Identity theft

Oops, that was my alter ego Alan Smithee. I got logged out somehow.

Hey guys, I’m the nasty fellow that completely ransacked and stole Root’s index.php and css files. Although I have to say that anonymous hit the proverbial nail on the head. I took those files to use as a “workbench” since I liked them, and my only way to work on something like WordPress is via my Cedant server. The files and directory were completely unlinked to anything outside the directory. The only way to find the site is via a totally lucky Google search. I’m sure that Root found my site via his server logs, which hit his links via my own accesses.
Anyway, I admit that I should have cleansed his personal information, but I didn’t think it was too big of an issue, honestly. And when Root sent me an e-mail about it (only today, by the way), I e-mailed him back and said I’d do it ASAP. I find it disturbing that rather than go to the root site and contact me (www.p2mag.com), Root decided to call Cedant, post here, and do everything but contact me.
When he finally DID contact me, he found a respectful and apologetic person. To wit:
Dear Jim
If you look at http:www.p2mag.com/kfg/ you will see that you have stolen my file index.php from my domain https://www.atthe404.com/blog, together with the content extant at that time and the inline css.
This is clearly an unsatisfactory state of affairs. You are a commercial organisation of some quality. This is at best unseemly. At worst it is actionable in tort for damages. I notice that you have installed WordPress yourselves, although it does not appear to be connected to the interface or mysql as far as I can see. If you like my design (and I am flattered) that you have chosen to use it – then the best way forward might be for us to put this theft onto a commercial basis. I look forward to hearing your proposals as to compensation and credit.
Best Wishes
Root
Here is my response, sent shortly after receiving his e-mail:
Simon,
As you can see from the site, it doesn’t work at all since half the elements ARE linked to your site since it isn’t a “real” site at all. It is a demo site unlinked to any external source. It has no content. It has no posts. It has no real commercial or even personal use as a web entity right now. As you can probably see where I’m going with this… I am practicing with CSS design and php in the process of working toward designing something nice. It wouldn’t even be on the Internet other than the fact that I don’t have an internal mysql or Apache server to work with, so I have no choice but to put it as an unlinked folder on an unrelated site.
Anyway, I really liked the design of your site, so I figured I would start with that rather than using the basic WordPress template.
I don’t intend on copying your site design in any meaningful way. What I liked the most was how you created the sunken effect, and that was what I have been playing around with, primarily with different colors.
I can certainly see how you would be distressed that there’s a live, crappily made, unfinished, demo “version” of your site on the Internet. I didn’t think it would be a problem since it is unlinked to anything (other than phantom links to your own site). However, if you would like, I can password protect the directory on the server and make my little workspace even more remote.
In closing, I would like to state that I really like the design of your site, especially the consistent sunken effect that you use. Bravo. I will be certainly using a consistent variation of that effect on this site I’m kind of bumbling around in building, but please be assured I’m not going to take your template, change the logo and mysql database names, and then use it as my own. I’m a rank amateur to CSS and PHP, so I was using your work as guidance and inspiration more than anything.
All the best,
Jim
In closing, I think that the person who said this was a mountain out of a molehill was correct. I respectfully wait to see if you all disagreee.

It would have been polite to ask first.

Well Mr Kerr my final response to this episode which has gone on far too long is this. It is not for you, or anybody else, to try to tell me how I should protect my own copyright material. That is the point of it. It is mine.Not yours. Or anybody elses. Nor is it for you, or anybody else to judge whether in general copyright is important, whether on the facts of this case it mattered, or whether you should or should not remove it. Those choices are not yours to make. You took my material and by your own admission published the work on the internet as though it was still mine and I had published myself. That was a breach of copyright, it was misleading, and it was damaging to my *brand*.

I’ll take my lumps for that. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, but that’s the only excuse I have… I didn’t think anyone but me would see me tinkering with Root’s sunken effects and the corresponding css changes.
Still, I should have sent him an e-mail saying something like “Root, I copied your css file and index.php to learn more about sunken effects and how those boxes lay out on the screen. Do you mind?”

One more time. I have made it absolutely clear from the outset of this dialogue (I hope) that I have no problem at all with *my* design being used at all. I do object to it being trashed by a noob while it is still being attributed to me. Consistently misrepresenting my position which has been made clear in our correspondence does not help you, your case, or your cred. If you want sunken 3d effects – knock yourself out. I have moved on.

Root says:
“I have made it absolutely clear from the outset of this dialogue (I hope) that I have no problem at all with *my* design being used at all.”
Root said earlier via his first e-mail:
“If you like my design (and I am flattered) that you have chosen to use it – then the best way forward might be for us to put this theft onto a commercial basis.”
Again, I’ll let the peanut gallery judge whether this is a contradiction or not.
I still stand at fault for not making the directory *completely* inaccessible, even though I thought it was *practically* inaccessible.

Call me a pedant, but if you follow that link I posted earlier, you stand at fault for more than you claim.
Ignorance is no defence, and this being the net makes no difference.

I don’t see how I was in violation of copyright. I mean, I very well may be missing something here, and I really do want to know the nuances, so please humor me. Here’s how I see it:
I downloaded Root’s wonderful index.php and css files to a private server, that only I had access to. I was examining his code to see how he manipulated his sunken effects and how it worked with his various boxes. At this point, I assume that this is the same as if I had it on a box unconnected to the Internet. There is absolutely no personal or commercial use at all. It’s, for all intents and purposes, private to me and me alone.
Of course I found out that it *wasn’t* private, so I removed it. But the original use I find unassailable. I mean how can someone learn to code without dissecting other’s code?

Jim, you’ve made your point, some of us see it, some of us don’t. I stopped posting on this thread for reasons I stated previously and ‘cuz it is futile – there are other dragons to slay and, at my age, other molehills to climb ??

I downloaded Root’s wonderful index.php and css files to a private server, that only I had access to.
Err. You did?

You must have missed the final paragraph. I’ll repost it for you:
Of course I found out that it *wasn’t* private, so I removed it. But the original use I find unassailable. I mean how can someone learn to code without dissecting other’s code?

I suggest you check the security on your ‘private server’, since clearly Root was able to gain access to it and see what was going on. If there is some special reason why you cannot download one of the many excellent PHP/mySQL packages and run a local installation of WordPress for testing purposes, your idea of moving such works in progress to a passworded directory is an excellent one.
At least Root has got some business out of this. I assume you are going to hire him, since you admire his work so much?
I am not going to say any more about copyright. People who are too stupid or stubborn to read and understand the links above will carry on ripping off the hard work of others. They think that because lots of other people do it it must be OK for them to do the same. It’s too bad they don’t teach basic ethics nowadays or they’d see that doesn’t follow.

I mean how can someone learn to code without dissecting other’s code?

Please somebody provide this guy with a link to one of the many threads with links to tutorials! Other WordPress users seem to manage OK without having to resort to ripping off other people’s sites.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret Jim: the “sunken effect” is merely a visual trick using different-colored borders. It is an effect artists have been using for a long time. The darker area is furthest from the “light” source, probably nearly blocked, and the lighter side is exposed to the “light” source.