I've looked and looked, but I can't find any contact info for the site's system administrators. I had to register as a user so that I could click on the post and ask the OP to take it down. For all the good it will do.
Well, it's not like that have any incentive to make it easy for rights holders to send them complaints. :P
From what I've seen, fighting this kind of piracy is like playing whack-a-mole. You kind of have to do it, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. :/
I forget, do your books have paper editions? If so, then it might not be a huge deal in the long run. Most people still prefer paper books these days. (I do, despite only being published in electronic format -- I buy a lot of e-books these days because it's the only format much of m/m is available in.) Writers who've experimented (Mercedes Lackey comes immediately to mind, and Cory Doctorow of course) have found that giving away free e-books drives increased sales of their hardcopy books.
Of course, if you're only available in e-book format, then readers who've tried and liked your e-books have much less incentive to buy a legit copy. :/
And even if actual lost sales are low or negligible, it's annoying that people are stealing something. It's just incredibly uncool. I don't use pirated anything, not e-books or music or movies or games, nothing. I've known people who work in various heavily pirateable industries for a long time, and have been aware on a personal level that taking an illegal copy of something makes it that much harder for someone like the people I know to pay the rent or feed their kids. Massively uncool.
Anyway, I hope the OP pays attention. :/
Angie
PS -- did you try something like postmaster@viprasys.com? That'll usually get to someone who works for the company.
I just rechecked the site, and they banned me for posting spam!
They've also apparently taken down the post about TA, or maybe they've only made it visible to registered users. Want to volunteer to go over there and register and let me know if the file's still up?
I went and registered and it's gone. So they're jerks about your request, but at least they got rid of it. Of course, all the others are still there. :/
I've reported them to the company that provides their software, VBulletin. They appear to be a legitimate company. Let's hope they take a dim view of another company using their product for illegal purposes.
We can hope. [nod] I'll keep a set of virtual fingers crossed for you.
Another thought is to contact your publisher about it and let them dig up some names for Viprasys. Also put it on their watch list, if they have one. :/
9 comments:
Joy. :( Is there someone in charge of that circus you can complain to?
Angie
I've looked and looked, but I can't find any contact info for the site's system administrators. I had to register as a user so that I could click on the post and ask the OP to take it down. For all the good it will do.
Well, it's not like that have any incentive to make it easy for rights holders to send them complaints. :P
From what I've seen, fighting this kind of piracy is like playing whack-a-mole. You kind of have to do it, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. :/
Angie
On the one hand, it's kind of flattering that people want to read my book so badly, they're willing to pirate it.
But on the other... who knows how many sales I've lost? Which is irritating.
I forget, do your books have paper editions? If so, then it might not be a huge deal in the long run. Most people still prefer paper books these days. (I do, despite only being published in electronic format -- I buy a lot of e-books these days because it's the only format much of m/m is available in.) Writers who've experimented (Mercedes Lackey comes immediately to mind, and Cory Doctorow of course) have found that giving away free e-books drives increased sales of their hardcopy books.
Of course, if you're only available in e-book format, then readers who've tried and liked your e-books have much less incentive to buy a legit copy. :/
And even if actual lost sales are low or negligible, it's annoying that people are stealing something. It's just incredibly uncool. I don't use pirated anything, not e-books or music or movies or games, nothing. I've known people who work in various heavily pirateable industries for a long time, and have been aware on a personal level that taking an illegal copy of something makes it that much harder for someone like the people I know to pay the rent or feed their kids. Massively uncool.
Anyway, I hope the OP pays attention. :/
Angie
PS -- did you try something like postmaster@viprasys.com? That'll usually get to someone who works for the company.
I just rechecked the site, and they banned me for posting spam!
They've also apparently taken down the post about TA, or maybe they've only made it visible to registered users. Want to volunteer to go over there and register and let me know if the file's still up?
I went and registered and it's gone. So they're jerks about your request, but at least they got rid of it. Of course, all the others are still there. :/
I've reported them to the company that provides their software, VBulletin. They appear to be a legitimate company. Let's hope they take a dim view of another company using their product for illegal purposes.
We can hope. [nod] I'll keep a set of virtual fingers crossed for you.
Another thought is to contact your publisher about it and let them dig up some names for Viprasys. Also put it on their watch list, if they have one. :/
Angie
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