Jan 17 2006

A Shameful, Counterfeit "BlogCFC"

Posted by Joe Rinehart at 7:59 AM
29 comments - Categories: ColdFusion MX | Model-Glue | Causing Trouble

Last night, Sean posted an entry entitled "How not to develop Open Source Software?" describing another blogger's rather odd view of Open Source development.

He didn't name the blogger, so I Google'd a bit and found the blog in question - and found it offering "BlogCFC 4.0.2" for download.

I downloaded the .zip file, unzipped it, and sure enough, it's Ray's BlogCFC software, the code that runs this (and at least a hundred) other blogs.

All of Ray's documentation had been stripped out, and a few new (encrypted) files added. All I can see these doing is replacing the comments popup with an inline <iframe>.

While the comments at the tops of Ray's files are left intact, there's no readme, documentation, or other mention of who truly put in time developing this piece of software.

I find this not just unprofessional, but shameful. I've released patches to BlogCFC (like the Aura skin) in the past, but I haven't bundled them with BlogCFC (who wants to keep up with versions?), and to do so after systematically removing the original author's documentation is simply wrong.

The worst part that I could find was this:

This blog powered by [omitted]_BlogCFC.

Created by Raymond Camden (ray@camdenfamily.com), made useful by ([omitted])

I found it useful long before you did this.

Comments

Mike Brunt wrote on 01/17/06 8:33 AM

This is pretty shocking really and whoever did that ought to publicly apologize. We have taken existing core software pieces and added to them or enhanced them somehow but we always acknowledge the original creator and inform them if we are ever going to somehow redistribute what they did. People like yourself, Ray Camden, Sean Corfield, Doug Hughes etc have done so much for the community and to have your work used in this manner is totally unacceptable.

Scott Stroz wrote on 01/17/06 8:54 AM

Sean referenced this blog in as recent blog entry and I spent a short time trying to find it, and was able to with you little hint.

Anyway, this guy is shameless. He won't credit Ray as the original author. Instead he chooses to say, 'the author(s) of the original Blog CFC'. If I were Ray, I'd be incensed. Hell, I am incensed anyway.

Rob Brooks-Bilson wrote on 01/17/06 9:03 AM

His RSS feed is aggregated on MXNA as well.

todd wrote on 01/17/06 9:06 AM

I saw this guy's post over the weekend. The worst part of all is that he offered the unencrypted version "for a nominal fee" - in other words, he was trying to charge for it!!!

Ray wrote on 01/17/06 9:09 AM

http://rayhorn.contentopia.net/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=C7E19BD6-1026-0A9F-F130A1F02B8E983A

charlie griefer wrote on 01/17/06 9:10 AM

wow. i just read some of the comments on this guy's blog. he seems to actually believe that Ray should be honored, and goes so far as to suggest that ray should be making donations to -him-.

direct quote: "If someone took some code I wrote and added to it and then actually used it I would be quite very happy and I would even make a heavy donation to that person just for honoring me with his efforts."

apparently this person has his own very unique definition of the word "honor" :(

Steven Ross wrote on 01/17/06 9:21 AM

Please post who this is so that you can honor Ray's work. I never understood why people do stuff like this.

Jim Pickering wrote on 01/17/06 9:38 AM

Well now that the cat is out of the bag, so-to-speak, I wouldn't think that anyone would use that guy's code. Other than the blog entries already posted about it, we should just stop talking about the guy and move on. He isn't worth all the attention and deserves to be ignored.

Rob Gonda wrote on 01/17/06 9:40 AM

I'm glad to see you guys are with me; for a moment I thought I was in that fight by myself.
Check out the comments at http://ray.camdenfamily.com/index.cfm/2006/1/15/BlogCFC-Update
He also gets all Ray's fixes; it's like Ray was coding for him for free so he can make a profit. Insane!

todd wrote on 01/17/06 10:21 AM

I say we should all visit RAY's WISHLIST in spite of this guy!!!

LOL...;)

Rob Gonda wrote on 01/17/06 10:27 AM

Ray Horn just removed all comments from that post. Luckily for us, I saved them in my blog. Follow the converation here:
http://www.robgonda.com/blog/index.cfm/2006/1/17/CF-developer-with-30-years-of-horrible-experience

ross wrote on 01/17/06 10:33 AM

Can we get him off the MXNA Aggregator?

todd wrote on 01/17/06 11:26 AM

I did mean Ray Camden's wishlist...I didn't realize this dude's name is Ray too...sheesh, does the imitation ever end?

tc wrote on 01/17/06 12:02 PM

While the guy is shameless and no-one should use his software, I do feel Ray needs to make one simple change to his software and/or website. The change could be as simple as using a Common Criteria License for his content (there are many different ones to choose from). With CC licenses, Ray can easily (and clearly) state what can or can not be done with is words and source code, since it is text. The source code is covered by copywrite. Ray states that everyone is free to use and just give him credit, but he doesn't explicitly state a license for use. Therefore, given current copywrite regulations, what this guy is doing is technically against the copywrite of the material. Ray should state and use a license (like CC, GPL, BSD-style) so that it is clear. This guy has no rights granted to him under copywrite law to do what he is doing. Unfortunately, Ray Camden has not covered himself very well either by his blanket statement. A simple CC license would cover the content on his blog and grant the freedom he desires to give back to the community.

In the meantime, everyone should boycott this other guy's software and use Ray's.

Lola Lee Beno wrote on 01/17/06 12:31 PM

Wow . . . this is really shocking. I seem to recall seeing something in one of the feed aggregators offering this version, and I think I recall feeling a bit confused because I knew that Ray came up with BlogCFC. I didn't check this out because I wasn't looking to install BlogCFC to try it out, so I didn't pay much attention to this. So I appreciate this public airing because now I will know what to be watching out for. I would feel very uncomfortable using OSS that had been created under similiar premises, especially if it means ripping off the person(s) who originally came up with the software.

Lola Lee Beno wrote on 01/17/06 12:33 PM

I should hasten to add that the Ray I'm speaking about as the original creator is Ray Camden. It's even worse when the other person shares the same name . . . :-(

Jay Greer wrote on 01/17/06 1:11 PM

Gotta love Google...

RayCHorn@HotMail.com
707-373-7756 (cell)

Stephen Cassady wrote on 01/17/06 1:17 PM

Best part of his "apology" : "Personally I think the real deal was that the original author's code was beginning to leok less than professional alongside the changes I had made however the original author failed to contact me concerning how he could obtain the changces I made which I would have shared with him freely." lol ha ha ha ha ha. What an asshat.

Stabellina wrote on 01/17/06 1:26 PM

Sorry if this has been said, but why is this guy pretending not to understand that the problem is NOT the changes he made to the blogCFC.

The problem is that he took a completely free open source application, added a few changes, and then proceeded to hold them hostage unless you pay him a "donation".

Obviously, HE is the one who doesn't understand how the CF Community works.

Rob Gonda wrote on 01/17/06 2:00 PM

He just doesnt seem to get it. What a scandal in the blogsphere today.

JesusWept wrote on 01/17/06 4:49 PM

*cough* http://rayhornsucks.onesite.com/

Steve wrote on 01/17/06 8:08 PM

Is Ray Camden's Blog software not open source? I'm not getting the big deal here. There are hundreds of companies out there taking open source software, making modifications, re-packagaing it and selling it.

I'm not taking one side or the other, but would like to understand why everyone jumped on the bandwagon here.

John Barrett wrote on 01/18/06 12:31 AM

Who ever did this is scum(all theifs are!)
Ray is such a great guy, who has helped me many times. How could somebody do this?? I am so pissed reading about all this! If you take somebody's code, and try to pawn it as your own(why else would you take out the comments), you are stealing.

I use Ray's blogcfc,and I also use help from you and wayne, as I have on the bottom of my blog(Aura skin for Raymond Camden's BlogCFC provided by Joe Rinehart
and updated by Wayne Graham.
http://www.johnbarrett.net/blog/index.cfm) I did not put a lot of thought into it, it is just the way that it came, and yes I am proud to give credit where it is due!!

People should just be real.

Well that is all for now, whoever did this should taken care of!!!

Toby wrote on 01/18/06 9:36 AM

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I really think this guy's dirty laundry has been sufficiently hung out to dry.

He obviously has a misunderstanding of open source, and his writings suggest he probably does not think too clearly about software development either. I think his own statements are embarrassing enough.

Hopefully, he will do some reflection on how his actions and words have created such a negative reaction in this community, and reconsider some of his stated beliefs.

But I think it's time people give up the frontier justice talk and let live live, ok?

Adedeji Olowe wrote on 01/18/06 11:00 AM

Are we going to just gripe about this and do nothing about this dude?

Since this is a community, then we could decide on what to do with him. But one thing is sure, that dude ain't worth it!

Jennifer Larkin wrote on 01/18/06 8:30 PM

Yes, Steve, Ray Camden's blog is open source and that does mean that people can add things to it and repackage it and then resell it. However, that does not mean that it is ethical or wise or legal to remove all references to the original author and assume credit for the original features for yourself, even if such credit is implied. It also doesn't mean that you have some right to feel indignant when someone else is upset that they feel you have taken credit for the work of another, and then repeatedly insult and make frankly libelous accusations against the original author. Had the offender replied "Oh, I didn't realize that this would upset people or that Raymond might be offended-- let me clear this up" this wouldn't be an issue. And stating that Raymond sent his "attack goons" to take down his site can be disproven in court, since every person that he claims is an attack goon would testify that they acted of their own accord, not on Raymond's request, so it is pretty clearly libel.

People make mistakes. Failing to own up to them is a problem and lashing out against people because they pointed out a mistake or because their friends pointed out a mistake is a serious problem. The software was a small problem. His behavior since this started is the big problem.

As for the community taking action against him, I think that's already been done. The more exposure that he gives himself on this subject, the more he ruins his career with this community. I guarantee you that he's gotten on the "Do Not Hire/Do Not Work With" lists of most of the ColdFusion community because of this and that's pretty serious action. I can think of someone else whose blog got him on a bunch of DNH lists and shockingly, last I checked he'd been unemployed for many months.