GPF News Archive

Quick Update (Same Day, Even): Thanks for all the supportive and encouraging mail, gang! I've gotten a lot of interesting comments today from you, and not a one of them has been bad. In fact, I had an absolutely rotten day at work, and all your mail has lifted my spirits. Double and triple thanks I shower upon you! I'd also like to thank the *ton* of you who mentioned that I forgot to update the Comics Archive to tackle the new temporary URLs. Seems my face is just as red as the can of Coke sitting on my desk.... The Archive's fixed, and should operate normally.

Again, thanks for your support. What a bunch of troopers!

(Did you find an unusual "I'M A THIEF!" image on another Web site or mailing list today? If you did, see below for the reasons why.)

Howdy, gang! I'd like to start out by apologizing for no news update last week. It was a rough week for me at the day job, and I barely got my weekly GPF strip quota in, let alone doing any site updates. But hopefully this week will be a bit more leisurely, and I can take some time to fix a few bugs and such. Promise.

I am, without a doubt, completely speechless about GPF's ranking in the Internet Homepages Top 100. Last week, we broke the top five, and as of this morning we are still holding at 5th. I truly don't know what to say. I'm incredibly grateful for the wonderful support you've all given, and I'm amazed that GPF has taken off so quickly. You guys are definitely the best there is. (Just don't forget to vote this week!)

Some other news: I've gotten a number of messages from you about the mysterious disappearing navigation frame, and frankly, I'm puzzled too. For those who haven't heard, some of you have been having problems with the navigation frame (which contains our hit counter) not working properly, or perhaps even showing up as "file not found." For now, I've returned to using the old FastCounter. One of my goals to was to get the text counter to run smoothly, which (1) looks more professional, in my opinion, and (2) would allow me to squeeze the navigational frame down in size some more and get more space in the main frame. However, having two scripts running at once on the main page didn't seem to be working that well. I was never able to reproduce the problem myself, but hopefully this will fix it.

I've also finally gotten word from our friends over at GiggleMania. (This site was offering GPF delivered daily via e-mail, but the site has been down for months.) They've assured me that everything is fine, and that they don't have everything up and running yet, but will before too long. They've had a rough time in RL of late, but things are starting to get back in place. I'm also happy to report that, once their site resurfaces, GPF will still be one of their offerings. I'll try and keep everyone posted on new developments in this area.

Now, for the really serious stuff. Some of you may have may have been visiting one of your favorite Web sites this morning, or received your daily mailing lists, and were surprised to find that instead of your daily dose of GPF, you received a rather large, bright image with the following words in big, bold red letters: "I'M A THIEF!" If this is true, then that Web site or mailing list is using GPF illegally and without permission. The person you've been getting GPF from is in violation of copyright law, and is stealing it from me, from you, and from all of the webmasters who have been supporting GPF legitimately around the globe.

For the past several weeks, I've been in a small e-mail war with some individuals who have been using GPF without my permission. I have politely asked them to comply with the copyright notices on our copyright page, to which they have responded with defiance and sarcasm. Even after sending them detailed debates and legal sources, explicitly citing similar situations and court cases pertaining to copyright infringement on the Web, they have quietly continued their practices, leading their visitors and users to believe they have done nothing wrong.

But they have. And now it's time for Jeff to take the offensive. 'Cause nobody messes with my baby and gets away with it.

In the next week or so, I will be compiling a detailed sub-section of this site that will explain, in detail, everything that has taken place, including copies of e-mails,my interpretation of copyright law as it pertains to Web-based comics, and the detailed sources I referenced in order to come to this conclusion. I've also made a few changes to the daily strips, which will make finding them difficult for the copyright violators. (How can you tell which sites use GPF legally? They've been told how to find the daily strips, and should display them normally.)

To those of you who have been reading GPF through one of these sites: You have my deepest apologies. This action was not taken against you, because you're just as much a victim of this situation as I am. While I know these sites offer a great deal of convenience, it does not justify the action of stealing someone's intellectual property. (This includes my work, as well as all the other artists (in one case, several hundred of them) who have been stolen from.) I sincerely ask that you cease using these Web sites or mailing lists immediately and, if you feel the need, contact their owners and let them know that you don't appreciate participating in someone else's thievery.

Now normally, as those who really know me can confirm, I'm usually a pretty easy going, pleasant guy. But I've really taken offense to this situation, and I'm tired of just sitting back and being ripped off. GPF is here for the enjoyment of everyone, but that doesn't mean it's everyone's for the taking.

I'd like to sincerely thank my wonderful wife for her gentle yet firm support during all this, and also Illiad, the Grand UFie-In-Chief over at User Friendly for his opinions and moral support.

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As always, you can reach the man behind the curtain through e-mail. Thanks for all the mail, gang! I love hearing what you think! Now feel free to surf the site, and keep those browsers comin'!