Fundamentally the majority of sites (this includes 888) derive commercial interests from this industry. Granted it’s the nature of the beast to be competitive. However, in regard to the 888 issues, it seems pretty obvious to me that the level of conduct which I’d reserve and expect, especially that a tuned to a large corporate company , is at best lacking at 888. At worst it’s a case of we can do what we want attitude.
My idealistic views are what challenges, drives and in essence motivates me to not only evaluate my own course, but, also that which I’m committed to with my passion for this our industry. In saying that I honestly believe it is our (webmasters) industry too.
Speaking as a webmaster, our resources are constructed from our own words, our own ideas. The majority of us invest countless hours, in tuning, arranging, changing our sites to be the best they can be.
Is it any wonder that when webmasters discover a rogue webmaster has collected (scraped) these works and are using their copyrighted material to promote a company ( in the case 888) that should uphold a level of integrity far above allowing this practice to continue, is it any wonder the webmasters are becoming enraged.
Breaking it down to simple terms, It’s a kin to fencing (accepting stolen goods) acquiring financial gain from property that does not belong to you or the person your purchasing the goods from. Which in terms of rogue webmasters they are generating players by using another webmasters property.
Allowing rogue webmasters to continue this practice regardless of 888’s financial gains, is not ethical, just, or right!
Excellent post. 