My dear readers, I know you haven’t heard from me for a while, but there’s a reason for that. As you may already know, a while ago Canon Inc. in Japan started urging all workers to go home early and bang err… be.. with their family:
Japan is in the midst of an unprecedented recession, so corporations are being asked to work toward fixing another major problem: the country’s low birthrate. Tell us what you think
At 1.34, the birthrate is well below the 2.0 needed to maintain Japan’s population, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Keidanren, Japan’s largest business group, with 1,300 major international corporations as members, has issued a plea to its members to let workers go home early to spend time with their families and help Japan with its pressing social problem.
At Canon USA we thought it would be nice to try this out as well, and as a result of this, I have been neglecting the blog a little. You can imagine that after err…ah… being… with my family, I’m usually all tired and fatigued, and was not able to spend a lot of time on the blog. In fact, I can barely keep myself on the chair as I type this.
But anyway, I have to do this post because I have received a Shut Down notice from… apparently… myself. The following email was sent to me by Toni Schneider, one of the guys running WordPress.com, who host this blog for me:
Hi,
We run your blog at fakechuckwestfall.wordpress.com and have received the attached complaint. Please remove the Canon logo and any mention of Chuck Westfall’s family and threats of violence from your blog. Please email me back when you have done so. If we don’t hear back from you within 48 hours we will disable the blog.
Regards,
Toni
There was also the following PDF file attached: Canon Take Down Notice.
I thought it was pretty clear that this blog is satire. There’s a FAKE included in the URL, there’s a huge FAKE on top of the blog. 98% of people posting here know this is a fake blog. This blog is so over the top you’d have to be smoking some serious crack to take anything here as official. I’ve gotten LOTS of positive feedback on this blog, which you can see from the comments in all the posts here, but also through emails sent to me. This feedback includes positive comments even from photographers in the Canon Explorers of Light program. Hell, Trent Nelson even put this blog in his top 5 cool things for 2008. People seem to like the humor and satire here in general. A Google search will reveal as much.
Apparently Canon, and myself, think different about this.
WordPress.com is going to take this blog down in 48 hours. If you like the blog and would like to see me continue this, please leave a comment, send an email to my corporate account at cwestfall@cusa.canon.com and CC Toni Scheinder of WordPress.com at toni@automattic.com.
In case nothing helps, it was a pleasure doing this blog for all of you. I enjoyed it, and I think we got some messages through. Check back soon for updates.
Update:
Okay I decided to listen to that lawyer guy from Loeb & Loeb, and I have made the following changes in order to comply (see the PDF for their 4 claims):
1. I have resized the Canon logo in the bottom right corner of the header image of my blog, and it is now completely unreadable. In fact, it almost looks like a small short red line. That should take care of that.
2. Next, I edited this comment to make it less violent. For your reference, the original was:
Micahel, you don’t give me a lot of hope with your comment, but I’m sure you know that. Do you think they’ll listen to me if I come in one day at the office and start bashing their heads with a two by four? Or perhaps I could also come in with a shotgun and lots of ammo and start shooting in the wild. I’m not going to kill anyone, just scare the ever loving crap out of them and show them I mean business now. Do you think that would make a difference?
But your comment about Nikon making tools for photographers is right on, even though, I must admit, I hate to admit that. I guess I’m a bit jealous, but I really hoped we could have gone more in that direction with our latest products. I guess it’ll have to wait for a while.
It is now:
Micahel, you don’t give me a lot of hope with your comment, but I’m sure you know that. Do you think they’ll listen to me if I come in one day at the office and start dancing ballet in front of them? Or perhaps I could also come in with a watergun and lots of water and start spraying in the wild. I’m not going to make anyone wet, just scare the ever loving crap out of them and show them I mean business now. Do you think that would make a difference?
But your comment about Nikon making tools for photographers is right on, even though, I must admit, I hate to admit that. I guess I’m a bit jealous, but I really hoped we could have gone more in that direction with our latest products. I guess it’ll have to wait for a while.
3. The identification of my wife and daughter is not privacy-invasive at all, since I have been mentioning them in my Tech Tips over at the Digital Journalist for years. It’s information that is public, for years. Here’s an example, see end of page.
4. There is nothing misleading about the source of the information on this blog. As stated earlier, everyone knows this site is fake. The url has “fake” in it, the header has a huge red FAKE in it. It was clear from the start that this blog is satire. It’s everywhere on Google.
I’ll now leave it up to WordPress.com to decide if they want to delete this blog or not.
Update 2:
WordPress.com is not going to remove my blog. See comment from Toni below and more info over at Thomas Hawk.
Fake Chuck Westfall 
fake chuck westfall is dead !
LONG LIVE FAKE CHUCK WEST-FALL !!!
Dear Fake Chuck,
I can appreciate spending time with the Family. You did a great job with this Blog and I’m going to be sorry to see it go. I very much enjoyed what you had going here and I would very much like to see it continue.
Dear Assholes at Canon,
This is Bullshit!! IF Canon would spend half the energy and effort into listening to their customers and putting a little thought and QA into their products as they put into harassing bloggers they might have a product on the market that’s worth a shit (and doesn’t fall apart in when you take it out of the safety of the studio – you better haul ass over to L.L. as he said “bad thing” about your product too). I’m officially ashamed to own Canon glass and this is a great piece of motivation to never buy another Canon product. Please continue reading for your public chastising.
YOU SUCK! GET A LIFE AND A NEW MARKETING DEPARTMENT!!! AND START LISTENING TO THE COMPLAINTS, WE”RE PISSED BECAUSE WE HAVE INVESTED IN YOU AND YOU, IN TURN, WILL NOT LISTEN TO WHAT WE NEED AND WANT!
COMMUNISM IS ENTERING WEST,
does it mean FALL,
shall we ask for WEST-FALL
I would send Canon and their lawyers a photograph of me giving them the finger, but I have a Mark III and the photo would be out of focus, so what’s the use of doing that?
Hi Fake Chuck,
We don’t think Canon has the right to shut down the blog, but they do have the right to ask that their logo not be used. I also think Chuck’s family has a right to privacy (unless they are talked about on the real Chuck Westfall’s site). As far as the threats of violence, if they are clearly satirical they can stay. Your blog is fine as long as you remove the logo and mentions of Chuck’s family.
Fake Chuck,
Your blog is an amusing part of my day, and your satire is spot on. Canon should focus on their product, not your blog. Although I was ready to pull the trigger on a 5dmkii, I believe I will wait for Nikon’s product response to it before purchasing my next camera.
Cheers, and thanks for the good times.
Thanks for responding quickly and removing the logo. Your blog is good to go. (Since Chuck mentions his family at http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0604/westfall.html, the privacy argument is void).
Dear Fake Chuck,
I had a close look at the facsimile of the complaint. With all the black spots, you think the fax machine has the same imaging processor and firmware as the 5D Mark II?
Keep up your faking!
I’m getting too old for this. I hired a lawyer to take down my own blog, and I can’t even seem to do that succesfully. 26 years of working at Canon can do that to you.
Dear Fake Chuck,
Your work is much appreciated. Disgraceful on Canon’s part that you had to go through this.
Dear Canon,
You need to fire your lawyers and concentrate on products. I was a huge Canon evangelist, but got tired of waiting for the 5D2 or full frame 1DS and finally bought a D3. But up until today, I still loved and respected Canon.
“Look, feel and tone… calculated to mislead”? Seriously? The word “fake” is about as obvious as it gets. Fire the lawyers.
Satire can be biting, but it seems maybe it wasn’t biting enough to get Canon to get the message – fix the product!
Toni and WordPress,
Very impressive – it’s great to see a company stand by it’s customers and not cave in!
Long live fakechuckwestfall. May he continue to provide us with insightful, decisive and humourous satire.
I vote for remaining up and alive. If you are shutdown, we will follow you wherever you go (and taking your business).
If you can’t laugh and cry at yourself (canon), you lead a pretty boring/stressful life.
fakechuckwestfall army
Hagen
PS Lawyers have less humour than accountants have personalities
Didn’t Canon do the same with the other harmless website, Canonrumors.com? They were threatened in much the same way, and look, they are still around several months later.
Worldpress ought to have an attorney on retainer if they cater to the public to blog things that could be controversial, and might offend others. Shouldn’t they be well prepared for such a threat? Don’t they make you agree to some long legal form before you become a member here? Didn’t they say somewhere that they would not be held accountable for the things you publish, on the space that they provide to you to use?
Hmmm…. It makes me wonder if all those words that I have to agree to are worth the cyber weight they are written on? It looks as though Canon showed that they aren’t.
JP
Fake Chuck. Good to see the good folks at Automattic standing behind you on this one. You ought to see someone about those masochistic tendencies of yours man. Either that or the next time you try to shut down your own blog hire some more competent lawyers.
Sheesh. What’s the world coming to when you can’t even get your own blog shut down.
This is nuts Fake Chuck, but it’s good to see you standing up against them and knowing what your rights are where applicable. Always have enjoyed the satire, as well as the usefulness this blog has given me. Regardless of what happens to your blog Fake Chuck, it is one of the few blogs that I can keep reading a million times again and again, and still laugh and agree with everything you say. Canon needs to get their act together, and know that a blog like this really is something they should praise…get them to clean up and fix what they have messed up and get them back in front of Nikon.
RM
Hey Fake Chuck.
Thank you worldpress to leave us to read this blog.
It’s the only one where we can know what’s happening in the background of Canon.
(This was the first one where I know about the new 24-70 IS)
Calculated to mislead? This is rubbish. Keep up the great work Fake Chuck. Good to know Automattic is standing up to their principles for now.
Canon should spend more time on getting its products right and less time harassing bloggers like Fake Chuck. He’s a brilliant one at that. We should have more talented bloggers like him who will stand up to the likes of Canon.
I’m seriously reconsidering future Canon camera purchases.
I’m happy that everything’s ok Fake Chuck.
Great site. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
If possible, I’d like to contact “Johny” from the post above. I work for Nikon and believe that he has a unique flair for writing that we could use in our world-wide marketing department.
In 2007 we decided that after selling nothing but crap for the previous 7-8 years, we’d buy the parts to make a real camera (re: D3 and now D3x). The dullards at Canon caught wind of our efforts and not wanting to be out done, decided to become a second tier company selling over priced junk. They liked the thought of screaming “We’re number TWO” at rallies (disclaimer: any indirect references to bodily functions are solely at the discretion of the reader).
Anyway, we’d like to acknowledge Canon’s efforts. Their successful trip to manufacturing inferior products is complete and it’s time to put our thoughts and congratulations into print. We want a new ad campaign Johny’s style is what we’re looking for; it’s fresh and to the point as evidenced with his salutation
“Dear Assholes at Canon,”
We simply couldn’t put it any better.
His closing was superb as well, when he summed up his feelings as follows..
“YOU SUCK! GET A LIFE AND A NEW MARKETING DEPARTMENT!!! ”
Brilliant! We want to write copy like that. While it’s true that we’ve purchased the Rob Galbraith site (after Canon threatened to sue him for disclosing their crappy products, we bought him for the price of a D40 with kit lens (used demo model of course), our ads there are a little too mainstream and we’d like to spice it up a bit to show how cool we are.
Johny, please contact us at Nikon Marketing Dept. Tokyo, Japan. We want you on the team…
BTW – I have over $30k in Canon gear for sale…
Just a thought.
Since the blog is satire, why not blow the logo back up and modify the spelling. Or put a smiley face over the O, or something along those lines.
Should we bomb them again to remind them who’s boss? I thought radiation had a longer half life… 1.34 is not a fast enough rate of extinction I guess.
My hat is off to WordPress. Nicely done, guys.
Hey, I just mailed you but in case you don’t get it here’s a copy of what I sent:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sam Johnston
Date: Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 9:31 PM
Subject: Thanks for the heads up about your blog!
To: Chuck Westfall
Cc: Toni Scheinder , “Douglas E. Mirell”
G’day Chuck,
It’s not every day that something truly entertaining comes to my
attention but thanks to my mates at Slashdot[1] and your mates at Loeb
& Loeb with their (surely fake?) letter[2] I was drawn attention to
your refreshingly entertaining fake blog[3]. Anyway I’m sure I’m one
of many who have immediately added your blog to my reader – it’s truly
amazing what a bit of viral marketing can do for you!
Kodos to the guys at Automattic too for identifying the letter for
what it was so quickly and taking appropriate action – those guys
rock!
Eagerly awaiting your next post,
Your [virtual] friend,
Sam
1. https://fakechuckwestfall.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/982873542.pdf [wordpress.com]
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/15/1830217 [slashdot.org]
3. https://fakechuckwestfall.wordpress.com/ [wordpress.com]
And now this blog got slashdotted. A really smart move by Canon…
censorship. good one canon. good one.
My first dSLR was the Canon 10D, still have it and use it. But the new stuff, oh ____! And it not just Canon. The megapixel race has gone beyond reason and image quality has nosedived since 2007.
Canon, I know you are reading this blog. I would purchase a 5Dii today, along with 3 or 4 lenses. But I read about shoddy assembly and hold back. Kudos on the firmware fix for black spots, but then I read about 25% failure rate on the LL Antarctica trip vs 0 problems with Nikon and Sony.
Canon, instead of having a piss over a site that is critical of you, FIX things. Fire the imbeciles who farmed assembly out to some place you have no control over. The ONLY way back to my wallet, is by once again making top class equipment. Not marketing, ads, sueing websites.
Why do the new crop of cameras (not just Canon) all have HD video? Just because the chip can doesn’t mean you have to. I can use my hands for a variety of tasks, but choose not to do some things. Video belongs on a pocket camera, but not professional equipment like a dSLR.
Apparently the take down has 4 points, easily complied with:
1. Use of their Holy Logo (tm, (C), (R), etc etc)
2. No violins (or cellos, or bassoons).. *oh* Ok, no chainsaws, hammers,..
3. No spitting at Chucky Boy or his family (treat others as you would like..)
4. Change look to unconfuse their “suits” (make word “FAKE” bigger so manager can understand)
Otherwise, business as usual folks! Carry on.
Hey, why can’t I buy a SX1 IS in North America? Canon sells it everywhere else, but we’re supposed to buy the crappy SX10 IS (called the SX10 IS because it sucks at least 10x more than the SX1 IS). WTF? Maybe I’ll buy a Nikon Coolpix P90 instead.
5 stars for wordpress. Canon’s censorship *sucks* (I’ve been buying canon products for years! .. but what you’ve done is NOT cool!)
Until this story appeared on Slashdot, I didn’t know that Canon makes shit cameras. My wife and I are on the lookout for a SLR camera but Canon will be off our list (Nikon on the other hand looks attractive).
And that letter probably cost Canon about $1,000 in lawyer’s fees, which would have been better spent on Customer Service.
“Now now 5DII”. I’m cuddling mine, “Don’t listen to all these Vitamin D deficient, tantrum throwing, frustrated photographers. You’re not going to break on me are you? You’ve been good to me so far, solid as a rock. And although you may not be perfect or complete -nothing is- you give back honest, unbound beauty. That is, when I press all your right buttons! I love you.”
[-oxox] [oxox] [+oxox]
I’d never heard of you before, Fake Chuck, but Canon’s lawyers fixed that small oversight.
If I were you, I’d have used the Canon font, but switched the ‘o’ & the ‘a’. But then you might’ve heard from Universal Studios.
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Dear Fake Chuck:
As someone who uses Nikon by choice, Canon when I must, I can say this: Our office’s Canon is the Trailer Queen of dSLR’s. I started bringing my Nikon to work for backup. This pleased my boss a great deal, since he was the one who forked out company bucks for the Canon, and would have had to explain why the department wanted another camera.
Wow, this blog is hilarious. Thanks, Canon, I would never have known about it without your takedown notice. Looks like I’ll be looking at Nikon for my next DSLR then.
You shouldn’t have to remove the logo! I’m not a lawyer, but the law is very clear on the use of copyrighted materials (i.e., Canon’s logo) for satirical purposes. There’s simply no way that a court would interpret a blog labeled “FAKE” at the top and using the word fake at the beginning of its URL as anything likely to be interpreted by reasonable people as the real thing. The lawyers are simply doing what lawyers do: using intimidating, important-sounding language to try to scare you into doing what they cannot legally force you to do.
Aaah, the poetic justice of the Streisand Effect.
Google ‘Chuck Westfall’ and Fake Chuck comes out on top. 🙂
Well unlike the other posters, I am sticking with Canon cameras, but I do feel that Canon should have more important priorities than this…
Fantastic!
I would have never known about this blog had Canon’s numpties launched a legal attack. The fact that the attack was without merit makes the results all the sweeter.
I was eagerly anticipating the release of the 5D MKII. In my photography, the 5D was a major breakthru, with phenomenal low light performance and good build quality.
I carefully read the first reports about the MKII and discovered that it was crippled with no 24p, no manual aperture or shutter speed control in HD video mode. I thought ‘Damn, what a shame’.
Over the days and Months that followed, I read numerous seemingly legitimate complaints about build quality. Considering the $3000 investment required (not including additional post processing software and hardware) I have elected to hold off until such time as a reliable platform exists.
Its a damn shame because I had cold hard cash in hand and would have loved to augment the 5D with newer (and improved) technology.
Canon – it is not too late. Please focus on quality, and once again you may re-define yourselves and set a new standard for greatness.
Great companies are defined by how they react to adversity. by attacking this blog you are making a terrible mistake. I will grant you this one, in part because of how seriously it has backfired on you. But I would very much like to have complete confidence in your products again.
Yours in photography,
‘Relic’
PS – Hoping the mirror on my 5D doesn’t fall off. Why on earth did you wait so long to do the right thing and fess up to the issue? I am afraid to take it in for service since it has not ‘sploded yet. But as I have lost confidence in the 5D’s ability to maintain functionality in the field, I am now strongly considering procuring additional backup gear. There may be Nikon gear in my future. Please get your effluent together Canon.
I agree with others and the shoddy quality. Defective image sensor and focus on my A70. I can’t wait to find out what will happen to my Rebel XT. Canon (and others like them) need to focus (pardon the pun) on quality first. I bought a new camera over Christmas. I purchased a Nikon, as I just couldn’t get to any real specifications on the Canon interwebs…. Shame on you!
Wow! Here is a message for the Cannon manager who approved sending a takedown notice to a harmless satire site:
Do you have any idea of the damage you have done to the Cannon brand and how many futures sales you lost because of this fiasco?? If you weren’t so negligently ignorant, you could have learned from other companies which previously made the same inept mistake and ended up doing far more damage to themselves. Aren’t your work and decisions supposed to add value to the Cannon enterprise? How can your boss justify continued employment and payment of a salary when your poor judgment and actions have actively destroyed goodwill value for Cannon?
I would never have come across this blog except for your actions actively attracting increased attention to it. How many more people are in this situation? Perhaps the author of the blog will be kind enough to post the increase in his web traffic as a result of this event.
I also happened to be in the market for a DSLR, and was not previously aware of the “disappointments” which Cannon product quality has recently been generating. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I expect to avoid Cannon in the future, not only for this reason, but in response to it’s hostile corporate attitude toward free speech on the internet.
In response to this, I hear Canon are coming out with a new point and SHOOT camera that has instant foot recognition.
@ Dee,
I thought the camera would shoot the foot towards the mouth 🙂
fake chuck westfall is one of the few blogs i see all the canon rants i have for canon as a photographer, i wished canon would’ve come in and read the real shxt rather than trying to shut this site down! Dont shut fake chuck down!!
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I KNOW how you feel brother!
I KNOW!
It’s a good thing you took your head out of the blankets to check for email. If you’d taken a bit more time, you might have gotten yourself, well, screwed.
In the meantime I’ve come up with a replacement for the ‘stylized canon logo’.
http://bcgreen.com/pics/nofake/ it’s both in (large) png and svg for editing.
I have been undecided about buying a Ca*on or Nikon camera. Seeing as Ca*on don’t have a sense of humour, I guess I’ll be buying the Nikon.
Yeah, threatening obvious parodies…. real good for business Ca*on!
Long live Fake websites.. Even though “Faking” is protected by the First Amendment, you still have to get the permission of the sissy who runs the website of which hosts your blog.
Personally, I hold WorldPress.com responsible for the loss of FakeChuckWestfall.com, and I will encourage others on photography forums to use any other service to host their blogs, which is a growing business. Maybe WorldPress.com ought to get out of the blog business if they can’t stand for Freedom of Speech issues!
Typical Canon.
Canon, if you’re listening, as a user of 20 years, you’re about to lose me. Your support, customer service, and arrogance are appalling. And no, this is not as a direct result of your attack on this blog, which is a horrid attack on freedom of speech. You should be ashamed of yourselves Canon.
For a Japanese company, you have no honour.
Dave
OK, so I just want to get this straight; this is the REAL blog of Chuck Westfall, right? BTW, why does it say “fake” everywhere? Is that some kind of Canon product?
Dear Mr. Nik Onn,
That’s what happens when you write from the heart. You might end up sounding like a sailor or a kid on a playground, but it’s honest. You should see some of the gems I’ve sent to Canon directly. 🙂 Unfortunately, that kind of passion can’t be bought, but I’ll make you a deal – I’ll keep lusting for a Nikon kit that equals my current Canon kit and you keep making cameras that deserve my lust.
Johnny
P.S. Fake Chuck, I’m glad to hear you will be sticking around.
Congratulations Fake Chuck Westfall. I am happy to read that your blog will continue to entertain readers.
Perhaps as a replacement for the Canon logo, you can get away with “Fake Canon” or if that looks, feels, or “tones” too much like their trademark, maybe “fAKE cANON” crosses that line back toward acceptably dissimilar. Either way, the logo should definitely be out of focus, as if taken with a Canon camera.
I didn’t have a problem with canon before, but since I heard about the way they reacted to this obvious satire they’re off my christmas card list.
Haven’t they ever heard of the Streisand effect?
Funny.
I’ve never heard of this blog before I read about the shut down notice on slashdot. I guess Canon and their ever trusty law team have made something right. – They made your blog ever more famous. (I’m making the wild guess here that I’m not the only one…) I might even start reading this on regular bases!
Or maybe Canon calculated that this way they’d make their name heard, and people would flock to stores to buy new Canon-cameras as they had never heard of this company before…
Unfortunately reality is a bit different. I for one have advised my friends and relatives when searching for a new camera. I’ve told my friends until now: “It doesn’t matter which camera you buy, as long as it fits your hand and you like to use it. And it’s from a camera builder like Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Olympus. Take your pick.”
But after this stunt, I’ll be only listing three real camera builders. You can guess which one I’ll be labeling as a printing supply firm…
– Aren’t I lucky I use Nikon myself!
I have a Cannon camera, A1 SLR, that is 35 years old and works perfectly. I also have a digital camera (Olympus) that works perfectly. This attempt to pull this blog reminds me of MS’s $300 million ad campaign to hype Vista, instead of spending the money on a SP to fix the Vista problems. I guess there is no profit in fixing your mistakes, and forget about customer good will, that’s certainly not fungible. You got to wonder who the bone headed execs are that think this kind of action will improve their position. I have used various Cannon hardware and associated software and now just avoid them entirely, maybe they should take a close look at the A1 and try to figure where they they took a turn into oncoming traffic instead of the passing lane.
This is Totally Insane! I’m at home, making torches and sharpening the points on my pitchfork, can’t wait until I get to run amok among the corporate shills.
I haven’t heard about this blog before I saw the news about this letter. So I’m a new RSS subscriber and look forward to your futher posts.
Isn’t that great? Canon gives you free publicity. I’m sure there are even a $50 cashback on that offer as well.
First time here, just saw the story on SlashDot.. had a lot at some older posts, very amusing. HOWEVER.. How can Canon possibly think they have the right to take down a blog just because it “has the canon logo” and “mentions a worker at canon”.. That is essentially what they are implying. You’ve always “insisted” (with the word fake been everywhere..) that you arn’t Chuck, and if people can’t see that.. well.
On a nicer note, I’m sure I will remember to read here. 🙂
Good – hopefully they will sue you and sink you.
Since you aren’t man enough to actually present your real identity you deserve nothing less than getting stripped down to your underwear.
it is very good http://www.mozdesigns.com
If you need standalone WP hosting for your blog, in case of WordPress.com sissying out, don’t hesitate to contact, I’m more than happy to help – and, since my servers are located in Europe, they will have whole different fight in their hands if they want to get you offline 🙂
Canon’s professional blood suckers just got you another new reader 🙂
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What a load of horseshit from the fucktards at Canon. I used to naively praise Canon as a great company and I recommended their equipment to all my friends; but then I bought a Mark III that wouldn’t focus and Canon just swept it under the rug (mine still doesn’t focus after all their fixes), exactly like they’re now doing with all the issues of the 5D Mark II. Piss off assholes, I’m switching back to Nikon. As Lloyd Chambers says, Canon does it first, Nikon does it right.
Well Fake Chuck
I can’t say anything, so this is me not saying anything.
❤
Fake Chuck, you just gathered a few more readers after this debacle. Continue this blog, satire has a way of pushing companies to admit their mistakes and face up to their bad practices. We support you!
Do you have a little noticed website? Do you want to increase traffic? Do you want slashdotters all over the world come and visit your work?
Contact Douglas E. Mirrell at http://www.loeb.com/douglas_mirell/ for all your search engine optimization needs!
He’ll craft a professionally worded take-down message that will send anti-censorship advocated in a frenzy! Traffic explosion guaranteed!
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Wow, great job Cannon. Now your customers everywhere will know what jackasses you are and this nice blog will get a huge boost in readers.
This bit of information was especially helpful when I went out to buy my new camera.
My new Nikon works great!
The last Canon I owned was a G1. That’s right: the signal to noise ratio from Canon has been deteriorating ever since then. I don’t worry about it, though: I just shoot a Pentax. Good luck to all of you!
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I abandoned Canon way back when Canon abandoned all the FD users, and have used Pentax ever since. So it is some small amusement to me when I see they have stepped in it as squarely as this. As previous posters have mentioned, the “Streisand Effect” is a real phenomena and I suspect Canon will soon learn that.
Keep up the good work, Fake Chuck!
Good grief do I feel like a fool! All this time I thought you were the REAL Chuck Westfall. Never in my wildest dreams did I suspect this was a satirical blog. I know I saw the word FAKE e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e but for some reason reason it didn’t click. I thought maybe it was some kind of weird job title or a strange new product line Canon was pushing.
You got me FAKE Chuck. You got me.
This is such a great thoughtful site. Canon really needs to fix their cameras and start helping their customers much better. They lost me this year.
I did choose Nikon after I returned the 50D back to Ritz cause of the horrible black dots, hot pixels, and focus issues. After seeing all the problems with Canon and now their poor attitude, I am sure glad I did choose Nikon. I was scared at first changing brands, but truth be told Nikon actually is amazing and I am so glad it worked out this way in the end.
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You should take an artistic photo of a canon product to use as your blog banner. Imagine if canon asked you to scrub their logo from a photo of one of their cameras or lenses… I don’t think even real chuck could be that anti-art.
http://picasaweb.google.com/nlaredo/Canon5DFamily#5277581905091768898
I wonder when canon will ask me to take down that photo because it overuses their logo….
NEVER HEARD OF YOUR SITE BEFORE THE THREAT, DON’T OWN A CANON, GOT A SONY, DON’T KNOW IF YOUR SITE DOES ANY GOOD ,BUT WILL SUPPORT YOUR RITE TO BE SATIRICAL WITHOUT CENSURSHIP TOO THE DEATH…
Good on you and the folks at WordPress for toughing it out against those corporate lawyers, which let’s face it must make even the toughest satirist and blog host a little nervous.
I was unaware of the issues you are highlighting through satire (I do own a couple of Canon compacts and was seriously considering a G9 or G10), but I am aware of them now and Canon have not come out of this well, in my opinion.
Others have already said it, but why put money in the pockets of the legal parasites and besmirch your name when you could invest the same in keeping your customers happy and establish a good reputation? Beats me…
Solidarity dudes!
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Big kudos to WordPress for standing up to Canon..
First time I come to your blog, unfortunately is about this. I am for ya dude! Your in the right here. You made a point to add FAKE; therefore making it clear that there isn’t any real connection. WordPress was probably just covering their asses you know. They need to protect what they got, but at the same time notice what or who they are telling to do what.
Viva la Resistance!
WGM
WordPress should shut you down for sheer stupidity. This site is 100% abusive, tasteless and idiotic. It has no merit whatsoever except to amuse your messed up mind. Chuck is a good person and doesn’t deserve your abuse or anyone’s abuse. I hope someone messes with your life and your image in the same way as you truly deserve it. You suck!
Now why would I want to abuse myself? Do you see me saying anything bad about myself here? I am being critical of my employer, sure, and that is the purpose of this blog. You’ll find both praise and criticism here for Canon. Certain people need to deal with certain facts, and start improving. We’re a bit tired of kissing ass and watching Nikon take our market share worldwide.
OK, Fake, you are so not funny. Please come out with your REAL name and photo so that you can be publicly abused in the same way that you abuse Chuck’s good name and photo. If you believe in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, then you’re OK with being personally and publicly abused. Also, come out with the real names of your family members, your parents in particular, so that everyone can know what a jerk they raised. I feel sorry for you as you seem to have found nothing valuable to do in your life. Oh, and did I mention your site is ABUSIVE and that you’re an abusive person. I hope that photographers will stand up for Chuck and that someone will expose your real name and your employer’s name if anyone has had the misfortune to employ you.
Speaking of ass-kissing, lots of people are kissing your ass right here, Mr. Fake. You like that, don’t you? Since you’re using Chuck’s real name, let’s have YOUR real name. You could have made this site about Canon, but instead you made it about Chuck — his name and his photo. That’s outrageous. Whatever photographers have to say about Canon products, they should stand up for Chuck as a person, the real Chuck that is.
Dude you dug yourself a big hole. Hopefully you learn something from this:
A)Read the terms and conditions before you start a blog.
B)Know something about how aggressively corporations will defend their trademarks and servicemarks
Canon is totally within their rights to make that request, and I’d do the same. If they let one person do it, it sets a precedent and soon their logo could be associated with all types of things they do not wish to be associated with.
It’s a market position thing. If you’re not in PR or marketing, you probably won’t get it.
Your right to free speech stops when it causes damage to someone else. Careful because you could end up in a nice defamation case… and that my friend is something few people want to afford. I’d hedge on the side of caution….
Good luck.
^^^—— Someone spoiled the party
Canon keep shooting themselves in the foot. Whether it’s complacency when ahead, fake features, poor value, or legal embarassments. They should get their heads down and start making some great and innovative products again rather than trying to sue themselves back to superiority. The corporate image has been ruined in the last couple of years imo. From serene superiority to sore loser. The only worse PR effort over that period was that of a certain ex president. Canon seem to have a problem with everyone these days. Remind me of Microsoft. They only have OS left and Linux will soon deal with that. People WANT to use alternatives because they’re fed up with the way MS play the game (or don’t).
That’s what happens if you upset your customers and make a spectacle of yourself at the same time. Canon are making the same mistake. As a long-time Canon user I have not been impressed for several years now and the more I see, the less I like. On the other hand Nikon look like they DESERVE my wallet’s thousands of votes.
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I wonder if tt works for Lube & Lube? Seems like the kind of guy they’d employ. And it is SOP for a media savvy organization taking money from a well-heeled client to delegate someone to troll the comments of the offending site.
I wonder if the the Friends of Canon who are embarassing themselves ranting about how this site is all about the real Chuck have actually read the blog. If they have, then their comments are a seriously indictment of their reasoning capacities. Or lack thereof. But I suspect most haven’t, cuz if that had, they’d know that this blog portrays the real Chuck as a hero! Standing up for his company and it’s customers.
But the real reason some, like tt, are trying to make this all about the real Chuck is to deflect the issue away from Canon’s reprehensible behavior (see, Response to Mark III Fiasco, Volumes 1-30) and try to paint this as a personal attack on an innocent bystander. Obviously not all of the people making asses of themselves here by buying into the trolling of tt & Associates are Canonite trolls, so we have to assume they brought thier dumbassery with them.
They are after mee too bro!
Hey Chuck why dont you host your blog on your own domain, that way WordPress wont have the opportunity to shut you down. You can tranfer everything from here…..
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if westfall falls. CANON YOU WILL ALSO FALL.
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