In the last Logical Tips, I was happy about all the links and new subscribers we had. The Internet was good. This week, the Internet was bad. Really bad.
I found not one, but TWO losers attempting to steal our content. Stealing in any form makes me sick, and whatever you want to call it, plagiarism or copyright infringement, copying someone’s article and passing it off as your own is stealing.
This kind of thing makes you just want to say "forget it." I like helping people and providing information so that they can have a more enjoyable computing experience. Most people seem to appreciate it. But there seems to be a growing number of people that go online with the intent to rip people off.
In fact, if you think about it, this attitude is basically representative of every spammer and criminal out there. The amount of spam I’m getting these days is unbelievable. In fact, the other day, I got the PayPal scam where someone sends a forged e-mail trying to convince you to update your PayPal account. Except that it’s a fake web site that is effectively there to steal your financial information and your money. As PayPal will tell you, they NEVER ask for this information. (So don’t fall for it!)
As a result of all this illicit activity, I sent faxes to the hosting companies to report the copyright infringement and reported the Pay Pal scam to Pay Pal customer service. Hosting companies terminate the accounts of those who steal content and PayPal goes after the scammers. I did my part for truth and justice online, but it was depressing.
The Internet has made it possible for me to meet some really wonderful people. The interesting thing is that the nicest and most helpful people I’ve met online are folks I met many years ago on the old CompuServe forums. I’m still in touch with almost all of them and we’re still online buddies.
Maybe I’m being overly nostalgic, but it seems like the online world was a much nicer place back then before the spammers and scumbags became such a big part of the online experience.