"I, who am on the road,/Must have a code that I can live by/...and [skip the rest], So teach your children well,/Your parents' hell, will slowly go by..."

 

I live by that, in relation to my child and his girlfriend and friends, as well as he to his relationship to me and his dad. It has served us well!

 

As for a recent complaint at this location:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/13108733@N00/galleries/721576334638...

 

accusing me of "Stealing" a 100-year-old photo from someone's photostream, labeling me lazy ("too lazy to crop the handwritten date") which this person claims makes the photo his/hers and claiming that I do "Not talk the walk" (!) as written in my profile, I will address this sort of insulting remark thus:

 

I NEVER STEAL any images! If I do inadvertently use a non-copyrighted photo and it turns out it IS (which rarely happens), I am quite happy to remove it to keep the peace. But this person was so quick to judge, to label, to accuse and to insult me three times, I feel it is he/she who is the hypocrite and should apologize to me!

 

This was a roughly 100-year-old photo, found easily on the web, uploaded by others. The ONLY difference I could see after this person made such a stink about it rather than contacting me, was that his was colored slightly. I seriously doubt he owns the original, or if he does, the law states that merely buying and coloring a photo does NOT give one a copyright to it!

  

If anyone wants me to remove a photo, for whatever reason, I will do so a) if they cannot prove it IS their photo--in the case of old ones whose copyright has expired--which I probably got from an internet search, NOT from their photostream!

 

If I were as petty and vicious as this person, I would hardly have the effrontery to demand an apology after accusing and insulting someone! The person offered NO proof that they owned the image.

 

But still, I would have removed it, if they had privately emailed me and requested so. It is too bad that this person instead chose to make a public spectacle of it, to show his/her own bad manners and personality by accusing and insulting, rather than using common courtesy. THey assumed the worst right away rather than find out anything about me.

 

I stand by my profile and would love to know what THEIRS says: "I own anything I write on, and if you use it, you are automatically a thief, a lazy person who would "get off" by cropping the image (isn't that cheating?), who cares about copyrights when I want to go off on a rampage publicly and vent my spleen?"

 

THAT is the only reaction I have to this person's lousy behavior, and am not sorry for ACCIDENTALLY using "his/her" photo from their photostream!

 

Anyone else who wants to be civilized and sees a photo they wish me not to use, should simply email me and I'll be happy to remove it, even if really is NOT "theirs"!

 

Lo

 

NOTE: I received supportive comments from others about this individual, stating that they have been attacked by him/her as well, accusing the same things. Clearly, this person is less interested in sharing photos than retaining bragging rights for using a basic Photoshop technique on an old photo, and then accusing others of "stealing" it! It is sad that a troll like this can ruin the experience of polite, civilized people's enjoyment of this site, even if it is temporary. I hope the Flickr admins will deal with this person appropriately if he/she accuses anyone else of more so-called "thefts"!