[thelist] Site Copycat (Special Circumstances Involved)

[James Aylard]

David Bindel wrote:

> A few people have told me that "imitation is the sincerest form of
> flattery", but the big problem is that he does not how CSS or PHP
> works, so whenever he gets a new project he comes running to me for
> help because he has no idea where to begin.   Then he copies what I
> have done, calls it his own, and gets money for it.  He's pretending
> to be what he is not, and eventually it will catch him when he is
> unable to do what a client has asked for (without my help).

> What else can I do?

    For starters, stop bailing him out. Offer him no further help until he
does the following:

1) Rewrites his sites so that they are completely his own, and
2) Makes no claims on his sites that you know are untrue

    He'll either have to learn it honestly, or he will sink under the weight
of his inexperience and deceitfulness -- the sooner the better.

James Aylard
evolt at pixelwright.com