Creepy
Okay, y’all, this is creepy.
Remember when I told you about the Ted Cruz Coloring Book? Well, some of you decided to email the company that makes them and say, “Dude, what were you thinking?”
Okay, that’s not creepy. This is America. You can do that.
The answer they got back was real creepy.
Larry wrote them, “The Senator from Canada? How much did he pay you to do that?” Short, snappy, to the point, and no weirdness involved.
The answer?
Larry
Our company makes book on President Obama: http://www.coloringbook.com/cultural-event-specialty-coloring-books.aspxThe gay community, libertarians, democrats and republicans.
Do you dislike all people or just Mr. Cruz. This is called freedom of the press.We have captured your IP address and logged appropriately.
Sincerely
Pat
Customer Service
You captured his IP address and “logged appropriately”? Really? Are you going to “make book” on that, too.
Then Marion wrote them: “That’s one coloring book that’s bad for America and the American way. Thanks for letting me know which company I need to boycott. Not for my children.”
And they answered her.
Marion,
Our company makes book on President Obama:
http://www.coloringbook.com/cultural-event-specialty-coloring-books.aspxThe gay community, libertarians, democrats and republicans. Do you dislike all people or just Mr. Cruz. This is called freedom of the press.
We do not discriminate against any person or groups in America; even you who wants to destroy-damage others based on your own email below. We have captured your IP address and logged appropriately.
Sincerely
Pat
Customer Service
Again, they “make book” of President Obama. Kinda makes you wonder what they are betting on, right?
So Marion’s ip address has been captured and logged “appropriately,” too. I wonder if it’s made friends with Larry’s ip? I wonder if they are tied up in a dungeon somewhere?
Hey, freedom of speech includes creepy speech. So, if your ip needs capturing, here’s the place.
Thanks to Larry and Marion for the heads up.
At 74 and a grandmother, I’ve just gotta say it: what did anyone expect.
Capturing an IP address? Is that possibly a way to block any further incoming communication. Would love to hear from a techie on this!
1Pat? Is that a female or male? Is that the same Pat with the curly hair and khaki pants?
2Ya’ know, as poorly worded as the response is from The Big Coloring Book folks, they have a point. They offer a diverse range of products. Maybe they do bet on which one sells the most, “make book.” It is hard to say. But, for cryin’ out loud, who in this whole wide world would want to color in Ted Cruz in tights? Which naturally, in my pre-coffee mind, brings me to the idea of People of Color Coloring Books as the alternative. Or, People of Coloring Books? Whatever. I can’t ever stay in the lines, never could. Did this give you enough time to capture my ip address and log it?
3maggie, capturing an IP address is a tacit admission that they have a mechanism in place that automatically bans undesirable comments from those IP addresses. Saves them time on reading all comments and deleting those they don’t like. It’s a simple fix, ergo an easy one to get around by a number of means.
4I looked at their About Us page; it’s tacky looking and makes me think of websites whose main purpose is to scam people. And they certainly are proud of the news they garnered for their tea party coloring book and they created a 9/11 coloring book; talk about exploitative. Seriously, they launched AfricanAmericanColoringBooks.com?! I personally don’t understand why that needs to be a separate website unless they want to record their IPs in order to compile a separate list of their black customers. What douchebags. Really Big Coloring Books is going on my list of companies whose products I will not buy.
5“We have your IP address” is by way of being a minor threat: we can contact your ISP and mess with your Internet service if we consider you to be abusive or a troll.
Based on the phrasing, I think that English is not this person’s first language. I’d be interested to know where the base of operations is for these books.
6@maggie – yes, knowing the IP address can be used to block you from their website or from receiving email from you. They also could use it to determine who you are from your internet provider if they were stupid enough to try and use the courts to censor you. I think this company is telling you this as a means of threatening you.
7I wonder if they are based in India, or maybe Bangledesh?
8Soooooo…. let’s see, there are 90k+ ip addresses here at my office….
9They have 2 books on the Tea Party. Must be because they use large print for the slow reader.
They make a Hip Hop Gansta Rap coloring book, too. I wonder if Fitty Cent and Lil Wayne are featured, but I don’t wonder enough to buy one.
10I wonder what the response would be if somebody complained about the Obama coloring book?
11“This is called freedom of the press.”
No. This may be called freedom of speech, but there is no press or journalism coming out of this site.
And they seem to feel okay about their suppression of speech when they “captured your IP address and logged appropriately” (presumably by blocking it).
Which they are entitled to do. Just as we are entitled to block Ted Cruz coloring books from our loved ones.
12Just access them through a VPN such as https://www.hidemyass.com/ when filling out their contact form and use a disposable e-mail such as hotmail or g-mail.
Or use the TOR/Vidalia Browser https://www.torproject.org/projects/vidalia.html.en and a disposable e-mail.
They won’t have a clue where you are from, not that your IP Address does much for them other than let them know who your internet provider is and about where you are within about a 25-30 mile radius in most cases. My IP Address resolves to Newark NJ Area and I’m in Connecticut.
The only way they get better information is if they are some of those Homeland Security Spies or, Law Enforcement with a warrant to hand to your internet provider.
In any case they are creeps and it would be fun to watch someday when Anonymous decides to pay special attention to their website. Which will probably happen if they are publicized enough to get their attention. Share this story… LOL
13Honey, they just make color books. Period. The Cruz ones are tacky. I’m tempted to order one just because. Now making threats is a whole different thing. What I imagine is they save your contact info and give it to their representative from wherever to call you, harass you, tell you that they have gotten into your computer and they can fix the problem in it for a fee. (All of those things happened to us, and more. Life never boring here.)
14It just daWned on me, they can’t possibly make a living from making tacky color books and selling bundles of them to be handed out at conferences etc. They’re making their money by selling contact info. Reminds me of the guy who kept riding his bike across the border with a basket of rocks. It was driving the border guard crazy. Finally, he said “Look, I know you’re smuggling something. What is it?” The answer? “Bicycles!”
15Really Big Coloring Books is headquartered in St. Louis MO at 224 N Meramec Ave, St Louis, MO 63105 (https://goo.gl/maps/Uu5wI).
16That is probably the creepiest email I’ve ever received.
Yes, I know I lead a sheltered life.
17@ #6–Annabelle Lee says: “I’d be interested to know where the base of operations is for these books.”
FYI: Their IP is: 205.178.162.183
Beyond the IP addy, try this (St Louis, MO address and phone, mapping it shows it’s actually in Clayton, MO, a very upscale suburb, StL County seat, and has part of WashU; I’ve worked there before, and in the area–Ladue, STL, etc.):
(below info contains names, addresses, phone and emails, OK?)
Domain Name: COLORINGBOOK.COM
18Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com
Updated Date: 2012-04-05T00:00:00Z
Creation Date: 1998-05-02T00:00:00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8003337680
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Really Big Coloring Books
Registrant Organization: Really Big Coloring Books
Registrant Street: 224 North Meramec
Registrant City: SAINT LOUIS
Registrant State/Province: MO
Registrant Postal Code: 63105
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.3147251452
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.3147270394
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: nwbell@EARTHLINK.NET
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Bell, Wayne
Admin Organization: Really Big Coloring Books, Inc.
Admin Street: PO Box 50010
Admin City: SAINT LOUIS
Admin State/Province: MO
Admin Postal Code: 63105
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.3147251452
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.3147253553
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: wayne@bigcoloringbooks.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Bell, Wayne
Tech Organization: Really Big Coloring Books, Inc.
Tech Street: PO Box 50010
Tech City: SAINT LOUIS
Tech State/Province: MO
Tech Postal Code: 63105
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone:
Some people on Nixon’s “enemies list” were proud of the fact….
19I didn’t know that children used coloring books any more. Seems like a thing of the past.
20http://tinyurl.com/lzbudk9
Wayne Bell
21Top left picture.
22http://www.riverfronttimes.com/related/to/Wayne+Bell/
23I couldn’t resist. So I wrote them:
Dear Pat –
Here’s another IP address for you to capture. Are you going to make another creepy comic book filled with captured address? Will you be on the cover?
Inquiring minds want to know.
24I’m delegating all this to y’all. I’ve been here too long already. I was wrong. They make money from their colorbooks because they Carry A Message. Well, I relate to that. I want color books about water conservation, renewable energy, why there are folks living on the streets, getting sleazy payday loan places shut down, the earth running out of potable water, all kinds of stuff. I just don’t want 900 of each of them stacked in the garage.
Oh, I forgot. Koch brothers are into cleaning up water. We’ll have water, at a steep price.
25Oh, Pat, will you ever release the captive IPs? Or will you behead them in order to entice us into a ground war?
Hey! Hey! P.A.T!
Release the captured IP!
What do we want?
I-Peace
When do we want it?
In microseconds!
Ya know, to be fair, it does seem like this guy merely identifies niches in the market and fills them. Pat seems like Pat should be doing something else with Pat’s life, but Wayne Bell sounds like a guy who took advantage of the family publishing business and just started pounding out whatever flavor of hotcakes is selling.
If a fool and his money become a fool and a coloring book, and Wayne gets his money, well, let ‘im live.
26I feel discriminated against by Pat. After all I sent him a derogatory email as well. I guess mine did not quite measure up. I would consider it an honor to be on his $hit list.
27The research skills here in the World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon are mindboggling! Here I smugly thought I had discovered something unique when I googled the administrator’s name, Wayne Bell and googled him. I came back to post what I had found (http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/print-edition/2013/05/24/st-louis-character-wayne-bell.html?page=all) and saw multiple URLs already posted! Thanks for letting me play with the big kids! LOL!
28maryelle – I hope there’s a support group for that.
In case not, ((((hugs))))
29