Slightly sad, agitated and appalled. Slightly OT.

[CodyValkyrie]

I'm sure some of you are aware of Mr. Ferguson, but today I happened upon some threads in some other forums about his misdeeds and the fact that several "other" forums had not taken care of this particular person. For those of you uninformed Robert Ferguson was a known pirate and operated one of the largest pirate websites on the internet. 4 years ago I had a run in with the guy because he was snagging my payware videos. At the time, through YouTube I was able to track the websites my videos were being viewed on, and they took me RIGHT to his pirating website. Through that, I was also able to determine that he had been capturing my videos and uploading them to other YouTube accounts he had made. I was able to track his information from a basic WhoIs search and got in contact with a friend in the X-Plane development community who had also been tracking the guy. My buddy managed to get his PayPal accounts closed (he was SELLING pirated software through a VIP membership system). I also called him one day inconveniently to have a chat with him, and although I kept it cordial, I questioned his integrity in the whole thing.

So, moving on, he is still in the community as an active member. One of the largest sites dedicated to addons he is still an active poster on... and while his site has vanished (thankfully), he is still an active member on several pirate distribution networks. On said site, he has acknowledged his involvement, but yet he is still a member and posts frequently. There is nothing I can do about it, and this post is a rant more than anything else.... I just warn people that Robert Ferguson is still out there, and I hope to expose this name to the community so that he doesn't continue to rip off the decent people I see here and other places.

Cheers and thanks for listening.

(I would just like to point out that I have kept the actual sites and places he is associated with as confidential. The people who need to see this know who they are, and I do not wish to tarnish the reputation of some of these communities. I posted this on SOH because they are one of the few communities I am still an active member on. I don't want to start a mud slinging match, and I ask that if you reply that we try to limit the finger pointing.)

 

[Meshman]

I think you'll find my handle in the thread you didn't reference... And like you, it appalls me to see that "Bob" hasn't been banned. "Bob" was banned from another leading forum after they were shown some items, such as the thread you didn't link. "Bob", who knows me by name, subsequently crowed about how he had signed up at that forum site using another name, which he was dumb enough to show a picture of. The second ban followed shortly thereafter.

There is a disjointed effort within the commercial industry when it comes to thieves. It's great for developers to say one thing, but then follow through with a different response when given data about theft of their products. It's probably hoping for too much to see a concerted and unified effort, so unless and until that occurs I can only watch out for anyone wanting to get their hands on my work.

 

[CodyValkyrie]

Yes, it is quite sad. A unified effort would be hard to pull off, and frankly I believe most developers understand that even if you take one guy out, you still have the monetary expense of doing so (even if it is only time expense) and another idget would still pop up. This guy however is unabashed at who he is... at least once exposed anyhow. I'm glad you know what I am talking about. I sometimes have to bury my head in the sand about this type of thing. I always seem to stumble upon it at the strangest times, and it always catches me completely off guard. I believe in some forms of karma, and I'm sure in the end Mr. Ferguson is already getting his, or soon will. For that I am thankful.... it's just frustrating when you don't get to experience that payback firsthand.

 

[Deano]

I know of a couple of people that pcsimstore are investigating and have contacted concerning illegal activities regarding our products. Theres '2' of them that I'm currently aware of that frequent SOH on a regular basis.

I'm leaving it up to there own legal team to take it higher.

 

[Smudge]

Ahh, good old Mr. Ferguson... Almost a household name round these parts... there was a time where a day didn't go by without his head popping up here and there..

 

[Francois]

The problem is that private individuals and small-time developers don't get ANY support from the authorities to take these pieces of **** off the 'internet street' or indeed, out of real life! And the large companies that 'could' don't give a damn because they get rich anyway.

I think that the WORST offenders are indeed 'institutions inside our communities' who actually support these characters, well-knowing they are wasting oxygen of decent people.

 

[CodyValkyrie]

You would think with someone coming outright and stating what they are doing, that the problem would be resolved quite quickly. Oh well. Hence my rant and agitation.

 

[dharris]

I understand your postion on this and agree with most of it. I know Meshman by dealing with him in his commercial ventures and know that there are good people out there that support you also. I am under the idea that disclosing these other sites would be a good thing as then so of the other sites members may make it uncomfortable for the other sites and they will take action to rid the sites of him. And the legal recourse is a tough nut to crack being a small company with limited resources, perhaps there are other ways to handle mr. bob.......

 

[cheezyflier]

perhaps there are other ways to handle mr. bob.......

 

[dandog]

The authorities aren't much help in many ways. A neighbor of mine sold a car of mine out from under me by forging the DMV documents. He even told the detectives he owed me money from the sale. The case went no where. The detectives won't even return my phone calls. I am speechless!!!!!

Daniel