Grabby bastards offering my files as downloads!
Earlier today, my friend linked me to some threads on dpgroup.org where someone was offering my files as free downloads without my permission. It's not sooo much the fact that the files were available for free download (seriously: if you honestly, genuinely can't afford £5 then message me and I'll send you the damn file myself!), I was mostly pissed off by how HOW.FUCKING.DIFFICULT it turned out to be to get them off there!
I started off by writing a polite but firm notice of copyright infringement, but then when I sent it to the email address listed in the FAQ, it bounced back and said: "Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 No Such User Here (state 13)."
Okay. Fine.
So I signed up on the forums and tried to raise the issue of 1) the bad email address, and 2) you thieving fuckers stole my books! (because I was getting really grumpy by that point), but whenever I made a post or comment it stayed up for about five minutes then got deleted by a mod. RRRAAAGGGEEE.
Then finally I tried to make a comment to replace one that had been deleted, but I got this:
"You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never"
?! OH RIGHT. SORRY, GUYS. SORRY I SPAMMED YOU WITH MY UNFAIR DEMANDS. HOW RUDE OF ME NOT TO WANT MY BOOKS ON YOUR BULLSHIT STOLEN GOODS SITE.
It does look as though the specific threads with my books have been deleted, so I'm a bit calmer now. ;) I'm sure they'll go up again, though. They're all over torrent sites as well. I don't know if people expect self-published authors not to chase them down or something when they shit all over copyright like this. I imagine JK Rowling's lawyers would be after them pretty quick if they'd uploaded all the Harry Potter books or whatever, it's always going to be harder to police it without that kind of "official" back-up. It's just so ANNOYING. It's not the money issue, it's just for the same reason that I've never tried to get these things "properly" published - it turns out these stories are the only things in my life that I'm a massive control freak about. I don't want editors swarming all over them, even though it would probably improve them. I don't want anybody else's name on the cover or the spine or the copyright page or anywhere. These are (imagine bulging forehead veins, red face, frothing mouth) MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE THEY ARE MINE so seeing them up on a site like that is making me want to kick someone in.
I know I'm not the only one who's having trouble with shit like this - I've probably got it easier because I don't write a lot, it's not like they've got loads to steal. It's still the most aggravating thing in the world. :(
I started off by writing a polite but firm notice of copyright infringement, but then when I sent it to the email address listed in the FAQ, it bounced back and said: "Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 No Such User Here (state 13)."
Okay. Fine.
So I signed up on the forums and tried to raise the issue of 1) the bad email address, and 2) you thieving fuckers stole my books! (because I was getting really grumpy by that point), but whenever I made a post or comment it stayed up for about five minutes then got deleted by a mod. RRRAAAGGGEEE.
Then finally I tried to make a comment to replace one that had been deleted, but I got this:
"You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.
Date the ban will be lifted: Never"
?! OH RIGHT. SORRY, GUYS. SORRY I SPAMMED YOU WITH MY UNFAIR DEMANDS. HOW RUDE OF ME NOT TO WANT MY BOOKS ON YOUR BULLSHIT STOLEN GOODS SITE.
It does look as though the specific threads with my books have been deleted, so I'm a bit calmer now. ;) I'm sure they'll go up again, though. They're all over torrent sites as well. I don't know if people expect self-published authors not to chase them down or something when they shit all over copyright like this. I imagine JK Rowling's lawyers would be after them pretty quick if they'd uploaded all the Harry Potter books or whatever, it's always going to be harder to police it without that kind of "official" back-up. It's just so ANNOYING. It's not the money issue, it's just for the same reason that I've never tried to get these things "properly" published - it turns out these stories are the only things in my life that I'm a massive control freak about. I don't want editors swarming all over them, even though it would probably improve them. I don't want anybody else's name on the cover or the spine or the copyright page or anywhere. These are (imagine bulging forehead veins, red face, frothing mouth) MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE THEY ARE MINE so seeing them up on a site like that is making me want to kick someone in.
I know I'm not the only one who's having trouble with shit like this - I've probably got it easier because I don't write a lot, it's not like they've got loads to steal. It's still the most aggravating thing in the world. :(
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