Not only has this AFF user published my about page [03] Shizukana as theirs, but they have also stolen from other well-known theme makers, such as dohdoro (above obvs), soonco and pohroro. The fact that they have “do not steal my codes” as part of their terms of use is hilariously hypocritical, and fills me with disgust in all honesty.

I think this is the third time one of my layouts has popped up on AFF without permission and issues like these are so frustrating. I’ve clearly stated in my terms not to redistribute my designs, but it still happens nonetheless.

Really, where has all the originality and basic courtesy in the world gone?

This issue has been resolved. The AFF layout designer apologized. However, this is not the first time it happened. I reported another famous designer (yes, the thread has a star too) for stealing the design of another tumblr theme.

My heart just dropped when I read the posts in tumblr today. I don't care anymore that our site's layout designers got a bad rep from the tumblr community. (Of all the designers to copy from, they chose the ones with a huge fanbase orz). We just don't want a repeat of this. 

Yes, we cannot really steal or copy-paste their codes since tumblr uses both CSS and HTML and AFF only allows HTML. But purposely coding an HTML version of the tumblr layout is considered stealing. When you make a copy or a duplicate, you are stealing their design, their ideas. It is often stated in their profiles, the theme posts and the pastebin docs not to steal. Let's respect the artists. 

We get inspiration from everything we see. But there is a distinction between a work that is inspired by another and a copy.

I also code layouts for the Layout Marketplace and I always make sure that no one would call me out for plagiarizing their work by not doing it.

But I don't know everything.

Rose Garden is my HTML version of the tumblr themes I see, with those two columns - a side panel and a main panel, which is one big scrolling 'post' (not individual posts scrolling to infinity). I coded it for almost a week without using any other layout as a base code. For the design, I used BOSO's patterns because nothing can be more original than BOSO.

Anyway, all I wanted is an AFF theme that looks like a tumblr theme so I incorporated basic tumblr features.  Tumblr themes are classified based on the number of columns and there is an option provided for infinite scrolling.

Does this mean, I stole from tumblr? 0_________0  <--- yeah, seriously asking this question