Ever wake up on a Friday, happy to know the weekend is at your fingertips, only to be kicked in the junk repeatedly? Well that’s what happened to me today when I woke up to find this blog post written by Jonathan Kehayias. I have no idea why he felt the need to smack me down in such a manner. If I had woken up to that blog post *and* an email from him telling me about the post I suppose I would feel differently. But to essentially be beaten down while you are sleeping just makes you feel a little run down in the morning.
The net result of my post yesterday has been more than one person saying “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG”. Why would I, or anyone, ever want to continue sharing information when you know it results in negative feedback? Blogging itself is hard enough without being attacked for a misspelled word and a copyright warning, and then having those two items question my ability to serve on the PASS Board of Directors.
Seriously, I’m sure there are lots of reasons people can give for me to not be on the Board. Did it take those two things in order for such questions to be raised? And if those two items are enough then I suggest that you take a simple step this year: don’t vote for me (should I decide to run again).
As for the copyright message, I use a script from Tynt.com. Tynt is a great service that helps you to see when content has left your website. I would urge everyone that is blogging to sign up with Tynt and generate your own script. I would also urge those of us that will share code with others to include some dashes (“–“) before the custom message. That way, folks won’t get upset when they cut and paste the code into SSMS and execute.
I believe Jonathan was trying to tell me that my message seemed a little to harsh, especially for those that were simply grabbing code that I was offering freely. That’s a fair observation, and I never thought that a person using any code snippets would think twice about the message. However, I still like what it says, I think it fits my personality quite well. If you are stealing from me, then I reserve the right to be an asshole to you through a javascript message. If you aren’t stealing, then I shouldn’t want to deliver the same message. The trouble is that I only get the one line.
So here is what I am going to do. I am going to give away a copy of my book, DBA Survivor, to the person that offers me an alternative message. Just leave a comment with your suggestion and I’ll pick the best one. I’ll end the contest next Friday, pick a winner, and send them a copy.
As always, thanks for reading.
“If you did not find this code on thomaslarock.com then come and visit the source, instead of using stolen content.”
Nice! Thanks Jane.
Maybe you should write an addendum to your book about surviving getting kicked in the junk?
Tom,
I don’t think you were out of line, or your comments were too harsh. I do think adding the dashes at the beginning is a good idea though.
tk
I got a kick out of Jonathan’s post as well as yours.
While I find your love of DRM (and that is essentially what you were doing) amusing, I think you are over reacting a bit. If you get so frustrated every time someone helps you by telling you that you are doing it wrong (I am obviously oblivious to tone) to do you even code when the parser continually tells you that ‘you are doing it wrong’ by way of validation errors?
We work (ha live?) in a very past paced and complicated field. I pretty much expect to be told I’m doing it wrong because there is rarely full context around anything we do. The upside to that lack of full context is that we sometimes get comments that push the conventions we think (because they are not viewing all the confines) and mostly we get a bunch of feedback from people talking about a best/worst case scenario that puts yet another checkmark in the ‘it depends’ column of a particular script/thought/bacon cooking method.
Likewise, I am shocked that you are surprised to have ‘negative’ feedback regarding your DRM implementation on a blog post you did. You don’t think that is at all a little bit of head in the sand mentality? So what if Johnathan doesn’t like it or I don’t like it…. we can’t all agree on everything and I don’t feel it weakens friendship or the community… we simply just don’t agree.
Rob,
Thanks for the feedback.
If you did not find this code on thomaslarock.com, please alert the TSA to their competition. Please leave the violations to the professionals!
Shannon,
Wow, that is just about perfect for me…
“If you did not find this on thomaslarock.com it is stolen. Every time you steal my content, a group of birds and/or fish die off around the world. Way to usher in the Mayan-prophesied Apocalypse jerk!”
Rob,
I’m also a blogger and lord knows I get told I’m wrong all the time. Sometimes I even am! I don’t mind being told I’m wrong, it’s _how_ I’m told that matters. You admit to being oblivious to the tone and that’s exactly the issue here, the tone. It’s possible to disagree and still be respectful. I think that’s Tom’s issue.
tk
I don’t see a problem with your current message really. Code is going to be cut and pasted and I can see how you would be upset given rampant plagiarism.
Maybe the message is better served as a reminder??
“Remember, this content is the intellectual property of thomaslarock.com. Do not repost without permission.”
Why are you limited to one line? If you log into tynt you can do a lot more than just one line. I had to create an account and look at it, but why not use the Link Sponsorship option and generate a message that links to your Contact Page so people could report it.
For example the Message portion could be:
— The above material is from http://thomaslarock.com. If you are reading it on the internet at another site
The Sponsor Name could be:
please report it.
And the Link Destination could be:
http://thomaslarock.com/contact-me/
That generates a much better message that provides the link for someone to report plagiarism if it occurs.
Jonathan,
Thanks! I had never seen the extra options before, I wonder if they are new. I set up my Tynt a long time ago.
For a Powershell script I would go down this road.
If $Location -ne “thomaslarock.com” {Write-Host “You are reading stolen content”
else
— Stealing is bad, learning is good, go to the rock star or your intentions could be misunderstood. (This content owned by thomaslarock.com)
Todd,
The reason I started becoming oblivious to tone is pretty much due to the internet and the proliferation of nerd rage. Our community is typically great and supportive which is why I don’t mind the occasional hyperbole by a prominent member towards another. Would we all be talking about this right now if Jonathan hadn’t forced the hand by choice of tone? That is also why I didn’t view it as a personal attack on Thomas, but an ‘attack’ on how we feel about it general and what we are doing. Do we care more about public domain, protecting our precious public blogs or what? I think it also is a wonderfully crafted indirect attack at how we deal or should deal with content scrapers in general.
Code shared for readers of thomaslarock.com – please help fight plagiarism – report findings from other sources.
So someone already has a powershell script to download #MCM videos… I think it would be neat to have a powershell challenge to see how fast a post by SQLRockstar spreads over content scrapers. He could embed a unique string in the code or something and we could follow it via Google to see the viral effect and how much of a problem he deals with.
Tom, please don’t let this experience hinder your motivation to blog or continue your service with the PASS Community.
You are a huge asset to the SQL PASS Community and I <3 your blog. I told you this before and I will write it on your blog. If I had a resource ranking for my RSS feed you would be very high on list because I can learn and be entertained at the same time with your posts. This is very rare in Information Technology field.
I’m with Kelly, nicely written. I think the reminder approach is the best route.
I’m new to blogging, and my expectations have been that stuff might get lifted so I wouldn’t use a script such as this. Although, I don’t have much to protect I’m more consuming at this point.
“–Bacon good…stealing bad. If you are not viewing this content from http://thomaslarock.com let me know by reporting it here and I’ll send you some bacon.”
This is succinct but hopefully it gets the point across for you:
–Original content created/copyright by thomaslarock.com. Removal of this statement is prohibited. Re-publishing/re-distribution without written consent by the author is forbidden.
–All your code are belong to thomaslarock.com
Ok, so I am really lost as to why you would want to ‘protect’ content in this way.
I have the opinion that despite what you might hear in the media – 99% of the population are good, honest & truthful (in the most past, at least).
So by using a service like that, all you are doing is slightly annoying the good people, while not really inconveniencing someone who is plagiarizing anyway.
For me, people hit my blog because they have searched for something that my blog addresses. If my blog can answer their question, then I am happy. If they choose to come back or leave a comment I am doubly happy. If they choose to re-publish it then I am not happy – but that doesn’t mean that I want to add annoying comments that get in the way of the 99% who aren’t misusing it.
Also, the SQL Community, as far as I can see, cover each other’s backs pretty well. If someone is sees plagiarism, then it’s on twitter pretty quickly and a DMCA goes out and the issue is dealt with.
My 2c anyway. Keep up the good work, and don’t let a shi**y day put you off – because for you to stop would be a great loss to the community at large.
Tom: I just checked mine and what I did was add “/* ” to the prefix and ” */” to the suffix. I am selecting the option to include both the page title and URL in mine. The above ensures the whole thing is commented out and handles any line breaks there might be. I might also suggest adding the creative commons license option. The only problem with that is have to figure out how to comment that piece out.
Sorry Tom but I had to copy/paste your code snippet just to see your disclaimer… I am not sure what the big deal is?
Mark,
It would be considered rude by some. You and I, being Yankee fans, wouldn’t know the definition of that word “rude”, but others seem to know. The other debate right now is if the disclaimer is even needed.
“If you did not find this code on thomaslarock.com then to quote what a great wise man once said – step off, I’m doin’ the Hump.”
Tom, your message says that *all* copying is theft. Is that really what you believe? I’m not asking about a legal opinion; I’m asking from a social practices point of view. Because while I want to stay within legal bounds, I also want to respect the terms you want to blog with.
If I want to quote a blog snippet (be it code or text), when I see that the author thinks all copying is theft and plagiarism, I don’t do it unless I’ve received prior permission.
I think your message should be informative: “This was copied from at example.com” and remind the copier that copying the full post is not fair use (which is a contentious issue, but entirely defensible position.): “If this copy contains my full post, it probably violates my terms of use — [link to your terms]”
I personally don’t think the wording, no matter what it is, is going to deter outright plagiarist. They are going to delete even the harsh terms and jump on to the next blog post to steal.
So if you can find wording that 1) links to a longer discussion of what your terms are and 2) reminds the grey area people that full post copying is most likely wrong, you’ve probably found the right balance.
Don’t pick wording for the idiots. They don’t care.
Karen,
Thanks for the comments. I am actually rethinking if I even want to bother. I have looked at a handful of other sites today (non-SQL, such as The Bloggess) and noticed they don’t have anything similar. I am wondering just how concerned I should be. It’s not as if I am losing money if someone copies my content, right? I may just dump it altogether.
Tom I read the ‘other’ post this morning, and felt your pain. But I said I would not take sides. For what it’s worth, which probably isn’t much, I can’t help but feel you are being hard done by.
Firstly, I know you are a good board member and you do you do your best by the community. Please do stand again, you should. And please keep blogging.
Secondly, I know your copyright disclaimer was not aimed at legitimate readers of your blog who copied your code to test it or even use it for their production systems. I know that it has been taken out of context.
Most sql bloggers make no direct income from blogging, at least for me any income is indirect stuff. When someone copies your work and displays it as their own on their own site when you have spent hours (it takes me many hours, I know others are more efficient at it) crafting a post it sucks when it turns up some place else with someone else’s name on it. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting people know it’s your work and where it came from.
I was quite surprised by the ‘other’ post, as lots of the community, OP included spend a lot of time shouting out cheats.
Now I know I said I was not going to take sides and I won’t but I heard (from your editor 😉 ) that your book is very good and very popular, so a free copy would be great so here’s what I would use.
‘Ah, you copied my code! That’s great and thanks for visiting http://thomaslarock.com I hope you find it useful. if you didn’t get it from my site or your RSS reader, or my syndicated feed, then some git has stolen my code! If that is the case please let me know.’
My final thoughts, the ‘Other’ blogger could have simply left a comment (if he wanted a public debate) or mailed you directly if he had an issue, no need for a post all of his own, please keep do keep up the good work with the blog and the PASS board.
Gethyn,
Thanks for the comment, and thanks for reading. No need to take sides, JK and I are on the same side in this matter actually. And I am rethinking the usage of the notice altogether.
“Why code when you can download? – Use it – but remember, I wrote it – Thomas Larock”
Steve,
Brilliant!
“Everytime you copy my content, an angel gets kicked in the junk.”
Love that, Jeff…but you would know that.
If I win, you can donate my book to someone else. I won’t win though… Since the issue seems to be that tynt appends to any cut and paste just say something like:
“Copyright 2010 Tom LaRock. All blog content is originally published on thomaslarock.com and is not licensed for public use elsewhere without prior approval.
All code samples are provided without license and are free for use. No warranty is provided with code samples and this, as all samples, should be tested before use in your environment”
You get your point out that it is plagiarized if it is on a blog someplace and it is one of those lazy plagiarizers who does copy and paste and doesn’t clean anything… You allow folks to take a code sample without feeling insulted… You protect yourself from someone running your code sample in their environment while forgetting (like the woman with the McDonalds Coffee did about the temperature) to test code from the intertubez..
Everyone is happy, no one is insulted and you can feel good knowing that those other sites plagiarizing the SQL community for their 550 hits a year will be found out.
If you didn’t find this code on thomaslarock.com, then it is stolen. STOP! Why use the stolen material if you can get the original for the same price (FREE 🙂 ) !!
Why not hang a hat on your problem:
This code was created by the devilishly handsome, infinitely charming, world renowned SQL rockstar Thomas LaRock. You can stand in the shadow of his greatness over at thomaslarock.com–but warning, it’s a pretty big shadow!