I just received an email from webshots that one of my pictures has been removed because someone notified them that it was not my picture. They said if I can prove it's mine they will replace it. Now the only people looking at my photos are other cake people. Yes, I assume there's an odd ball in there that comes across my stuff every once in a while. But 99.99% are other cakers. Which means some other cake person is hassling me. Have I reached a level where I'm starting to be a threat? As nice of a notion as that may be, I personally don't think so. For my own protection, am I going to have to shut down my webshots page and no longer have all those tutorials available to others?

This is crap! It was my picture. I don't ever use other people's pictures. But I can't prove it's mine any more than the other person can. Yes, I have originals. But it's all digitals. Nothing is hard copy. AAAAND they didn't tell me who is making this claim.

All I could do is write them back. I'll keep you posted.

That is totally unfair to you, would having photos of you making the cake prove anything, or can you do that? I personally have used your tutorials, enjoy them, and do not wish to see you remove anything. Please, keep us informed and whoever is doing this to you...You should be ashamed of yourself!

funny this should come up now - i was excited because i found a cake site belonging to someone in my area - no more than 5 miles away from me. i was looking through all of the cakes on her site and 1/3 of the cakes were from books or other sites - not copying the design of the cake but the actual pictures! the site was a link from an area site and even mentions next to the link that there is no contact information besides the e-mail address and which town she is in. it burns me up how people take advantage and then here you are trying to help people and you get burned. were they saying you copied their design or that the picture was of their cake?

Debbie

One way to prove the picture is yours is to go into the file's properties and look at the create date on it. Windows 2000 and Windows XP will show you three dates that you can use, it will have a create date, modified date, and a last accessed date. Have the company see if the person making the claims against you can provide their dates and compare your dates with that person's dates. You can then take a screen shot (do control+Print screen on the keyboard) and put that in a word document (control+v on the keyboard to paste) and send it to the company. If you want some more technical help with my explanation I would be more than willing to help you. PM me with you email and we can go from there.
m0use
P.S.- I work at a computer helpdesk

Well, it's even more bizarre than a standard cake picture. It was my Table of Contents. When I wrote the original post I was so angry and didn't go into as much detail as I should.

It wasn't even a cake picture. It was my table of contents.

When I first started reading the letter I thought for sure my Disney Cakes caught up with me. But when I got to the bottom and found that it was this one... I am just confused.

I made changes to it and uploaded the new one. We'll see what happens.

You know it takes webshots 30 minutes to accept any changes. I'll attached a copy of the new picture as soon as it is registered on the system.

Here's the new "picture"

http://community.webshots.com/photo/192803278/276778274GkPiSO

I changed it from "Table of Contents" to "Find the Tutorial You're Looking For"

Hopefully this will be OK.

This is something that furiates me. I have to question the morality of anyone who would take someone else's work, be it a picture of a cake, an essay, or otherwise, and try to pass it off as their own. Do these people not have any self-pride? Do they not think they are talented enough to do whatever they are stealing from the individual, or are they so lazy and devious that they want to take the credit for someone else's hard work and talent? I actually had a similar thing happen to me not that long ago. I take college classes online, so many of the assignments are posted into a newsgroup for any of the students to read and comment on. I had worked hard on a paper and turned it in before the deadline, just to receive an email from my instructor informing me that I was not going to receive credit for the assignment because she caught me "cheating." She told me that another student had turned in the exact same paper, so we must have cheated. I was furious. I looked in the newsgroup and the student had posted "her" paper almost an hour after I posted mine. I informed the instructor of this problem, but she was unwilling to give me credit for the paper, that was until I contacted the University and explained to them what had happened.

Ohhhhh I am very upset about this too Dawn!! I am rooting for you!! I'm sure everyone else is too!!!!!!! Just try & hang in there & don't let it get you down!!!!! You are a very talented lady with a wonderful God given gift of helping others!!! Don't stop giving out that gift!!!!! We would hate to loose you!!!!! YOU HANG IN THERE!!!!!!!!!! This will all get straightened out!!! People are so hateful these days..... how sad!!! Your cakecentral buddies love you!!! SMILE!!!
Blessings, ~Tina~

I hope that stupid person is happy... I thought we were all free to use the American Language!! She was mad because you both used the same words??? HOW SORRY!!!!!! Dawn... DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY!!!! What comes around goes around.......

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM---"TABLE OF CONTENTS"--------I am middle aged and I have seen that listing in every book I have ever checked in to--that is such a broad term that someone with nothing better to do than be a royal pain in the (insert your own term) decided to pick on Cali4Dawn about-sounds like pure jealousy to me-and as bad as I feel for Dawn, I truly feel sorry for the instigator-what low self-worth and selfesteem he/she must have to try to ruin and pick at such nothingness as terms. I am sure it is not costing that person any income-it's not like we have to pay to view the items and she is making a profit off of it-such pettiness is so lowclass-no matter what the item is-using others names, pictures and taking credit-all of that. Each person has their own creativity and if someone else cannot deal with their own that is a project in the self-development dept of their life-not trying to ruin or spoil it for others. Dawn-you have all of our support and thanks for all you do-don't let this spoil it for you. Keep your head high and smile-that's the best revenge!

Well, for what it's worth they approved the new "picture."

I'm done. This little fiasco was almost exhausting.

Thank you so much for all of your kind words.

sweeterbug1977- so the University believed you? Very good. That can be a very scary situation which can follow you the rest of your academic days. Did you ever find out what happened to the guilty person?

For my two cents...what I find puzzling is that Webshots would side with the accuser, without having had any proof. Doesn't that go against everything we believe to be true...........you know..........innocent until proven guilty! Good luck Dawn..I'm sure you will get to the bottom if this!

I clicked the link of the new "pic" and it's down.

dragonwarlord1969- it's not you. I'm in the middle of rearranging all my tutorials to better album positioning. I'll be done in about 30 minutes.

MrsMissey- That actually the first ting I thought of, also. But I'm just the little guy here.

cali4dawn,

When the University saw that I had posted my paper almost an hour before this other person, and reviewed my grade point average, my academic advisor said that the University sided with me. This person did not have as good of a g.p.a. as I did, so why would I cheat off of them, and how did I get their paper and turn it in an hour before they did? The University said that things just didn't add up, so I received the grade for the paper; I am not sure what they done to the other student. It is an outrage that some people have belittled themselves to this level and that others have to pay for their lack of morals. Okay, I'll get off my soap box for now; I just have very strong feelings on this topic.