CC threads definitely come up in searches...it is a public forum on the internet.

The person who called actually posted at 9:01am eastern time, saying they just called her. That's where the 8 central time comes in.

Brandi, I'm sorry you even had to endure something so malicious as that. I hope it is all over and done with for you. And I completely agree with your point.

These threads bother me only because of that time where it went way overboard...people were sending nasty, hateful emails, calling the woman, making fun of her english (it wasn't her first language) and slandering her company on internet review sites in her city. All before she had a chance to say something and by then the damage was done. She was just simply ignorant to the etiquette of the industry.

That's not to say that things like this should be swept under the rug, just that there has to be a civil way to handle it all before it gets too personal.

This all seems to be getting a little ridiculous to me.

BrandisBaked, I am so sorry about what happened to you. But they aren't the same thing. You were blogging about your life, and some crazy person attacked you. This person, however, is trying to make money with someone else's creations. When I go to websites and look at their cake photos, I think that it was that person's work. She was representing it that way, and that is wrong.

However, I don't think she should have been called last night. If someone were to call, it should have been the people affected and during business hours.

But, what I think the bottom line is, is that she was wrong. She is misrepresenting herself, and misleading potential clients. And she owes it to everyone she stole a photo from to remove it from her site and show only her own work. I have a website, and show only my own things because I think it is only fair that potential clients know exactly what they are getting.

And I think most reasonable people know that taking pictures and representing them as your own is stealing and is wrong. That's it. I don't think she was so wide eyed and innocent to think that she was doing nothing wrong. I think she saw those photos, thought "hey! I can do that!" and posted them, thinking that if someone requested that cake that she would be able to do it, instead of going to the expense of trying to replicate them herself and then posting them.

Anyway, back to the real world.

I haven't read each and every post here so this may have already been posted. But this person has more than one website with other peoples cake photos.
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Cake.Expressions.620-341-9017

http://www.mycakeexpressions.com/

FYI... I actually had a response from "Top Wedding Site" which she states she is a member... this is their response

So she's also stating she's a member of something she's not, together with stealing peoples images... don't really think it's a police matter... that seems a bit extreme ... but whoever lives locally might think differently..

There was another thread started on this topic:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=4169483#4169483

Below is a quote from that thread. Not wanting to hi-jack trent's comment, but just to share there has been communication and she should be contacting everyone tomorrow.

Wow! I must say, this whole topic amazes me! Don't people realize that this is their reputations -- and if they are lifting other people's photos, that ruins her reputation? Kind of boggles the mind!

Please be sure you see this thread that trent has posted with information:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-404383-.html

This is a really sad situation. I have complete sympathy for those people whose photos were used on her website...whatever "person/business" inserted them there.

Hopefully this is a massive wake-up call for every single person who reads this thread. If you have ANY photos on your website that do not belong to you....RUN, don't walk, and get them off there. You're mistaken if you think "nobody will notice"!

Kudos to the CC members who spot these websites with "stolen" images!!

I read this post last night and was curious to see how things played out over 24 hours. I understand fully how upsetting this can be. I would find it flattering but don't because I feel my cakes are my art. You wouldn't take an orignal by Picasso and call it your own. I do find inspiration by many cakes I see here and other places but would never post a photo of someone elses work for a possble paying customer to chose from that I wasn't sure I could do MYSELF. In many ways I feel sorry for this woman who may very well be trying to build a business. Unfortunately she made a mistake by doing this. I am sure she feels awful by now and realizes that she screwed up. I do wish it been a bit more private possibly sparing her some dignity. I agree that it was wrong but disagree with those whose photos were not heisted yet still felt it necessary to hound this woman.
That's my 2 cents.

Ciao for now!
Elle

SOME OF YOU DID NOT EVEN GIVE HER A CHANCE YET....

Previous request below- Remove three tier White/Pinks/Brown with Crown Cake
"Our request below should have been more specific as you seem to have two topsy-turvy cakes. The three tier White/Pinks & Brown with the Crown on top should be removed, since it was not produced by Cake Expressions."

July 15, 2007 by Rene & Margarita in Dayton, OH

Please Remove Topsy-Turvy Cake from your Site
"Please immediately remove the pink & brown Mad Hatter/Topsy-Turvy cake from this Merchant Circle advertisement and from both pages of your website. That cake was produced by Classic Confection Cakes in Dayton, Ohio and not by you! It is very disappointing that you have chosen to steal pictures of cakes made by other people and pass them off as your own, especially with your statement on your site of "Make sure you ask to see photographs of what a designer HAS done, not what they CAN do!" You are truly misrepresenting what YOU have done!"

July 15, 2007 by Rene & Margarita in Dayton, OH

Which one of these cakes did you make?
"It really is sad to see a company that is misrepresenting themselves so badly. I see that you are using photos of cakes that you have not made. Why would you think this is right or legal? How shocked are your customers going to be when you "recreate" your cakes and they look nothing like the true artists cakes. You should remove these cake photos or at the very least give the true creators the credit."

trent, one question though ..... did she indicate how she is going to respond to me if she doens't check her email? She wants the calls to stop, but since I haven't called her ... .I emailed her .... ?

She is a business and depends on this for extra money .... but she doesn't check the email that's on her website???

Something doesn't sound right......

Suggestions anyone? Other than the obvious ... call her Monday?

[quote="indydebi"]trent, one question though ..... did she indicate how she is going to respond to me if she doens't check her email? She wants the calls to stop, but since I haven't called her ... .I emailed her .... ?

She is a business and depends on this for extra money .... but she doesn't check the email that's on her website???

Something doesn't sound right......

Suggestions anyone? Other than the obvious ... call her Monday?[/quo

NO SHE CAN NOT CHECK THE EMAIL SHE WILL REPSOND TO THE POST...THAT WHAT I MEANT. IM ONLY TELLING YOU WHAT I WAS TOLD. IF U CALL HER WITHOUT ATTITUDE SHE WILL TALK TO YOU. SHE HAS NO PROBLEM TALKING TO ANYWAY, BUT THE PHONE CALLS SHE HAS RECIEVE THEY HAVE BEEN WITH ATTITUDE. IF U LEAVE A NICE MESSAGE SHE WILL CALL U BACK.I HAVE NO CLUE HOW SHE RUN HER BUSINESS ONCE AGAIN IM TELLING U GUYS WHAT SHE TOLD ME...AND I MEANT MY THE POST AND NOT BY THE EMAIL THAT WAS MY FAUGHT

Thanks trent, I get it. Hopefully I will talk to her tomorrow ..... she has no reason to fear our conversation.

Ya know the one thing I can't stand is someone blaming the fact they are a single parent of x amount of kids on their own stupidity. Trent I'm not sure why you are supporting this woman to this extent and I really don't care I'm sort of glad she has at least one person on her side.

But I have to say my sister raised 3 boys by her self, no help what so ever, had a full time job at a bank that paid her great! Didn't want for anything had a nice brand new car she was paying for, paid all her bills on time did everything better then anyone I ever saw. Someone misplaced $1000.~ deposit (a customer) blamed her for stealing it, the customer found it and later she got fired for it... it wasn't her fault at all in any way shape or form. She got another job immediately even farther from home, dropped her kids off to daycare and went to work, sometimes working 6 days a week and over 60 hours a week and being paid for only 40 of those hours. Missing time with her kids and the rest of her family, losing sleep because of the pay cut and how was she going to pay the bills and keep things straight, ended up having a diabetic seziure in the car, crashing into a tree and has been in a vegitative state for the last 3 years.

This is a single mother of 3's true life story.... tell me why I should have any simpathy for this woman who has enough money to pay someone to set up her business website but complains about not getting child support?! Why should anyone feel sorry for her own stupidity? My sister NEVER got a dime in child support and the state did nothing to help. Now that my parent's have guardianship over her children my mother gets a check from the one father but not the other. They are barely making it raising her children and paying her doctors bills but they are doing it. Anyway... don't give me the bs about being a single mom alot of us here are single mom's that isn't a good enough excuse on why you do something that stupid. That is stealing and she HAD to have given him the photos to put on there or told him to get some from somewhere. A paid web designer is not going to do something that would risk his extremely high paying career....

I have read all these posts as well, and I agree people can make mistakes, and errors happen when other people do your website for you, BUT someone removed a watermark from a picture, not just accidentally added someone elses photo (okay, that too), but purposely removed the orignial artists name to place it on this site...and that was no mistake.

As for her being a single mother of 3 with no child support, the persons who's cake photo was stolen from could ALSO be a single mother of 3 with no child support. This is their livelyhood too.

I'm not trying to stir things up, but it makes me angry that these people are just supposed to let it all go and forget it because she's trying to make ends meet, and it's somebody elses fault. Wasn't that predicted as probable explaination number 1?

what i don't get is this: the OP emailed her a week ago. she hasn't been at work all week? a simple reply of "i am aware of the problem and am trying to correct it" would have i think made everyone feel much better. also, the person who said she called her (not at 6 am, because the time stamp for her is in my time zone, and it was at 10) said she got silence. if she was taking care of this and is sooo upset herself by it, then she would have responded much different. more like "im sorry, i know this is a problem my web developers are responsible im trying to take care of it". seems more reasonable to me. and ultimately, a biz is responsible for the work of the people they hire. employees, subcontractors, etc. if an employee screwed up someones cake order, then she would be ultimately responsible. same here. oh, and we've also heard this story before. not saying she's a bad person, just that i find her story a little hard to believe or fully sympathize with. please don't jump all over me, just stating an opinion and im not being angry or nasty about it!

[quote="mbelgard"]

I guess I fail to see what's so bad about these messages, they aren't what I would call nasty, they aren't all sweet and nice but they aren't calling names.

I'm a little sceptical about the "someone else did my website and I've never looked at it" story since we've heard it so many times, that was my top guess as to what she would finally say.

Also how many of you with buisness websites have NEVER been on them to look at the pictures and make sure they are set up the way you want? Or to show your relatives/friends?[/]

IT CAN HAPPEN ONCE AGAIN IT HAPPEN TO ME!!!! IF YOU NOTICE SHE HAS NOT UPLOADED ANY PICS SINCE MARCH..SHE SAID SHE HAD TWO FILES HERS AND OTHER (AND SO DO EVERY PERSON)..AND HE CHOSE RANDOM PICS..SHE WOULD LOVE TO REMOVE THE PICS, AND UPDATE HER WEBSITE, SHE SAID SINCE THEN SHE HAS DONE PLENTY MORE CAKE ESPECIALLY EDDING CAKE. GUYS PLEASE GIVE HER A CHANCE ..SHE DOENST HAVE A COMPUTER SHE ONLY USE THE COMPUTER AT WORK..

[quote="mbelgard"]

IT CAN HAPPEN ONCE AGAIN IT HAPPEN TO ME!!!! IF YOU NOTICE SHE HAS NOT UPLOADED ANY PICS SINCE MARCH..SHE SAID SHE HAD TWO FILES HERS AND OTHER (AND SO DO EVERY PERSON)..AND HE CHOSE RANDOM PICS..SHE WOULD LOVE TO REMOVE THE PICS, AND UPDATE HER WEBSITE, SHE SAID SINCE THEN SHE HAS DONE PLENTY MORE CAKE ESPECIALLY EDDING CAKE. GUYS PLEASE GIVE HER A CHANCE ..SHE DOENST HAVE A COMPUTER SHE ONLY USE THE COMPUTER AT WORK..

This has gone on long enough. I am locking this thread and will reopen it for the person in question to give her side.

**TO THE PERSON IN QUESTION:

Please send myself or another moderator a pm when you are ready to explain your side(if you choose to) and as stated above, it will be reopened for you to do so.

TIA

Hmmmm... why should we all just "let it go"? Because it's none of our business!

I'm shocked at the "selective morality" rampant on this website. Several of you think it's OK to mislead people in other ways (creatively wording their responses to whether they bake from scratch or box), some are making character cakes for sale, and others bake unlicensed from home - which is illegal.

Now, I have refrained from making comments about the baking from home thing... that's between you and the health department. I have said it's not ok to answer people honestly about whether you bake from a mix - because it may have serious consequences if you lie and someone has an allergic reaction. But if you want to lie and say your cakes are never frozen, or whatever - it's none of my business. As for selling licensed characters - let Disney go after you...

I do not bring any of this up to start a debate about any of those things (I don't think scratch is better than box - but I don't think you should lie about it), I believe the health department should make it easier for someone to get licensed (I believe so many food based businesses fail because people were forced to go the full business route before they knew exactly what they were getting into), and I think not being able to make a Mickey Mouse cake is a crock of ****. Regardless - they are all illegal/immoral.

But who here attacks the person who posted their latest Barbie cake along with the price they charged for it? Who has reported the home baker to the health department? Do these people get nasty e-mails and phone calls?

The witch hunt has got to stop. Seriously.

*Moderator edited for language*

I received the following pm's from the person in question. Since I value people's privacy, I will not post their name.

Hopefully, after reading the pm's, this matter will be dropped. If you feel that you have something to say to this person, please do it in a pm.

After posting the pm's, this thread will be relocked and we can get back to cake decorating!!!

TIA


To: stephanie214
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:42 pm
Subject: I am the alleged "cake picture thief"

Here is my response if anyone even cares:


I guess Ill just start here. I did not intentionally put anyone elses work on my website. In fact I didnt put anything on my website at all. Back in February I hired a guy from a company that had just started here in town to start a website for my cake business that was growing faster than I could keep up with. It sounded like a great idea. They asked for pictures and I gave them my laptop, which had two distinct folders right on the desktop, which were Micheles Cake Pictures and Misc. Cake Pictures. Well, the first one is obvious, those were my pictures from things that I have done. The second is a collection of TONS of pictures that I have collected over time of just cool cakes I saw online, etc. Well, these guys did not make the distinction between the 2 and just posted a hodge podge of all of the pictures all mixed up together. So I thought, No big deal, Ill just have them fix it. Boy was I wrong, these guys just kind of up and left town after I and several other business owners in my area, had paid them for a year long contract. I have NO WAY of getting access to the website OR the email that is associated with the website (so I havent read ANYTHING ANY of you have sent, bc I cant get to it). I have been trying to get this taken care of since March, which is the last I have ever heard from them. And the Merchant Circle is something they set up as well; I have no password or access to that site and did not even know it existed until yesterday when one kind person called me to actually talk to me like a human being. I have contacted Merchant Circle and they said that they would take the listing down within 48 hours. I guess I just want to apologize and say that I completely understand everyones anger. I guess what I dont understand is all of the vicious personal attacks and disgusting phone calls. I thought that we were all adults on here. I have never in my life been spoken to the way that I have been spoken to over this weekend and I am disappointed. What really aggravates me the most though, is the fact that I was attacked for being a single mother on here. That was really hitting below the belt and you should be ashamed of yourselves. My boys are the world to me and this side business of making cakes is the only thing that keeps our bills paid every month and now I am at risk for having that ruined if all of these horrible comments are read on Merchant Circle. My 8-5 job isnt too high paying and I count on my cake orders every month to survive. Now, I understand the anger, but seriously plotting to destroy my business and reputation? Come on, really. (Yes, I have read ALL of the lovely posts). So basically I am apologizing profusely and just letting everyone know that this was not something I intentionally did. I have been doing this for over 10 years and I have enough pictures and I am confident in my own abilities that I do not need to steal other peoples work and post it as my own. This is all I am going to post, I do not have time to sit on-line and argue with everyone. Have a nice day and again, my most sincere apologies to anyone this has affected.


To: stephanie214
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:13 pm
Subject: One more thing

I forgot to mention that the photographer on my site is my ex-father in law and I hope to god that none of you are contacting or harassing him in anyway. I would also like to point out that every threatening voicemail I have recieved has been saved and I have taken screen shots of every threatening post on here. Now I am not trying to get ugly about this, but I think that most everyone will agree that a few have you have gone entirely too far and you were typing without thinking. Again I do apologize, but I don't think I should have to be getting death threats over this or have my family harassed.