it – I’m not displaying it for everyone else. That said, I haven’t downloaded an mp3 in years, and the only images I use are mine. Made by me, taken by me, my photographs or my creations.

Personally, I think it says a lot about you that you won’t link to your own site with your comment. What are you afraid of us seeing?

Part II – I am happy to have a discussion or even a debate with anyone about this – if you can at least share your name and who you are. I don’t bash, I don’t bite. Ok, I was maybe a bit harsh in my last comment – but I’m running on under 4 hours of sleep right now. Discussions and debates are a good thing and I gladly welcome them. I’m not quite so fond of fly by comments like the one from “me”.

Maybe it’s something you just don’t understand until someone steals the code you’ve worked on for 20 hours or more. I’ve had it happen to me and I was NOT happy about it.

Hmm. This is an interesting debate. I use other people’s code. I look to it for ideas about how to do something for myself. I view it, take it and modify it. Once I’ve modified it, you can’t tell it is someone else’s code.

Perhaps, the most important part of building off what someone else has done is to make sure it is your own by the time you are done with it.

Am I a thief? Am I doing something wrong? This is something I’ve always done. I call it leveraging, but maybe I am stealing?

I don’t know, do I deserve a sporking? If so, I apologize and will amend my ways.

I have done the same thing as you Syd – I think everyone has at one point in time or another. The end result though, as you said, is that you can’t tell it is someone else’s code when you’re done. You pour over it, you tweak it, you learn from it.

I am all for sharing in that sense.

Taking my code and my exact design? Not a cool thing. That calls for a sporking. However, considering your site is pretty unique in it’s look, I don’t thnk you deserve a sporking.

Her “steal, steal, steal” line was what got me the most yesterday. That and the fact that her original article said to steal other people’s code – just don’t steal hers. She took that line out now and is instead telling people to take code that isn’t hers to give away. Ugh.

I complained to the site, I’ll do so again. She’s obviously not gonna get it and needs help.

Spork! Spork! Spork! 😉

I believe that Robyn… “encouraged” her to include credit for her template. It now credits BlogStyles. 🙂

That’s nice of her – but she still shouldn’t be offering to give it away on her site! Grrrr. Where’s my spork?

I’m enjoying the “defense of theft” posts on her comments. Not. But I did get to quote Tom Lehrer.

How grotesque. I just sent her an email about it. I really don’t think that most people will understand the distinction she makes in her addendum between tweaking and stealing. She should delete the frigging post, in my opinion. It’s irresponsible for someone seen as a blogging “expert” to say such crap.

Yes, I found the article a little bit disturbing. Not for me, because I’m the most un-selfish person when it comes to websites (I really don’t care about someone using what I have as long as they don’t steal my bandwidth), but encouraging people to actually go and copy someone else’s work is just plain bad.

It’s sad that blogging amateurs and those who don’t “know better” are going to look up to THAT since you know, she’s such the “expert” and all. How pathetic can people get? I mean, how LOWER can you slide. Seesh.

Unlike a lot of bloggers, I really like Patrick and Leo, but Sarah and her blogging reports are a definite lowpoint of The Screen Savers. Her handling of the criticism she’s received on that article annoys me as much, if not more, than the original article.

I think the distinction here isn’t stealing code–it’s stealing a design.

and I still need to know what ‘carnival freak crazy’ is. I have some free time this weekend.

“Carnival freak crazy?” Hmm..I don’t know but if it involves midgets and vacuum cleaners, lemme know.

Now it would be a real shame if someone’s stylesheet didn’t match the default MT classes. Hmm…

yeah, like if some of the default classes or IDs were hidden or linked to a graphic that said “This CSS brought to you by MYSITE and can be used with HTML from MYSITE according to MYSITE/license.html”

Heck, it could just link to a 1×1 graphic that you could grep out of your HTTP_access.log

Trouble is, I’m too lazy to implement any of that…

Carl, maybe I’m totally lost here – but I don’t get your point. If someone is using the default MT classes – that’s a-ok. MT gives the code away with their software. Anyone is allowed to use that code.

As Lester pointed out – I’m more concerned about someone stealing the design of a site itself. On a site that is all CSS, taking the CSS could mean taking the whole layout. I’ve had people snag Pixelog and link back to my own images, only changing out the thumbnails in the top banner – leaving the film strip as my own graphic.

Problem is – when you tell newbies that it’s ok to take one small segment of code, they start to think that it’s ok to take EVERYTHING.

With great power comes great responsibility. That was the main point of my post – anyone speaking as an authority on TechTV (Sarah, Leo, Patrick, whoever) has a lot of power. They need to speak careful and be responsible for their actions.

Very well said in your last comment here, and the one at her site. Some people just do not want to “get it”, because I guess that would take effort…

copyright issues
I’m a bit late with this post, but I wanted to talk about it a little nonetheless. I made a

Insomnia is baaackkk…
Seven Little Monnnsters… Seven Little Monnnsters…. Our phone is dead. It was very strange, I checked my email before dinner and it worked fine. Checked it again after and DSL was gone and phones were dead. “Whoops, oh yea… forgot…

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