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Comment by andrewmcwatters | Hacker News Reader

Did you steal some of that code from Visual Idiot instead of creating your own version?

http://www.hostmeinca.com/assets/js/animated-background.js

Edit: Thanks HN; I wasn't aware the code was from Codrops. Move along, folks, nothing to see here.

Sorry dude! Nice site. Don't go for an internship though. You command an escalation of experience that opens doors to regular full time positions. You clearly don't know what you've got.

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"Steal" seems to be a slightly strong word. It looks like it's open source and just missing the license.[1]

I'd prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt rather than jump straight to accusations.

[1] I didn't look too hard, but I came up with this link quickly: https://gist.github.com/benjaminsinger/ad5231be7748de3a9a11#... - I didn't immediately see the license on the original it was forked from, but this one has a license, so I assume there's some sort of compatibility.

His entire page is a composite of other people's open source work, the achievement isn't in writing anything new, it's just in how well it's been put together.

In other words, he can't create anything and will be useless for any decent company.

AFAIK This script came from Tympanus/Codrops, not VI. I've used a version of this script as well for a project. I mean, it'd be better if Marek used even a modified background instead of taking the entire example from Codrops, but I don't think it would be 'stealing' as much as reusing tutorial code.

Link - http://tympanus.net/codrops/2014/09/23/animated-background-h... (Click 'View Demo')

Good to know!

http://codepen.io/MarcoGuglielmelli/details/lLCxy

Original author commented, and this was referenced:

http://tympanus.net/Development/AnimatedHeaderBackgrounds/

This seems to be the original author: http://rachsmith.com/

Are you positive in your claim that Visual Idiot owns the code?

Clearly I was wrong! I guess I'm not so in the know as I think I am. Thanks for the background info.

I think the code is on Github. Stealing code is part of the job these days if a license allows.

There's no license there, so I'd have to assume he asked for permission.

I want to see how he approaches this. Since this site is about him and "his" work.

Interesting, how did you even catch this?

Visual Idiot is a notable name in the design community. It would be like stealing from Tobias Van Schneider or something. You can't get past people in the know.

But how did you even make the connection? I don't see the text "Visual Idiot" anywhere. And were you just browsing his js files? Or did the UI of the site feel familiar?

Ah, I just went to http://vaguelyexciting.com/. I'm assuming you recognized the moving dots/lines and made then connection yourself, then compared JS files to confirm.

If you go to the Visual Idiot site it has the same background effect so if you've looked at both sites it would be a pretty easy observation.

Are you related to VisualIdiot? :)

lol nope

I don't see the same background effect on this site. Where is it? I can see it on the VI page, though.

Almost at the bottom of the page with his contact info:

http://www.hostmeinca.com/#cta

"steal" as if you never used someone else's code. There's not even a notice on the original, I'm hard pressed to find him at fault.

Can't speak for that poster, but while I've used other people's code for educational purposes I am not aware of a time when I've used someone else's code against its restrictions. And bear in mind that code without a license notice is not a free-for-all, it's restricted until other rights are explicitly granted.

(I have no opinion on this situation nor am I qualified to judge it. Other people have a more fully-formed opinion than I do, and it does sound like it's properly open-sourced anyway.)

He should make an effort to attribute the work that isn't his.

> There's not even a notice on the original

No license on the original means you don't have the right to use it.

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