I haven’t seen mention of this yet (perhaps I missed it), but has anyone been to the Teeming Millioons Home Page lately?
GADZOOKS!!!
It just happened… about 800ish IN time.
-John
Wimp.
DISGUSTING!!!
I’d be interested to know what the Chicago Reader found so threatening about that site. Seemed like the perfect adjunct to a commercial site and no doubt provided a lot of free publicity.
Nothing personal, Melin, but sometimes the legal eagles seem to go out of their way to prove their value at “protecting” their clients.
Hope we get some straight dope on this one!
Oh My God!
What possible harm could the Chicago Reader have seen in Opal’s site? Like Old Broad said, it’s free publicity for them.
Where do I send my check for the Opal Cat Legal Defense Fund?
Maybe the “Teaming Billions Home Page”, since the world population is now in the billions and not the millions.
Quick OpalCat register that trade name.
Too bad for you. You make an effort and get slapped in the face.
Ohh!
Sorry! Karl Sagen has registered the word billions as his and you may no longer use this word in your home page.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
This, most assuredly, sucks.
I don’t get it! Where’s the harm?
-PIGEONMAN-
Hero For A New Millennium!
The Legend Of PigeonMan - updates every Wed & Sat
Come join channel #straightdope on IRC to talk about this.
Not an IRC person. Please post a summary of your discussion?
I say: WTF ??
OpalCat, if you’re still here, I DID like your work. What a shitty thing to do. How’s about you talk to Zotti about this ?
Just a thought… don’t know how approachable the guy is.
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
I make no demands of anyone, but I would very much like to know what motivated this action by the Chicago Reader and what form those actins took.
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
*
I don’t know…
I’m relatively new here, got a new job and haven’t posted in about 2 weeks. But I still have read the posts periodically. This has seemed to be a good MB, where people share their views and opinions on a wide variety of subjects.
This one thread has changed my opinion drastically about the whole site. Sort of leaves me with a jaded perspective. Hell, I’m pissed off and I really don’t have a reason to be. The site used to be linked on this site, for God’s sake.
The Straight Dope goes corporate law? What’s next? Censoring? Oops, that already exists, albeit to a small degree. How long will it be before you can’t post what you’d like to stick up Satan’s ass?
Looking at this post, I realize I’m making a pretty big deal out of this, probably for nothing. I don’t know her, but she evidently put a lot of time into her site, which did nothing but PROMOTE the straight dope and this MB (and doing a great job of it).
The whole thing is making me queasy. I’m going out drinking. Tequila shots, anyone?
I’m having a tequila sunrise right now… mmmm… goood.
I only went to the TMHP once or twice and never paid much attention to it, but I feel bad that it had to go the way it do though. I know it took a lot of hard work to put it up and maintain, so I have to give props to OpalCat. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, now she can do other things that she might have been putting off due to the websight.
“I’m not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.”-- Calvin and Hobbes
(__)
\/-------\ | |-----| |
…c.c…c.c…
Can anyone tell us “the rest of the story”? Or even the first part of the story? What happened? Why did it happen? Has Opal been kicked off the SDMB too?
Cowgod,
Thinking about our friend Opal, your headset is probably the best one to wear. I was writing a new topic post on another subject when I went to the (I’m gonna do it right this time) Teemiing Millions Home Page and returned quickly to post a stunned response.
Generally I try to see the upside in a situation and I think you pegged it.
Opal, dear, I think cowgod’s onto it. We appreciate you and your efforts will not be forgotten. I don’t know you or your life, but I’ll hazard counsel that fighting prigs might be less rewarding than moving on to better things.
All of the above is, as always, worth what you paid for it.
Regards
I wouldn’t expect a reply from OpalCat, due to the legal actions. It would only make things worse for her. Right now it’s cease or get reamed. Show your support though, until this thread mysteriously disapears.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
and rest assured, my friend, that the typos will carry on…
Calm down, folks. We asked Opal to change the name of her E-mail service, which was called “str8dope mail.” Unlike “Teeming Millions,” which Opal had been using with no objection from us for quite a while, “The Straight Dope” is a registered trademark of the Chicago Reader, Inc. The nature of trademark law is such that if you don’t vigorously defend your rights you lose them. (And no, a minor difference in spelling doesn’t change anything.) Opal and I had been exchanging notes about this since late September. I hadn’t made much headway, so I kicked it upstairs to the Reader, which sent Opal a note asking her to cease and desist. As I look at it now the Reader’s note was somewhat broadly written and evidently was taken to mean we didn’t want Opal to use the words “Straight Dope” anywhere on her site, which I don’t think was the intent. However, I will inquire further. We had (and have) no objection to Opal’s site, which we have always enjoyed, and which I hope goes back on line soon.
- am writing as a representative of Chicago Reader, Inc., to formally
request that you cease your use of our name, The Straight Dope, in your
email service and anywhere else
…we consider your use of the
name a violation of our copyright and our policy must be to protect such
rights by whatever means necessary. We are fully confident of our ability
to prevail in a legal action…*
I think it is pretty clear that I am not to use the words on the site, and I will not. When I can remove all references and links to this site, I will put the pages back. I may excercise my freedom of free speech, which protects the right to do parodies, and put up a “Straight Dupe” site though…
–
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com