It's rude to ignore the wishes of open-source developers and assume you have a good enough reason to do so.
But who's wishes have I ignored? I have the original
README.html file for V1.1.0 still on my site and I see no mention at all of having to display any 'Powered by...' message. The same goes for the GNU license which came with it, which openly states "that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs". Now, you may have added these requirements for versions released
after the one I have, but surely you can't expect that to apply retrospectively?
The fact is, Coppermine also utilises code from many other pieces of software, too. Do you put a POWERD BY....XXX on
every page on your website? No, you credit them in a manner and form of your own choosing, in the same way as I credit Coppermine in a way that is in keeping with the way I wish to run my site. The whole point of open software is that you make it freely available to people and don't try and dictate to them what they do with it. (By the way, I also write free software which I give away and I don't feel the need to impose on people who use it that it has to have my name emblazed on it. If they wish to give a link back to me, that's fine, but it is up to them.) As I said, I'm happy to credit the authors, I just wish to do so in my own way.
The spirit of the open-source community is to keep everything in public, so everyone learns from all discussions and experiences. Handling things in private would be antithetical to that spirit.
Well, I'm quite happy to discuss things in a reasonable manner, but I do take afront to being labeled as "pitiful" by an Administrator of the site without them having bothered to discuss matters with me first or ascertain the full facts. I'm sure that is not the spirit of the open-source community that you would wish to promote.
Your link under "Credits" points to a squatter site, by the way.
I'm not sure how long you have been involved in the project but in the early days there wasn't any main website or sourceforge site. That "squatter site"
was the main site! As I said, the version I use is very old! However, I will change the link to point to the correct site ASAP. Thank you for spotting that.
edit: Otherwise, I am very impressed with the look, feel, and content of your website. Nice job.
Thank you, I appreciate that.