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Welcome to masterWiki: stolen from MasterClass, republished as wikiHow
- NateEag 6y agoIsn't this copyright violation? Or am I just misunderstanding what copyright applies to?
- kd5bjo 6y agoDespite the branding, this isn’t actually a copy: it attempts to summarize each hours-long course into a handful of bullet points. That probably changes the expression enough that it’s original in the eyes of copyright law, and the underlying ideas are not subject to copyright. IANAL, but I suspect they’d have a larger issue with using all of these celebrities’ names and likenesses without permission.
- monoideism 6y agoMaybe, but the fact that they attributed the pieces to those celebrities suggests they weren't very careful about legal boundaries. To say the least.
- mittermayr 6y agoIt's odd, because the content itself isn't actually very useful or any sort of "good" summary like a true cliffnotes type of thing — which should give them enough leeway to stay up and be fine. Yet, they're putting themselves right back in front of the gun: "We stole MasterClass' content..." Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there.
- lapinot 6y ago> Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there. Most likely the same freelance contractors as wikihow. https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-wikihows-bizarre-art-6c5d69b71347 https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-...
- tibbetts 6y agoSounds like a law school exam question about when it stops being parody and starts being deliberately confusing to consumers. Like if I sell Jock Doniels whiskey that’s only 10% alcohol, is that really a parody? Or the South Butt clothing brand.
- yreg 6y agoAs long as they don't quote it verbatim they are fine. You may write a blog post about what you learned in the class… The issue here is the scale at which they do it. I don't have MasterClass so cannot confirm but it seems that at least parts of it are straight up parody e.g. How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs/step 13: Train as a chef in France
- fortran77 6y agoThe content they're printing isn't really from the Master Class. It's someone's best guess as to the content with some satirical touches.
- bovermyer 6y agoThis... has to be copyright violation.
- robjan 6y agoLooks like satire to me
- input_sh 6y agoSummaries aren't copyright violations, unless a significant part of the original is copied verbatim. You can publish a book summary and even quote the book a few times without being accused of copyright violation. Same goes for online courses, as it is the case here.
- knolax 6y agoINFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE!
- yuchi 6y agoBefore you cite copyright violations, I seriously think there’s a huge amount of over simplification in those content. The presentation is fantastically parodistic
- xyst 6y agoI chuckled at the "How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs" with Gordon Ramsay. Who adds sea urchin and white truffle to their scrambled eggs?
- chris_wot 6y agoGordon Ramsay
- ethbr0 6y agoApparently you should, you @&#$ing %£¥×%@&$£% who couldn't @&#_ a £¥@&ing £%@$. (Also, TIL: sea urchins have tongues)
- hacker_newz 6y agoTIL Gordan Ramsay doesn't know what uni is.
- ChicagoBoy11 6y agoDunno about white truffle and sea urchin, but I can attest that using good, actual truffle oil on it can be an inexpensive way to REALLY add to the flavor of it.
- evo_9 6y agoAgree with this, it's pretty awesome tweak. I also use a bit of whole milk instead of butter to get a nice fluffy, creamy scramble.
- hinkley 6y agoI'm always surprised when people don't use a little milk in their scrambles/omelettes.
- hinkley 6y agoBlack truffle salt is to date one of the biggest culinary discoveries I've made. Truffle salt is generally easier to add to dishes than truffle oil (and truffle oil is, IIRC, easier to counterfeit)
- ealexhudson 6y agoLooking at the bottom of the page, this is part of some overall large marketing campaign. A lot of the other stuff is also labelled "theft" : I'm not totally sure it is; the point of the project appears to be to commit almost-IP theft, but in most cases they seem to go right up to the line but do not cross it. (E.g. shirts with corporate logos / brands cut up and barely recognizable, that kind of thing). There's an app, there's a FOMO "drop" list, there's some larger thing at play here. Can't tell if it's something authentic / art-related, or if someone is just trying to build another brand. Edit: indeed, this is some new brand / business: "WHO WE ARE MSCHF Product Studio is an internet company. We operate online store(s), create content, communicate with our fans and customers through texts, email and social channel(s), and occasionally promote our products and services both online and offline" MSCHF (presumably 'mischief') is just another edgy shopify stunt.
- genmon 6y agoNew-ish but making noise for a while. Here's a Business Insider piece from Jan 2020 gives some background: https://www.businessinsider.com/mschf-company-behind-viral-jesus-shoes-feet-generator-bull-moon-2020-1?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/mschf-company-behind-viral-j... And also mentions two rounds of funding totally $11.5m to that date. This July article at the Verge details more drops: https://www.theverge.com/21320127/mschf-products-jesus-shoes-puff-chicken-office-business https://www.theverge.com/21320127/mschf-products-jesus-shoes...
- ddek 6y ago
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- joshspankit 6y agoThis actually makes me re-interested in the official Masterclasses
- Niksko 6y agoI'm an enthusiastic home cook. A friend of mine has a subscription and let me watch one of the cooking masterclasses from Massimo Bottura. The quality is pretty garbage. You're getting a very surface level look into a smattering of a chef's dishes, with really very little added in terms of commentary, technique or otherwise interesting content. If all of their other masterclasses are as shallow as that, it seems like a waste of money.
- Swenrekcah 6y agoThere is one about gardening. As I recall most of the course was the dude putting soil and plants in different kinds of drawers and old suitcases, and pointing out the need to add drainage holes and little feet.
- joshspankit 6y agoOne important thing to know is that each masterclass is essentially it’s own thing. Especially the early ones. They seem to have approached high-level people and said “we’ll do whatever you want”, so some people said they wanted to make garbage. If you get the chance again, check out some of the other chefs to see of there’s one that really provides value.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jedimastert 6y agoOf course this is a MSCHF project. The instant I heard it I thought "this sounds like some sort of meme high art project."
- thih9 6y agoThis looks like an out of context marketing stunt. Could someone link or describe the context?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- lioeters 6y agoFrom another comment: https://www.theverge.com/21320127/mschf-products-jesus-shoes-puff-chicken-office-business https://www.theverge.com/21320127/mschf-products-jesus-shoes...
- jedimastert 6y agoThe group behind it, MSCHF, is like a marketing art collective. A weird mixture between Banksy viral art and Warhol's insight into today's pop/meme culture.
- sevencolors 6y agoFor anyone confused, this a parody from MSCHF. > MSCHF isn’t a sneaker company. It rarely even produces commercial goods, and its employees are reluctant to call it a company at all. They refer to MSCHF, which was founded in 2016, as a “brand,” “group” or “collective,” and their creations, which appear online every two weeks, as “drops.” > Many of those drops are viral pranks: an app that recommends stocks to buy based on one’s astrological sign (which some observers took seriously), a service that sends pictures of A.I.-generated feet over text, a browser extension that helps users get away with watching Netflix at work. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/style/millennial-entrepreneur-startups.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/style/millennial-entrepre...
- acomjean 6y agoTo me the name seems like an abbreviation for “mischief” aka “playful trouble maker”
- jedimastert 6y agoThat's exactly what it is.
- solarkraft 6y agoThey can republish stuff all they want imo, but these are not wikiHow articles unless you are cooperating with the company WikiHow (it's a brand). I'd be most afraid of their reaction .
- ForHackernews 6y agoDoes wikiHow have a patent on ugly clipart and low-effort content?
- solarkraft 6y agoProbably not, but they definitely have a registered trademark.
- pwinnski 6y agoSo they change "republished as wikiHow" to "republished in the wikiHow style" and they're golden.
- quercusa 6y agoThe "How to Write a Thriller" guide, by renowned author 'Dan Brown', is spot-on: https://masterwiki.how/courses/how-to-write-a-thriller/ https://masterwiki.how/courses/how-to-write-a-thriller/
- DataGata 6y agoHaving taken some of the classes, they summarize them exceedingly well.
- desireco42 6y agoFirst I want to point out, what is obvious, the point of MasterClass is those famous people taking to YOU. I don't think this in any way takes away from experience of MasterClass. Did you see how fast site loads? With all slow-poke sites, this is refreshing to see and you don't see it every day.
- 30minAdayHN 6y agoThis is similar to rage marketing. By using the word 'stolen', though they are technically not stolen, you are raising attention. I remember White Moose Cafe giving outrageous replies to unhappy customers which lead to cult following and people just checking in for fun. Looks like they pivoted to a restaurant from a hotel since I last saw them couple of years ago: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/ https://www.facebook.com/WhiteMooseCafe/