Bitcoin Forum

What happened::
The signature created by tidus1097 is too similar to mine. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1028257.0
His copying might confuse viewers. Viewers generally don't always look through the signature but glances and sees the style. If people does not like tidus1097's product or is scammed, it hurts mine too as mine will automatically be associated with them.

Scammers Profile Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=370966

Reference Link:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1028257.0

Amount Scammed:
The signature was created with about 0.4 BTC. I am also running a signature campaign. It takes about 1 BTC per month.

Payment Method:
Bitcoin

Proof of Payment:
NA

PM/Chat Logs:
NA

Additional Notes:
NA

Did you try to contact them before this?

Its more than just similar, its exactly the same, just different words..

It looks different to me. The wordings are different and different products. You mean the coinut.com and bitcoin-knieves.com?

I would take it as a compliment my friend.  "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery" - Charles Caleb Colton.  He probably liked your design a lot!

This isn't really a scam (There is another user who has copied my avatar, but what can I do about it?), but maybe a ethics issue?  I'm sure if you contact him nicely and ask him to redesign it, he may do so.  (Though he may refuse to out of spite because of this accusation - who knows?)

Good luck with your battle!  :)

Well but your avatar is not really yours since its peter griffin, you did not make it, the signature is another thing.

As sana0040 has already said they are different because the wording is not the same and the advertised goods/services are not even competitors (your is a option exchange, his is a shop selling knifes) so no risks of your business being hampered by tidus1097 trades. Also, I don't think a Court may support your position, because as I said the wording is not the same and the advertised goods/services are not even competitor, so the best think you could do is taking it as a compliment, as Vod has suggested.

IMHO, tidus1097 should consider changing the color to one with more contrast against the background to increase the signature visibility. Yours instead is already OK due to using multiple colors.

You know. I'm in aww over this. Lets get the whole story out here that way everyone knows whats going on. I would not have even known this was here if someone hadn't messaged me about it. But heres the story.

Ok, so, I left the DaDice campaign and had messaged the OP to join his sig campaign.  This is his response.

http://i61.tinypic.com/33ol2lg.jpg


Ok, so I joined, added the signature to my profile and moved on with daily activities. Then on May 16th, he sent me this pm


Yeah I do. Its well known that I do because the account is stolen. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=368541

Ok, fine. I don't have to be in your sig campaign. No problem at all. But I did message you in regards to the posts I did make and you never replied.


So I give him a couple days to reply to me. No response. Last night I decided that I wasn't gonna wear his signature for free and I started thinking about a signature for my website. So why not look at what sig codes are made of and try myself? That's what I done. I know nothing of how to make a sig code so all I could do is look at it and others and try to decipher how to make it for my site. Ok, not that hard. Remove this line, add this, ect. Now I see that he posted this at 4:08am Eastern Time. If I was to fall over dead today, I changed my signature at a tops of 5 hours previously to him writing this thread.  He made no attempt at messaging me over this. No contact whatsoever. Now why would someone open up a scam thread on someone without even replying to their pm's? I mean it makes no sense at all. Then it got me thinking. He just don't wanna pay me for the 50+ posts I made. No problem. I didn't care to begin with. I was moving on. Now on the other hand the tables have turned. You accuse me of scaming your signature from you. You try to make people think something that is not true whatsoever for what purpose? That's the only logical purpose I could think of. You didn't wanna talk to me about it. You didn't wanna talk to me about your campaign after you told me to join. You had 2 days to contact me. But instead, you would try to slander me instead over $15. If you would have asked me to change some of it around, that you felt it might confuse others, I would have in a minute. No questions asked. But you want to start shit with me? Well lets get it started then.


You owe me 0.059btc from your sig campaign that you personally told me to enroll in. I did. That is public on your sig campaign thread. You open a scam accusation against me because I used your color in my signature. You won't respond to my pm's.

I think that pretty much covers the entire story of what happened.

This thread is just wrong. While it's arguable whether or not tidus should change his signature (I'd say he should change it) it's definitely not a scam so this shouldn't be a scam accusation. The 'Amount Scammed' posted by OP makes no sense at all. I'd recommend tidus to change his signature and close that matter, but it's up to him if he wants to change it.

Regarding the signature campaign (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=992660.0) I don't see a condition that says the users who join shouldn't have a negative trust on other account they own. Maybe "Participants should have no negative rating" could be interpreted (because 'participant' can be an account or a person) but that PM posted by tidus where OP approves his enrollments should clear things out.

I had never intended to even keep this signature. I was doing trial and error last night trying to figure out how to make my own. It got late and I had to open the store I work at this morning so I just crashed for the night. While his sig design is nice, there was no intentions by me to ever even keep what it is now. Like I stated, I was learning how to make my own, you just happened to be who's sig is used to learn from. All the OP had to do was message me over it. He wouldn't for 2 days respond to me, but as soon as he thought he had something on me, he made a scam accusation up against me. Anybody that's ever had any dealings with me know that I'm not hard to get along with. The OP made NO attempt to talk to me. Made NO attempt to answer my questions. The ONLY ATTEMPT he made was to deface me, which I personally find tells me alot about his character. I do hope that anybody that is interested in joining his campaign does read this thread though. Just so they can get a general insight of how this person thinks.


Also. You can send what you owe me to this address  19956EACYPEenrTvfpqDvhNDyCMzb1fS5P   But I'm not expecting payment from you after this. If I do, it will surprise the hell out of me.

Not interested in defacing you. Regarding the signature campaign, you were approved because I did not know you have another account with negative trust. Later I found that, that's why I informed you. This accusation has nothing to do with that one. Don't try to mix things.

When you participated the signature campaign, you should be honest. I clearly said that the participants should have no negative trust. Trying to hide things is not going to work.

This is funny. The signature design you are using is a copy anyway. You chose to accept plagiarism, and now you complained about other people copying your signature design?  :D

By YOUR definitions, there are significant difference between your sig and his sig design, so it is not a copy.


Learn from the orginal copy from BitDice (here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=814895.0))

I've never accepted any plagiarism. We discussed this quite a few times. Also, I spent money from my own pocket to hold a signature design contest. There is no point for me to accept plagiarism.

True, there is no point, but the fact is you did. It is only fair that you allow others to be "inspired" by your signature design and not post a scam accusation against the guy.

Let others judge whether tidus1097 was just inspired by my signature or it is indeed a copy. Both of us and tidus1097 may be biased.

So let's say tidus1097 does change his signature (he claims this one was just a work in progress), will you give him the coins he earned in your signature campaign?

What's your opinion? We've not yet made the decision. But I think he should not participate at the very beginning.

I don't think he should be kicked in the first place. To say that he has access/control of an account that was hacked is a bit of a stretch.

You obviously received benefit from him wearing your signature -you got advertising. I don't see any reason why you would think it is okay to not pay him.

The reason that I let him in at the beginning is because I did not know he has another account. Later, I found out that and then immediately told him to stop. It is OK for me to pay. But that seems a bit encouraging this kind of cheating, right?

I am going to tell you right now that the number of people who participate in signature deals is very low. Probably close to zero if not zero. To say that you didn't know he had other accounts is a bit of a stretch if you ask me.

It would either be that you are encouraging this kind of "cheating" if you can really call it that, or you get something for free that you agreed to pay for when the person due the payment did not consent to have payment withheld.

What I honestly do not understand is why did you not want to talk to me about this? I honestly can't for the life of me figure out why someone would rather go straight to scam accusations instead of trying to communicate with them? You really stumped me by this. Its like your holding something against me that I know nothing about or why for that matter.

Good to see that you changed your signature. Now I am going to close this thread. It may not be good to directly post here. But you also should not wait until others to blame or even accuse you. You should avoid that at the beginning like your participation in the signature campaign. However, you will still get paid for your posts for the efforts you spent.

I think you should pay him the coins you owe him, and it is up to you to decide if you continue to allow him in your program.

I think it's ok to not pay someone if they have an alt with negative trust, but you need to make that clear in your terms.  Since you didn't have those terms when you signed Tidus up, you need to honor your agreement and pay him for the advertising he has given your company so far - you can't just unilaterally make up a new rule and apply it to past agreements.

tidus1097 I would avoid using the light blue color in your signature since it is too subdued...  ;)


+1. OP should honor his commitments & paying tidus1097 what is due to him for the post he wrote.

This is at your signature campaign thread and this is the only rules listed there. It is not wise to altered your own rules as you wish. Basically you as a CEO of coinut should hold up your words and act based on your set rules.
He is not cheating because even if he has 100 accounts or so he should be able to participate at your campaign because there is no rules that state that someone should have no other account

Also that it is stated that participants should have no negative ratings but his account has no negative ratings there :)
Participants in this case would be the account that is participating at your campaign

P.S : you owe him, perhaps you should pay him up rather than ruining your reputation

It depends on your interpretation of "Participants should have no negative rating". Anyway, I've decided to pay him and made this clear in my campaign thread.

I think the rule actually states gain a negative rating not have a negative rating.

Thankyou for honoring your own words  :). The BTC that you owe him actually isnt worth to risk your reputation here. Anyway his account was possibly hacked and it is standard here to mark a hacked account so it cant be used for fraudulent things.

I see no reason in not allowing people to join your campaign because of that though but You made your terms clearer now


Anyway since this is solved, then perhaps you can lock this  :)