I copied and pasted this version from John Hartness. You should visit his site.
I swiped this from my friend Mud’s Facebook feed. In the immortal words of somebody, that’s some bullshit.
This post is written by Jane of Dear Author and is reproduced in its
entirety, as in I copied and pasted the whole thing. I couldn’t have
said it better.
The Oatmeal is a satiric cartoon site run by Matthew Inman. About a
year ago, he noticed that his content was being uploaded without
attribution to a site called “The FunnJunk.” The FunnyJunk is a site
that contains user generated content. This means that account holders
post things that they like from all over the internet. Maybe a
pre-Pinterest sort of site. The Oatmeal writes to the FunnyJunk
requesting that the information be removed.
FunnyJunk took down the comics but proceeded to create a mirror image
of The Oatmeal’s website. The Oatmeal responded by asking his readers
what to do.
The FunnyJunk responded with a call to action to its own users asking
them to inundate The Oatmeal’s inbox and facebook page. The FJ’s users
responded in droves using their arsenal of retorts such as gay slurs and
incoherently misspelled sentences to insult The Oatmeal and his
biological predecessors for having the gall to procreate and, I guess,
learn how to spell and draw.
According to Ars Technica, after the furor died down, the FJ admin
acted somewhat responsibly, possibly realizing that its site could be in
jeopardy due to all the copyrighted material illegally reposted there.
When the flame war finally died down, the FunnyJunk admin issued an
unsigned note saying, “We’ve been trying for the longest time to prevent
users from posting copyrighted content” and “I’m having all content,
comics, comments, etc. with the names of your comics in them
deleted/banned by tonight… The site barely affords to stay alive as it
is and has enough problems.”
The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk could have died there in November of 2011, only to be a footnote in internet flamewar history. But no.
The FunnyJunk for some reason came into contact with Charles Carreon,
Esq., an attorney who came into national prominence during the sex.com
domain name lawsuit. Carreon penned a letter on behalf of FJ,
threatening The Oatmeal with a lawsuit for the post where The Oatmeal
points out that the FJ has copied his website. Carreon, on behalf of FJ,
wants the post to be taken down and $20,000 in damages.
The Oatmeal gets a lawyer and responds back with well worded, backed
by research, rebuttal. The Oatmeal also goes on to decide to raise money
off this ridiculous situation because so many of his readers want to
help but the money isn’t going to Inman, instead he raised money for
charity. Initially, he only thought to raise $20,000 for charity but the
donations came in thick and fast and in the end, Inman raises over
$200,000 which is donated to The American Cancer Society and the
National Wildlife Federation.
The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk could have died there on June 12, 2012, only
to be a footnote in internet flamewar history and with its own
Wikipedia entry. But no.
The situation gains the attention of the mainstream media and Carreon
begins to make personal threats. He expresses wonderment and dismay at
the internet’s reaction (he calls it bullying) toward his legal demands
of Inman and The Oatmeal. He suggests that there might be other legal
problems for the Oatmeal such as the fundraiser being violative of
IndieGoGo’s term of service.
The internet continues to make fun of FJ and Carreon. Other attorneys
make public statements about Carreon’s actions which include statements
like “Holy fucking shitballs inside a burning biplane careening toward
the Statue of Liberty, Captain! I hope that the reporter merely got the
story wrong, because if not, that’s more fucked up than a rhino raping a
chinchilla while dressed up in unicorns’ undergarments. ”
The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk could have died there later on June 12,
2012, only to be a footnote in internet flamewar history, with its own
Wikipedia entry, and a few mainstream media mentions. But no.
Charles Carreon’s pride has been wounded. In his delusionary state,
he must see that the only way out is to double down on the Jack and the
Six (i.e., worse blackjack hand in the deck). He takes the situation to
DefCon 5. Last night, Popehat was alerted by another legal watcher that
Charles Carreon has filed a lawsuit against The Oatmeal, IndieGoGo,
American Cancer Society, and National Wildlife Federation.
He transcended typical internet infamy when he filed a federal
lawsuit last Friday in the United Sates District Court for the Northern
District of California in Oakland. He belonged to the ages the moment he
filed that lawsuit not only against Matthew Inman, proprietor of The
Oatmeal, but also against IndieGoGo Inc., the company that hosted
Inman’s ridiculously effective fundraiser for the National Wildlife
Federation and the American Cancer Society.
But that level of censorious litigiousness was not enough for Charles
Carreon. He sought something more. And so, on that same Friday, Charles
Carreon also sued the National Wildlife Federation and the American
Cancer Society, the beneficiaries of Matthew Inman’s fundraiser.
Popehat is a site run by a bunch of lawyers and they are offering
Inman pro bono legal work and they are asking the internet the
following:
1. Kevin and I have offered pro bono help, and will be recruiting
other First Amendment lawyers to offer pro bono help. It’s not just Mr.
Inman who needs help. IndyGoGo does to. So do the charities. No doubt
the charities already have excellent lawyers, but money that they spend
fighting Carreon (whatever the causes of action he brought) is money
that they don’t have to fight cancer and help wildlife. That’s an
infuriating, evil turn of events.
2. You could still donate through the IndieGoGo program The Oatmeal
set up. Or you could donate directly to the American Cancer Society or
the National Wildlife Federation. I like animals, and I loved my mother
who died at 55 of cancer, but I have no qualms whatsoever about
encouraging people to donate to those causes as part of a gesture of
defiance and contempt against Charles Carreon and the petulant, amoral,
censorious douchebaggery he represents.
3. Spread the word. Tell this story on blogs, forums, and social
media. Encourage people to donate as part of a gesture of defiance of
Charles Carreon and entitled butthurt censors everywhere. Help the
Streisand Effect work.
4. Do not, under any circumstances, direct abusive emails or calls or
other communications to Mr. Carreon. That helps him and hurts the good
guys. I don’t take his claims of victimhood at face value — not in the
least — but such conduct is wrong, and empowers censors.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part IV from Popehat.
Feel free to copy this entire post and repost it (even without attribution) anywhere you can.
So, there, I've reposted it. Follow along at Popehat, look for Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk.
And as John implied: Love your interwebz; don't be a douchebag!
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