Pizzagate.com , a website which claims to be the front page for Pizzagate researchers like you and I, is now attempting to sell information and even graphics which were provided by users from Voat and http://pizzagate.wiki as their own.
While that might not be necessarily be illegal considering the Wiki is public domain, graphics provided by a close friend and a leading contributor to Pizzagate Wiki were expressly given copyright unto their creator, as can be found by the ridiculous Copyright page I actually bothered to fill out myself well over a month ago. See: http://pizzagate.wiki/The_Pizzagate_Wiki:Copyrights
And I quote: "Content provided on The #Pizzagate Wiki is public domain, except for various site-specific logos and graphics, which remain under the copyright of their respective creators."
Now I present to you the artfully, brilliantly crafted Pizzagate Wiki banners and works made for us by beloved contributor, Sliceoflife: http://pizzagate.wiki/images/8/8a/Banner-pizzagate-wiki.png
As well as their series of "Pamphlets" which will soon look very familiar: http://pizzagate.wiki/Activism#Pamphlets
In contrast here are a set of "posters" which are offered on Pizzagate.com as being original (albeit very crudely manipulated): http://pizzagate.com/posters/ https://archive.is/JXz1c
The Wiki's freely available information is frequently quoted and prominently displayed, for example here: https://archive.is/Tfrk8#selection-1363.0-1449.30 and here: https://archive.is/Tfrk8#selection-1363.0-1449.30
There is also no argument that a bulk, if not almost all the Instagram images and the like belong to their respective owners as well, even if we dislike them personally. Also, that research was absolutely and completely taken (often word for word) from early researchers on 4chan, 8ch, Reddit, etc. who are not given even the slightest mention. Their research remains publicly available for free, and pizzagate.com does not in any way expound upon this research in a new way or represent it to the reader in a different medium that hasn't already been done freely (ie. https://citizeninvestigators.org, https://our.wikileaks.org, and of course, http://pizzagate.wiki))
The owners of this site have repeatedly asked for sums from $2,500 to $12,500 in order to "recover the cost" of the website, and it is currently available on Flippa.com for a minimum bid of $12,500: https://flippa.com/7906106-pizzagate-com (For the record, you scummy fucks: https://archive.is/FCGHH))
As for the claim of recovering the cost, I personally (coincidentally enough) tried to purchase pizzagate.com myself just before settling on pizzagate.wiki
I didn't make this decision because pizzagate.com was thousands of dollars, but rather more like a difference between $30 and $50, plus to me Wiki just made more sense for a Wiki. This was via GoDaddy, and in absolutely no way would the price of a domain spike in such a manner unless the creators of pizzagate.com were scammed.
For this reason I claim not only does pizzagate.com commit unethical and possibly civilly-liable behavior for attempting to profit from this material, but in some cases (ie. the posters) may actually infringe upon the copyrights of others in the name of said profit.
Here's to every serious researcher who has conducted their work without need for self-gain and most importantly fortune, and do their work intrepidly and without regard for profits.
update: /v/pizzagate mod Millenial_Falcon: "He also took most of his material directly from my summary without attribution."
From /v/pizzagate mod wecanhelp:
@pizzagateDOTcom, the owner of pizzagate.com
- admittedly based pizzagate.com on @Millennial_Falcon's summary sticky;
- claimed that they don't trust anybody for owning the domain other than Donald J. Trump, then proceeded with the auction hoping to sell to the highest bidder whomever that may be;
- claimed that their sole purpose was to get their initial investment of $2500 back and abandon ship as fast as possible, before they specified $12,500 as the smallest bid increment on the domain auction;
- deleted each and every comment on the auction page.
Pizzagate.com is not considered trusted on this subverse anymore, and will be marked as a security risk whenever it comes up. Please ping me or another mod if you see the link posted somewhere.
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wecanhelp ago
This is really flattering and all, but @altnewshost, @AngryTurd, @boxingHelenahhh, @breakdancerbb, @communityleader, @concernedMother, @cumwithme, @deltaniner, @dominoesonpizza, @downwithcomet, @fearisnotanoption, @FREESYRIA, @GarlifieldsFriend, @getOFFmyKID, @greatperson, @hitlerdidnothing, @Im-with-him, @JesusWillSaveUs, @OnMyRag, @realjustice, @rodeoclown, @seriousDude, @SGTsteve, @stickit, @suicideWatch, @SweetBBQguy, @WhiteNigger, @wizeman, and possibly more are all accounts just a few hours old, registered exclusively to comment aggressively on this topic, and they seem to all be heavily pushing the agenda of a lawsuit against pizzagateDOTcom. This is most accounts in this comment thread. See my observations of downwithcomet. I'm suspecting that this is both to discourage sharing the results of investigation on the web in the future, and to hijack the focus and resources of the community and make us invest in a lawsuit that has nothing to do with the original investigation, potentially providing grounds for the media to smear us for it.
@RebelSkum, FYI. This might be worth a bold edit in the post. Don't let the community feed the fire shills are trying to start.
I've banned the users from the subverse.
RebelSkum ago
Copy that. I guess brigades can work both ways? Very weird development
wecanhelp ago
Indeed. Thanks for the edit.
RebelSkum ago
Have we seen this kind of thing before here on Voat?
Not sure what to really think or do from here but it's disheartening to say the least.
wecanhelp ago
Brigading happens, although I have to say I haven't personally seen this level of it before. I've banned 28 users, they literally took over the narrative on this submission and another on /v/pizzagatewhatever, a lot of effort went into this.
I think this was a strong post that was not pushing for action regarding the main investigation but rather a member of the community, and it was a fertile ground for hijacking. We have to keep an eye out for this in the future.
RebelSkum ago
Had to also throw in my personal opinion on suing pizzagateDOTcom: Brigading on all sides is attempting to schism the Voat Pizzagate community. Mysterious flood of users demands and later claims I am running a class-action lawsuit against pizzagateDOTcom, which I couldn't give a flying fuck about doing because I have no grounds to sue them nor would I care to. This thread was simply meant to point out the web of lies orchestrated by pizzagateDOTcom, how it takes advantage of the community, how strange the profits really are, and how those who have legitimate claims to their copyrights being infringed upon now have more grounds to take action and important material archived.
wecanhelp ago
Appreciated. It is important not to lose focus since that's exactly what they want us to do.
RebelSkum ago
Oi, I'm disappointed to hear that, but thanks for looking out. That thread in /v/pizzagatewhatever sure puts a lot of words in my mouth and isn't right either.
You just gotta do the best you can to try and stop all the fuckery, but it's everywhere I guess.
sigh I need a smoke