‘Link to us’ or we’ll sue

How an attempt to boost SEO is being disguised as a copyright infringement case threat. Having sent my own copyright infringement case letters to website owners using images without permission, I am familiar with the process of takedown notices and claims for unauthorised use. Howver, on Christmas Eve 2023, I received a threatening letter from … Read more

Forres calendar sold out

The Visit Forres website and app launched this year and I provided a substantial quantity of photographs taken over the years to illustrate the site. In October, we produced a wall calendar. It’s nice to know that the snapshots of Forres through the seasons are making their way all over the world, and there will … Read more

Are SME News awards fake?

Scottish Enterprise Awards and other vanity schemes just prey on the gullible There can be few better feelings for business owners than the news they’ve won an award. To know that hard work and good practice is being recognised by your industry peers, can be very valuable. And so it’s no surprise that there are … Read more

Interview: John Wilson, Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association

When I worked for Forres Events, the organisation behind the European Pipe Band Championships, for each of the six years it was in Forres, I got the opportunity to meet and write about some amazing people, including John Wilson, a retired Chief Superintendent of the former Strathclyde Police force, and life-long piper. I spoke to … Read more

Facebook capitalises on clarity, or does it?

If there’s one thing Facebook does well, it’s muddying the waters. It distributes an app which it claims helps people connect with the things they care about when really it listens in to your life to extract data to sell to advertisers. It encourages you to share your photos while extracting irrevocable rights to use … Read more

Scraping the bottom of the social barrel?

A wise person once said to me that it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it. And I am regularly reminded of this pearl of wisdom by the foolish notion that a business should post ‘content’ frequently on their social networks to be considered ‘alive’, … Read more

Lush – We don’t need the newsfeed to be social

Pink Bath Bomb In Water

When high street cosmetics chain Lush announced it was switching up social, the press was quick to translate that as ‘switching OFF social’. The BBC said Lush quits social media in UK. The Independent – Lush to close its social media accounts And even industry mouthpieces said the same thing. The Drum was straight in … Read more