Did a PAW member copy my site? what should I do?

[dbirider]

I'm putting this out in the open for a few reasons. I need advice, this can help other people, and one of our moderators may be involved. Hopefully this will help get the problem solved faster.

My site is http://pokeronamac.com . I visited onlinepokermac . com because I saw it in my referral logs. It turns out that it's a copy of my entire site. This isn't a tiny issue with scrapers or anything, onlinepokermac is a live site with 6000+ links, a PR4, and decent rankings.

Doing a whois search shows that this is owned by adioking:

(whois info deleted)

Although tempting, I'm not jumping to conclusions. I hope nobody else does either, because he might have nothing to do with this. But I would like an explination from adioking.

I've never been in a situation like this. I'd appreciate any advice I can get on how to handle this.

Thanks,

Here's a screenshot for the records:

Cache'd version (how it used to look):

[ClarkePromotions]

So you're posting this... and you have yet to contact Dan? Why?

Oh, and maybe I'm missing something - but the sites look different too me

[pokernut]

I would get a lawyer.... both of you

[Graham]

I am failing to see a copy of your site? What exactly did he copy?

[Justin]

Ive been drinking for a bit tonight, but nothing on it looks similar to me. Of course, they're about the same subject, but there isn't anything that is a copy or even resembles someone attempting to cpy a site.

[dbirider]

Originally Posted by Graham

I am failing to see a copy of your site? What exactly did he copy?

It was taken down about 5 minutes after I posted this thread. Good! I'm not crazy... I still have an unrefreshed version open in my web browser. Here's a screenshot of how it looked when I discovered it.


Every single page was identical. The entire design and all of the content came right off of my site, except for changes in the logo and title. It was like that for at least three hours - my latest visitor stats don't go back any further

Maybe a PM would have been better. I was angry and disappointed (hopefully understandably) when I found this. I'm still feeling very uneasy. Why would he have an entire copy of my site, with his logo on it, on his server? And what was he thinking when he made this live? I guess you can close or lock this thread if you feel it's bad for PAW.

PS. just to make sure nobody thinks i'm crazy, here's my stylesheet and background image for the descripton on his server: http://www.onlinepokermac.com/wp-con...oker/style.css http://www.onlinepokermac.com/wp-con...ndex-desc1.jpg

[adioking]

arghh

[Brandon]

Sounds like a case of bad timing. I was at the site earlier today so I know it wasn't like that before. Dan is a great guy and wouldn't copy your site. However I understand how pissed you would be to see that, we all would be. Next time contact the owner first privatly so no one gets the wrong idea.

Both of you are great webmasters, lets just put this behind us.

[adioking]

tried to be nice, but you guys just dont give a fuck... CYA

[PPP]

Originally Posted by Brandon

Next time contact the owner first privatly...

Let's hope not. Posting things like this publicly is good for everyone.

Duplication like that online for even five minutes is not okay. It should never occur, ever, regardless if it is a sloppy employee or whoever responsible.

Using someone else's basic structure and design is perfectly legitimate, but exact graphics or of course page text is not.

Color scheme or something like that has no copyright, but text or artwork does. If you are going to test something, do it right. And if you have employees, you have to be doubly vigilant that things are done right, because the buck stops with you, not anyone you hire.