What a (insert expletive here) moron....

[Arcadian]

I used to run BusinessVibe (.co.uk). When I gave it up I didn't bother renewing the domain. So someone has it .....fair enough. However, he also has chunks of my site with barely changed paragraphs. He even includes headings he's not even using. eg TrafficVibe, which is another site I used to own. So presumably he just took the code then.

The joke is this idiot has put "copywrite" - can't even spell - at the bottom of the site.

I can't even be bothered to write to him. What bothers me is that Google searches etc come up with me running BusinessVibe. One of the first is usually my introduction on this forum some time ago :rolleyes:

I want to distance myself from the BusinessVibe name now so that people don't think this spineless person is me.What's the best way to do that? Should I make a post on my blog (on Blogger) so it shows up in searches? I'm not really sure where it would go. My tax clients wouldn't be interested and my other blogs are about crafts and my bunnies :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Please everyone note the "designer's" name and don't ever use them!! What kind of web designer just uses code from another site then asserts his miss-spelled copyright on it?

[TestAPlug]

I will pass this info on. No one wants a joker trying to sell a professional service. KEV

[Arcadian]

My web guy will have all the files showing what we had on the site but he's just had major heart surgery so I don't propose to bother him with it.

My tag line was "the ultimate resource for network and internet marketing" so didn'tchange much there and the first couple of paragraphs were virtually indentical.

I look forward to reading his member profiles and forums :rolleyes: If I see any of my articles on there there will be real grief.:mad:

If he didn't want to put up a full site he could easily have made a "new BusinessVibe coming soon" page.

[GreenLaser]

My web guy will have all the files showing what we had on the site but he's just had major heart surgery so I don't propose to bother him with it.

My tag line was "the ultimate resource for network and internet marketing" so didn'tchange much there and the first couple of paragraphs were virtually indentical.

I look forward to reading his member profiles and forums :rolleyes: If I see any of my articles on there there will be real grief.:mad:

If he didn't want to put up a full site he could easily have made a "new BusinessVibe coming soon" page.

Yea, agree. That was not so nice of him.

[richardmyers]

Wow, this is pretty sad to see.

[Arcadian]

Fortunately the Blogger moniker BusinessVibe has not been taken so I have it again.... businessvibe dot blogspot dot com

Those get indexed pretty quickly.

[saxondale]

Am I missing something? like the bit where YOU delete your old stuff before letting it go? ............... or is that too simple?

[Dawg]

I used to run BusinessVibe (.co.uk). When I gave it up I didn't bother renewing the domain. So someone has it .....fair enough. ....

I can't even be bothered to write to him. ......

You can be bothered to post here but you can't be bothered to write to him?

I'd suggest writing to him would be more effective. He sounds slightly less than able, so a well worded letter of legalese bombast should scare him off.

PS: just looked at the site. Interesting that he has claimed "copywrite 2010". The man is a muppet. Huff and puff and he'll blow away.

[Arcadian]

The old stuff was deleted. The site as copied while I still had it, which is a bit creepy. It's not that I can't be bothered, I worded that badly. I will write but as Dawg says, he's a muppet, so is there really any point ?

[Sandysounds]

Often when you confront people....they back down. I had the whole 3rd page, word for word, of my current site copied by another DJ. I regularly check my site with copyscape as DJs are notorious for copying....and I'd spent endless hours working on my 'from the heart' original copy. The worst thing was, this guy operated in the same geographical area as myself, so potential clients would read the same copy on both sites. I was fuming, picked up the phone, and the copy was gone in 5 minutes. I got the usual excuse......it was my web designer!!!! Yeah right!

[tradedemon]

Sharon,

This is a classic example of what many buyers of old domains do. Somewhere along the lines this guy has realised that an aged domain is available for purchase. i.e. yours is from way back in 2003 so 5+ years old.

He's then gone into archive.org (maintains an archive of sites and their various version since they were created) He's simply grabbed as much as he can of your site from there and put it back together.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.businessvibe.co.uk

Alot of domain investors and buyers unethically do this. Solution is to contact the guys web hosting provider and file a DMCA, give all the details you gave here and post up proof of ownership of all text and articles. They'll take it down for you no problems.

Obviously he's fully within his rights to own your dropped domain, the only thing you can do is kindly request the content to be removed. Tell them he's picked up your content from archive.org and is using it without your permission. Also before you do that contact the guy and let him know. Then when you contact the hosting company let them know you also tried contacting him first with no response.

Zee

[Arcadian]

Thank you, Zee. I didn't even know such a thing as archive.org existed :( I'll do the email to him/her (not even any ownership details on the site :rolleyes:) as soon as I've had lunch with mother-in-law...

At least one person has got some business out of this mess. I used to have my accountancy website done by Accountant Websmiths but decided to do my own since I'm semi-retired. Now I've decided I can't do with all this aggravation about websites, my skills are not wide enough and I just don't have the time so I've gone back to them!

I'm glad I'm not studying law now. When I did my degree back when Noah were a lad the university had one computer and there was no internet. Well, maybe for a select few but not for Joe Public.

[Arcadian]

Update:

The muppet's email is not working (big surprise) so that bounced. Been emailing Firebrush today and it's nothing to do with them, not their client. So maybe muppet also nicked code from one of their client sites.

Just sent a notice to the domain owner at the aptly named whythink.co.uk

What a waste of time!

[JeffPa]

Also send an email to google, asking them to de-index the site and why.

[Arcadian]

Ooh thanks, I will. You chaps are all being very helpful. I wouldn't have known where to start with this.

....

Tried to do that.Thay want a written notice sent to their California offices. So a schlep to the post office then.Yet more time wasted by Mr Muppet. I feel like sending him a bill for my lost hours.

[JeffPa]

Fax it. I think that's good enough for them.