incith:acronym (r128) (Sep. 13th, 2009)

Alchera · Post by **Alchera** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:07 pm

Either of you read the Terms of Use/Disclaimer?

In part:

No part of the copyrighted Acronym Finder database ...

If a script accessing a website doesn't return a correct "User-Agent" string then that site will detect a "non-human" access.

The solution stated by rosc2112 solves that problem and as far as the site in question is concerned a web browser is connecting.

incith · Post by **incith** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:19 pm

Alchera wrote:Either of you read the Terms of Use/Disclaimer?

In part:
No part of the copyrighted Acronym Finder database ...
If a script accessing a website doesn't return a correct "User-Agent" string then that site will detect a "non-human" access.

The solution stated by rosc2112 solves that problem and as far as the site in question is concerned a web browser is connecting.

My scripts all use a valid Lynx user-agent. And yes, Alchera, thank you for your informative post. I know you don't like me so I'll just ask you not to post in this thread.

Alchera · Post by **Alchera** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:52 pm

incith wrote:... you don't like me so I'll just ask you not to post in this thread.

That statement is so ridiculous it doesn't deserve further comment.

demond · Post by **demond** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:02 pm

http://www.acronymfinder.com/terms.htm

You may not use automated scripts or programs to "screen scrape" or otherwise extract data from pages on this site.

that's what the "cease & desist" guy is actually referring to - you don't scrape but you "otherwise extract data" using "automated script"

why don't you release your script anonymously, masking the user agent as IE and tell that guy to shove it

rosc2112 · Post by **rosc2112** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:54 am

The script isn't automated, someone has to type in a command, 1 word per command, so its not more than doing a query with a webbrowser, or one of their own "free tools."

I did mention that I read their TOS and their copyright notice.. Which btw Incith, they can assert a copyright on the *database format* basically, not necessarily the individual bits..And the copyright notice even gives you a hint about how to legally take his silly little database and make it your own - by reformatting it

But who wants to do all that anyway. The owner of acronymfinder.com is obviously very bored to be sitting there reading weblogs all day..

Seriously, why even make a PUBLIC website if you don't want people using it.. He's apparently restricting use to like 5 queries per IP. Which kills his advertising crap too, but, oh well..Some people are just stupid like that..

Fuggem.

incith · Post by **incith** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:20 am

I plan to use a better website, but more so I'd like to create the Open-Source Acronym DataBase

As for releasing it anonymously, that could perhaps still get slennox into trouble if it were hosted here, and I don't really want to go through such hassles anyway as to 'stay ahead of the game'. I'll just use a non-anal site and move on.

Post by **nml375** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:13 am

I'm neither a lawyer or such, but..

This would be assuming the copyrights on that site would be valid (not arguing any case either way):
Using your software might violate their TOS, given that you agree upon them.
I find it hard however, to see how writing or distributing your software would violate their TOS, especially since the distribution does not involve their site whatsoever.

So, they might ask you not to use this software on their system, but they can't say much on the development of it (and I doubt DMCA would be applicable here, as you're not circumventing any copyright protection system.

If you really wanna cover your a**, just don't hardcode an url within the script, but let users set it themselves.

incith · Post by **incith** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:02 pm

Doh, he sent me a much nastier e-mail.

>> as my script does not scrape your website, it acts no less than a web browser does, by connecting, searching, receiving data, and
parsing it. These are the same steps
that a web browser takes. There is no automated scraping involved.

Wrong. Our site is a for-profit and is advertising supported. Your software is scraping our content out of context -- no copyright
notice, no advertising, and no possibility of us being compensated for the bandwidth you are enabling others to steal from us. Our
terms of service forbid this. And to make it worse, you are soliciting donations for writing this software -- which means you are
deriving income from *our* intellectual property. You are stealing.

Oh no, not donations! In the 3 years that I've had a paypal account I've never received a single donation. He goes on to say..

If you continue to scrape our site, or assist others in doing so, we *will* take aggressive legal action against you and will
contact your ISP, Gmail, and Paypal if necessary. I would recommend you consult an attorney if you still believe you are doing
nothing wrong.

Hahaha. Anyway, just thought you'd all find this as humorous as I am.

rosc2112 · Post by **rosc2112** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:46 pm

What a dork.. Funny, I wonder if he's going to sue mozilla's adblock authors too, cos I have it enabled and never see their stupid ads (nor do they even get loaded.)

Have you found a better acronym site to switch the script over to?

Post by **Sir_Fz** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:05 pm

It's their loss, IMO they could've benefited from your script if you applied what you said (add their site name in the text...) that's advertisement for them for free... Just switch to anther website dude

good job with your script(s).

incith · Post by **incith** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:55 pm

rosc2112 wrote:Have you found a better acronym site to switch the script over to?

There's obviously a few to choose from, I'm just being lazy the last few days.

I'll publically release a new version soon, I've already got a regexp working for another site, just still browsing around some and things.

incith · Post by **incith** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:28 am

Sorry it's taking so long to get around to this everyone, I just got a new job which I start next week so I've been preparing for that, as well I just reinstalled Linux (been coding on my server computer), so I'm setting that up again, and a bunch of other real life things etc.

But I will get acronym going again, just give it time.

incith · Post by **incith** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:01 am

2 years... sheesh. Script updated! r101 released and submitted.

swarfega · Post by **swarfega** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:52 am

im getting:

Error trying to set +acronym for #channel, invalid mode.

when i try to .chanset. I have http.tcl 2.5 loaded.

incith · Post by **incith** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:30 am

Looks like you have the arguments reversed. #channel +setting:

(07:29:59) (incith) .chanset #incith +acronym
(07:29:59) <visitant> Successfully set modes { +acronym } on #incith.

Code: Select all

# Usage:                                                              #
#   .chanset #channel +acronym                                        #
#   !acronym <acronym>                                                #