As briefly (though not so-lightly) mentioned in the last post, I was fuming over the issue of copycats. In this post I will explain why. Have you ever experienced this where you spent long hours in front of the computer, editing your site, tweaking your codes, modifying your layouts, and the next thing you know there’s another website looking vaguely similar to yours?
I have. And it is very annoying.
Of course I cannot accuse these people copied my style 100% because codes, scripts, colours are free for everyone to use (the term “free” here being subjective). Nor it is illegal. But when the codes/scripts/colours are used the same as I do or arranged the way I arrange it, then it is a problem.
Some people may take pride in this because it shows that their works are worth to be copied. They say imitation is the best form of flattery. Obviously the person who had said that never experienced the pain of his work being copied. Well unfortunately I don’t feel the same way. I feel WRONGED. I try to make my work, if not necessarily unique, at least have the touch of my essence. But thanks to copycats, that has been blown away to the next planet.
I remember spending days (not hours!) working my ass off to figure out on how to modify a script so that it will suit my need and the next thing I knew, someone had amazingly and so easily copied it off from me. I really do not appreciate that.
What pisses me even more is when this bleeding label is pasted somewhere on the copycats’ sites: “Everything is made by me/copyrighted by me”. My ARSE! I think I don’t have to go into details on this, I’ve mentioned it already in one of the previous posts (gone when my WordPress screwed up) or you can read this.
You might think this is a laughing matter. It is not. It may be a harmless act if you are simply copying from a non-profit site such as personal blogs/personal graphics sites. But what if you copied from a registered organisations/companies/online shops? You can be sued for it. The companies may file a lawsuit against you. Of course you would say, “I’m not that stupid to copy from those sites”. Maybe so, but your act (the copying) itself makes you an unethical person.
“I’m just taking inspiration from your site”. There is a fine line between taking inspiration and imitation. Getting inspiration is when you get ideas from what you see/hear and re-construct that idea in your own way while imitating is getting ideas from something else and put it on your website/blog “as is”. Also, taking my self-modified code and putting it on your site, that’s called plain laziness sweetheart. Copying my words without my permission makes you a thief, and a cheap one too.
If you are too lazy to come up with a fresh idea of your own, then settle with what you have. Copying doesn’t make you look cool, instead it makes you look stupid, not to mention lazy, and above all else, a COPYCAT. Try it, and expect to get at least a finger from me, I can assure you that.
Finally, my message to all copycats: please, go get a life. If you can’t stop that habit, you can try glue-sniffing. It’s addictive too, but at least it doesn’t piss other people off.
You may, of course, not agree with whatever I’ve just said above. If you have any other opinions besides mine, you are welcomed to post them in the comments section.
