So no one’s heard back from the chiropractic center that paid someone to use my old url to get them a better Google ranking. I did, however, write them a note on their contact form on the site. It goes a little something like this:
i’m delighted to see whimville.com alive again but a little disappointed i wasn’t warned that my artwork would be used ahead of time. because of this, unless you are willing to pay me for the usage of my name and original artwork, i ask that you kindly remove my images. thank you.
I probably could have written it better, but I have a few other people who have written them as well. If you’re so inclined and have the time please do so as well, but be polite. Ultimately I can’t be angry about this. I let the URL go a while back and didn’t renew it. I am upset about having my images used, even though I’m given full credit, without my consent in this way. It’s a very grey area. Joey Manley spells it out WAY better than I can here.
Gary Tyrrell at FLEEN has picked up the story and so did Comixtalk as of this writing. I appreciate all the great discussion going on over at the Magic Inkwell Livejournal feed as well as over on my Facebook. Thanks for all the support, opinions, encouragement, advice and e-love everyone! I don’t know where this is all going, really, but it’ll be interesting to find out.
As a slightly ironic side note, remember that Nite Owl Watchmen tie-in coffee I was saying I kinda wanted to try? Well, they’re getting sued by Chock Full O’ Nuts, whose label design they stole, apparently.
Crazy world we’re living in, folks. CRAAAAAAAAAAZZYYYY!
Get the web tech person for magicinkwell.com to switch on hotlink protection for images on your site – this prevents other websites from directly linking to files on your website as these reprobates are. You can usually set up a list of approved sites who can “borrow” images from your site if that’s an issue.