Autograph Heaven

[nowandagain]

Hi everyone

This rival autograph forum has popped up in Kelsey's (LEOx3_LOVE) signature: http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/. I believe it was also in Robby's signature a day or two ago too, but it looks like it's been removed.

Robby's made a mention of it here in the Junior Moderators forum as he's been demoted.

The current moderators of the forum are:

FriendsFanatic_x3 - LEOx3_LOVE
lleavitt92 - Logan-Autograph-Guy
Rockmadman2008 - Rockmadman2007
RobbyT43
mstrfisto
CO_Autographs

I took this screen capture 2 days ago (the site has changed a bit since then), and it's obvious large parts of this forum have been copied directly onto the site. A number of stickies in their forums are directly copied from stickies on fanmail.biz (plagarism anyone?).



I did get a peek in their Moderators forum too (it appears that they've now locked it so only Mods can enter).

admin: I think you've now demoted the Junior Moderators/Moderators in question, but can you ensure that their ranks are shown correctly (some still have green envelopes) and that if anyone has access to somewhere they shouldn't be now that their access be terminated (e.g. Moderator CP - I think Logan had access to it at one point)

nowandagain [rockon]

[admin]

Hi everyone,

Thanks Nowandagain

RobbyT43, Logan, Kelsey, Rockmadman2007, have been demoted.

I'm going to remove their rank. I could not do it before because of the lack of time :neutral:

Do you think that these guys should be banned?

Fanmail

[rpbluesman]

I don't think a ban is in order. I mean it's just a website we're talkin about. If we were to ban anyone on here that took information from here and put it on another site, practically everyone owuld be banned, because I gaurentee that a lot of people are registered on more than one forum, and they will post successes on there using information from here.

Back to the main point. A ban is too harsh, at least at this point. I think a good stern PM warning about copying posts from here may be in order, and then perhaps a different approach if that fails.

[ozzman]

I agree with daniel on this one. Lets give them a stern warning then see what happens.

[nowandagain]

I think an outright ban is a bit harsh, and probably not exactly justified in this current situation (but it isn't exactly a bad idea either).

I mean it's just a website we're talkin about. If we were to ban anyone on here that took information from here and put it on another site, practically everyone owuld be banned

They haven't just taken information from here, they've literally copied stickies from this forum into their forum word for word. If you can see my screencap on the first post, they've literally copied to the extent that they've missed changing part of the description for the General Discussion forum to suit their forum (it still says Fanmail.biz when it should say Autograph Heaven).

They've been trying to attract more members to their forum via this forum. From what I saw in their Moderators forum (before they locked it for Mods only) one way they were doing it was via PM's on this forum.

It will be a good idea to monitor their board from time to time though ... to see what progress they make.

nowandagain [rockon]


P.S. admin - Kelsey's (LEOx3_LOVE) signature still has a link to the Autograph Heaven website. Can you edit it please. Thank you.

[admin]

I've just received this PM from Andy316:

The Junior MOderator "Rockman2007", is also a Moderator of this forum - http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/index.php as "Rockman2008"

I joined that forum last night and asked to be credited for the secretarial/autopen lists that they copied and pasted from here, and he proceeded to post several posts of "f*** off, no one wants you f***ing here, you f***ing *****" etc.

The posts have since been deleted, as have pretty much all of my posts asking why theyre treating me like that, but seeing as how he is a junior moderator here - and by the same name, I believe he should be removed from the junior moderator list, as if he does it there, theres no reason why he wont do it on here as well. ALso if any new members over there see his foul language, and they then see him over here as a junior moderator, it doesnt reflect very well on fanmail.biz does it?

Kelsey's (LEOx3_LOVE) signature still has a link to the Autograph Heaven website. Can you edit it please.

It's done. Thanks Nowandagain

They have gone too far:? I've added a poll to this thread.

It's Yes for me
Except RobbyT43. I think he does not deserve to be ban :neutral:

Fanmail

[lutherjw]

Hey guys

I feel a bit bad - I was not aware that this was going on.

I do agree that only some of them should be banned. Rockman2007 is a "moderator" there, and used very foul language. Logan and Kelsey started the site, which not only violates multiple TOS's, but also International Copyright Laws.

I do not feel RobbyT43 should be banned, but I do believe that he should have been demoted.

I sent the following e-mail to the Abuse department at Fourmer. {thumb2}

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Joel ****, and I am currently a Global Moderator at a renowned autograph collecting web site, Fanmail.biz, which currently has over 6900 registered members.

Recently, a few of our moderators crossed the line, and we (unfortunately) were forced to demote a few from their position as moderators, and even ban a select problem member.

A few of the members we demoted decided to start a new autograph site in retaliation, which I was fine with, until I saw the site.

I was shocked to find out the autograph site they started was a forum here, which not only stole our forum layout, but went as far as to steal text directly from our stickies and threads, not even bothering to change the site name in them. The main forum can be viewed here: http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/

Apart from the layout of the forum index, here are a few choice threads which were directly copied, and their original counterparts:

http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=3
http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=89

http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=4
http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43091

http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/v ... c.php?t=80
http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic ... 21&t=23916

http://autographheaven.17.forumer.com/v ... c.php?t=16
http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic ... 21&t=26981

This is just a few from their site, I've come across many more.

I am sure that this is not only a direct violation of yours (and our) Terms of Service, but is also a violation of International Copyright Laws, and it is my hope that you will remove Autograph Heaven from your server.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Joel ****

Joel

[Larisie]

Evening everyone!

This annoys me SO much to see that some of the members (junior mods/mods) have decided to make a completely new forum and steal threads straight from here!!! That WHOLE entire site is full of plagarism. I'm glad you sent that email Joel and hopefully the right measures will be taken. It especially bothers me when the majority of our moderators work SO hard to provide hardy information for the members to make it seem like it meant nothing or for the new forum to take the credit (since they're definitely not crediting this site). :neutral: :mad: I mean especially for the venues list and anything dealing with via venue addresses really bothers me as myself, christine and loveryan work VERY hard to find them and now to see that some were stolen by them...they've just gone too far.

In thoughts on banning those members, I'm about 50/50 on the issue. I think mostly because they plagarized and stole threads directly off of this site is my main reason for thinking they should be banned. In other words, that doesn't necessarily stop them from coming back and stealing more, as they could come back as a guest correct? Maybe we should wait and see where this email Joel sent leads and then decide from there.

Larisie

[admin]

In thoughts on banning those members, I'm about 50/50 on the issue. I think mostly because they plagarized and stole threads directly off of this site is my main reason for thinking they should be banned. In other words, that doesn't necessarily stop them from coming back and stealing more, as they could come back as a guest correct? Maybe we should wait and see where this email Joel sent leads and then decide from there.

Larisie

I agree.

Thanks Joel Did you receive a reply to your email?

Fanmail

[ozzman]

After reading all of the posts here and then visiting there website. They actually did copy almost everytrhing word for word. I voted some of them should be banned. Thats not right that they would do that. Is there a way we can cut there pms off so they cant send them through fanmail?