Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Eric D. Snider Yelled At Me

Remember that hilarious post I did mid-March? I know, that barely narrows it down. They were ALL hilarious. No, I mean this one. The one where I do nothing but sing Eric D. Snider's praises and only emphasize how hilarious he is by showing you an article he did. It was regarding the different types of commenters on the internet. I'm sure you remember, it was practically unforgettable.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when sitting in my inbox today was an email from the one and only Eric D. Snider (eeeeeeeek!!!). I obviously paid no attention to the subject line of the email because my giddiness continued as I began to read. (pssst...the subject was Copyright Violation).

Below is the email:


Hello Andersons --

I stumbled across this post -- http://landersons.blogspot.com/2009/03/and-you-are.html -- and while I do appreciate your support and fandom, I must protest the idea of copying and pasting and ENTIRE column of mine on your blog. At the bottom of every page of my website is this notice: "Copyright © Eric D. Snider. This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider." When you reproduce an entire column on your site, it devalues my own site. A much better route would be to post an excerpt, with a link to where the rest of the column can be found. Please make the necessary adjustments on your blog as soon as possible.

Thank you,
Eric D. Snider

Wha? Mmmmmkay...... hmmmmm.... ::giddiness subsiding::

So I composed this reply:

Dearest Eric D. Snider,

You mean to tell me that little "c" with the circle around it actually means something? Weird. So you must have been that hit from Lake Elsinore, CA then, huh? I was assuming you just google your name every so often (as I've heard celebrities do) but no... you googled "the host's wife and the lead singer of the spin doctors." You're a tricky one, I'll give you that. I see you have some time to kill at your parents' house.

As for making the "necessary adjustments" on my blog, I'll get right on that. Later. As for right now I just wanted to let you know that you and I were at BYU together (I was there 93-98) and your column and the crossword puzzle were the only reasons I ever picked up a Daily Universe. My friends and I would read your weekly installment in the Cougar Eat and then laugh. Then we would sigh and wonder out loud how it was that you weren't married yet. Good times. Good times. I then gave your CD "Will Make Jokes for Food" to my inactive sister for her birthday one year. She LOVED it. Luckily for her, it was the only CD NOT stolen when someone broke into her car. <---true story So yeah, big fan here. It was thrilling getting an email from you, regardless of your "tone." Regards and stuff,
Landeelu Landerson

PS Is your email you sent copyrighted? Cuz I foresee another cut & paste in my near future on a post entitled "Eric D. Snider Yelled At Me."

PSS After I posted that column I had several people say that they had forgotten about you and "thanks for the reminder." My readers are lazy and would never have clicked on a link to read the rest of the column so you can thank me for at LEAST four new fans. kthanksbye.


I told him I'd c&p that bad boy.

His reply:

Yep, I googled that phrase after I saw someone blatantly mention ON MY OWN SITE that she was planning to copy and paste the whole thing (seriously, the kids today, and their disregard for copyright, or even common sense), and I wondered if she had already done it. Turns out she hadn't, but you had, and that's how I nabbed you.

Unfortunately, my experience has been that once one person copies and pastes something on their blog, that makes other bloggers think it's OK to do, and it gets copied one place after another, and eventually the attribution falls off ("Here's a funny anonymous thing that somebody posted!"), and then my work is all over the place and I'm not getting any credit for it. So I have to nip these things in the bud, even if, as in your case, it was probably harmless in and of itself. I hope you understand the position I'm in, since I make a living through the mighty power of my words.

And I really do appreciate your long-time fanship. Truly. I promise!

Take care,
Eric

See how he just signed it "Eric" that time rather than his full professional name? Yup. We are now friends. Don't be jealous.

So then I wrote back cuz, you know, I had to:

I shall set the record straight on copyright infringement, don't you worry.

Your niceness is now causing me to want to be on your side. Oh you and your powerful words!! And I do believe you appreciate my long-time fanaticism. I find you to be trustworthy and benevolent...even with that goatee you're sporting these days.

Say hi to your mom for me,

Landeelu Landerson


Aaaaand, that was it. I'm sure he got busy with uber important stuff or whatever cuz I believe with all my heart he was enjoying our exchange as much as I was.

So this is me, setting the record straight about copyrighted material. Don't, like, cut & paste stuff, you gize. It devalues the power of words....er...something. K, kids? K. We're all set now.

29 comments:

Hot Pants said...

I'm just glad your post didn't have a "c" on it. Totally copying and pasting. I've been seriously neglecting my blog and could use something new...or already used.

Hot Pants said...

PS, you're totally famous now.

Elder Jack Anderson said...

HP, you just confirmed what I was already thinking. Me=way super famous now. I mean, why else would a quasi-celebrity email with me... twice!

Go ahead and C&P your little heart out. I'd. Be. Honored. (unlike SOME people...hmph).

Kathleen said...

No chance of me getting credit for your words....Anyone who knows me would (without a doubt) know I couldn't come up with something as thought (and otherwise) provoking and hillarious as you!

Flem said...

Ooh Snidey better be nice here. I might unfollow him and his movie reviews on twitter.

Never forget the little people!

And I am way impressed you were so nice in your response.

I like how he said it was "probably harmless..." in your case and this does lead me to wonder how why it is threatening since you cited him? Isn't crediting him enough? If some unknown said "hey I got this really important information on school reform from Flem's site" I would be happy. Then again, I am trying to get the word out on saving society whereas in his case, he is trying to keep the word in.

Memzy said...

Your celeb status is staggering. Staggering!! I'm taking him off my reader.

Memzy said...

Print off and laminate that email xchange.

Glo said...

Hmmm, I am thinking he shouldnt care so much, it's kinda lame...you gave him credit for it anyway. Im surprised he didn't tell you how to make an APA or MLA citation at the end being a BYU grad and all.

Annalisa said...

Seriously he has too much time on his hands. Not like you didn't give him credit or something. He thinks very highly of himself.

Love, Me said...

Good to know...good to know...

E said...

Your response was lollerz-making. If I ever posted something brilliant on the internet, say a romance novel or something like that, and some deranged fan copy/pasted it onto their blog, I would be flattered for about five seconds, and then I would be pizzed and fire off a copy/paste of that email Eric D. Snider's sent to you, substituting my name for his, because it was well put.

eekareek said...

Your such a brat and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I love how his first email was all rude and threatening and then after you put him in his place he was all kissing butt and signing his first name only. I don't even remember the guys name but yours will never be forgotten.

c <---that means no one can c/p my comment, btw.

StandsMom said...

I just know that someday you're going to be a well-known blogger/columnist/something-er-other. And Eric what's-his-name will probably want credit for his contribution. I could never be 'smart' enough to have carried on such an email back and forth. SO awesome! I would have probably cowered and begged for forgiveness - then gushed over my starstruckness. I loved hearing you tell this story in person and I loved reading it just as much!

jill 'E' jam said...

Man - I've missed reading your blog :) Thanks for all the laughs!

Chrissi said...

Loved the exchange. loved it.

Jen said...

When a professional writer has an entire work copied and pasted elsewhere without sufficient credit, then yes - YOU, the blogger, are responsible for correcting your mistake. Snider was well within his rights to politely ask you to correct the situation. Your immature response was completely inappropriate. Shame on you, whoever you are.

Christina D. said...

I agree with Jen, and totally disagree with most of the other commentators. It is very inappropriate to copy and paste someone's whole column into your own blog... you should always always always post a tiny excerpt and link back if anything. It's common decency and of course, those silly legal copyright laws.

If I pasted a chapter of say, oh, Twilight (because I'm sure you're all raving Twilight fans... and I am not) on my website and merely said "This is a wonderful book by Stephenie Meyer. She's my favorite!" Would you not expect Stephenie Meyer's lawyers to get in touch with me about copyright infringement? Would I then have a right to be all snotty about it because I loooove her work so much and it's soooo unfair for her to invoke copyright infringement when obviously I was just showing my love? Would her lawyers just have "way too much time on their hands"? You guys are ridiculous.

It's no different when you write something on the internets. Just cuz something is on the internets doesn't make it free to repost. Try it with some Associated Press content sometime or any fairly well-read blogger/columnist or cartoon artist... see what happens then. I guarantee you'll be a lot more put out by their response.

In conclusion, it's stupid to get mad at someone just cuz they don't want you reposting their content in its entirety on your website. I would be pissed too, as I'm sure Landee would be if I took her entire blog site, posted it as my own and put a little tag in the corner and said "Oh, and this came from some girl named Landee".

Jesse Harris said...

Feel fortunate that Eric isn't so much of a jerk that he sent a DMCA takedown notice. Refusal to comply with one of those opens you to serious civil liabilities as well as having your Blogger (and potentially Google) account suspended.

Don't be a jerk. Respect other people's copyright.

fmb said...

Good news! Eric D Snider just tweeted about you.

"Blogger reprints an entire column of mine, acts like a baby when I tell her to take it down. But I'M the rude one."

http://twitter.com/EricDSnider
(c)2009 Eric D Snider
All rights reserved

Michele said...

I'm definitely on Eric's side here. When I wanted to share how wonderful he was with my friends, I posted a quote from one column and then credited and linked. That, my friend, is how you do things.

Also - if you are a Twilight fan, as someone else suggested, then weren't you angry on her behalf when she revealed someone had posted Midnight Sun without her approval? It's rather the same thing, you know.

Memzy said...

It's so cute how these people ^^^ think you care and stuff!!!! I feel like patting their cute little red-faced heads and telling them, "cheer up little Snider-lovers, he'll still be funny even when Landee outshines him."

So cute. Can I pinch their little cheeks too?

Memzy said...

May I suggest a new post entitled:

"Eric D Snider's groupies yelled at me"

or

"Eric D Snider tries to gain support through Twitter. We all need comic validation sometimes. (some more than others)."

Elder Jack Anderson said...

This is the BEST. DAY. EVER.

Something is wrong with me cuz I have truly never been so entertained.

Jen, apparently you "gots Eric's back, yo!" so I appreciate your "polite-but-forceful, with a little bit of 'shame on you' thrown in." Question: how was my response immature? I took it down and I gushed over him. I thought I was quite mature (pronounced ma-TOOR, btw, to sound more snotty).

Anonymous, no need for such language.

Christina, is there more than one internet? You funny.

Jesse, a jerk is a tug, a tug is a boat, a boat goes on water, water is nature, nature is beautiful soooo thank YOU for the compliment.

Bobthe, are you a girl named Bob or a guy who likes Twilight? I must know. Either way, welcome to my blog!

Memz, let's pat their cute widdle bummies and send them on their way. Adorable.

Peter Minnesota said...

Honestly, I really don't see how either of his emails could possibly be interpreted as "yelling," or for that matter, even rude at all, and you were clearly in the wrong on this one. Snider gets kickbacks when people visit his site and do various things (click on links, buy things on Amazon, etc.), so it's perfectly reasonable for him to try to protect the things he has written and bring up his traffic in the process. So my question is: why are people defending you on this one? Is it out of sheer misguided loyalty?

Anonymous said...

You know, Eric was 100%, and you were a jerk for being so sarcastic about it. Writers have to protect their work. If you think you're taking the moral high ground by acting all offended, you're crazy.

Eric's e-mail to you was professional and courteous. Bottom line: he's right, you're wrong.

Hot Pants said...

Eric D Snider put a link to YOUR blog!!! I thought you were famous before... Can I come visit you? I need some updated pictures of us together. I'll be famous by association. Then I'll post them on the internets, all the internets.

Samantha said...

Eek! Looks like some people woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I can't believe people get so bent out of shape about a fan posting an article on their blog. If I were Eric I would be happy that people were praising my work. It wasn't like you didn't even mention his name or that the article was by him. This whole mess is hilarious and seems like they're the ones acting like little kids about it.

StandsMom said...

This is ridiculous! Are. You. Serious? I think Landee and Mr. Eric D. Snider handled it fine. He seems like he can take care of himself. Don't really get his snarky tweet, but whatever.

Jonesy said...

okay - so I'd never even heard of this lovely fellow before i read this post on landee's blog. (I'm am a loyal follower of hers ya know) and she is absolutely correct in saying that i am way too lazy to have taken the time to click a link when I could be reading more of her delightful wit. consequently, it is only because of her little copywrite infringement that mr snider has one more person in the world that knows he exists. i understand where all his "posse" is coming from. i mean breaking a law is breaking a law. but since the internet(s)? are largely un-regulated, mr snider had to know that this is a risk by posting here. and since there was absolutely NO malice intended by ms landee (unless you - ms ll are collecting kick-backs that we are unaware of)i do believe that a "panty unbunching party" is in order. relax