Dear All,

in my e-mail today I saw that apparently a Cityvibe account, and advert, had been created for me, unbeknownst to me.  This was utilising materials (my copy and two photos) from my Eros ad.  Should I say perhaps stolen?  However, it IS in my name.

Has anyone encountered this?  Did someone do something without my permission?  I know one young lady who PAYS to have an advert on this site.

I hope someone in the TER community can enlighten me; I wrote to them thusly:

"I did not create an account!  Why is this happening?  Should I be thanking you instead of being completely flummoxed?"

Thank you,
design.lust

i was wondering  if this had happened to other ladiez too! they've done it several times.. 7 to  be exact.. i believe it's to try to direct some traffic from eros,backpage the TOP TIER sites in hopes that you will pay to post on their site as well...

i find this interesting because it seems to boast a pretty expansive selection of girls and whatnot.. wonder what caused them to revert to this tactic!

But their support is nice and helpful if you email them and talk to them about it they will work with you.

They see ads posted on TER, Backpage, Eros and whatever other site, copy the text, take the photos and set you up a free account for however long. They do it in hopes you will pay for their advertising once the free trail is up.  But it's plagiarizing at the very least!

However, they can not seem to understand what they are doing isn't right.  You can notify me you have "done me a favor" and gave me free advertisement, yet you can't send me an email ASKING if I want to utilize your service for a trail period??  

I can't stand them.  I literally fought tooth and nail with them to have my ad removed and it resulted in me having to send my lawyer to them and let them know I was serious.

Web sites charge for advertising based on the amount of traffic to the site. None of these sites makes money from provider advertising, they make money from product advertising by companies. They sell provider advertising for cheap or for free to attract traffic.

In essence, advertising prices will be higher on Google vs. Yahoo. Works the dame as TV ratings. One based on number of viewers and the other based on number of visitors to the site.

Let me tell you another little fact, once you put your picture on the web for everyone, you are no longer protected by copy right laws, it becomes what is called the "public domain". Hence, the problem with Face Book, You Tube, Twitter and plethora of Social Networking sites. You can yell and scream from the roof tops to mountain tops, there is really not much protection when you become part of the "public domain".

Basically, advertising, selling information and analytics is how all of these sites make money.

I get a message from them saying they're putting my ad up for however many days. I don't mind it, personally, although I can see how it could get bothersome. As someone else pointed out, their help people are pretty helpful.

They always call and ask me for my permission first....i've never had them just do a free listing for me without asking.

UGH.  I used to pay to advertise on CityVibe but it wasn't bringing me any patrons so I dropped it.  Yet my webstats revealed that the hits were still coming.  Well, they kept my ad up and even created a little badge ad for me.  I think they still show my holiday-themed pictures they stole from another advertising LAST DECEMBER lol.  (Yeah, they kept it up throughout the 112 degree Vegas summer!)

My photographer has been speaking out about other sites that are stealing our copy and images.  In this case, the owner of the site allegedly makes money when someone clicks on the advertisements.    

It's frustrating when website owners assume we are all desperate for free advertising and happy to get more traffic.  I know that many of us are particular about where we place our ads and carefully consider the type of gentleman we wish to attract.  Grrrrr.