Comments on: MWI’s Blog Ripped Off by Ion Micro

By: Joshua Steimle

Joshua Steimle — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:11:14 +0000

Maybe you need to be more aware of who has control over your website. Someone emailed me to tell me the links I had pointing at your website were going to a porn site. I checked it out and verified that this was indeed the case.

I expect this was done in retaliation for this post, knowing that there were links from this post to your website and that people clicking on the links on this blog would find themselves on a porn site would give whoever has control of the Ion Micro site a certain sense of satisfaction.

If you really are who you say you are, you might want to chat with your son again. Maybe he’s the one who redirected your website to a porn site.

By: Paul McGann

Paul McGann — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 04:00:49 +0000

No, It desn’t. It never did, it never will redirect to a porn site. You need to check your typing apparently… Also, I found your lack of response to my email and previous messages very unprofessional. I did the right thing, apologized, and you don’t even have the courtesy of a reponse other than hiding behind this blog. Your lack of maturity makes it clear to me why MWI is in constant financial crisis (your words elsewhere on this blog, not mine). And now you are further smearing Ion’s name by linking it to a porn site… Real nice. Good to see your missionary work taught you something.

By: Joshua Steimle

Joshua Steimle — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:18:09 +0000

Well Paul, if you really are the father of the guy who ripped off our site and you are concerned about being able to use the URL for “legitimate” purposes, you might want to check out the website now, seeing as how it’s redirecting to a porn site.

By: Paul McGann

Paul McGann — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 01:02:35 +0000

Mr. Steimle,

I came across this post by looking through my son’s internet history. This website is on my web server that I use for email and sometime in the near future my computer business. Unfortunately, I gave my son free access to the server and I have since discovered what has been going on. I apologize for any harm this has caused on my son’s behalf. He is 16 and learning HTML and regrdless of that fact has acted in an inappropriate manner.

I have reprimanded him and disallowed him future access to the server. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the above email address or by phone at ___-___-____.

I would ask that you please remove this post so that I may use this server for legitamate purposes in the future without any potential negative impact from my son’s action.

Again, my apologies and thank you for your understanding.

Paul Mcgann

By: Jordan Kasteler

Jordan Kasteler — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:12:34 +0000

Steimle,
That’s not the first time. I came across another Website that was a dead rip off of MWI.com’s previous layout. I’ll have to hunt down that URL again. You can post them on http://www.pirated-sites.com.

By: Joshua Steimle

Joshua Steimle — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:34:28 +0000

Sounds like Brian got his friend to post a comment or is posting under another name.

The two designs are about 98% the same, which goes beyond generalities and doesn’t leave much room for getting worse. There were a number of things he could have changed quite easily that he didn’t both to, including the background color, the body font, etc.

But I’m not offended, as with the other ripoffs of our site I find it entertaining that grown people will blatantly steal our design and call it their own. I’m all for gathering inspiration from other websites, and I think a great way to learn how to do web design is to copy other people’s sites and then modify them until you have something unique. If Brian is just some 14 year-old kid who is learning HTML and web design and the Ion Micro site is just a place for him to practice then that’s no big deal and he’s welcome to copy our website all day long. But if Brian’s a grown man with a real business and the best he can do is copy other people’s websites then that is laughable indeed.

But hey, I’m sure he’s a standup guy. After all, rather than apologizing he just sent me a photo of a nude woman flipping the bird. Real classy.

By: Jim Durant

Jim Durant — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:04:34 +0000

Not to side with those who rip off sites, but I mean it’s a pretty simple page (no offense)… Although the general principal appears the same, I’ve seen a lot worse. It appears they caught wind, as their site redirects to a mail server. Besides, I wouldn’t want to give whoever did this free publicity…

By: Russell Page

Russell Page — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:48:16 +0000

The Daily Universe Newspaper got in trouble for doing this very thing a few years back with their website. Some web designer yanked a very similar design from another site. Of course BYU wanted nothing to do with that kind of behavior.