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The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

mashable.com

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Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#61

Post by trustfundbaby »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #47
crikli wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The total is now $57K with 15 days left. Matthew is in the position of being able to use the internet as a money spigot if FunnyJunk really wants to escalate.

That kind of money isn't consistent, though - raising that much money from one case where people clearly want to side with him, even if he wasn't donating the money to two charities, is much easier than doing it every week to pay off legal expenses.

I don't you have an understanding of how deep his fanbase is ... he raised that money in one day ... seriously think about that for a second.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#62

Post by sk5t »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

I wonder if you can complain to the bar. Seems like a number of lawyers have taken up the "shakedown" model and been penalized for it. You should be able to complain to. The bar that this lawyer reflects badly on the profession for not doing his research.

One can be branded a "vexatious litigant," although one has to keep at it for a while for that particular achievement.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#63

Post by jontas »

I'd love to take that $20-40k and put it towards a company that does nothing but monitor websites like Funny Junk and issue takedown notices on the behalf of the content owners.

Companies like this probably exist, but I'm sure they don't come cheap and are used primarily by the big players (eg music labels, movie studios).

I think it is great that Matt is donating the money to charity. However, the idea of putting the money towards some kind of community focused content monitor struck me as an interesting alternative.

I also wonder to what degree something like this could be automated. I know sites like YouTube monitor their own content, but what if Matt could upload all his images, verify his ownership in a legally meaningful way, and then automatically monitor Funny Junk and issue takedown notices in real time.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#64

Post by domwood »

hobin wrote: post #28
ruswick wrote: post #24

Although the lawsuit is bullshit, I would probably be really happy if the oatmeal were to get sued out of existence. I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but of the handful of things I've seen there, they were all trollish and entirely incorrect. The site is just more Internet scum and it going away would probably be for the best.

Unresolved anger issues much? Hint: the internet is big. If you don't like something, ignore it.

Kind of difficult to ignore being litigated. Kinda stupid too.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#65

Post by tylerritchie »

ktizo wrote: post #56
chris_wot wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I'm seeing any issue here. OK, so he was good at SEO. The fact is that he has always been very happy to have his comics republished, so long as they link back to the original site. Can't be fairer than that. Funnyjunk didn't do that. However, he didn't take legal action. He wrote a blog, and exercized his right to free expression. Nothing about the blog was factually incorrect. The links are dead because…

Funnyjunk appears to be a comedy site with no sense of humour. Next thing you know someone might start a rolling TV news channel with no knowledge of current affairs, named after some kind of wild dog, and then where would we be? Although, to be fair, that could never happen, as nobody would be stupid enough to watch it.

To be pedantic, it is not named for a wild dog. Wild dogs would be of the Canis genus, specifically C. lupus.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#66

Post by floomp »

ruswick wrote: post #36
floomp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A unique individual with one of the most brilliant, funny, audacious and original voices on the Internet It's always good when one extreme viewpoint is countered with another extreme viewpoint in the opposite direction.

Isn't that just bigotry?

I'm confused - was the sarcasm in my post not clear?

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#67

Post by sk5t »

hobin wrote: post #28
ruswick wrote: post #24

Although the lawsuit is bullshit, I would probably be really happy if the oatmeal were to get sued out of existence. I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but of the handful of things I've seen there, they were all trollish and entirely incorrect. The site is just more Internet scum and it going away would probably be for the best.

Unresolved anger issues much? Hint: the internet is big. If you don't like something, ignore it.

A Thomas Edison fan enraged? Maybe this is how it manifests?

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#68

Post by Jimmie »

jontas wrote: post #63

I'd love to take that $20-40k and put it towards a company that does nothing but monitor websites like Funny Junk and issue takedown notices on the behalf of the content owners. Companies like this probably exist, but I'm sure they don't come cheap and are used primarily by the big players (eg music labels, movie studios). I think it is great that Matt is donating the money to charity. However, the idea of putting th…

I'm curious about this too. Use something like Tineye and check new Funnyjunk submissions against The Oatmeals image archive. Aside from the hardware it's a tiny amount of work for 1 human to monitor the results.

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#69

Post by ktizo »

tylerritchie wrote: post #65
ktizo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funnyjunk appears to be a comedy site with no sense of humour. Next thing you know someone might start a rolling TV news channel with no knowledge of current affairs, named after some kind of wild dog, and then where would we be? Although, to be fair, that could never happen, as nobody would be stupid enough to watch it.

To be pedantic, it is not named for a wild dog. Wild dogs would be of the Canis genus, specifically C. lupus .

What? You mean something like that exists already? Surely it can't be particularly popular as how could it ever be taken seriously?

Re: The Oatmeal Fights Legal Threat, Raises $20,000 in an Hour

#70

Post by koglerjs »

wickedchicken wrote: post #33
nostromo wrote: post #30

Having a rival is pure press (and SEO) mastery. Seriously. It reminds me of the genius rap rivalries of the 90s and 00s which left both rivals better off in every way (press, album sales, fame). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_rivalry

> which left both rivals better off in every way yeah, tupac is rolling in money right now

public art--that is, art intended for public consumption--isn't about money, it's about communicating a message.
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