I’m sure most of this site’s visitors know how I feel about other sites running my images, but just to reiterate :
I don’t have a problem at all with images that have not been commissioned running on non-commercial sites and blogs.
In fact, I usually am OK with the images being run from my server.
All I ask is a proper credit “Beau Bo D’Or” and a link back to my blog (the blog, not the root of the site and not the specific blog post).
There are some sites who may mistakenly abbreviate links or accidentally cock-up the link - not a problem - these things happen.
However, recently, there have been :
1. An increasing number of blogs using my images with no link or credit.
2. An increasing number of blogs running images from my server with no link or credit.
3. An increasing number of bulletin boards doing both 1. and 2.
4. An increasing number of private and/or subscription/registered users only blogs/sites doing both 1. and 2.
One through four could be caused either by the posters not giving a damn or by my failure to reiterate my policy from time to time.
But there is now :
5. An increasing number of dickheads who want a pretty pic for their myspace/bebo background and decide to run it from my server.
6. An increasing number of absolute dickheads who think that squeezing a large(ish) image into a miniscule space in a sidebar makes their site look pretty and my image legible - and decide to run it from my server.
(There are some lesser dickheads who squeeze an image into less than half the width of the original and the pic looks dire.)
There are those who reduce pic size but within reason and I certainly do not include them in my whinges above.
Have a look at Bench. He knows how to do it.
The only problem I have with him is he never got in touch when he came down to Camden the other week 
Just to clarify,
I have one paid-for gig with Channel 4 News and I have one agreement with a commercial site which I may be doing some work with in the future - Anorak.co.uk and, from time to time have been approached by commercial sites, making a request to run the odd pic, some of which I have granted.
I am more than happy for any non-commercial image to appear on www.markthomasinfo.com.
I don’t have a problem for the guys at arrse running my images.
So, what to do?
Well, I reckon if things don’t change soon, I’ll have to prevent hotlinking from my servers in the near future.
It won’t stop some of the dickheads mentioned above but it should reduce my frustration a tad.
This means that it’s best that the nice folk who are running images from my server (and who have been courteous and provided credits & links) copy those images to flickr or their own space and relink to ensure they still appear if I decide to switch the lights off.
It will involve a fair bit of work for me as I use a separate domain for my pics so I will have to copy over several hundred images.
For the technically minded, I’ve tried an htaccess file but there always seem to be unintended consequences.
Published on December 5, 2007, 12:59 pm in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
Sorry to those who’ve been in touch recently and I haven’t got back to yet.
I’ve had quite a few things to sort out over the last few days and creating images has taken me into the wee small hours several times.
This means I’ve been kind of working in a different timezone.
Hopefully things should start to settle down now.
Looks like I’m able to stay in Camden for a few more months now, which is good - for me, maybe not for Camden.
Thanks to those who continue to visit. (the site, not Camden)
Published on December 1, 2007, 2:57 pm in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
Apologies, I hadn’t updated the blog to reactivate the email this post facility.
It should be working again.
Any problems, please let me know.
Cheers
UPDATE !Tim is up and running on the Usmanov affair here (at a different domain from Bloggerheads)
I’ve removed my list of links and explained why in a previous post but I’ll repeat the reason here..
Why, solely because of a long list of links should this site benefit ratings-wise? - I’ve seen my Technorati rating rise by a few points already.
Chicken Yogurt encourages listing the sites and I think if people want to, then they should, but I just feel a little uncomfortable getting an audience from a bunch of hyperlinks rather than something I’ve done.
Yes, a bit of a contradiction but there you go.
I know the list might help spread the word but one less blog shouldn’t make any difference.
It’s not as if I’m doing a Guido or a Recessmonkey (or is it ostrich?) as I’m covering the subject by commenting, providing some links and posting images anyway - which anyone can use - no need for a hat-tip for any Usmanov related image if you don’t want to btw.
The sites that Usmanov ordered a hit on will no doubt be adversely affected on their return unless we all make it a point to help revive them as soon as they have new webhosts.
So when they’re back up, I’ll make it a point to check them regularly and link to them whenever possible.
I’ve updated the shop and added a couple of lady’s T shirts.
Click on the images to see the shop items (on my site). If you see anything you like, click on the item and you’ll be taken to the external site which allows you to choose size etc.
Please note that the ‘red socks’ item is a flex print which means that the wafer thin vinyl design is sealed onto the cloth. This makes for a very robust product.
Published on August 31, 2007, 11:14 am in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
The Chicago Tribune got in touch the other day and asked permission to run an image I’d done some time ago on its blog.
I agreed.
It’s refreshing when commercial sites ask, so many thanks to Mark Silva.
Here’s the link to the article.
As I hope most folk know, I quite like non-commercial sites running my images - no need to ask permission (just link back to my blog) - although that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything or anything on the sites which do use my ‘compositions’.
Published on July 25, 2007, 10:42 am in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
You’ll see on the right of the page a few thumbnails.
They’re links to what seem to be (after a quick scan of some stats) the more popular images from my last 500 or so posts.
I’ll throw in some I think you sods should have liked as well.
I’m thinking of doing the odd wallpaper as well if anyone is interested.
Published on July 23, 2007, 10:09 pm in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
It looks like Curious Hamster from A Big Stick and a Small Carrot is coming out of hibernation.
This is a good thing.
Published on July 11, 2007, 12:44 am in Uncategorized
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Tags: Housekeeping.
Despite my problems with commercial sites and publications using images I have put together, I have no problem with non-commercial sites using them.
All I ask is a credit and link back to my blog’s homepage.
If you are a commercial concern, just email me and we can discuss things.
Recently, a few sites have been running images with no credit or link. I’m sure these are just oversights. I’d be grateful if these could be corrected.
And, please note, just because a site uses an image that appears here, that does not mean I endorse any views held by the site’s author(s) or commenters.
As you can see from one of my recent posts, depending on the context, an image can be used to convey a different message than the one I intended.
