  From this month's Toyfare: TRUKK NOT MUNKY "A big chunk of the 'Fanfare' inbox this month came from the faithful readers of BigBot.com, home to the most rabid Transformers geeks in all of fandom. Several hundred form letters poured in requesting that ToyFare do a Transformrs exclusive. While I have no idea what exclusives are in the works, BigBot.com gets a big round of applause for rallying the troops so efficiently. We're impressed; rest assured, we're looking into it. "According to BigBot.com, 'Trukk not munky' is ToyFare's dimwitted view that car robots are better than Beast Wars robots. Hey, who's gonna tell us we're wrong?" Let me tell you why this pisses me off so. http://groups.google.com/...Trent+Troop+Toy+Fair+Transformers+Exclusive June 7, 2001, Trent Troop began a net-wide campaign to get an exclusive from ToyFare magazine, a popular source of "information" that often offers toys exclusive to its magazine. As the link reads, Trent thought we could show ToyFare that there is demand for a Transformers exclusive out there. He posted it to every group and message board he could find, rallying support at AllSpark, ATT, IRC, and...BigBot.com. Soon after, BigBot.com put up a page similar to this. The only differences are that Trent's name USED to be on it. Nearly all the words on that page are Trent's, including the "suggested letter" that Trent wrote which BigBot.com changed into a form letter, inserting its own name in front of the project in several locations. Renaud, the webmaster, refuses to answer any questions regarding this. In fact, he's deleted all posts I've made regarding the subject on his own message boards, seconds after posting. Renaud has a long history of theivery. In the earlier days of Bigbot.com, Renaud would post links to various news items on the index page just like he does today. Links to the actual images themselves off of other web pages, without any attribution or acknowledgement of the original source. After this had happened to a few people we knew specifically in IRC DALnet #wiigii!, we began uploading offensive material in place of the URL that Renaud had claimed as his own. Soon he began adding "Thanks to _____" before his links, in a (very) small attempt at correcting his burglary. Renaud also has a long scandelous history with Transfandom's usenet community, including his proposal of several self-serving new Transformers groups into the Rec. hierarchy, claiming to speak for all of Transfandom and fabricating unanimous support. But this is the last straw. Trent Troop is a great friend of mine, and one of THE hardest working Transfans in the entire community today. He's interviewed or will have interviewed most of the Robots In Disguise cast, and his many artistic contributions to the world of fanart are among the best TF CGI achievements outside of Mainframe. He is the voice of reason, logic, and justice in many a crazy message board throughout the Internet. And he's also one of the nicest, most wonderful people you'll ever meet in person. Trent doesn't deserve this. He's spoken already about Renaud's recent plagiarism, and is merely happy to see his attempt reach some level of success, and he's willing to let it happen regardless of personal glory. He doesn't care that Renaud stole his hard work and stamped his name on it. But I do.
Contact Renaud and tell him what you think, and if your page is on his CTLP (TF links page...and it most likely is) request that it be taken off. Also, email ToyFare and let them know what you think of BigBot.com. |