This is my copyright disclaimer on my blog (bottom left):
© April Thompson and Oddly Said, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to April Thompson and Oddly Said with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Seriously, stealing stuff is tacky.
Pretty clear-cut, no? You can’t use my stuff without my permission. If you use a quote, please give me credit and link back to the original.
Several months ago, I wrote this blog post about the inherent coercion of government. It’s good, you should read it.
It was posted in full (with a pingback link, but no text clearly crediting me at the bottom of the post) at The Dubuque Town Crier, a website administered by one William K. Hammel of Jaeger Drive, Dubuque, Iowa.
I did not give Mr. Hammel the authorization to use or duplicate my post. (Nor did he ask.) He posted the full post, not an excerpt. For the record, an excerpt would be “a passage or quotation taken or selected from a book, document, film, or the like,” i.e. not the whole thing–title included. See?
That, my friends, is the entirety of my post–not an excerpt and not clearly crediting April Thompson as the author.
When I emailed him to ask him to remove it he replied, “You just just excerpt and link like I’ve been. Wish I knew how my email addresses got involved.“ (A. Not sure what he meant, and B. He doesn’t know how the internet works, bless his heart.)
Then he replied, “So sue me.”
So, Mr. Hammel got called on taking work that wasn’t his (and profiting from it, since his blog is monetized), and rather than manning up and taking down the post, he decided to be a jerk.
Since he decided not to answer my subsequent email, I called the number listed on the WhoIs registration. The extent of the conversation, Me: “May I speak to Mr. Hammel.” He: “This is he.” (Or something similar.) Me: “Mr. Hammel, do you own a website called the Dubuque Town Crier?” *Click*
I then got this email:
So how can we help bring this jerk wad to justice? I’m totally up for it!
Alas, justice is an elusive lady. However, I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant. For some reason, William Hammel didn’t seem to want his name associated with his website. It’s nowhere that I could find. However, Mr. Hammel is the owner of The Dubuque Town Crier which posted my full blog post without my permission. I think that needs to be known.
Whoa.
http://towncrierdubuque.tumblr.com/
Yeah. You can see where I might not want my work co-opted by this guy. Well anyone, but definitely not this guy.
[...] Then there’s the Dubuque Town Crier. We grant him no link, on the basis that the stuff he posts has often been lifted from elsewhere, yet he gives the impression that he made it up on his own: [...]
perhaps you should contact the sponsored links…progressive insurance and Regent University…and let them know that their company/product is connected with criminal website. That might let a little sunlight in to help Mr. Hammel see the error of his ways.
Bill Hammel blocked my IP address when I tried to comment on one of “his” postings that what he posted was factually inaccurate. He’s well known in Dubuque for being a belligerent bully.
This whole thing reminds me of the Cooks Source story. “But honestly Monica…”
I guess being locally famous for being a jerk is something. Although like most bullies, he’s a coward when confronted.
Exactly. Strong only behind a keyboard. I hope that others will also step forward and stop him from ripping off their work.