General Forum

We need more of this! Maybe we can actually get an answer with an abundance!

Just made another post on their Facebook page... Let's see what happens ???

www.facebook.com/BuySportsCards/

I just realized something.
I mentioned earlier in this thread about one of mine he stole. A Kurt Thomas black printing plate that is doubly unique because a previous owner had autographed (for some reason, I don't know why). 

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/29200/cid/3166154/2004-05-Topps-Chrome---Printing-Plates-Black-82-Kurt-Thomas

I had to get special admin approval to post a scan of it because it had been altered and was no longer in the condition in which it was originally released. But since it was already a 1/1 before the signature was added, it was either make an exception to the TCDB submission rules or never be able to add an image for it.
I was looking at it today again, verifying the date I added it (April 23, 2015) and realized something. I uploaded it to the wrong card. I'm not sure why (but I'd only been here a couple of months), but I had it in my head this was from the CHROME set but it's actually the regular non-chrome set. I realized this while doing a Google image search for the image on TCDB and it led me to a website for some guy sharing images of his collection. He has the image of the actual Chrome plate on his site and it's obvious that I uploaded my images to the wrong card.

Guess who also has an image of my card, as modified, listed on their online shop and also incorrectly linked to the Chrome set?
https://buysportscards.com/product/799850402a54ecf7ae88fbc90318642c
 

Now, the fact that I have owned this card since I got off eBay means that the only image of this card that is likely to exist online is the one I added to TCDB. EBay doesn't keep an image archive (that's public at least) that goes back that far and I got this off eBay prior to October 14, 2014 because I have it recorded in an old excel copy of my collection that was last saved on that date. That means that this card has been in my possession and only my possession for at least 7.5 years. 

Combine that with the complete uniqueness of the altered 1 of 1 and the error in the listing on our database and I don't see how anyone could think that BSC got this from anywhere other than stealing our data.

Stealing names and addresses may be illegal. An actual crime, instead of just copying the images which unfortunately do fall under fair use. I'm not particularly knowledgeable in that area but someone with more knowledge than I might be able to shed more light on it. 

*deleted by author*

At this point, legality is not even the issue. It's the fact that he's presenting himself as this tireless entrepreneur whose passion for the hobby is so great that he regularly puts in 80-hour weeks working on this site (check out any of his personal social media accounts... he goes on and on about it on Twitter) that has done all this work and made his website the most informative website on Earth about trading cards WITHOUT so much as mentioning the existence of TCDB. And now he's getting more outlets to reach more people to spread his message.

Legal or not, he is a fraud that is making money off of other people's work and insinuating he did it all himself. That does not sit well with me. I don't participate in the vision of the TCDB for fame or money, but I absolutely have no interest in doing work that is only going to be used by some charlatan to make money.

I got a flyer and have never entered my address in TCDB.  I feel like it is probably more likely that they bought an address book from some card show or user data from one of the many failing companies that popped up over the last couple of years. I have entered my address in dozens of places for hobby related things; I am sure if the site was hacked and user data was stolen the Admin would have told this to us and this company would be served court papers.  This seems like a conspiracy theory unless I've missing some evidence here 

"At this point, legality is not even the issue. It's the fact that he's presenting himself as this tireless entrepreneur whose passion for the hobby is so great that he regularly puts in 80-hour weeks working on this site"

You mean just like the point farmers on this site? I agree with Billy; images are publicly accessible so whether you own the only one of a SN card and uploaded an image here, it is not illigal for someone else to copy it and make use of it.  If it was so, TCDb would have been sued and shut down years ago.

But it does worry me that he has acquired an address "book" with all of our addresses. Then of course, so far there have not been any Canadians who received his flyer so maybe he is like many here who do not wish to trade outside the 48 States.

Likely this isnt the only site mined for data.

I'm with Ron on this. Most likely this individual has used other sites and probably purchased a contact list from another vendor. And I'm not an attorney, but I would assume the legality of it all has already been hashed out.

That being said, presenting all this "work" as his raises an ethical issue with me. And if I have the option, I will not patronize a business where I question their ethics.

But I won't let it deter me from improving this site by uploading images. In the end, I am not harmed by someone else using it for their own purposes and I feel the betterment to this site out weighs any perceived affront by me.