Cafe Press inciting violence against cyclists



On May 25, 10:51 am, Lynne Fitz <[email protected]> wrote:
> Nope. Still there...
>
> On May 25, 10:34 am, "Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > Take a look ... and then call or e-mail:

>
> > >http://tinyurl.com/3d4xht

>
> > Link now says "product not found". Evidently people did call or e-mail.


Yeah. Still there.

They seemed to have removed a t-shirt from this ... uh ... company's
product line, but I'd like to get the message across that this
SENTIMENT--in whatever format it's sold--is unacceptable.
 
[email protected] wrote:
> On May 25, 10:51 am, Lynne Fitz <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Nope. Still there...
>>
>> On May 25, 10:34 am, "Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> [email protected] wrote:
>>>> Take a look ... and then call or e-mail:
>>>> http://tinyurl.com/3d4xht
>>> Link now says "product not found". Evidently people did call or e-mail.

>
> Yeah. Still there.
>
> They seemed to have removed a t-shirt from this ... uh ... company's
> product line, but I'd like to get the message across that this
> SENTIMENT--in whatever format it's sold--is unacceptable.
>


I read a post in r.b.t last night that referred to that site as well, I
contacted cafepress and they replied that they would take action. Well
it' still there so I guess they are slow, or their action is inaction.

Here is the link to the post in tech:
> http://groups.google.com/group/rec....2840eaf4d2c/97b727876ae21d67#97b727876ae21d67


Ken
 
On May 25, 4:27 pm, "Bill H." <[email protected]> wrote:
> On May 25, 9:41 am, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Take a look ... and then call or e-mail:

>
> >http://tinyurl.com/3d4xht

>
> Yes, because CLEARLY people will start running over cyclists because
> of a sticker like that.
>
> Lighten up a bit...


Nah. You don't need to call or e-mail, but others might want to, and
I did.

I understand it won't keep the individual who wears or displays the
shirt or sticker from having those thoughts, but it might make it a
bit more tedious to share those views with every single person who
comes by them.

If you've never been buzzed, sideswiped, or 'terrorized' by an
automobile driver while you were cycling, then you're quite
fortunate. I have. Others probably have.
 
"sally" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:e6F5i.30099$Um6.26557
> @newssvr12.news.prodigy.net:
>> Link now says "product not found". Evidently people did call or e-mail.

>
> Look here: http://www.cafepress.com/bullshit4u


If you click the products, however, they're "not available".

Now if someone just pays the so-called proprietor a little visit...

Bill "inventory suppositories" S.
 
"Bill H." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On May 25, 9:41 am, [email protected] wrote:
>> Take a look ... and then call or e-mail:
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/3d4xht

>
> Yes, because CLEARLY people will start running over cyclists because
> of a sticker like that.
>
> Lighten up a bit...


Would you say the same thing about a...baby carriage? Or a group of {insert
special interest, racial or religious affiliation -- except Christians, of
course; they're fair game -- here}? How about a be-heading?

It's the /thought/ that counts.

BS (really)
 
On May 25, 7:53 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> On May 25, 4:27 pm, "Bill H." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On May 25, 9:41 am, [email protected] wrote:

>
> > > Take a look ... and then call or e-mail:

>
> > >http://tinyurl.com/3d4xht

>
> > Yes, because CLEARLY people will start running over cyclists because
> > of a sticker like that.

>
> > Lighten up a bit...

>
> Nah. You don't need to call or e-mail, but others might want to, and
> I did.
>
> I understand it won't keep the individual who wears or displays the
> shirt or sticker from having those thoughts, but it might make it a
> bit more tedious to share those views with every single person who
> comes by them.
>
> If you've never been buzzed, sideswiped, or 'terrorized' by an
> automobile driver while you were cycling, then you're quite
> fortunate. I have. Others probably have.


Count me in that unfortunate population of the "terrorized" as well.
Car v. Bike is almost always a lousy one-sided contest. Even Vegas
doesn't post odds.

I'm all for free enterprise and making a buck, but geez...how utterly
unimaginative and trite. Further proof that you can put almost
anything on a mug or bumper sticker and there will be a market for it
somewhere.

Cyclists are apparently not exclusive prey though: this same site
offers similar **** with catchy phrases like "DUI You Can Afford It"
and "Legalize DUI". It even offers stuff for those who have already
had their drivers licenses revoked: e.g., "I Don't Call 911" and
"Happiness Is A Belt-Fed Weapon". Nothing wrong with having a beer ot
two or even taking the Glock to the pistol range but, man, why would
anyone want to wear a t-shirt that basically announces to the whole
world that they are an imbecile? Used to be you had to do a little
work to find out who the real idiots were but now they just come right
out advertise it :)

This sort of **** is everywhere and is supposedly what passes for
humor these days. I 'm sure that most people that pop for this stuff
are just trying to be cute or funny. The real baddies are too busy to
accessorize with this junk.
 
Here's my response to them (using the "contact us" form on their website)-

============================
Hard to believe you're selling product encouraging people to hurt & possibly
kill bicyclists.

Free Speech? Sure. But one would think that a reasonable person wouldn't
encourage others to act in a dangerous fashion.

Would you, for example, sell T-shirts that suggest that the Columbine
massacre should be emulated elsewhere? You'd have every right to, but would
you? If so, then you're at least consistent. Terribly insensitive and
possibly responsible for more injuries & deaths, but consistent.

Generally poor business & citizenship, in my humble opinion.

Thanks for your time- --Mike--
===========================

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
 
Mike wrote:
> Hard to believe you're selling product encouraging people to hurt & possibly
> kill bicyclists.
>
> Free Speech? Sure. But one would think that a reasonable person wouldn't
> encourage others to act in a dangerous fashion.
>
> Would you, for example, sell T-shirts that suggest that the Columbine
> massacre should be emulated elsewhere? You'd have every right to, but would
> you? If so, then you're at least consistent. Terribly insensitive and
> possibly responsible for more injuries & deaths, but consistent.

....
Great minds. Somone in my state wrote CP to suggest that, by their
reasoning, they could sell a t-shirt with a plane crashing into a
building and "Allah Akbar" as a slogan.

Got a First Amendment corporate lame brain response.

--Karen D.
 
"Veloise" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike wrote:
>> Hard to believe you're selling product encouraging people to hurt &
>> possibly
>> kill bicyclists.
>>
>> Free Speech? Sure. But one would think that a reasonable person wouldn't
>> encourage others to act in a dangerous fashion.
>>
>> Would you, for example, sell T-shirts that suggest that the Columbine
>> massacre should be emulated elsewhere? You'd have every right to, but
>> would
>> you? If so, then you're at least consistent. Terribly insensitive and
>> possibly responsible for more injuries & deaths, but consistent.

> ...
> Great minds. Somone in my state wrote CP to suggest that, by their
> reasoning, they could sell a t-shirt with a plane crashing into a
> building and "Allah Akbar" as a slogan.
>
> Got a First Amendment corporate lame brain response.


The merchandise clearly violates CP's own guidelines, particularly these:

>Content that may infringe on the rights of a third a party.
>Use of marks that signify hate towards another group of people.
>Obscene and vulgar comments and offensive remarks that harass, threaten,
>defame or abuse others such as F*** (Ethnic Group).
>Content that depicts violence, is obscene, abusive, fraudulent or
>threatening such as an image of a murder victim, morgue shots, promotion of
>suicide, etc.


From http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/content-policy.aspx

Somebody was asleep at the switch at Cafe Press.

r
 
In article <[email protected]>,
"Rich Clark" <[email protected]> wrote:

> From http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/content-policy.aspx
>
> Somebody was asleep at the switch at Cafe Press.


No, they just don't enforce their own policy. I reported a spammer a
while ago and CafePress actually tried to assert that I subscribed to
it, despite the address being obviously scraped from Usenet! CafePress
should be avoided at all costs.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, x-privat.org
 
>From a posting on http://BikePortland.org :

Local biking author and nationally syndicated columnist Joe Kurmaskie
(aka Metal Cowboy) has already called the company to voice his
concerns. He shared the exchange he just had with CafePress on a local
email list:

'...I just got off the phone with the content team of Cafe Press... I let
them know my thoughts... and also let them know that I would be doing an
article on this.'

To which CafePress replied,

'come on man, this is just harmless fun. Do you have to make a federal
case over it?'

Posted by http://bikejournal.com/profiles.asp?rname=raleighdon

That really seems to be their attitude, as near as I can see, and from
their "automated" responsse to those of us who have complained. My
answer is simple. Yes. We DO need to make a federal case over it. I
believe there is a concentrated and organized collective of
individuals out there who believe the way to spread their message of
hatred against another colletive of individuals is through aggression,
intimidation, threats of physical violence and actual acts of
violence. This is the very definition of "hate crimes" and, in fact,
the very definition of terrorism, both covered under federal statutes.
So, when we are confronted with cavalier attitudes by these bozos in
customer service who minimize our complaints, our answers should be a
resounding YES.

I REFUSE to "stand down" as has been suggested, and I REFUSE to give a
company a break because they also do a lot of good things.

Posted by http://bikejournal.com/profiles.asp?rname=Jenni

8 AM Saturday, images still available though not for purchase. That
doesn't matter one bit to me. I'm infuriated.

Our club has used CafePress to personalize merchandise. I, as a board
member, have made the immediate recommendation that we cease all
connections with this company.

I'm just sorry I didn't see this soon. But, uh, I was out riding my
bike.

I am SO PROUD to be a part of this community of INTELLIGENT, ACTIVE,
and AWARE people. Your letters and feedback and even controlled
discussion (when I know many of us feel like being uncontrolled
perhaps) is really a credit to you all. Great, great job.

I'll be sending my letter soon.

My letter:
I am a cyclist. Our bike club has used your company for many years to
print customized club material on your products.
I have been informed through the cycling community that you were
selling but are now only showing (same difference to me, just as
equally bad an offense) material advocating the murder of cyclists. I
am referring to stickers and other material that say "I don't share
the road" and the other products in that line.
I will NEVER purchase from you any product again. Your response has
been slow and inadequate. How on earth could you make the products "no
longer available" but continue to leave their images up?
I am recommending that our club cease all business relations with your
company immediately. In addition you should know that the cycling
community is enormous. Word of your site and these reprehensible acts
has spread now to tens of thousands of cyclists through our connection
of forums, advocacy groups and word-of-mouth.
I was willing to forgive that others created the material that was
found. But I am not willing to forgive that you were notified and you
responded by removing them for sale but left the images up. Remove my
email from all your lists.
The ticket code for this inquiry is LTK30042009965X.
In addition, here is their disclaimer- I don't know if anyone copied
it here yet.

Content Disclaimer
CafePress provides users complete e-commerce tools needed to create
and sell a wide variety of products featuring their ideas, designs and
art. All merchandise content is created by users of the CafePress
Service and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of
CafePress.com.

On May 26, 7:01 am, Doc O'Leary <[email protected]>
wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Rich Clark" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Fromhttp://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/content-policy.aspx

>
> > Somebody was asleep at the switch at Cafe Press.

>
> No, they just don't enforce their own policy. I reported a spammer a
> while ago and CafePress actually tried to assert that I subscribed to
> it, despite the address being obviously scraped from Usenet! CafePress
> should be avoided at all costs.
>
> --
> My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
> heapnode.com, localhost, x-privat.org
 
Here is my response to the complaint about the "I don't share the road" line
of products:

"Thank you for contacting CafePress.com!

As you may know, CafePress.com provides an automated service to a rich and
vibrant community of international users. Unfortunately, because our service
is automated, sometimes content that is not consistent with our Content
Usage Policy is posted on CafePress.com. We appreciate that you have brought
this content to our attention and have forwarded your concerns to the
appropriate department. If you have any further questions regarding our
shopkeepers' content, please contact the Content Usage Team at
[email protected].
If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know."



I noticed that the product line has been removed from the site. You may
still be able to see thumbnails if you search on say, "Share the Road", but
when you click on them the product is not there, and you can't see the image
big enough to read them. I suspect the thumbnails will be taken down soon.

I don't think one complaint would have done it. But apparently enough
complaints did. Good job rec.bicycles.misc
 
"Cathy Kearns" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:D[email protected]...

> I don't think one complaint would have done it. But apparently enough
> complaints did. Good job rec.bicycles.misc



Well, it's not just rec.bicycles.misc. See, for example, this thread on our
local board:
http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=13&threadid=6741

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky
 
On May 26, 6:44 pm, "Claire Petersky" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> "Cathy Kearns" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:D[email protected]...
>
> > I don't think one complaint would have done it. But apparently enough
> > complaints did. Good job rec.bicycles.misc

>
> Well, it's not just rec.bicycles.misc.


[snip]

True, that.

I got it from my local advocacy group list-serve ... which got it from
the Los Angeles advocacy list-serve, and so on and so on.

Well done, cycling community, I'll say :)
 
> I noticed that the product line has been removed from the site. You may
> still be able to see thumbnails if you search on say, "Share the Road",
> but when you click on them the product is not there, and you can't see the
> image big enough to read them. I suspect the thumbnails will be taken
> down soon.
>
> I don't think one complaint would have done it. But apparently enough
> complaints did. Good job rec.bicycles.misc


There were also a number of bicycle shops involved as well. We were notified
(via our e-list) of the issue even before it posted here. One of the
benefits of our (speaking for a whole lot of bicycle retailers throughout
the country) recent awareness of bicycle advocacy as a routine and required
part of our business.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com