GPWA member Alphonso69 stole my content

[pgaming]

just making a point that we should be reasonable and just otherwise we are no better than the bad guys!

Let's be as reasonable as Alphonso69 who steals content. I had no idea bad guys can be reasoned with.

Trust me ban him and do it quickly.

pgaming/ shaddy

[GFPC]

Hey Pgaming...

Thanks for the support man..

This what you posted in interesting. I have also searched his sites and noticed other things but what you have posted seems more serious..

Could you give a bit more explanation as to what he is doing? I am just interested in understanding this..

Is he using Black hat techniques to gain traffic? Or leeching GPWA members posts?

Forgive my ignorance - but one of the reasons I felt he decided to be avoiding us was because he wanted the pressure off him as he seems to be a really shaddy type.

And another AM? Wow - Could you elaborate?

The what if? Aside from the obvious Aphonso69 steals content. What if I suggest Alponoso69 works in unison with a popular AM dragging private discussions and content from the GPWA, placing it on hundreds of sites as hidden text? (Behind images shows in the source code but is not viewable)

The webmasters who steals content are usually doing more than one thinks. I do not view Steve’s concern just a matter of content theft. Alphonso69 is involved in many other slick deceitful tricks that are unwelcome here as they are at CAP ( a member there as well).

However, I will reserve my right of exposing this AM as it is the GPWA right to prolong Alphonso69 explosion. Furthermore, I will change my what if? to whatever? I have already taken swift and responsible action against Alphonso69. IMO the GPWA should have thrown him out the second GFPC grievance was known. I will spare the AM and contact the program personally.



Not so...In the U.S home invasion is sometimes meant with a gun the questions are asked latter providing the burglar is still alive.

pgaming/ shaddy

[pgaming]

Is he using Black hat techniques to gain traffic? Or leeching GPWA members posts?

Absolutely without doubt, after all how many times does one steal before they caught? Reason would tell me several times.

And another AM? Wow - Could you elaborate?

I would love too but has been my experience these boards only accept absolute facts. I may have some pretty convincing evidence but some would debunk it regardless. No such thing as absolute facts IMO this is why evidence is weighed.

That said…my scale tipped pointing towards a particular AM who may be involved. Rather having a circular debate I would rather contact this AM in private and see what the program has to say. But I can say the AM runs RTG.

GFPC I highly doubt the likes of Alphonso69 will be bothering you again except to apologize. I remain appalled the GPWA still gives Alphonso69 the opportunity to explain himself. They are no pacts between lions and men.

I hope the programs Alphonso69 deals with are locked. His earnings should be confiscated and donated to charity, Steve, or Tony. I know a few programs who will do this in heartbeat CR for instance. Perfect time of year to make a difference in someone's life Alphonso69 squander his lol.

pgaming/ shaddy

[GFPC]

Just an update for you all.

Alphonso69 was online again tonight at 12:44. I watched him stay online in the general chatter thread for a while.

He does come on and stay for a while - perhaps hes doing something as pgaming has hinted on.... don't know..

But still no reply and no comment back to me.

On a more positive front CAP admins over at CAP have frozen his account until he makes a public comment on his theft of my material.

CAP thread

Thanks CAP.

Steve

Screen shot to prove he was here again.

[thepokerkeep]

I was browsing the forums yesterday and came upon this set of GPWA Rules.

This rule addresses Steve's situation with Alphonso69:

Copyright Law/Material Theft - All members are expected to abide by the laws of copyright. Copying content from other sites (either member sites or non-member sites) without prior permission is unacceptable and will result in disciplinary proceedings and a possible ban.

In this case, I think we have been patient long enough. He has been online repeatedly since the stolen content was first discovered and brought to everyone's attention yet he has not made any attempt to contact Steve or explain his actions publicly, in the forums.

Unless Rick or Steven have heard from him, and have a reason not to ban him, I think Steve and Pat have provided proof to back up Steve's accusations...

Let's put this in the proper perspective:

Alphonso69 is not an active member here.
It has been proven he stole the content.
Alphonso69 has not bothered to respond to the charges.
Alphonso69 has been on the forums several times since the accusations were made so we know he is aware of the charges.

Sorry Rick, I know you are doing your job. But, every day that goes by gives Alphonso69 more time to access the private forums and rip off materials.

[GFPC]

After 4-5 days of pressure from the community and various Ams Alphonso69 finally emails me today at 4.01 with the email below.

Hello Steve

I got your e-mail by Connie of Slotocash on the issue of copy of your article,that I had placed (and since removed) on my blog.
Usually, I use articles found in free exchange or, I buy articles or texts on the internet for casino games.
However, for your article "Casino Articles Online - Reasons to Play Free Slots" ,I did not make attention, that this article was copyrighted and protected by copyscape.
I know, the problem I have caused to the community ,through carelessness and see the turn that takes this event.
I am sincerely sorry and regret the importance of my actions and I offer my apologies to the entire community.
I am a retiree of 66 years, and I need additional resources to live decently .... So I hope you will stop your complaint.

PS:Sorry for my bad english syntax,this is not my mother tongue.

Kind Regards,
Alphonse

Now based on the length of time it took for him to reply, and based on actions from th Ams and members and CAP freezing his account it does seem like pressure has brought him to finally try and be reasonable.

What is troubling is he claims he did not make attention to copyright. But as we all know we cannot go around surfing other member sites and chose what articles to take. Its not an ethical or good business practice. I think he knows this and understands what he did.

He did apologize to the community - similar to Treasure Chest the guy who sent out email spam who admitted to doing so...

I take this apology as he is admitting to content theft. He essentially is admitting to stealing my work and admits it was careless and wants me to stop my complaint.

I feel a hint of - he no longer wants the pressure on himself or the attention. And i can appreciate this but we still have the actions of a thief that needs to be resolved.

I can and will forgive him as a thief. Not someone who made an honest error. He clearly knows what he did was wrong. It was not an error. It was theft, so based on his apology i will no longer pursue an explanation as to why he stole it...

But thats as far as i can go on my own moral ground. I will forgive the guy like I said as a thief....

But since an admitted thief is part of our community we still need to vote on this as a community to send a message that content theft will not and cannot be tolerated by anyone.

Reasons of " I did not pay attention" " I was careless" cannot give a person a walk. Anyone can steal in the future and when questioned will say oh i am sorry i never paid attention. I did not know. I was careless.

I still hope Aff Active and Slotocash use moral judgement and ethical standards to discipline this admitted thief and failure to do so will instill in me a great loss of respect for their programs completely.

But the task at hand now is to allow the GPWA members to vote on this persons membership.

I still vote for his removal 100% and call for an immediate vote.

( i can forgive him personally - but as a member of a greater community i still find it necessary to have him removed.)

This is for the protection and integrity of the GPWA - Our forum!

Steve

[GFPC]

This is my email reply to Alphonso69 today at 6.52AM

Hello Alphonso,

I must admit I am disappointed in you as a GPWA and CAP member. But most
of all as a fellow webmaster.

Clearly you understand that content theft is a terrible practice. It
cannot not and will never be tolerated by me, or several other members of
our community.

Your reasons of you made no attention to the copyright issue is
unacceptable as you well know, you cannot go around copying peoples
articles and use them as your own.

You never even mentioned our site by linking and completely cut and paste
it for your own benefit.

You know how hard it is to compete in this industry and also know Google
penalizes our sites for duplicate articles.

You not only damaged your reputation but you put me at risk of getting a
penalty with Google for duplicate content and you stole from me.

I understand you are apologizing for your theft, and you are retired and
need money. But I want you to think about this and understand you did
this to yourself. You also put our industry at risk and shamed us with
your behaviour.

I can forgive you as a thief, but i would like you to voluntarily resign
your private membership from GPWA and CAP for no less then 3 months and
reflect on the severity of your actions.

Also i think you should make a public apology to the communities.

Perhaps if you did this we as a community can forgive you and in the 3
months you can reapply with a renewed outlook on the importance of being
an ethical webmaster.

Regards

[mojo]

I think that is perfectly reasonable Steve. A public apology first and foremost.

Whatever we do should be done as a vote so everyone has a say fairly. Whatever we do poll for should be done immediatly if I can suggest.

While this webmaster is retired and needs the money, he doesn't know who he's stealing from and if they need the money. Doesn't matter to him! That is what bothers me most. We all have our sob stories. That doesn't give us an excuse to steal and hurt others financially who may be, in fact, worse off! GRRRR.

Disturbing!

[casinojack]

Maybe steps such as

1. Notify right away, wait 24 hours
2. 25 hour if nor reply ban with a note so member knows why. This is a temp ban and can be lifted
3. hour 49 perm ban

something like that....

[GFPC]

That's a cool idea CJ!!!

CAP froze his account after the weekend, so at least that got his attention.

As he comes in here and there, he finally emailed me after CAP took action.

Likewise he did have a freeze on his affiliate account.

I see no reason why GPWA and CAP cant do a temporary ban period, so he cant log into any forum under his user name.

Give him time to reflect on his theft and other various black hat stuff.

But we still wait ....... and wait....

[CityGuard]

The communication now open and both myself and GFPC having sent messages to Alphonso69, including specific questions/requests that require more action from Alphonse. GFPC requests that Alphonso69 voluntarily give up membership on basis with the possibility of reapplying in the future. I ask that he review his site to check for other copied content and to remove any other violations of copyright standards that remain on his site. These are important possible steps for Alphonse, and his reaction -- in any direction -- will be revealing.

I think it makes sense to open the membership revocation vote once the replies are received or in 2-3 days if no replies are received.

Alphonso69 CCed me on the message he sent to GFPC (posted above). Here is my reply which includes the request I made for him to review for other possible issues and fix them if any are found (which I expect they will be):

Hi Alphonse,

Would you agree to review your website to search for other potentially copied content in order to ensure that the problem that happened in this case is not also happening in other cases? It appears that it may have occurred in other articles as well. It is important that this issue be corrected not only in the case of the specific article mentioned but also with broader improvements to have you go about ensuring that the content on your site adheres to copyright standards.

Many GPWA members have asked that we vote to determine whether your private membership in the association should be maintained or terminated. I believe a demonstration that you’re serious about the underlying issues – fixed them site-wide rather than in the one article – will help convey that you’ve learned from the situation. Please let me know if you would agree to conduct a site-wide review, and if so, when you expect that review will be completed.


Kind Regards,
Steven Corfman

[sloto]

Hello Steve,

Slotocash and myself personally agree with you that content theft is unacceptable. We are committed to acting quickly to assist the victims of theft, like yourself, and take actions like blocking any account associated with content theft, as we did in your case on Friday, December 11th and have been kept like that since that date.

We also provided your contact information to him so he can apologize directly to you vs. via Sloto'Cash like he did the same date. We also let him know about the forums and the public apology you were asking from him.

In regards to take severe action against that person, we can not take any further action on what we have already did as mentioned above. However, we have been in touch with him so you and him can interact.

Cheers,

Connie Burstin
---
This post is also at Sloto'Cash Forum.

[GFPC]

Steven thanks for posting this. I was about to do the same.

As i said in my post - its fine for him to clean his sites up for various content theft other than mine (there seems to be more) and other various stuff.

But i think its not unreasonable to set the stage for a vote as soon as possible.

The reason why i asked him to volunteer his resignation for at least 3 months is because another member here did that a while back when he was reported for email spam.

Now i know you are doing the best you can i appreciate that mate. I just think there needs to be vote right away since the members here think its a good idea and because he has admitted to unethical practices..

We can give him 3 months to sit on it, and reflect..

In 3 months - should he come back and re apply... if he was to pass the copyscape process i would vote yes. I would have felt he learned his lesson.

Connie - thank you for sharing your commitment to me and showing me what slotocash is/is not prepared to when it comes to affiliate unethical behaviour and content theft. I am disappointed. No reply from you is required. Thanks..

I am at the end of my rope on this - and i have to attend another GPWA member (showing my support) and making a difference in my community.

I almost feel like resigning from the GPWA myself - I never thought i would say these words.

[sloto]

Steve,

I need to reply because I don't understand what are you referring to about your dissapointment.

The affiliate account is closed from December 11th after getting your private message. I have been informing you on what I/Sloto'Cash have been doing from the same date via email and also putting you in touch with the affiliate
and respond directly to you the way you asked.

The affiliate can not login to his Sloto'Cash account. There is no more actions to do after that.

Regards,

Connie Burstin

[GCG]

Steve,

I need to reply because I don't understand what are you referring to about your dissapointment.

The affiliate account is closed from December 11th after getting your private message. I have been informing you on what I/Sloto'Cash have been doing from the same date via email and also putting you in touch with the affiliate
and respond directly to you the way you asked.

The affiliate can not login to his Sloto'Cash account. There is no more actions to do after that.

Regards,

Connie Burstin

Totally agree, that is all you can ask from an affiliate program.

Thanks Connie for your swift action !

[thepokerkeep]

Does this mean the affiliate account will remain closed or is it going to be opened again once he cleans up his sites?

[GFPC]

Hey Connie,

Miscommunication between us sorry..

Based on the email where we agreed not to post the actions of Sloto Cash the impression i got was his account was blocked only until he removed the material.

As noted in your email,

"Sloto'Cash will block their account until they removed the content that have stolen from you."

I thought his account was re opened...

but if your your saying he no longer is an affiliate of Sloto Cash yes then for sure Sloto Cash and yourself have really done a good job stopping content theft and i seriously appreciate that.

I was only going by the email.. and i know you helped out a great deal.

As Poker Keep noted.... it seemed confusing for me.

But since i now know this was a permanent action from you, your right nothing more can be done...

Thank you Connie!

[mojo]

Ok guys. Enough time has gone by. I personally demand some justice here.

What we need to focus on is that theft, theivery, debauchary whatever is just as harmful to affilaites as retro terms!

Another day cannot go by without addressing this member!!!!

GPWA, I know the wheels turn slow so lets change that!

I have to say I am glad the gpwa is not the police in my neighborhood.
The theives would be running around stealing while you wait for a fair trial! I'd hide all my belongings in a hole in the backyard. Is that what the gpwa wants us to do? I have already removed my siggy links. Next will be the seal. Heck, you are being compared to CAP here because CAP already suspended him! Is anyone reading?
On the other hand, if I was a criminal, I would want you on my jury!

Let's go!

edit to add:

why is it that we have to get mad and aggresive to get anything done here at the largest affiliate forum. Amend the 'lets have a trial first'. NO! Suspend Soft first. Take no prisioners! This is serious. This is not a kangaroo court or a witch hunt. This is CRIMINAL! I swear sometimes I think there is to much pissing consests here and politics and testosterone. I am editing as we speak but I think we will keep that last comment. Shoot me. I offer apologies Steve for not stepping up soooner!!!

[Anthony]

Steven is the "lead investigator", I will make sure he chimes in here in the morning.

[mojo]

Steven is the "lead investigator", I will make sure he chimes in here in the morning.

Thanks Anthony and sorry for my continued editing.

Before we address anything like that, please kindly request to deal with alphonso immediately from mojo and steve. Personal request. Thank you.