Having sent two e-mails of complaint I received a reply from the guy apologising and saying he would remove the content as soon as (his sister) could.
He followed this up with a phone call tonight, apologising profusely, saying he now realised he shouldn't have done it.
He is actually a really nice guy and we had a good chat. We are going to meet for a coffee to see if we can help each other.
Restores your faith in humanity a bit.
And you silting up a DIY site with your services posts; spitting out your dummy when someone else offers it... tsch tsch ...naughty.
We install boilers for a living.
Anybody else out there advertising that they "install boilers for a living" can expect the boys round pronto to deal with you. No coffee or kisses provided.
richard
Sorry to upset such a wonderfully positive contributor to the group - not.
I'd have missed that (since I have WL killfiled) if you hadn't followed that up!
In this town, that happened a while ago. Local CH place suddenly closed without warning. Turned out they'd firebombed a competitor in Margate...
At least they'd done it themselves, if they'd subcontracted it would have been totally OT
He has a point, though I know you refuse to see it. You ask for help on this group, you get it, for free. However you don't perform your work for free and you seem to think that expertise grows on the trees or is there to breathe like the air. The relationship that you have with a DIY group, including your constant sigvertising and your occasional stealthvertising must perforce always be uncomfortable.
I can see why you get aggrieved about people "stealing" your copy, but you seem to have a blind spot about people getting aggrieved about you "stealing" their techniques, workarounds, expert opinion.
You even thought it was amusing/witty to laugh/sneer at my suggestion that you pay me for my opinion, but by not paying you steal *my* stock in trade. Nor does the fact that someone has ripped off your website have anything at all to do with DIY.
In message , Bob Eager writes
Aha - a real boiler installer then
He (WL) rarely seems to have a point, or at least one that makes sense to me anyway...
Does that not apply to anyone though? If you DIY and hence save yourself the cost of employing someone else.
One presumes that if you post said opinion, techniques, workarounds to a public forum like this, you can't really get upset when someone makes use of them for whatever purpose.
IMHO Dave does plenty of contributing of his own to the group in his day to day postings and also the various articles that he has authored for the faq/wiki. I don't see any restriction to non commercial uses on these.
The nature of Dave's work also means that he in all likelihood does far more "DIY" that the vast majority of us, and encounters lots of "interesting" situations and people in the process. Sharing these with the rest of us makes the group all the richer.
The majority of the content of this group only has a tenuous connection with DIY. One of its great strengths I find - there is a wealth of knowledge freely given on a wide range of topics.
If you only want "on topic" and just DIY, perhaps we could recommend the readers digest manual of DIY?
You see that post of your was almost entirely "how dare you have a different opinion to that of my chum." If you don't like me making an occasional comment perhaps you could make use of your killfile?
Wonderful book, taught me all I knew. :)
R.
Did you read it as a teenager, then?
They are reputed for never knowing as much again....... :-)
I think there's a difference between sharing experience and information - in which respect TMH gives at least as much as he takes - and appropriating someone else's work as your own, whether that's the copy of TMH's wibble or the contents of uk.d-i-y being mirrored on commercial websites.
As for sigvertising TMH is not the only one. It doesn't bother me but I can imagine that it may annoy others. Matter of personal taste I suppose.
Like how to rip out those unsightly Vicwardian fireplaces and replace them with stylish modern stone and plywood? ;-)
Hardly... just seemed a poor choice of target for the rant - there are plenty others that seek only to disrupt or dip in only when they need something and then vanish again.
I appreciate that Dave's original post may seem like it was a bit of an overreaction to many - but then again it is easy to remain calm and dispassionate when it is not your work being copied.
...Or covering the panelled doors with hardboard and fitting snazzy green handles. :-)
It wasn't a rant.
Umm hmm, however you show the syndrome that affects many. Commercial use of newsgroups dedicated to amateur pursuits should always be off topic. However many, and it seems you are one of them, are prepared to make exceptions usually based upon a perception of the affability of the person in question. It's the thin end of a wedge and if you or the majority, permit such abuse then there's no moral standpoitn that you can take when the group becomes full of tradesmen competing for your attention.
It happened in uk.comps.sys.mac where one person in particular was permitted to tout his wares because people liked his personality. They then looked foolish when they attempted to object to someone else making exactly the same type of posts for a different business.
I know that you and others will try to personalise this, but it's not personal from my point of view. I simply regard opening the door to let 'a friend' in is the way that you open the door to the passing muggers. In effect the position that you are taking is the same as those irritating twits in cinema queues who let someone queue jump because it's a friend who doesn't want to join the back of the queue.
I've had worse happen, but since it's not DIY related I don't see why I should whine about it here. Nor TBH did the whine in question belong here since it had absolutely nothing to do with DIY.
... and saw off the edges of stair treads to allow a nice flush panel of hardboard to cover the spindles, not forgetting to saw off a sweeping curve in a solid mahogany handrail to keep it simple.
I've just looked at the UK DIY FAQ and can't seem to find where it specifies this is an amatuer only group.
I can find a section which states that "Company representatives may mention their products, services or websites in the signature of their replies to questions but signatures longer than four 75-character lines will be considered abuse."
Since my sig is within that parameter I can't see where the problem is. I don't tout for business on UK DIY - it would be rather pointless wouldn't it?
Yes, I do gain commercially from information I get from this site - but I also contribute information I have aquired in the course of my business freely. A double edged sword.
Uhhh, I for one enjoy Dave's posts and as others have said he puts in as much input as anyone else. The very fact that he is employed to do the sorts of jobs that we, as diyers, have to do makes his experience very valuable and his anecdotes interesting and very often amusing.
I'm sorry but I do not understand that.
Well it has a lot to do with a vibrant newsgroup like this being an interesting place for DIYers to visit, without too many restrictions enforced by self-appointed net cops. You are obviously not in a position to judge this but the number of replies to his posts should tell you something...
Carry on Dave!
Steve
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