James Timothy's NerdVille.net - When Someone is a Jerk...

What is the best way to let them know? Recently I read this charming review

all I can seem to think about is the distaste left in my mouth from my last ebook purchase. I bought this seo ebook and it pissed me off so bad I don’t even want to give you an aff backlink for it. ... it took me two minuts on blogs and in the forums to learn just as much as I did in that stupid 385 page book

Hope those forums will teach you a lot about rewriting the content of those you flame, and pawning the content off as your own. You really need a bit more work on that front.

From my about page

Balancing answering emails, blogging, reading blogs and forums, buying and developing sites, working for a couple customers, and running Threadwatch is pretty hard - especially with zero employees. In the past SEO Book was more about posting search news, but since the market has got so saturated on that front and I acquired the Threadwatch community I have decided to keep Threadwatch focused on the latest search news and speculation, and to use SEO Book to answer customer questions and to offer online marketing strategy tips.

From his about page

Balancing answering emails, blogging, reading blogs and forums, buying and developing sites, working for a couple customers, and running my affiliate business is pretty hard - especially with zero employees.

In the past Nerdville was more about posting Affiliate product reviews, but since the market has got so saturated on that front and I have moved on to different industries I have decided to keep posting focused on the latest search and affiliate marketing news and speculation, answer customer questions and to offer online marketing strategy tips.

I guess emulation is a form of flattery.

Normally I wouldn't care much about a few people being jerks, but as my blog has got more popular the human to jerk ratio has drastically changed (especially over the past couple months), and I think the best way to curb it is to remind the jerks what they are from time to time. Coupled with moving across the country and working on some amazing projects I really don't have much time for these jerks, so from time to time I will just mention them that way I don't carry their words with me.

I am sure this is unconventional and against best practices, but if people are going to steal my content then flame me for my content quality I should remind them how lowly they think of themselves. At least they could steal content from a site they like.

Published: January 18, 2007 by Aaron Wall in aaron matthew wall

Comments

Azhar A Malik
January 22, 2007 - 4:17am

If he read the book , he would have avoided duplicate content sin :-)

January 26, 2007 - 1:17am

I guess he got to fed up with it that he decided to pull his website. I can't view it, maybe I'll try on "Wayback Machine".

A.L. Bug
January 18, 2007 - 5:01am

you are such a kick-ass person! remember success harbors envy and with this guy's case, there's a bonus...imitation. smile! the west misses you already.

January 18, 2007 - 5:08am

Aaron,

when you are at the top, there will always be people trying to pull you down. Your success will always threaten an equilibrium that your peers were comfortable with until you dared to break to new horizons.

You have to decide whether you wish to continue to set the trends which the rest of us find extremely valuable in online marketing or whether a select minority of individuals saturated in their incapacity will determine those trends for you. I think you have already decided.

In your defense, when i finally decided to sit down and research search engine marketing, your site was the first one that popped up, i have been through every archive, infact you know i have sent you nuisance e-mails before asking for advice and pointing out dead pages, but starting here was the best thing i could have done, as you point out all the great resources and links to others, showing your mastery in this area.

You cannot please everyone, but you can certainlty make those that appreciate your work happier by continuing to set the trends.

Cheers.

January 18, 2007 - 5:37am

So, what you're saying is that he mastered Ctrl+H in Word.

In terms of a category, would you tag this as "jerk", "asshat", or "copyscaped"?

January 18, 2007 - 7:01am

What an idiot. There aren't many bloggers actually dumb enought to steal someone’s content and then post a derogatory thread with a link back to the same content. Does he think that anyone in the industry wouldn't notice that?

January 18, 2007 - 7:05am

This guy is retarded.

January 18, 2007 - 7:16am

Just say the word and i'll take care of him, aaron.

January 18, 2007 - 7:37am

It will be funny to see your site ranking higher than his once it is indexed. With the title you wrote sticking out like a sore throat.

January 18, 2007 - 7:58am

Aaron, anyone who matters knows your book is good stuff.

I find the best way to let a flame go is to let it go! But whatever it takes for you to not let them grind you under :)

January 18, 2007 - 12:34pm

This jerk's flame will certainly burn him more that it will you. I personally found your book to be the best of it's kind and it has help me immensely. Thank you for sharing it with us.

January 18, 2007 - 1:59pm

For every James Timothy there must be a hundred of me who silently appreciate your work and you as a person. I’ve been a fan of your work for quite a while, which also means you’ve taught me more than I’d like to agree publicly :)

Thank you for being there for the community, and for one more of your wonderful posts.

BTW, this page is getting link juice from me and I think we should all do the same. The next time someone searches for James Timothy or Nerdville.net this thread should come up first.

January 18, 2007 - 3:59pm

With as much stuff as this guy ripped off from you, I would think he would have read the postings about your lawsuit (and all the funny details) and stopped right there and not flamed you. Good luck to him finding someone better then you for reputation management! Just keep doing what you are doing Aaron!

January 18, 2007 - 5:26pm

This entry is giving him more than he could have ever asked for.

He'll probably get more traffic and subscribers today than ever before.

January 18, 2007 - 6:40pm

That gave me a good giggle, haha *giggle*.

January 18, 2007 - 7:20pm

I'm totally retarded... but It wasn't personal I got way more traffic the I expected Not to metion You book wasn't completely horrible, just not what I was looking for. Anyway you should feel flattered I know I appreciate you giving me a surge... Its no often a nobody like me gets mention in a top 5000 blog...thanks ...sorry...your welcome...We cool now???

Kirby
January 18, 2007 - 9:17pm

Its a small world, and even smaller community. All you had to do was ask for your money back. You could have just as easily blogged that his book wasnt what you were looking for, but that Aaron did honor his guarantee. You would have still made your point and shown some class.

What is absurd is that you ripped him off. Its one thing to act like a jerk, but stealing reveals aspects of your character and integrity - something you should place more value on than an aff link.

January 18, 2007 - 10:07pm

>>I'm totally retarded... but It wasn't personal I got way more traffic the I expected

Any publicity is good, huh James? You didn't even get a link out of it.

You don't get it. You need friends to win in this game, and I don't think you're gaining any.

Or, if you're going to piss people off, make sure your content is top notch.

Strike two...

flypitcher
January 18, 2007 - 10:31pm

Aaron admits his mistakes as he did when after purchasing the book I pulled him up on a few errors.
Which he admitted and now has remedied (I hope).
He offered me a refund but I told him to give it charity because on the whole the book saves you time .

January 18, 2007 - 10:56pm

Don't let the bozos drag you down. ;)

The more successful you get, the more will come out of the woodwork.

January 19, 2007 - 12:07am

He offered me a refund and I wasn't even unhappy with it =P

Eric Itzkowitz
January 19, 2007 - 1:19am

Aaron, this is almost as bad as Google copying Yahoo, Yahoo copying Google, ASK copying MSN, MSN copying yadda, yadda, yadda, so on and so forth.

J/K

No, but seriously though, the occasional public outing is not only a message to would be content thieves, it's also funny to catch them red-handed. Promise you'll post the tard's rebuttal?

Keep up the good work!

January 19, 2007 - 1:52am

"Anyway you should feel flattered I know I appreciate you giving me a surge"

Flattered? huh? what planet r u from d00d? No appology, no statement like "I will take down my post and change my about us section to my own words"

hmmm, so what would be a good google bomb for this guy? I'm thinking 'clueless'...nah wait that's the name of that movie the chicks digg...hmm any good ideas out there?

January 19, 2007 - 4:55am

"thanks ...sorry...your welcome...We cool now???"

Really? I don't even know what to think.

On one hand, in this industry and just about anything else web related, everyone learns and picks up things from everywhere... other than a few ideas here and there, it's hard to say what is "original." Come to think of it, that's true of just about everything now isn't it.

So it's not a matter of whether the absolute ideas are truly original, but that you at least took the time to compile your knowledge into your own delivery and presentation... which is more than simply replacing the few specific words that "identify" the source.

That alone is low and slimey.

But to attack unnecessarily, and then do that... I'm not sure there are words... well, there are......

One might bow to forgiveness on the first level, but at this point.... Aaron, he wants attention, I say give it to him. I think a hefty copyright infringement suit should give him all the attention he is looking for.

January 19, 2007 - 5:25am

Nice work Aaron -- mixing the arrogance and ignorance genes can be a lethal combination! Call em out on the theft and let the chips fall where they may....

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