Larva here finally decided to cooperate with me and let me make a layout with him =) Work was a bitch, because this morning I got on a roll with this layout and I desperately wanted to finish it. rofl! It’s still not done; as usual I concentrated on the main page and left the comments and archive index for later. Let me know if anything looks weird. =)

Honestly, normally I don’t care if someone takes ideas from my pages, uses my images, copies some or all of the of the basic HTML, even makes a layout that looks like mine. Sure, I’d prefer an e-mail or a poke over AIM if and when they’d like to do that; but I’m not going to pitch a fit. It’s when they direct link to me and also copy my actual content - in this case, my blog posts, personal information, contact info, etc. and claim it as theirs that had me furious. They even had the comments still pointing to my site. *shrugs* After that, the rest were just out of the question for that person.

Edit: Thanks Kairos =) I’m really happy with this layout!

Vampire Princess Miyu is a horror/angst anime and manga involving vampires, demons, and the occult in general. The story is told by a spiritulist named Himiko, who has been investigating a rash of supernatural murders. In the course of her work, she encounters the child-like vampire, Miyu, and her silent and impossibly tall companion, Larva. At first she suspects Miyu is the culprit, but over time discovers that Miyu’s mission is to banish murderous spirit-demons called “Shinma” back to their world. Ookami and Aikyo could probably give you a better summary, but that’s how it is as I understand it without giving too much away.

Larva is a western Shinma who has become Miyu’s servant/slave/friend/lover. He rarely speaks, is almost always masked and hidden under his cloak. He chooses to fight with his hands, relying on his long and extremely sharp fingernails to get the job done. The title references the fact that most of the pictures you find of Larva has him kissing Miyu, 3 seconds away from kissing her, or protectively holding or embracing her. *grin* (If I made any mistakes, sorry. I’ve never seen Vampire Princess Miyu, but it’s really high on the want list. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

Since the copycat’s blog is no longer there and he’s banned from our site (I hope), Anachronous is staying put. My next layout is going to be far more complex, though. Form it with minimal HTML and use mostly more advanced techniques and more external files, like CSS and maybe even a few includes, so maybe I can deter anyone else from just copying my HTML… or at least make their copy look horrible. I have a new Tagboard, that looks pretty good so far =) I wish I could remove the timestamp for each post on it, but it’s far better than the free script. It’s up and online, but I’ll won’t be making it public until my new layout is ready.

And speaking of new layouts, Larva is being a wee bit stubborn. I just can’t edit the pictures the way I want; as usual, I’m ending up with wallpaper instead of a layout. =) I’ll probably finish off my attempts and post them for your downloading pleasure. I’m trying to resist the urge to simply make another CT layout. I’ve adored CT since it originally came out here in the states; so it’s only natural to be able to make a layout with the characters. However, I think sprites make the layout a bit too cute…. Blogs are way too popular and those new to the whole concept of blogging don’t understand how much time people who make their own layouts put into these things. They want an attractive blog, but don’t know how to go about it. So when they find something they like, they just gotta have it. So instead of being nice and polite about it, they steal. I’m not even sure they realize they’re stealing.

I suppose I just need to surf the web and find images that inspire me, like Venus & Braves inspired Sally. I have a feeling Vivid is going to be her Avatar of choice for a long time. I had a layout for War of Genesis, using the same character I used out on the main Lunaescence.com pages, but I didn’t really like it. I really need some new music to daydream to; find my muses - where ever they’re hiding.

Hey, guess what I discovered. Some little brat has copied my blog in it’s entirety, from the images, my HTML, my blog links, my entires, my tagboard, even my pets. They changed the page title and the personal information to theirs and called it good.

Look here!

What’s more, is that I can’t reach his provider. So now I have people from his blog showing up on my tagboard and visiting my entries, thinking it’s him. How quaint. And I mean that with all the sarcasm I can muster. Can anyone else reach them so I can report this and get his rear taken care of?

(EDIT: Cleaned up my language since this got posted to several message boards… rofl)

Since I have a new layout in the works and I needed to update my GreyMatter files anyway, I’m just going to move Anachronous altogether. I’ll be deleting the Tagboard and getting a new one. I’ll also be changing the e-mail on my Imood so it no longer appears properly anywhere else. This will also keep whoever this joker is from sending people to my entries thinking I’m him.

Additionally, Anachronous will probably become password protected. Don’t worry, it’ll be simple and I’ll give the password out to all my friends. I have no idea what I did to precipatate this, but this is very immature and childish.

My next layout is going to be Larva from Vampire Princess Miyu. It’ll be a few days until it’s ready.

Update @ 3:42 PM EST
A nice gentleman from Dr2.net’s support forums replied to Sally’s request for advice and it turns out he’s from Belgium. He sent in a note to Blog.pl for us regarding the theft and they removed the offending blog for us. We now have the person’s e-mail address and Sally will probably write him later this evening about it. We’ve also removed all the IP denies, except for his. I’ll probably decide later tonight about whether to follow through with moving Anachronous. I’ve found a TagBoard Script that I’ve been playing with; so it’ll be replaced no matter what. I rarely remember to update my Imood, so I might do away with that unless I decide I can’t do without it. Thanks everyone for your support! =)

Still feel like I’m being mostly ignored on the RL. Like Asa said in her comment in the last entry, it sucks even worse when you know they’re doing it intentionally. Generally my posts are getting between 20 and 50 views, and few - if any at all - replies. The rate seems to be slightly better in replies, but not by much. It’s not unusual for people to act as though I never posted. Their eyes seem to skip right over my post to the next one, which makes me wonder.

It seems to be especially bad in the fanfiction forum. In there, it seems to be populated by a certain clique of members. Anyone who isn’t in that group generally can’t even expect their fic to even be looked at - forget about replies. At first, I thought this was because I was posting fics that had little to do with Ronin Warriors. Afterall, the RL was aimed at Ronin Warriors fandom. But then, I realized others were posting fics that were RW either and were getting tons of replies.

It seems to be the same people, over and over again, who seem to be able to attract at least 2 pages of replies and page views numbering with at least 3 digits. I did the math; and everyone else only gets an average of 15 views and 2 replies.

Pretty sad, isn’t it?

I keep trying to find it in me to write up a scathing rant to end all rants, to open up the floodgates and let my frustration come roaring out like other people have done in recent weeks. Instead, I just feel jaded and very tired.