Viperlair review plagiarized at hardwareXL

[amdturtle]

I apologize for this being my first post, but I wanted to inform the staff and forum members that hardwarexl ripped off your kingston DDR2 review and claimed it as their own. If this is posted in the wrong forum I apologize, and I hope a moderator moves it where it belongs. I hope you take some kind of action. I want to commend you guys on your work btw. I visit your site occassionally for the reviews, and they are very well done. The same can be said for all the other sites this site has ripped off. (cluboverclocker,ocprices,digital-daily, etc, etc).



I just wanted you guys to know...I don't want your hard work that your reviewer spent on the review to be muddied by another site stealing it and making money off of it.

[sandviper]

Thanks. I got a few dozen emails this evening about it.

Is our writing that good?

In all seriousness, yes, we got plagerized again. How lame. Already sent an angry email to the site owner.



Viper Lair's original review can be found here:
http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/mem.../DDR2/hyp5400/

Also made sure Kingston and his PR firm know all about it.

[unit24]

Wow, I just went on a little raid to said site. It looks like Quentin has got his panties in a wad, He is cancelling posts and accounts right and left.

What a shame... Quentin, this is for you:

[amdturtle]

Yep...Myself and some other Cluboverclocker buddies spammed the hell out of the forums...

You'll notice he says the forums are down (there's a spiel on the upper-right of XL now) because he wasn't notified and they got spammed. Cluboc's HW editor sent him an e-mail after being notified by one of the sponsors about the corrupt review he did that was stolen off cluboc...It wasn't taken down...we dug a little and found all of the reviews are done by other sites.

If there was only one reviewer...and it wasn't the owner...the owner should have been more on top of it. As you can see their rebuttle doesn't hold up. They got what they deserved...

You're more than welcome to visit the cluboc.net forums...we have a big discussion about it over there and it's a nice hardware forum as well...not to take away from VL, which is a great site in it's own right.

[Ra\/eN]

man that is just pathetic, what idiots.

[Quasar]

What a bunch of lamers. I was gonna get my roommate and I to spam the hell out of their forums, but looks like they took it down. Guess VL and the other sites scared the beejeezus out of them. Did they at least apologize?

[sandviper]

Actually, I'm glad nobody spammed their as it'll make us look like children.

Quentin did apologize and took action. Too bad his credibility has been shot to hell though as a lot of sites are probably now aware of the situation, let alone Kingston and whoever supplied him with the ram. I didn't bother emailing his other sponsors as I'm sure ClubOC, OC-Prices and others have already done that.

[J2T]

Man, that is freakin pathetic. I just don't understand how anyone could think to get away with something like this? Someone is bound to notice within the hardware community.

[pF.TK]

Interesting, and to think, SV is asking IF our reviewers are that good... /me lifts nose in the air

[amdturtle]

Maybe you don't personally condone it...But I by all means support any and all people writing to anyone affiliated with his site be it sponsors or whomever, and encourage them to cut ties with him...You have to speak to the people that want your dollars if you are going to be heard.

Was the spamming child-like? One could argue that, but outrage is completely understandable by the people that actually work hard on their reviews, and the people that support their hard work. He was taking no action to correct his mistakes or actually come clean about the situation and we took it upon ourselves to inform people who participate on his site.

And to the guy that posted above me...Keep up the good work. Keep it REAL!

[sandviper]

Nah, don't get me wrong, I was as pissed as any reviewer/site owner could be. I wanted to send a curse riddled email to the guy, but cooler heads prevailed and I just threatened him with legal action (since this has happened to us in the past, and I have since hired a lawyer to be on call).

I am not putting down those who did spam. If my readers did it, fine, but I'd just rather they do not as it could make things messier. I just hit them where it hurts... sponsors, financially and credibility.

As for severing ties, no worries, there won't be any loving from us to them.

[Quasar]

I get where Turtle is coming from, as well as Vipe. Both of you guys make valid points, but if the shit was still online and forums open, I woulda gone in there and kicked ass along with the ClubOC guys.

I think what Vipe is trying to say is treat the thing like a divorce. The less shit that gets tossed around, the easier it is to separate.

[amdturtle]

Originally Posted by Quasar

I get where Turtle is coming from, as well as Vipe. Both of you guys make valid points, but if the shit was still online and forums open, I woulda gone in there and kicked ass along with the ClubOC guys.

I think what Vipe is trying to say is treat the thing like a divorce. The less shit that gets tossed around, the easier it is to separate.

Absolutely agreed. The less mess the better, but I just want to make sure all his phony crap got taken down and all sponsors/real reviewer/owners of sites that did reviews were notified so they could take action in whatever way they see fit. He wasn't going to come clean...and still hasn't. He mentions 3 reviews were taken down because he was notified...someone needs to tell them THEY ARE ALL FAKE. We made a list here of all the real reviewers...Some have been notified some havn't. Feel free to spread the word:

forums.cluboverclocker/viewtopic.php?t=14356&postdays=0&postorder=asc&sta rt=20

Add (com) to make link work...I can't post links with my current post count.

(If you mind me linking off VL feel free to edit and remove the link...I don't mean to spam you guys...Just want everyone to know.)

And of this moment, there are still phony reviews working on his site. The only ones taken down are from you, cluboc, and someone else that wrote him angrily. I'm just pushing hard to get the right people to pressure him to take them all down and come clean. He states there were two people that did this...but yet in his contact info he is responsible for everything and in the reviews it is said he reviewed them. He needs to seriously get a grip with reality.

As for you helping us spam...We know you were with us in spirit...we did it for ya'll as well. We know you'd do the same for us ;) Good hw sites and their forum members love company.

[amdturtle]

They're all gone...and the forums are down...Basically, his site is a shell.




Now i'm waiting for the posted apology admitting to all potential sponsors and readers what he did.

Oh well. That's the end of that....For now.

For the record Vipe, I hope you and Scott (cluboc) and others get together and sue the living crap out of him...Scott has said the sponsors will back him legally (and most certainly you as well). I know you're a laid back bro, but I know you know where i'm coming from.

[unit24]

Well, I've heard back from two of the companies I wrote. One states that they have seen incidents of hardwarexl copying reviews before and after some research found that hardwarexl had done it with products that they had sent. They will no longer be a sponsor. The other stated that they have not directly sponsored them in the past, thanked me for contacting them and made note of it in case hardwarexl did contact them for sponsorship in the future.

I hope to hear from more of the sponsors in the near future.

xxiv