I received this ridiculous email today. I don't intend to respond as I'm not really bothered by it. If this individual needs to steal my images to get a job, they won't have it for long. I don't really believe any of it, but thought some of you might get a kick out this.
Regarding the thread title: the reference to www.retouchpro.com in the following email from retouch@imageconcepts.com.

"I just wanted to say thank you for all the great photos that I took off your site. They really paded my portfolio and got me a really good job with a real popular magazine. If I told you the name you would know it right away. This should have been your job, but thanks to you I got it. I just love people that don't watermark their images. It makes my life a whole lot better. See ya on www.retouchpro.com I check back on your site if I need more photos.


Image Stealer"

Ah further proof that everywhere I turn, there be morons.

What a waste of your bandwith to even have to read such garbage :)

- Noel

Vikki:
He is a lazy person and will not last doing anything in this field if he is unable to do it himself now. I'm sure he will be found out as soon as he had to do some work by himself for a client.
But i do give him one thing, he does know quality work when he sees it but unable to do it on his own.
What a moron he is.
Wayne

LOL, But i do give him one thing, he does know quality work when he sees it
Thanks, that's a good way to look at it.

It's really an odd email. The person sounds young and immature. They're assuming I would want a job I wasn't aware of, or wanted - crazy.

Hi Vikki,

there's nothing really I can add to what Noel and Wayne have said already ....

I think this person's gloating will be reduced to the damage he/she thinks to have caused you ....

I might be overly suspicious, but the fact that this individual thought of sending you a 'warning' e-mail with a much too obvious reference to RP .... makes me think that he/she might want to make you wary of RP .... since, as Wayne said already, "having 'paded' a portfolio" with your work isn't going to help him/her in the long run....

....Hope you and everybody are having a Happy Easter ....

:wavey:

Of course the whole thing could be just a malicious hoax to try to worry you.

If it isn't - what makes him/her think that the people he/she is going to work for don't check the retouching web sites - I sincerely hope they do and that it backfires on him/her.

Christine

There is something strange here I think.

The "tone" of this e-mail is the same as spammers and virus/worm writers use, which to me is a give-away. Probably what you refer to as "The person sounds young and immature". I believe that only half of it may be true. Someone may have downloaded specimens off your server, either worthless images resized for web or full-size images if you actually do store them there.

I don't believe the other half, just like the rest of the gang here say. A stolen portfolio may land you a job, but you're out again on the second day.

The whole point is to make you mad. Why, I haven't the faintest idea.

And eh .... Vikki, please check your virus protection... :( Just in case.

PS: See this recent thread (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8042)

Another possibility is that this mail was not directed at Vikki at all, but was intended to disrupt the forum. We can now safely start suspecting one another, posting snide remarks, etc etc.

I fail to see the point of that too, but then again I never see the point of anything vandals do.

To paraphrase a line from "A Streetcar Named Desire" ...

"I'm often amazed at the unkindness of strangers."

BTW, Tennessee Williams didn't watermark his plays, either. :)

Thank you all for your kind support. This person does not have me worried. I am curious though, what his/her point is though.
I received this email today, so it I think it's safe to say this is not a random spammer, and is directed at me. Since this person saw my post, he/she is most likely a member here.
I rest my case about the person being "young and immature".

Subject: There's an Idiot Among Us
Yeah there is........YOU!!!! You give me so much credit. You even posted my e-mail for everyone to read. You are so sweet.
Image Stealer"

Copyright is copyright and if this kid is ignorant enough to think he/she/it can steal your stuff then he/she/it is probably stealing from others also. All it take is one mis-step and he/she/it is wide open to civil and possible criminal actions.

Copyrights are yours the moment you create the image and they stays yours unless you legally transfer one or more of them to someone else. Watermarking an image doesn't change or enhance that status at all. Besides, if he/she/it can't handle a simple job like cleaning up a watermark they won't have a job for long anyway.

Hardly seems worth the risk to fake a portfolio.

I find it hard to believe that a person of this "maturity" level can be able to hold a job?

Hi Vikki,

I've just been to your site (really, really great .... at least, Image Stealer shows good taste!!!) ....

I saw that, of course, you have an e-mail address in the headings ....

Just curious .... did you get the messages through the RP Mailer? If positive, then yes ... the individual is a member ....

Flora, no I did not receive the email through RP, it was sent via the link at my site (thanks for the nice comments!)
This individual said in the email "see you at RetouchPro", and in the second email, acknowledged they had read this post about the email.
The person wants to remain anonymous and has used a fake email address. If they had sent it through RP, I would have been able to see who sent it. I have an idea who it is, but I do not intend to pursue this. I just wanted to give everyone a "heads up" that an individual such as this, is amongst us.

Actually, if that person wanted to pull my chain, they should have said that they stole my photos for their portfolio, and was rejected because of them.

...The person wants to remain anonymous and has used a fake email address. If they had sent it through RP, I would have been able to see who sent it.

Sure .... how silly of me!!! (great detective I am!!!!) :o:

Actually, if that person wanted to pull my chain, they should have said that they stole my photos for their portfolio, and was rejected because of them.

Nobody in his/her right mind would even think of rejecting any of your works!!!! :nod:

What everyone else has already said - except that my guess is that this 'person' just gets a thrill out of trying to stir things up and everthing is fabricated to that end. Doesn't matter where the truth is when considering that motivation.

Oh dear oh dear.

I just was to your site Vikki. I'll just have to echo Flora. Is it ok with you if I too steal your portfolio? :lol: I'll never ever get anywhere close to what you can do. It seems retouching and restoration is not for me :bawling:

I agree with Roger, who agrees with me and more or less everybody else. The Internet is a wonderful place for the spineless.

The moronity of human kind never ceases to amaze me. As so many others have already said, anyone who thinks they can steal work of quality and pass it off as their own when they don't have the talent, is beyond cretinous.
But this seems more like a peurile attempt to wind you up. Best to treat it with the contempt it deserves. Keep up the good work, some of us like to try and emulate it by more conventional means, ie. by learning from your technique and skill. Gary

heh heh...perhaps we should track him down and tell his mom.... :nod:

Wow!!! Im so sorry to hear this happened!! What a talentless moron!

If these were stolen from your own site, then your host for your site should have a list of who visited your site and who DLed anything. Even if they are posting your pics on another site. I hope this helps.

There's no way one rotten apple is getting to this group!

Flora, you are always so kind.
Gary & Roger, I agree. Just pulling my chain.
Rexx, lol. Have you seen any of my earlier works?
Jeff, I say we take away his allowance for a week too.
CCC, I can see who visits my site, to a certain extent, but what is DLed?
Chip, excellent point about removing the watermark. I'd also like to see the reaction to "how'd you do that?".

DLed= Downlaoded... If he sent an email.. check the email headers and lookf or the originating IP and then do a trecert and resolve it to the username+copmpany.. file a complaint with the ISP and get his account dropped ;)

I suspect this person is getting some satisfaction at stirring things up, but while they can steal images, it's comforting to know they cannot steal talent.

Being very familiar with Vikki's work, I think that they at least have good taste.

Alan

Stealing your stuff is definitely a form of flattery.

Review all the threads where you made posts a day or two before receiving the first e-mail, and look at the profiles of the people in the threads and look for someone who's first language isn't english. The person is probably fairly new to RP.

Not too hard to narrow it down that way, and once you have, and assuming it's a fairly new contributor, then review all their posts for more clues, ie. their use of language, areas of potential hurt feelings, stuff like that. See if your name pops up in those threads where they contributed. You're looking for someone with probably sub-50 posts, probably European, and probably not as young as most would think.

Mig

... but while they can steal images, it's comforting to know they cannot steal talent. Alan

Excellent point, and well said, Alan!

Vikki, you're taking a mature attitude about this person's childishness -- of course, I would expect no less of you.

look for someone who's first language isn't english. You're looking for someone with probably sub-50 posts, probably European, and probably not as young as most would think.

Hey Mig, that was really dirty! :bawling: I thought my English was quite good? :bawling: And I'm not that old yet :bawling: And I think I am closing in on 100 posts now. :bawling: Soon a Senior member! :bawling: Watch out for "hurt feelings"! :bawling:

BTW, "English" with a capital E please! And "whose", not "who's" :)

For the record (in case anyone's in doubt): Just joking :)

I don't agree about the first language. If you read the messages of the Bulgarian virus authors, they are far worse than this, littered with errors of all sorts, speeling, gramar and general lack understanding language the of. I go for the immaturity theory, an 11 year old in a 20-some body.

One outcome of this that I assume has been totally unexpected for our "young" friend is that instead of becoming the fearsome cyber terrorist he is now the RP village idiot. Every post about him just adds to the laughter. Which gives me a new idea. Look for someone so ashamed he has stopped posting :lmao:

Any Trekkies among us? (Did I mention an 11 year old in a grown body? Uh...). In one episode (TOS I think, yes it was Kirk) there was an entity that thrived off fear and hatred. They annihilated it by laughing.

My children used to think they were smarter than us if we were unable to guess when there was no data available. The "Image Stealer" reminds me of this. Since we don't know who it is, he must be smarter than us.

So whoever you are out there, and I know you are reading this post, since you love attention, perhaps the attention is changing into something you're not so happy about. I'm actually starting to ... :lmao: What a jerk!

Fellows,

I've been on other forums with trolls such as this guy. It seems they invariably feed on attention, even if it's negative. They also don't seem to be bothered by accurate analyses of their psychological shortcomings.

The only thing I think would work in taming their attention fetish is to not give them that attention.

That said, I wonder why I'm posting this.

Chaps and Chapesses,

Sounds to me that this bloke is on the windup. Don't let it bother you. If it is true then he is'nt gonna get far in a job that he got with other peoples work. He sounds like a sado and if this new job gets him out of the house and away from his dull life then I'm pleased we could help. At least we gave somone a life, pity he couldn't get one on his own.

Laters Lex. :wink:

The person wants to remain anonymous and has used a fake email address. If they had sent it through RP, I would have been able to see who sent it. I have an idea who it is, but I do not intend to pursue this.

You know if you wanted to you could track him anyways through your internet provider - everything can be tracked (People are STUPID to think otherwise). What they are doing is a form of stalking and harassment and is punishable under the law. Indeed juvenile because if they knew the possible ramifications of their actions they wouldn't have tried to antagonize you via email. This isn't just simple copyright infringement. (Sorry about the typo's - I'm tired)

Hate to give more "press" to this donk, but I just had to add something. Eventually when he/she/it discovers their own painful lack of talent, they'll move on to stealing more tangible things--and wind up in a place where they can only steal soap from the shower floor. Smiles, Vikki. You sure have a lot of "big brothers and sisters" sticking up for you on the playground! :rambo:

It sounds to me like this person didn't download anything from your site at all - that would be too much work for someone like this. The email part is the easy part. They're probably not even a member of this forum.

The aim behind this sort of scam is to get you paranoid and looking sideways...and the last thing they want to hear is that you pushed the delete button once you got to the end of the first sentence - which is what I do to nearly 99% of the emails I'm getting today...actually...it is more like once I have read the first two words in the subject line.

Rex wrote: Hey Mig, that was really dirty!
BTW, "English" with a capital E please! And "whose", not "who's" :)



Truth is, my first language is actually French.
And I can right-click, too. Could be me.

I have to disagree that this person is young. There aren't many young people who bother with RP. It's too boring for them. Besides, the person was probably drunk when they e-mailed Vicky. I don't know too many 11 year olds who drink beer in the middle of the night.
I still say it's a new member who's only been here a couple months. Type of person who's skills are average-to-good, certainly not as good as Vicky's, someone who has a web site, who's absorbed with copyright and watermarks, and who tries retouching for a living.
A person who's jealous of Vicky's success and skill.

It's a witch hunt.

Mig

Truth is, my first language is actually French.
Hey, my first issue ever (No 263) of Chasseur d'Images arrived yesterday! :) 200 pages. Pictures sure look better on glossy paper than 800x600 on the Internet.

And I can right-click, too. Could be me.
No, I don't think it's you Mig. It's more likely me. I'm a lousy retoucher, and I've already practically confessed! Look at my earlier post somewhere, where I ask Vikki if I can steal her portfolio, green with envy. I am a Trekkie and have the mind of an 11 year old! :dizzy: (A friend of mine suggested 9...)

But I don't have a web site and I'm not particularly obsessed with water marks, so I might be wrong. Besides I hate beer. (But love red wine...) Perhaps it's not me after all! :lmao:

Hey, I'm a Senior Member! :) Passed 100 posts! Yay!

All other jokes aside, I think I'll stick to my original intent of laughing until this pathetic creature shrivels up and disappears. He/she/it has actually provided us with quite a bit of entertainment, right? The clueless can be quite amusing.

Hey Image Stealer, more funny posts please!? :lmao: