Written on January 23rd, 2006 at 01:01 pm by Darren Rowse
How Not to Launch a Blog – The story of an Amateur Blogger
I’ve been a little hesitant to talk about this on ProBlogger but in the last two hours I’ve had 30 emails about it so thought rather than responding to each one personally I should make a statement before things go much further.
The story is that a blog called AmBlogger.net has started a blog that until I woke up this morning looked virtually exactly like ProBlogger.net (except what you see here as Orange was blue, some names were changed and there were a few poorly formatted bits and pieces).
If you go have a look now you’ll notice that Vince Chan the blogger concerned has now deleted the three menu boxes at the top of the blog so it is a little different – but the similarities are pretty obvious. update: You can see a screen cap here of his design (now changed) after the three boxes were deleted.
I saw this blog a few days ago and shot Vince Chan an email raising my concern. I didn’t demand he stop using the design but made it clear I was not happy with it. Previously when people have stolen designs from me an email like this has been replied to with an apology and a commitment to change the blog design immediately.
In this case no apology was forthcoming and Vince replied with an email saying he didn’t have time to reply adequately at that time but that he’d come back to me within 48 hours. His response came within that time but rather that coming via email it appeared on his blog with an excerpt from my email to him.
My main concern was that the design of ProBlogger (by Rachel from cre8d design) is something that I paid for and something that I believe to be copyrighted. Vince Chan is not hiding that the design was inspired by ProBlogger and that in fact his whole blog is along similar lines but aimed at ‘Amateur” bloggers (you can read about his intentions for the blog in his about sections – written in the style of ProBlogger’s about sections of course).
Now I don’t have a concern with him starting such a blog or even it being ‘inspired’ by this blog. I think the more talking about how people can improve their blogs the better. What I do have a concern about is that someone can simply lift the code of a blog and replicate it with only a few minor color changes and think that they can get away with it without consequences.
Copyright and web design is a somewhat tricky business. While I agree with Vince Chan that there are only so many ways to present a blog in terms of structure, format etc I think there are enough options available to bloggers to come up with designs that are original.
I know of quite a few blogs that have been ‘inspired’ by ProBlogger’s design – there are quite a few with three boxes at the top like I have here – but in each case the designer has gone to lengths to make the design their own on some level. I don’t have an issue with their approach (sometimes done with acknowledgment of inspiration and a courtesy email sometimes without) but in this case it’s gone too far.
My other concern is that Vince Chan posted part of the email I sent him without my permission rather than discussing it in private. I can only assume this is part of a link baiting type strategy to launch his blog (unfortunately it seems to have worked as his traffic today is 50 times his normal levels – although he was only averaging 2 visitors per day). It is for this reason that I resisted blogging about this for a number of days – but as a number of others have begun to write about it I’ve decided to talk about it.
I’m quite perplexed by Vince Chan’s strategy. He states in one of his posts that he was hoping to collaborate with me:
‘I chose the design with the naivity that Darren would one day approach me and say that he’d give me his blessing to work and push the envelope to promote Amateurs in Blogging – a collaboration of sorts.’
I strongly doubt there will ever be such an approach. While Vince Chan has definitely got my attention (and that of others) all he’s done is burnt his bridges.
A number of people have asked me whether I’ll take further action against Vince Chan in a legal sense. I doubt it will come to that. He seems to be hinting that he’ll change the design as a result of the ‘discussion’ now happening in his comments (translation: after he’s milked this as long as he can). I wouldn’t rule out legal avenues to fix this but it’s not really my style.
Am I angry at Vince Chan? I guess you could say I’m a little peeved off. In the scheme of things it’s not a big deal and we’ll all have forgotten about it by the end of the week – but I guess it illustrates a few things about how to (and not to) launch a blog.
My only words of advice to Vince Chan are simply that while humans forget things quickly that web has a very long memory. Blog’s get cached, people’s posts about you remain online for a long time and Google has a funny way of indexing people’s names and projects in ways that we’d sometimes wish they never did.
I do wish Vince Chan the best of luck with his AmBlogging and hope he takes note of what people are telling him.
update: AmBlogger has just had an update of a new-ish design.
81 Responses to “How Not to Launch a Blog – The story of an Amateur Blogger” - Add Yours
» Vince Chan takes stealing to a new level The Blog Herald: more blog news more often
January 23rd, 2006 1:30 pm
[...] 22nd, 2006 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently notallowed. [...]
Victor
January 23rd, 2006 1:36 pm
This world. What can I say. There seems to be an abundance of people who gain publicity through negative means these days(i.e., James Frey – author of A Million Little Pieces). In fact, I think Dateline(or some other similar network show) did an entire segment on rip offs.
Giving the benefit of the doubt, I wish I could say Vince was only naive in what he did, but I can’t. If he’s this far into the blogging world, then he must surely know that he was in the wrong.
Whatever, I’m rambling now. Looks like it’s resolving itself on its own now.
Take care,
Vic
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 1:37 pm
I was going to keep my mouth shut. But I have a problem with that 90 minutes after Jamsii told me. Ahh, Its down. The power of lynching. It’s really fun Darren. You should get involved more often.
Paul
January 23rd, 2006 1:38 pm
I just had a look at his site. It looks like he’s changed the design completely now.
Blog Network Watch
January 23rd, 2006 1:39 pm
Problogger Design Stolen
A blogger posting at the domain name “amblogger.net” has apparantly stolen the design of Darren Rowse’s Problogger. A quick look of the CSS amblogger.net shows an almost exact match with only some colors changed. This is what website design theft…
Vince Chan
January 23rd, 2006 1:48 pm
Hi Darren,
I guess it’s another bad decision to comment here because I’m already getting hit with cannonballs to the left and right. Just wanted to clarified that I did mention in my first email that I may put this in a Blog, I did not hear back from you.
I readily concede that putting up your email’s excerpt was very wrong of me. I immediately took it off upon realizing that.
Throughout, you’ve been most gracious. My goodness, the “vigilante justice” that someone alluded to on AmBlogger comments were truly fast and furious. No one can be blamed except me for publicizing this affair in the first place.
Just thought I’d let you know my thoughts.
Michele
January 23rd, 2006 1:48 pm
That Vince character’s actions are deplorable. If he doesn’t realise that he’s damaged his reputation irreparably with this then he must be more naive than I already thought.
Design Theft
January 23rd, 2006 1:49 pm
[...] EDIT: Darren has posted on this and includes a screenshot prior to the “changes” [...]
Aaron Brazell
January 23rd, 2006 1:51 pm
Ironically, based on his comment in his article, if ablog is content not container, then why on earth would he go out of his way to use your design, Darren. He could have simply used the default Kubrick theme. Ah well. I commend your approach.
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 1:53 pm
Vince your actions spoke. Take some advice. Be very quiet for maybe a few years come back and try again. This time without stealing someone on the A-List’s design. No Respect, or even belief in your apology.
Al
January 23rd, 2006 1:54 pm
I agree that it might have been done in poor taste, but good luck convincing a judge and jury that this guy caused any real damage to you. :)
If he had copied your content too, you might have a fighting chance – unless his pagerank is higher than yours.
Darren Rowse
January 23rd, 2006 1:56 pm
Vince – I appreciate you taking the design down. I hope we all learned a thing or two about blogging through it all.
Yes you did mention in your email that it might go on your blog – to be honest I didn’t think you’d be crazy enough to do it and was a little mad at you at the time so didn’t trust myself to respond – hence my graciousness…. :-)
Now lets all just get on with blogging shall we – life’s too short.
Paul Short
January 23rd, 2006 1:56 pm
Last I saw he was still using an almost identical sidebar, except that it’s on the opposite side.
The guy lives about 20 minutes away from me in Scarborough. No wonder I felt “dirty” for the past few days…
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 2:00 pm
Ok,
Darren. I will go back to the blogging cave. Advice taken.
cafedave
January 23rd, 2006 2:01 pm
While there are short-term negative consequences to rip-offs like this, the lasting effect is the same as any legitimately-won publicity for a site, except with an added (but old news) memory that this person did something wrong sometime in the past.
Is a public apology / changing the design enough?
It seems like the extra traffic that goes with the publicity makes up for any short-term negative consequences (don’t get me wrong, I’m not pro-theft, I’m just wondering how effective the deterrents that surround design theft are)
On the bright side, at least the copied design is gone now (apart from archive.org).
Kelly Howell
January 23rd, 2006 2:05 pm
This story strikes a familiar chord for me. It continues to amaze me that people will go so low and they do it shamelessly. I’m an audio producer and publisher of audio programs that entrain brainwave activity. http://www.brainsync.com is my ecommerce site. I’ve been doing this work since the early 80’s. Unfortunately there are many people out there that think it’s perfectly fine to cut and paste copy from websites and post it on there own. Awakened Minds (now called the immrama institute) literally did this with my graphics, CD title names, description of my technology and web content and pasted it on there site. I had to hire an attorney to get them to take my content off their site. They have since removed my graphics, slightly changed their copy but their core product and content is a direct rip from mine. Darren thanks for speaking up. You’ve inspired me.
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 2:11 pm
Kelly you should flip me an email. Lawyers aren’t nearly as effective as bloggers. We could strategize this.
Michele
January 23rd, 2006 2:19 pm
Vince – whether you stated that you were thinking about publishing the contents of the email or not is largely irrelevant. Unless you had explicit permission from Darren it would be classed as an invasion of privacy on one level and extremely bad netiquette on another (not that (n)etiquette seems to be one of your concerns)
Joe
January 23rd, 2006 2:22 pm
Darren, my man, who cares about someone stealing your design? I go to your site for the content, not the creative. And the content is creative. That’s what’s important. Just because someone steals your jock strap doesn’t mean it fits.
PXLated
January 23rd, 2006 2:24 pm
I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong don’t think I am though)…
In general, a “layout” is not copyright protected. The text and any “unique/original” artwork is (your logo for instance). Three colored boxes and a two-column format are not. And, the code/css is probably not unless it really is unique. To date I haven’t seen any html/css that is. Maybe some Javascript.
Peter Davis
January 23rd, 2006 2:28 pm
Damn, I wish I knew that the way to get 50x the traffic was to just copy your blog Darren. Could you make it easy on me, please, and just email me a copy of the code for the theme. :D
ash_nagasaki
January 23rd, 2006 2:37 pm
Looks like Vince’s first post was “How much do I earn?”. By itself I woudn’t think anything of that. However, ripping off Darren’s site design and immediately doing a post on the same topic as one of Darren’s top posts is just awful, especially as Vince says he is trying to avoid the “country-club” feel he gets here.
Vince, I don’t feel that you were ill-intentioned, but immitation is not the highest form of flattery when dealing with the web. You could have gotten into alot of trouble if you hadn’t happened to be dealing with a very nice guy. I’d reccomend that you take pains to distance yourself from this sort of thing in the future.
Yaro
January 23rd, 2006 2:49 pm
Wow, it’s been interesting watching this one unfold over the web today. Despite the negativity involved the spread of information has been quite significant – talk about news moving fast! The power of publicity, whether good or bad, has been demonstrated here and shown that in the blogosphere it moves quicker than through any other media.
Copyright wars » Work Boxers
January 23rd, 2006 3:08 pm
[...] Edit: Darren responds [...]
Chris Albon
January 23rd, 2006 3:12 pm
Honestly when I first read Darren’s post I thought it was a joke: Identical template, topics, fluff content, even ridiculously similar domains.
Ravi
January 23rd, 2006 3:34 pm
I use Copyscape to find out copycats. On a similar note, this adsense article you pointed to in an earlier post was nice. Then this blog, copied it with same title, full post and without any credit or link back. Their email does not work, there is also no blogger bar to flag them. Such incidents should be condemned by Bloggers.
I am a long time reader of Problogger and found your other posts about copying and preventing it very informative too. Thanks for this great blog.
Eric
January 23rd, 2006 3:55 pm
If people want to use the design so bad, why not just release it to the public? If someone builds a house that looks just like yours, you must have a nice house.
Nathan Waters
January 23rd, 2006 3:57 pm
lol
I think you’ll be right Darren, that chong obviously doesn’t even know about punctuation, starting a sentence with a capital letter etc. And his posts are just plain impossible to read.
cheers
nathan
mark
January 23rd, 2006 4:27 pm
Even I had my content and my designs stolen on more than 1 occassion. It really pissed me off! I guess it makes ppl get jealous off how well you’re doing and just steal stuff. :(
Eric Berlin
January 23rd, 2006 6:35 pm
Reminds me of the Charbucks v. Starbucks story that I wrote about recently!
In the fairly open market of the Internet, there are some lines that can be crossed but clearly shouldn’t be. This looks like one of those cases and hopefully Mr. Chan can now go about building a reputation for doing whatever it is he’s planning on doing that doesn’t involve possibly fuzzy ethics.
Man, I’m in the mood to watch Coming to America now…
Dave Broughton
January 23rd, 2006 6:49 pm
You are truly a class act, Darren. Time and again I’ve seen you deal with conflicts (and potential conflicts) in this same measured, reasoned, tone: no histrionics, no legal threats, no self-righteous ranting and posturing, even when you’d be legally and ethically justified in doing so, as in this particular case. It’s such an impressive demonstration of not only taking, but actualy walking, the high road. I can only wish that your influence in the realm of interpersonal dynamics be as great as your influence in the realm of pro-blogging!
Subnixus: The last days of a nine to five. » Copyright is an illusion.
January 23rd, 2006 7:07 pm
[...] A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a site that was a complete duplicate of problogger. At the time I thought nothing of it. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well, apparently not everyone thinks so. [...]
Darren Rowse
January 23rd, 2006 7:36 pm
Eric there is a difference. If someone pays an architect for a unique house then they have a right to allow that house to continue to be unique – same goes here.
Chrono Cr@cker
January 23rd, 2006 7:49 pm
Excellent article Darren. I was reading about this whole fiasco in the Blog Herald. BTW, this is probably the first time I’m looking at your blog, so i would like to say “Great Blog”.
However, we all slam/swear, etc @ Vince Chan, I would like to point out that winner in the end is him. The only one who’s gaining in the end is Vince-Chan and not darren. Yes, he has got the hits he wanted, and the very reason why he copied PB was that.
If anyone wants a link to AB’s older design, it’s here:: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:NNyfKFDtAbMJ:amblogger.net/+site:amblogger.net&hl=en&client=firefox-a
And the best way that people should show him copying does’t pay is by not visiting his site and commenting there. AB’s Technorati rank has definitely increased too.
Andy Merrett
January 23rd, 2006 8:06 pm
Well Duncan knows that I’ve posted personal emails on my blog before – it’s not particuarly clever but I can empathise.
I’ll get shot down for this, but I did think the ‘inverse of the hexadecimal of Darren’s colours’ (or whatever the wording was) was fairly amusing – hey it’s Monday morning here I need a laugh ;)
I might also get shot down for being mellow (caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet) but I think this is where the content wins over the design – yeah it was a rip of Darren’s site, but the content was at least different (ie it wasn’t a splog ripping the feed) – I never saw the original design on the site though – I don’t think regular PB readers would be fooled, and AM hasn’t got enough PR or SE positioning to take readers away from PB (hmm too many two-letter abbreviations…)
Whilst I don’t endorse this (looking at someone’s code for ideas is one thing, blatantly taking it is quite another) in general it can be hard to check that you’re not stepping on anyone’s toes. I suppose in this case where design and subject matter are very similar, it looks too much like plagiarism.
Ahh well it looks like it’s all calming down now…
Chrono Tron - 100% » Blog Archive » Blog (Design) Rippers - Negative Tactics
January 23rd, 2006 8:24 pm
[...] Darren’s say:: Problogger [...]
Ben Helps
January 23rd, 2006 9:12 pm
Last post! :-P
Personally I think there’s been some overreactions (e.g. Cowboy), but hey the web takes all sorts. Content is king – if he’d ripped the content, on the other hand…
I often shudder to watch how the (TV, etc) media hypes up an issue (e.g. in Australia, the recent late police video release=bad publicity/what a travesty=quick, find a scapegoat). However I see it’s just human nature.
@Ravi – the Ravi of All Things Linux? That’s another long time fave of mine, as a linux tinkerer. If so, did you know someone else has a created a blog under your site’s “name” at blogspot?
I would have thought that it’d be cre8td design’s call to jump up and down, if anyone. As I notice she has.
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 10:13 pm
Cowboy is as Cowboy is. He’s an overreactive force. But hey the site got changed. So say what you want about my tactics. I’d take me over a lawyer anyday.
DCS
January 23rd, 2006 11:11 pm
Gosh, I wouldn’t have the nerve to do that! Good for you for defending your site. I hope AmBlogger has learned an important lesson.
DCS
January 23rd, 2006 11:24 pm
@ Cowboy: You really did go after him. Dang! I know who I want to represent me if I ever have serious issues with a blogger! You all but said “Get a rope.” Who knew you were a vigilante?? LOL Sometimes a vigilante does trump an attorney. :-)
Cowboy
January 23rd, 2006 11:35 pm
I grew up in the west. We just go out there and try to get it done before the sunsets. The lawyers all have to get their books out, and find out what’s right. This way it gets shut down before it gets too expensive. And thanks for all the kind words.
Andy Merrett
January 23rd, 2006 11:43 pm
“And Google AdSense doesn’t really recognize mad visitors from every other visitor, right?”
Errm, why would you click on AdSense ads if you were mad with him?
Michael Hampton
January 24th, 2006 12:30 am
My main blog (click my name) uses a design which is loosely based on another site’s design, but in no way copied! Their actual site uses ugly tables for layout, and CSS is virtually nonexistent. Not the way to do things. I rebuilt it from the ground up using 100% XHTML and CSS.
And yes, it’s supposed to look mostly like the other site. We call it parody. Or satire. I forget which. Either way, people from … er, the other site … have visited, and I have yet to get a complaint. Or get arrested…
Taoski
January 24th, 2006 2:13 am
Maybe we should start some sort of “copy me scam” where we post some bogus content and then see how far it gets?
Congrats on handing the situation with decorum though!
Most people would go off the deep end with this kind of thing.
I do dip into peoples code now and again – but only to see how things are done – no more than that. As a CSS and HTML coder – I class myself as an amateur – so reading up a little can be helpful!
Respect!
Andy Merrett
January 24th, 2006 2:25 am
For CSS stuff I tend to go direct to online reference sites rather than taking code from live sites – mainly because I don’t always like the naming conventions and layouts that other people have used and would prefer to tweak it all myself.
Joe
January 24th, 2006 2:34 am
Hey Darren,
I don’t think I would have been as even handed as you. I’m afraid I’m a little more vindictive.
I think Cowboy did the right thing to go after AB.
Joe
ps Thanks for responding to my E-M, especially in light of all this.
J.
Dave Starr
January 24th, 2006 2:44 am
In general this has been a very productive discussion, and I’ve learned a lot. Hope some others have also. I’ve certainly got a better strategy in my mind now as to what to do should such a problem ever crop up for me.
Both the measured, “Darren” method and the shoot from the hp “Cowboy” methods have their strengths and weaknesses.
I was, however, shocked and quite put off by Nathan’s racial comments. Why, in the year 2006, do we have to ascribe apparent wrong-doing or even evidence of errors and lack of skill to people’s racial origins? Sad way to start the morning, indeed.
Khurrum
January 24th, 2006 3:17 am
Grand Theft Blog: Australia ?
Darren you handled this in a great way in my opinion. I remember when another CEO of a blogging network found a site that looks similar to his and went on a, in my opinion, childish rant.
Gary Miller
January 24th, 2006 3:22 am
[...]Some clown (who I won’t give a link here) ripped off Darren’s blog design. It was designed by Rachel at cre8d.com and is a copyrighted work.
What some people will do for a little traffic is absolutely amazing sometimes.[...]
The Spanish Avenger
January 24th, 2006 3:42 am
Just to make it clear in English, I fully support Vince, he’s off to a great start, a most appropriate way to estar a blog that’s about the amateur blog, rather than the pretentious “ProBlogger”, which is a ton of bull to begin with. Moreover, I highly recommend Vince to go back to the ProBlogger-inspired template, because there is no freaking copyright on a style sheet, and spoofing is a time-honored tradition. You can tell that while Darren is an arrogant nerd, Vince is a mild-mannered Canadian who clearly meant no harm. And karma wise, the entire thing is leaning in favor of Vince (just look at the boost in visitors he is getting! congrats, Vince!) and helping expose how highly Darren, Duncan and the entire “network” thing of themselves. What happened to sharing? What happened to the spirit of blogs? So now they are “professional blogs”? F*k that, let Vince use the template, and I hope he carries on the true spirit of a free Internet.
Darren and Duncan: you are right in the same line of reasoning as the Bush administration asking Google to disclose search data… you are a bunch of fascists, greedily running after a 0,05 cent click from AdSense. Remember folks, the whole thing says more about Darren than Vince…
edit by Darren – I would strongly recommend that people leaving comments remember that when they submit comments that their IP addresses get sent with the comment and that it’s not too difficult to work out who they are… if they’ve commented before. Thanks for the comment ‘Spanish Avenger’.
Victor
January 24th, 2006 5:34 am
Again, all for the sake of controversy. That’s pretty evident through your constant registration of “classy” domain names – what’s new?
Vic
Brian
January 24th, 2006 5:35 am
As a former practicing attorney, maybe I can shed some light on a few misconceptions here. This is based on US law, but Australian copyright law is fairly similar.
Code *is* protected by copyright from the moment is comes into existence. Since Rachel made the code for hire, Darren owns that copyright.
People who don’t think a stylesheet is legally protected are woefully misinformed, and if you steal from people less tolerant than Darren, your ass can and will be sued.
Also, regarding damages, sometimes actual damages do not have to be proved. In the US if your copyright is registered (which can be done at any time befor suit is filed) you may be able to recover money damages without proving actual loss.
The law is designed that way to stop people from stealing and then getting out of it by arguing “it didn’t hurt.” Infringing on copyright can have intangible bad effects, and the law wants to discourage that as well.
So… other than for substantial modifcation or for “inspiration” only, keep your hands off of other people’s code.
Also, just to alleviate any confusion, my current blog is about “copywriting,” which is different than “copyright.” Unfortunately, some people are not sure what the difference is.
PXLated
January 24th, 2006 6:10 am
Brian…
You have me a little confused as over the last ten years I’ve been designing sites and following web design discussions, the consensus (as lawyers/attorneys have piped in) seemed to be that yes, programming code (has logic and all kinds of other unique things in it) is copyrightable but HTML/CSS is not really “coding”, it’s “tagging” and hence not copyrightable. It’s like the tags put in a manuscript to make text bold, italic, etc. The words/story are copyrightable but the tagging isn’t. Your thoughts.
Also, having been in the design business for 30 years, I’ve always been told (by attorneys) that the actual underlying “layout” is not copyrightable, only the words, art, photography within that underlying grid/layout are…Have I been talking to the wrong attorneys all these years?
Brian
January 24th, 2006 6:24 am
That’s wht I get for chiming in with legal stuff! The explanation is never quite thorough enough for the informed observer!
OK, here’s the deal. A stylesheet by itself may or may not be copyrighted, meaning, I could take the actual tags and reprint them somewhere, perhaps in a tutorial, and not be in trouble.
BUT.. if I steal stylesheet code and implement it together with other php files to recreate a knockoff of someone else’s design, then I *have* done a bad thing.
The stylesheet dictates the visual presentation of a template. Taken as a whole, all the parts working together are very much protected by copyright.
This is what Vince did. He didn’t take Darren’s CSS and publish it so everyone could see what great code Rachel writes.
He stole it to create a near replica. And what he did does not qualify as a fair use parody, because his goal was not to critique or ridicule ProBlogger or Darren.
Brian
January 24th, 2006 6:29 am
Darren’s layout is also protected by trademark law, which would be an alternative cause of action to copyright claims.
Khurrum
January 24th, 2006 6:33 am
First of all a web design is art and, therefore, should be copyrightable. If current laws state that a web design can be ripped off by a simple right-click save then that law needs to be changed.
Second, I have designed many many websites and I know how annoying and difficult it is to sometimes get your site just right. A lot of time and money was spent creating, testing and maintaining this site. It is completely unfair for anyone to swoop down and steal it and paste it on his/her own site. Why should other people let you use their hard work and not even get any recognition?
I can’t believe that I’m having to explain this since it is blatantly obvious.
I truly hope that the “Spanish Avenger” post was made to provide comic relief in a serious thread such as this. If he’s serious then well.. he still ended up providing comic relief. :D
Jon
January 24th, 2006 9:03 am
I think that when it comes to the web and wordpress designs it can get tricky as wordpress is free and many of the templates are free. Now darrens wasnt it was designed for him so its more unique so I can understand why he got peeved.
It wasnt just your usual 2 colum blog or 3 column blog there are some very distinct differences on this blog that I havent seen anywhere else intill i saw the other chaps blog..
chartreuse (BETA) » Blog Archive » The truth about ideas
January 24th, 2006 9:28 am
[...] A lot of noise is being made about AmBlogger stealing the design of ProBlogger. [...]
AMCP Tech Blog
January 24th, 2006 10:22 am
When Blog Theft Gets Plain Old…Old
‘m still not over people that just steal others content without permission. I’m not talking blockquotes eigther folks. I was reminded yet again of how people just blindly copy content today from ProBlogger. A blog pop-upped using the same design of P…
The banker
January 24th, 2006 10:22 am
I think the problem is really in the medium more than anything else. When it is so easy to copy something, people are going to do just that. I always smile a bit when some people put up pictures on the web and tell people to not to copy them. It is just too easy, and information wants to be free.
If someone copied my content I would just take it as an compliment and hope for a link back to my page. It seems like Darren is pretty relaxed about the whole thing too. And if it was just linkbait it worked. Now I have another blog to check out from time to time :) I still think I will visit Problogger.net more. At least as long as Vince Chan doesn’t all of a sudden start to put out lots of original quality content
We Love Blogs » Thou shall not steal
January 24th, 2006 12:20 pm
[...] This is elementary. Why steal? Whatever it is, just do not steal. Not even the design of one of the most popular blogs around. Anyway, read more about how this guy stole Problogger’s design. [...]
chartreuse (BETA) » Blog Archive » Why Liv Tyler’s dad is smarter than Darren Rowse
January 25th, 2006 1:59 am
[...] Something was bothering me about the whole amBlogger/proBlogger fit yesterday. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on till this morning and now it feels like an elephant in the room. [...]
Sharon
January 25th, 2006 4:18 am
I currently do not have a website or even a blog; however, I am doing extensive research on blogging so when I do launch my blog I can do so with a basic understanding of “how to do it right”. I believe Vince was absolutely wrong to copy problogger. I am and will remain loyal to problogger.
Successful Blog — chartreuse (Beta) Thinks Outside the Knee Jerk Reaction
January 26th, 2006 1:04 am
[...] Winds of controversy have been blowing again. This time over a blogger who set up a site called Amblogger–to mean Amateur Blogger–and took the exact code for the design from Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger site. The stolen version is no longer up, but Darren has a screen shot in his discussion of the incident. I won’t recap the story that will be retold. [...]
Beginner’s Blog » Hello World! Q&A with myself
January 26th, 2006 9:20 am
[...] Yes. Late last year I stumbled on a blog called College Startup which led me to a number of other blogs about blogging. Blogs like ProBlogger by Darren Rowse, MakeEasyMoneyWithGoogle by Eric Giguere, Performacing, and a few others. I’ve read about how people developed their blogging careers, their great advice to novice blogger wannabes, do’s and don’ts of blogging, blog monetization capabilities, etc. What I learned from them is that if you have passion and commitment, can write and have common sense, you can do it. And you can earn some money from it. Or, if you are good, you can even have a pretty good life from blogging. Also, you really can’t lose. Even if you fail – it’s a good learning experience and doesn’t cost you much. [...]
Robert Synnott » Blog Archive » Publicity for the Noughties
January 27th, 2006 2:36 pm
[...] This obscure person stole a template from this widely read blog, with minor changes made. Of course, designer of blog finds out and is annoyed. There follows a stream of publicity for the obscure person. Note that all the comments on his blog are on these two posts relating to the incident. Another success. And again, not easy to repeat. [...]
Stephen
February 1st, 2006 1:59 pm
I hate to break it to you darren, but AmBlogger isn’t the only one stealing your template:
Check out http://www.ipodbloggers.com/
Darren Rowse
February 1st, 2006 2:07 pm
yes unfortunately it seems to be becoming more popular to do this. I’ve tried to reason with them also but have heard nothing. Very frustrating. I’m a bit over fighting over it though – if people can live with themselves for doing so and are willing to live with the consequences of being caught out then I guess they’ll continue to do it….
A Jack of All Blogs » Blog Archive » Another Stupid Shit
February 1st, 2006 2:08 pm
[...] The dust has barely settled on the Vince Chan AmBlogger fiasco (you remember Vince — he thought it would be a good idea to steal Darren Rouse’s ProBlogger template), and now the JOAB posse is back in effect. [...]
ealhdun
June 14th, 2006 9:42 am
perfect site good information, very nice news and etc… tnx
Bloggers Buzz
June 19th, 2006 12:09 am
[...] It seems once a thief, always a thief. Way back in the not so distant past of January this year a blogger by the name of Vince Chan stole the design of Darren Rowse’s Problogger. After somewhat of a storm in the blogosphere Vince yielded to the weight of public opinion and changed his design. [...]
Nick
June 19th, 2006 1:34 am
Darren,
Looks like our friend has gone and done it again. His blog Investorial.com lifted the stylesheet from Ben Bleikamp over at insidewii.net
Pretty sad that he didn’t learn his lesson the first time.
Henry
January 24th, 2007 10:13 pm
Personally I don’t see what you think you can copyright. The color of your bars and bg colors below them and the text color? Lets get realistic. There is no extensive design here nor is there elements on the blog that can really be copyrighted.
Web designers are always looking around for nice color combinations that appeal to them. Yes, he probably came to your site looking for info, seen your sidebar and said I like those colors and used them. Other than that I think if you want copyright protection, your design needs to be much less generic.
Right now all I see you doing is sending a bunch of traffic his way over something that should really be a non issue. Copyright is for original creative works, not the way you combined 3 colors on your sidebar.
Blogging in its very nature, is a huge community with 1000’s of people using the same designs and layouts – what would make Vince think there was something wrong with using your color scheme and sidebar layout?
Darren Rowse
January 24th, 2007 10:48 pm
Hey Henry – thanks for the comment but this is a pretty old post – 1 year yesterday. We’ve resolved it now :-)
Online Business Blog » Archives » Kick start your blog marketing with 7 unknown strategies
April 25th, 2007 2:32 am
[...] because he cloned the design of problogger.net. This story is about Amblogger.net who created a buzz by copying the design of Problogger.net. This Amateur blogger Vince Chan launched his blog by copying the design of Problogger.net. I [...]
How to Start a Local Real Estate Blog — 5. Official Blog Launch! | Real Estate Marketing Guide - CREN Blog
May 3rd, 2007 1:52 am
[...] a look at some of these outside resources that might help you with other pre-launch ideas: How not to launch a blog, Tips for a Successful Launch, How To Start a [...]
Jen
September 11th, 2007 4:50 pm
I just don’t understand how people don’t see content theft as THEFT. While it’s somewhat flattering to have someone think your design is worth stealing, it’s just so rude and lazy.
Free Ipod Touch
September 23rd, 2007 2:38 am
I agree Jen, I get steamed when I see my work/content being used by someone else.
free ipod touch
September 27th, 2007 10:57 am
While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s still just so irritating to have someone copy what you’ve worked hard to achieve.
Jose
December 9th, 2007 6:08 am
Sorry you had to deal with this.I hate it when people cannot be original. I agree that there are only a few ways to do a blog, but you canalways make it somewhat original.
Ted Chan
June 18th, 2008 12:43 am
Just read this a year or so late, but thought it was interesting. Very nice blog.
Comments will be closed off on this post 90 days after it is published. Apologies to those this impacts but it's a regrettable and temporary measure to combat a growing comment spam problem. See our most recent posts where you can comment here.