One of my favourite films is Ben Hur, so when I discovered that a live production (complete with a live chariot race, gladiators, acrobatics, and a huge cast) was going to take place in London this year, I had to go. The reviews I had read before the showing were not particularly good, but I was not disappointed. Who can be disappointed with a live chariot race taking place in the O2 arena? Sure, the chariot race is rehearsed; we do not want people or animals getting hurt, do we? Acrobatics, several amazing props, a mock sea battle, gladiators, dancers/fire-eaters and live birds brought excitement to the show. Enjoyable.
September 2009 Archives
A little while ago, I was browsing the web for any mentions of my website when I came across a complete rip of my website that someone was flogging as their own. Some of my portfolio pieces had been stripped out, but the META tags, a copyright tag, title tags, and some artwork was intact. The person was promoting themselves as a web developer/designer (badly), and they were using my work. Not only were they using my work, my baby, but they were doing it in a dishonest way and cheapening my work.
I tried to email this person, but I never heard a response. Then, I tried to call this person, who was based in America. No such luck; I did manage to get ahold of someone, but they claimed they were not the person I was asking for. (I think that they probably were, but they were ignoring the issue.) Since the emails and calls went unresponded, I got the website closed down.
While I believe it is alright to get inspiration from other websites (artwork, photographs, designs), it is not alright to rip off someone else's work as your own. (Seriously, I do not see how anyone could achieve a sense of fulfillment at doing this; creation of one's own work brings happiness.) Simply said, it is okay to get inspired from the work of others, but it is not okay and not professional to steal someone's work to use as your own. (And if you do a really bad job of it, people will know anyway, and do employeers and clients really want that sort of person working for them?)
If you want to become a website designer/developer, then work at it. Like all things, practice makes perfect. There are plenty of tutorials on the web to help, or you could take classes. Be ambitious and a step above the rest to stand out, but no one stands out when they are dishonest and struggle to complete the job.
I tried to email this person, but I never heard a response. Then, I tried to call this person, who was based in America. No such luck; I did manage to get ahold of someone, but they claimed they were not the person I was asking for. (I think that they probably were, but they were ignoring the issue.) Since the emails and calls went unresponded, I got the website closed down.
While I believe it is alright to get inspiration from other websites (artwork, photographs, designs), it is not alright to rip off someone else's work as your own. (Seriously, I do not see how anyone could achieve a sense of fulfillment at doing this; creation of one's own work brings happiness.) Simply said, it is okay to get inspired from the work of others, but it is not okay and not professional to steal someone's work to use as your own. (And if you do a really bad job of it, people will know anyway, and do employeers and clients really want that sort of person working for them?)
If you want to become a website designer/developer, then work at it. Like all things, practice makes perfect. There are plenty of tutorials on the web to help, or you could take classes. Be ambitious and a step above the rest to stand out, but no one stands out when they are dishonest and struggle to complete the job.
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