Gregg, it appears to me that you are the only one on her out to stir the pot enough to conjure up drama.
First off, this is an info thread, it is not a Bad Guy nor a Good Guy thread. People who read it can make their own informed (with the help of this thread) opinion on Florida Herps and anyone affiliated or associated with them.
Second, you seem to be missing the actual point as to why stealing other people's photos for the sole purpose of making money is wrong. These people are taking photos that they never took, do not own, have no rights to (as fun as it would be to take a dog's approach to owning things, that is not how it works in the adult world) and are using them to advertise animals they are selling. They are not making it a point to tell anyone that the photos offered are merely a general representation of the animal and not the actual animal the are getting. In fact, there is no mention at all that the animals listed are not what they have on site unless it states "Out of Stock", in which case, the assumption that that very animal is no longer in stock could be made. However, because they are flippers, resellers, whatever you want to call them, they have so many animals moving in and out they do not take pictures of any of them.
That alone is highly suspect, really.
You run a high volume business where you "hand pick" animals from select breeders in one state, essentially showing that you collect only the best of the best, yet you cannot provide pictures of them? You have no camera and no time to do so? Really? Also, most of the stolen photos have hands in them, as if someone there is actually holding them as to further validate that particular animal in their facility and ready to be shipped to a customer willing to pay.
This is poor business ethics, through and through. Many of the larger resellers in the industry who have a good reputation either just have a list of animals available without photos or a generic photo that they state is a generic photo. They also use the descriptions in the plural form to let you know there is more than one. These people do not do this. They have purposefully set up their inventory as if the one and only one they have is, in fact, depicted in that photo.
Last, I do agree that the stolen care scenairo is a poor example, but how about I give you this one? You write a paper for class, for pleasure, for whatever reason ... you never have any intention of really doing anything with said paper, but one day, someone finds it, reads it and publishes it under their name. They then make a nice profit off of a paper you created and you get nothing from it. What then? I could easily go your route of "a paper is not that hard to create" because, for me, it is not. So, what would you do then? Is it wrong then? Is it your fault for having that paper somewhere where someone was able to get their hands on it? I wonder.
They are using those photos for profit, for advertisement, to make themselves look better. The community has every right to know this so they can judge for themselves if they wish to do business with these people.
The reason so many poor businessmen, scammers and con artists get away with things is because people will often not open their mouths to tell people about it until it is too late or never at all. If you prefer to sit in a little bubble and not deal with it, then do not read the thread. Or at least deal with the fact people may not agree with you and that fact alone is not what makes them out to find drama.
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completely.
