This cock that I used to be friends with edits and publishes a free magazine that is distributed around the county of Wiltshire, the original concept was actually my idea, we printed a the original issues under a different title but the format, content, layout etc was 80% my work, when I saw that he'd just ripped it off and not credited me it irked me slightly but I didn't really care.

He came up to me whilst I was sat in my local, I was sat with friends and he came over with some friends of his, they asked how I knew him and I told them that we used to run the original concept which he then totally ripped off not crediting me he owned up to them and looked throughly stupid then…

…he published the following letter, which I had no knowledge of until another friend of mine told me, it reads as such:

Dear (magazine name),
Your magazine is unoriginal, not funny and a total
copy of a black and white fanzine going around
(local town) in the late 90s called (original name)
that was created by your current editor (editor name).
Well, except for the (rubbish local new pastiche) stuff, (appalling problem page) ,
The Horoscope and most of it. But you still don’t
have an original bone in your body and everything
you do and will ever do is frankly awful. I’m not
bitter and twisted in any way shape or form and
have made a real success of my life. And just
because my name looks like a joke name and one
that you would just make up to fill the letters page
doesn’t make me any less of a real person.
Anyway, once again I would like to say that you
are crap.
(my name)
(my town of residence)

now I never wrote that, he's published it in his puerile rag and also stuck it online on its website available to download or view online.

I didn't write that letter, not a word. In fact I can't quite understand what he hoped to achieve by it, but it doesn't strike me as responsible or descent behavior, especially by an editor of a so called magazine.

so, a penny for your thoughts?

think the test is "impuned your reputation among your peers" or similar. He's not called you names etc but has misrepresented you. I don't think that's the same. But I'm not a libel lawyer…and they are rare.

He sounds like a ****, looking to get a rise out of you. Looks like he's got it. Don't waste any time or energy on this loser, just get on with your life.

Bummer.

Do you have a link to the website if you don't mind?

I think you've been cocked.

I was cocked a long while ago, a cock that I used to live with started up a record label that was hip for a while and released a record that was hip with the hipsters. That was nice. Thing is though, he'd moved out of the shared house a year beforehand, didn't tell me of his plans and unlikely though it seems I was responsible for 2/3 of the tune he put on vinyl and released under his nome de plume…

(it was a noisy DHR style thing by the way. But different..unique!)

Anyway, I only found out a year later when I bumped into a mutual friend
in a local pub, and lo and behold, there he was. He assumed I knew of his craven behaviour, and was very apologetic. He promised to send me a copy of said record.(edit)He lived just around the corner too(edit) He never did, as he was a cock, and that's what cocks do.

In your case, you could probably **** his ass if you feel inclined. Good luck to you.

Brant I was avoiding posting links, kill it please my dear! (good skills though, its just I know our brethren here have the ability to knock websites over etc)

Offer him the chance to publish a grovelling retraction / apology otherwise you will seek be forced to seek recompense for the damaged reputation and mental anguish this has caused.

hell hath no fury like someone made to look like an arse in front of his mates

maybe you'll be in every issue from now

Brant, do you know that that link you posted crashes firefox? I'm reporting you to the mods.

I bet you were behind the hacking last year too.

Brant, do you know that that link you posted crashes firefox?

Phew thought it was my lappy, had to open in IE.

Do you not own a set of bombers???

take him out and fill him full of Swindons finest er ok Arkels then, and then

Own him 👿

yep offered him to publish a full and unburied retraction or to learn about "punitive damages"

I've a set of 66's, think they'd do? 😀

do you want me to sort him out for you? 😆

I would suggest a solicitors letter and then forget about it. Worth a few quid to get him scared?

Life is too short. The folk that know you and you care about will not be influenced by it and the fact that you have the name that you do will mean that most other folk will think its just a made up name anyway and dismiss the letter as completely fictional.
Forget about it and move on.

Treat it with the contempt it deserves MrN.

it does make me laugh that he felt so aggrieved by my honesty that he decided to cook up such a self depreciating crock of shite then publish it in his puerile throw away vehicle for selling cheap advertising peppered with tiny dicked humor!

Sorry man – I reported myself to the mods and ask them to delete it.

Knock up your own short 1 edition only version, take the piss out of him for seveal pages, and just post it round to his mates and places he goes?

The same sort of thing (almost) happened to me with a mate from Uni.

I was at work one day after I graduated when a mate from school comes into the office asking if I knew anyone that did websites. I put him in touch with my mate and the two started workign together.

Fast forward a few years and the two have a multi-million pound (so they said) business. I got nada from either of them as a thank you and at their book launch, I didn't even get a mention. My uni mate said at one point that he was going to get me something as a thank you, but ended up spending the money he had earmarked for it on a night out. Which was nice of him to say.

Anyway, long story short, he's no longer a mate.

You think his magazine is gash. He has posted a spoof letter from you saying his magazine is gash.

I lack your emotional involvement in the case, but my advice would be to ignore it entirely. There is nothing you could do which would not give him more and funnier ammunition to send you up. 🙂

Sorry Willard, that might be a bit harsh, but I don't see how you are entitled (legally anyway, and even morally) to any money out of that – goodwill only.

BD has a point. See the badger thread for conclusive proof.

so lets get this straight you are saying he makes a duff rag 80% of which was your idea, so you are moaning about him pretending to be you moaning about your own duff idea

I've been checking out the mag. Duff is a good word.
Also, it looks like a ton of other spoof mags in existence.
I'd ignore it and get back to Twittering if I were you 😉

Is this it? Looks like a load of amateurish pap to me.

I would just ignore the whole thing. It doesn't sound like he has misrepresented you at all, and if you do decide to retaliate you will only become embroiled in an undignified nerd fight that only two people in the entire world care about.

Cynic-al,

I know that. If it were me though, I'd at least get someone a token if they'd done the same thing for me.

Legally – no leg
Morally – not the done thing.

so lets get this straight you are saying he makes a duff rag 80% of which was your idea, so you are moaning about him pretending to be you moaning about your own duff idea

I LOLed at that.

MrNutt – You obviously got under his skin in the first place, just be happy that the best he can do is that feeble effort in retaliation.

Perhaps they think it's funny?

There's loads of stuff in the mag that presumably someone thinks is funny or perhaps I'm getting old.

Don't let it get to you.

MrA – I reckon you're right:
At first pulpy, at length filled with flocci and dust-like spores.
The Myxogastres ave been claimed by De Bary for the animal kingdom.

A direct steal from one of MrNutt's twitter entries.

Pursuing a libel action is expensive. Really expensive. A publisher I worked with retained (and probably still does) Peter Carter Ruck & Partners, some of the most costly (and effective) libel lawyers in the country. This was for two reasons:

1: It scared the bejeesus out of other briefs and those trying to sue
2: It stopped those trying to sue from retaining Peter Carter Ruck & Partners.

Bearing in mind he's not misrepresenting your views per se, it's questionable whether he has libelled you. He may have defence of satire, for that matter.

Someone's mentioned impugning reputations; basically, the test is if he's lowered your standing in the estimation of right thinking members of the public.

Seeing as you've publcly said *twice* – on this forum and in a pub – basically what he put in the joke letter from you, any decent brief would be giving you a long, hard Paddington Bear stare about now. Because they are charging for their time, and calling the client a bit of an eejit or worse is counter-productive.

Chalk it up to experience, realise that it's proof final that your ex-mate is a bit of a pillock, and move on. Demanding a retraction and generally stropping out will make you look a bit of a nobber. Especially if it's some pisspoor freesheet with a readership of five. Be the bigger man.

Do you have a link to the website if you don't mind?

http://www.theocelot.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=672

Seeing as you've publcly said *twice* – on this forum and in a pub – basically what he put in the joke letter from you, any decent brief would be giving you a long, hard Paddington Bear stare about now. Because they are charging for their time, and calling the client a bit of an eejit or worse is counter-productive.

LOL, beautifully put 😎

Sorry willard, but I'm with cynic-al on this one. You introduced two people, who then created a sucessful business. Nothing like the OP as you did nothing to make the business work. Hey, I introduced my best mate to his fiance. Did I get a 3some out of it, did I ****…

Did I get a 3some out of it, did I ****…

Did you want a threesome with your best mate then?

No. Can you work out the other option?

To be fair, I did leave myself open for that

😥

It was rather a good line though. 🙂

The mods have removed the URL once and someone posts it again. Oh well, some people do like to show how "clever" they are.

If he's got a warehouse then TJ's your man…….