Pete
Puffie Speaks Out!
Okay, so it IS
a free country so long as as one does not offend the lurking poindexter...
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a long time my AboutMe stood undisturbed until I just happened to step
on the toes of one fo the "Beautiful People". Boy did this ever explode
out of proportion! I kindof chuckled when I realized nearly every one of
my opinions in my original AboutMe page could very well have offended this
prime example of all-caps mediocrity. Little did I know that the boy was
extremely fond of the words "rare" and "Matsuomku", and to boot uses Outlook
Express and subscribes to AOL. Did I hit the jackpot or what?
The whole story
start to finish:
Six
years ago I began a project to document guitars made by Matsumoku and make
the INFORMATION freely available to all via the web (not the content or
work I had done on the site itself). Unfortunately the site and bandwidth
skyrocketed and costs went up. Logs indicated that better than 50% of this
was generated by eBay sellers linking to the site in their listings or
hotlinking directly to images. Now, I do not mind someone providing detailed
information in their listings, but when it cost me twice the money yet
not a one of the sellers offered a single penny to help with the bandwidth
making
them money something had to be done. The site's Terms Of Use was updated
and sellers were asked not to link directly to the site other than the
main entry page. I wonder if even a few sellers read the TOU, much less
respected it's requests. Some not only linked to whatever they felt like,
but even copied entire passages or pages from the site as well. Add salt
to the wound. Granted the information is free to all, directly copying
pages is simply bad form and rude.
.
I
began politely asking sellers to remove the links or copied material and
write their own version as I could not afford the additional bandwidth
and did not want the site connected to them in any way other than a single
link to the main page of the site. A small number complied politely, but
the majority simply shot me some attitude and did as they chose. Well,
eBay given several days WILL yank a listing that violates a site's TOU
and those who spat in my face wound up getting their listings yanked. Should
have heeded my warning. Needless to say I have been called everything but
a white boy in the process. Some time back I began tipping sellers off
as if I were an interested third party and concerned the infractions would
impact the listing. This seemed to work and only very seldom was it necessary
to report anything to eBay, Reporting listings was getting rather old and
no longer worth the effort since server rules were in place to redirect
offending links to the Teletubbies website. Well, until Prince Poindexter
came along.
.
The
boy got one whiff of my longstanding AboutMe page and after learning a
little about him I realized I had apparently poked fun at everything he
held dear. The note I originally sent him is below (granted, after thousands
of such tip-offs there was less sugar coating any more) followed by the
rest of the adventure:
.
My original message
to him:
Just a word to the wise.
.
It would appear you have
copied an entire passage (including table) from a site I am quite familiar
with. Since you have not received any bids it would be possible to edit
the listing before the site owners report this to eBay. It may save you
some grief of having the listing yanked at the end or should you re-list. |
.
His e-mail response:
| Sir...Your message begs
the question: What is your intention? Do you intend to report it? I have
not heard from the site owners regarding this. Why would they report it?
It is safe to assume that, if I have a problem at all, it would be because
of you. Perhaps you can enlighten me before I block your bids? |
(Little
did the genius know he HAD heard from the site owner but I was posing as
just a concerned possible bidder)
.
His response in
the listing which was inserted in place of the copied content and direct
links:
NOTE: I received an inquiry
from an Ebayer (nobullpl*p). You can see it below, as well as my response.
It would appear that he was not completely forthcoming in his inquiry.
A quick look at his About Me page yields alot of pent-up resentment for
Sellers who have successfully marketed their rare Matsumoku guitars, and
thereby increased Ebay's profits from such sales. I guess he hates Ebay,
too. Further, it would appear that he wants to single-handedly police all
auctions that contain the words "rare" or "Matsumoku". Perhaps he will
do a better job than Ebay....I suppose they are not meeting his expectations,
as there are far too many people using the words RARE and MATSUMOKU. I'm
sure he would prefer it if Ebay would cancel ALL auctions containing these
words. Maybe next week he will have some new words to take out his frustrations
on. Perhaps he simply has too much time on his hands. It's tragic, really.
Anyway, he infers that "he knows the site well" and that I should remove
the references before "someone" reports it. No bull plop? Sounds exactly
like bullplop to me! Anyway, I have removed the information he refers to,
in an effort to keep this auction in force until it's rightful conclusion.
IF in fact it is cancelled, at least you will know who to thank! Clearly
he does not want you to know what a fine guitar this is...so DO NOT do
a Google search for "Skylark Matsumoku", and whatever you do, DO NOT click
on the topmost link !!!! You will find out WAY too much about this
guitar. Even though this is information in the public domain, he wants
to stifle any references to it. He probably burns books in his spare time.
He would be devastated if he thought that people were actually learning
about these RARE MATSUMOKU guitars. This would ruin his evil plan to own
ALL of the RARE MATSUMOKU guitars. It would particularly insult him if
I actually sold this RARE MATSUMOKU guitar. I'm very tempted to double
the price, as it is extremely RARE and comes from the MATSUMOKU factory
!!!! And did I mention that this is a RARE MATSUMOKU guitar, made
in the RARE MATSUMOKU factory???
.
I for one want to see this
guitar go to someone who can truly appreciate it. Hurry up & bid before
the bullplop hits the fan !!!!
.
I've recreated the complete
description from the original listing faithfully reproducing font and style
HERE.
|
.
My e-mail response
after this after I finished laughing:
Hello again,
.
No, I had not intended to
report the listing nor end it. I was simply letting you know the site owners
had a right to report the listing giving you the opportunity to remove
the copied material, rewrite it, or at least cite the source out of courtesy.
No, I do not hate or police eBay at all. Your listing simply popped up
on Google while I was searching for something else. Yes, the info itself
is public domain.
.
The new rhetoric in your
listing is another issue. This may have been a bit excessive, bordering
defamatory in nature. It might have been wise to wait for my response before
publicly chastising me. |
.
His final dig apparently
in response to editing my AboutMe page:
| Hmmm....You use alot of
phrases like 'word to the wise' and 'it might have been wise'...are you
a philosopher? Perhaps you've heard this one: People who live in glass
houses should not throw stones. |
(And
WHOSE glass house shattered, eh? I've got one for the boy: Don't fart upwind,
it blows back on ya!)
.
I
simply blew things off at this piont as it was clear I was not dealing
with a mental giant. The listing was reported for the dafamatory content,
not the original violations of the site's TOU. I am sure the genius has
not figured out his crappy attitude is what ended the listing, and not
this fellow named "nobullplop" who so horribly offended his treasured concepts.
It blows me away how many intellectual misfires seem to think that simply
because something is published on the web it is "public domain" and free
for the taking or free to abuse.
.
He
did wind up getting his listing yanked. After his little tirade the listing
lasted less than 48 hours. He later relisted and the guitar sold, but fortunately
no mention this time of "Evil Hellbent on World Domination NOBULLPLOP the
Infamous Eater of Children and Slayer of Innocent Housepets". :-D
.
And
there you have it. A day in the life of the infamous and evil NoBullPlop,
public enemy number one. I guess I have wrought havoc on yet one more pink-palmed
money-grubbing yuppie's life. I think I'll go hang myself. Nah, just get
another cup of coffee and look for my next victim. I rest my case. ;-) |
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