Chris Pearson is my friend. He’s also an uber-designer who designed the current look & feel of The Blog Herald and many other great sites out there too. And if there’s one thing that I do where my friends are concerned is have their back.
Chris designed an awesome Wordpress theme called Cutline not long ago. Like all things that Chris designs – it’s clean, sharp, slick as a greased pig, and rocks the Wordpress world.
Some asshat running a blog called Blargy has written about how he created a new theme called Cleanline.
Cleanline, of course, is a complete ripoff of Pearson’s Cutline theme. The CSS is almost exactly the same – in complete violation of Chris’s Creative Commons license.
Here is the Cutline CSS – and here is the Blargy “Cleanline” CSS.
Now, there are those who do not respect the ownership rights and copyrights of others. But all of us should respect the designer – the content creator – and others who take the time to use their talents to create something – that in this case Chris is giving away to the Wordpress community and asking for nothing in exchange.
So, congratulations Mr. Blargy Asshat. Welcome to the frontpage of The Blog Herald.
Don’t steal from my friends.
Update: Chris Pearson: Do Not Steal From Me.
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
Did he think no-one would notice?
I think it’s particularly poor form when Chris distributes designs for free and answers my stupid questions about how to fix bits I’ve broken (I use his “PressRow” design).
People seem not to understand that the importance of a good reputation is as real in the blog world as it is offline.
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
Vile and disgustaging.
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
Go to avalonstar.com
You will come across a few post that discuss about how his design being copied several times, how people asking him to release a great template and no people actually value your hard work. Just plain cut and paste.
There is no way for a web designer/anyone to protect his own design.
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
He has since posted an apology on his site.
In my opinion, he did the right thing, and I certainly appreciate it.
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
The wonderful self-correcting, self-policing anti-asshat mechanisms of the blogosphere seem to be working quite nicely.
Here’s a question for you — if it wasn’t jason pearson who was getting ripped off, would it be easier to get away with the IP “theft”?
If someone steals a design in the middle of the forest, but no one is there to protest it, is it really theft? (of course it is — but then again, if there’s no one to re-inforce these things, maybe its not)
some food for thought. ;)
t
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
Yeah, that Jason Pearson kicks ass! Now, if that poor schlep Chris Pearson had been ripped off, he wouldn’t have any friends who would help out.
Just messing with you Tony. Sometimes we all need “self-correcting” (especially me). :)
Want an avatar? Get a gravatar! • You can link to this comment
Heh heh — I get names mixed up all the time
Thanks Mr. Clark ;)