Subject:  To Amelia... |
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CaseyAffleck.net
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Date Posted: 10:23:03 03/18/03 Tue
Hi,
Thank you for writing with your concerns on this matter. Don't worry about "getting banned" from here. I don't "ban" people as a rule. I've never banned anyone yet. I don't get traffic around here. It's not that anything was or is being deleted. The message board is password required for posting, which may explain the lack of traffic. I felt I needed to set it up that way to avoid message board abuse from starting. Porn, spamming, and impostering. The latter being the main concern with me because I've had that problem before, though not with this site. So, I felt it was simply better for the site's fanbase. It may take some time to catch-on.
As for your quoted message from the joaquin site/group.....I, first off, don't really exactly understand where this is coming from myself. And, 'No', there weren't any posted messages deleted or removed refering to this subject from CaseyAffleck.net either.
I do understand your point in that the comments made in the message would be suggestive that there was a problem between the two sites, but I'm afraid I'm not sure what they are either. I understand how CaseyAffleck.net could be implicated in such a comment, as it seems that aside from Amanda's site, we're now, the only "active" Casey Affleck sites on the internet, and I'm not even sure how "active" Amanda's site is currently. I myself don't actively frequent many Joaquin sites because I'm not really a fan. Some but not many. I've only seen two and a half movie's he's ever done. I have a few sites linked here because there is such an intense connection with him and Casey, but I haven't any knowledge of any "online war" with the Joaquophenia site and others.
My own comment as webmaster of CaseyAffleck.net/CaseyAffleck.com is that it became necessary a while back to install anti-right click coding on all of the image pages and such in this site because it had been made known to me by my webguests that fans had been taking the images (which I encouraged of course) but removing my site's name in text on them and re-distributing them to other fan websites all over the net, with Joaquophenia being one of several.
I posted a message explaining this in the message board here and after leaving it up for what I felt was a sufficiant amount if time I removed it, because it simply wasn't neccessary to keep it up. And basically that was that, end of story.
I haven't discussed the matter with any other webmasters personally, so there were no "verbal or written altercations" to speak of, so I honestly don't know how else to respond to the comments
I will however say this in response to what these comments are insinuating of myself as a webmaster and of my website. (of which, my comments can either explain or offend. You can decide which)
We are not all stealing from someone somewhere in my opinion. Some of us don't right-click and take all of our material for our sites content. Some of us actually go out and "buy" a lot of the material for our site's content because we'd like it to be our own and want to do it the "right way". Making sure we don't step on anyone's toes.
As for "greedy people that demand attention". I don't have my name on this site ANYWHERE. None of the people here know who I am, and I like it that way. Whenever I post in this message board I sign every post as CaseyAffleck.net because I don't make it personal in here. I've known webmasters who demand the attention from their web guests. They strive to be worshiped by them, placed on a pedistal. They reign so tightly over their discussion boards that any message that isn't dripping with admiration for such a hard-working webmaster or a complete clone of someone elses pre-pubescent comment, it gets deleted. And when people start voicing their opinions too loudly or heaven-forbid disagrees with the webmaster, they will threaten to take the whole thing down if people speak up again. "I think Stalin ran a similar ship".
I'd like to eleborate on "greedy people who demand attention" a bit further though. I found that a fascinating choice of words. Is it greedy and a demand for attention to ask that a simple link back to your site be given when someone takes images from it that You yourself as a webmaster bought, scanned, loaded to disk, and uploaded to your own webspace that YOU PAY FOR just so other fans can enjoy it? I never asked to have people commenting on my site or publically praising it. I never asked for constant plugs. I never asked for banners to be displayed. I didn't ask for the Congressional Metal of Honor either. All I asked is that if you take images from my site, leave the site's name in text on the image. That's it. That's all. It wasn't that crippling. Very simple request. It's not like the site's name is plastered clean across the front of the whole image either. It's very discretely placed in small text at the edge of the images. In some, it's hardly even noticable. But that was appearantly too much to ask of some people so insisted on taking the images and digitally removing (blurring) or cropping the site's name off the images then re-posting them in other websites without so much is a link back to CaseyAffleck.net.
Now I ask this, who's the greedy one demanding attention and fighting over "who found it first"?
Me, for having my name on images I put in my own site, or someone else, who goes to all the trouble to remove my site's name simply to supply it to another site without even giving credit to the place they got it from? If there was no concern with "who found it first" then there would be no quarrel with leaving the original site's water-mark on the images.....would there?
This site isn't for me. It isn't about me. This site is about Casey Affleck. The reason I wanted the site's name left on the images is so fans who saw the images posted anywhere else could see the name of the site and come back to CaseyAffleck.net to learn all about Casey. It wasn't an advertisement for ME, for my webmastering skills, or my ability to gather news really well. It was an advertisement for CASEY. For fans to be able to see a large collection of articles, interviews, reviews, and tons of images of HIM. Casey fansites are far and few. As I said above, with the exception of this place, and a site owned by a fan named Amanda, there ARE no Casey Affleck websites on the internet. The others, to the best of my knowledge are out of date and/or no longer being run. This site was built as a dedication to CASEY. It's a place where fans can come and be fans. That's what was being robbed from this site. And all the time and trouble and money I'm sinking into it, would all be worth it, if it weren't for these certain fans out there that are just determined to not let people know where they get pictures from. It almost felt like they were all against this site and didn't want anyone to know about it.
Let me also explain some of the involved costs in which I'm being taken advantage of when certain people have done what they've done.
There are images in this site that I've paid a lot of money for. One image in this website gallery, for example, I paid over $80.00 for. One image. Just so it could be shared with other fans. Another set of images, I paid $35.00 each for. One of which was taken out of here AFTER I installed the anti-right click code, the watermark removed and posted in a folder at the Joaquophenia group with no mention what-so-ever as to where it came from or where fans might be able to see more. So, $35.00. Right out of my pocket..... on my credit card actually. And I don't even get my site named. So see, someone's gone to a great amount of trouble to take things from my site only to display them in other places without giving credit, but yet I'm the one who's greedy. No. It was my $35.00. See, I could've just left the picture in my drawer in my room and not even put it online for other fans to enjoy, and leave them only to be limited to viewing those annoying little tiny thumbnails of images in site's that sell them. Site's they don't want to spend $35.00 per picture on. And why should they? They now can view the images for free right there in Joaquophenia.......But who's paying the credit card bill?
I've bought articles, interviews, access to sites that charge for viewership, paid to download images, flat out bought images, and scanned my own. I've bought nearly every out of date magazine featured in my site with content on Casey for anywhere from $6.00 to $25.00. I've paid for clippings and scanned them myself. I've rented each and every DVD (I only own VHS) there is on Casey, taken them to another computer that has a DVD player (which mine does not) taken still shots from the movies (sometimes over 100 of them at a time), loaded them onto CD's I had to buy, reloaded onto my computer, changed the file type, cropped the image, color enhanced the image, added the site's watermark, added them as thumbnail links to webpages, and uploaded them to the site. Those are only for movies that are available on DVD. The other films only available on VHS I had to lay across my bed and take photographs of the tv screen and doctor the images up so they look as clean and clear as possible, just so fans can see images from EVERY film Casey's done. Lemon Sky cost me a small fortune, a full week of online searching, and a lot of long distance phone calls to find it. Even the wav files in here are recorded not with a cheap microphone that's attached to the computer, but an actual voicemail number and account that I pay for monthly so I can simply call it up and hold the phone next to the tv to tape Casey's voice from movies and have it be as clear as possible.
I pay for this site, ok. This is not some free Yahoo servise or a free Geocities account. It's not on AOL Hometown either. This site costs money. The webspace is paid for... monthly. (And the rates just went up last week as a matter of fact.) The two domain names cost money for this site. The images and the things that I put in here for fans cost a lot of money. I don't charge people to come in here, ok. I don't ask for things in return. I don't even get occasional emails from Casey himself. I'm on my own here. I'm doing this because I'm a FAN. I'm doing this for other fans. I'm doing this because I think Casey deserves to have a fan-base online as well as anywhere else.
Casey is a very talented actor who has to put up with a lot of shit to be where he is. I've had to read and listen to people calling that guy everything from the traditional Ben's Little Brother all the way up to most recently, The Lesser Affleck ...and it makes me sick. Everytime he sits down to talk about what he's doing on-screen, the interviewer only wants to talk about what Ben's doing off-screen, and he has to sit there and put up with that, because if he doesn't, people will assume he has something against his own brother. He works just as hard to get second place at everything no matter what, and yet he STILL takes on career risks such as Gerry, and refuses the Soul Survivor-esque roles all the teenagers love him in, simply because he believes in what he does, despite the critic's abuse.
I created this website as a place on the internet where people can learn more about him and his career. Who he is, where he's from, what he's done, and what his future acting plans hold, because he deserves the recognition for what he does, and not just simply an honerable-mention in a foot-note for who he's related to. This is not his official site. Casey doesn't pay me to do this. I do this. The only concern I ever have is hoping I don't do anything stupid that's gonna piss him off in here. Because considering we're the same age, it would really be a severe blow to my ego to have pissed off a guy who was in the fifth grade at the same exact time I was....just doesn't seem natural.
Now back to the comments at hand, let me ask you [anyone] this, if you were in my shoes, how would you feel? Let's swing the door the other way. Just to see if you're a greedy person who just demands attention
How about from now on, YOU buy the pictures that go in your sites. YOU go to auction sites and YOU bid on the older magazines that came out a long time ago or the foriegn ones that aren't even available here. And YOU scan them. How about YOU sit there and transcribe and or translate an entire four page interview or article til your eyes blur out or tear up from staring at the screen for hours. YOU put your site's name on that $80.00, $35.00, or $20.00 picture you had to put on YOUR credit card because you couldn't afford it, and YOU upload it to YOUR webspace that YOU pay for every month. And I'll tell you what.. I'M gonna go in there to your site and take it, and I'M gonna remove your site's name with my photo editing program and I'M gonna re-upload that image to MY FREE SITE, the one that I don't have to pay for.... and you know what? I'm not gonna say a word as to where I got it. I'M not gonna even mention your site's name anywhere. Everybody is just gonna to assume I have really great images and I do all the work MYSELF.
I'm gonna get YOU to buy all of my site's $80.00 pictures, and I'm not giving you credit. I'm not giving you a thank you. I'm not even giving your site a simple link back. And if you get mad and want to say something to me or anyone else about it... You know what my only words will be to you?...GET OVER IT! WE'RE ALL STEALING IT FROM SOMEONE SOMEWHERE!
Now, How does it feel?
What am I looking for exactly? Attention or Respect?
See, My motto is this, "Do unto others etc...etc...etc." As fan-site webmasters, there's a rule. It's kind of the Golden Rule for fan-sites. Give credit where credit is due. Now not including, press sites and various informative organizations where news and or any other material is widely there for distribution, (mention those in a links page or as sources for material), anything else that is taken from someone else's website or fansite as it's called.... you leave their watermarks alone, and you give them credit for whatever you take.
They built that site you're pillaging and some of them may even pay money for it. If they are doing all the grunt work by scanning images or doing DVD screen captures, then you go and make your own if you're not going to respect their work. If you come across a site that's abandoned and no longer operational then fine, the material is fair game. But if you aren't sure, you don't use an image that was submitted to you, no matter where the supplier says it came from.. You ASK to see where it came from and if you're not able to confirn that it wasn't lifted from someone's site, then you don't use it.
Simple as that. I've got a bunch of images of Casey on my hard-drive right now that I've never put into this site because they were images I couldn't track down. Images of Casey posing with fans on the street. I don't have permission, and have no name to credit so I don't add them. It's also a moral issue involved. The images of Casey at his grandmother's recent funeral..I don't add. If there was no demand for images like that, then there would be no paparazzi crashing funerals to take them. I'm not using CaseyAffleck.net to add to that kind of demand.
I've always taken the high road and kept my mouth shut because I didn't believe it was necessary to fight about this stuff online, I simply added anti-right click coding to the images and made it a lot harder on myself running the site because of it. I posted a comment briefly in my own site about it. I was always respectful. But people have continued to take material even with the anti-right click codes installed, and now this posted message in the Joaquophenia group that seems to be directed in part to this website.
For people doing this, I'd like you all to know a little something..
(Just because you're removing the CaseyAffleck.net text from my images doesn't mean I still wont recognize one of my own if I see it. There is another watermark on each and every one of them as well. A hidden watermark that only I know about. A series of tiny little somethings I ad myself to each and every one. So, I'll always know)
And from now on, if you want it the hard way, then you can certainly have it the hard way. I own both domain names. CASEYAFFLECK.COM and CASEYAFFLECK.NET and I will continue to own them for years to come. Who's site do you think people will discover first? Your's or mine? If you want me to use my website to publically OUT yours....I'll do it. I'll tell everyone who steals what and who rips off who up in here. I'll make a list. I will speak up. Now the gloves are off. I have had enough of this. I'm not buying material for everyone else only to be disrespected simply because I want CASEY AFFLECK and his fans to benefit from the work I do in some way. So from now on, exercise a little care when taking material from others to add to your fansites.
I felt my request with regard to leaving the watermakes on the images from the beginning was plenty fair, and should've been respected and taken seriously,.. but when you see what I can do with the influence I have with ownership of these two domain names, you'll wish you had.
CaseyAffleck.net
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