They Cloned My Work and Changed the Password
Hard Lesson 04 — Intellectual property without documentation is just a favor.
I designed every banner ad. I set up the entire ad server infrastructure. I sold the ad slots to clients. Six to eight months later, Travis Whitney brought in a partner named Rick Eutsler, they copied everything I built onto the same platform I set up, with the same ads I designed, and removed my access. My Photoshop files. My ad server architecture. My clients. Gone.
How It Started
I owned MarauderAirRifles.com — a forum I built around the Crosman Marauder PCP airgun that was getting 3,500 unique visitors a day at its peak. In the airgun community, I was known. Travis Whitney was running "The Farm" — a well-known airgun destination — and had quietly acquired Gateway to Airguns without anyone knowing yet.
He needed someone who understood how to run forums and monetize them with banner advertising. I knew exactly how to do both. He came to me.
We agreed on 25% of the ad revenue from GatewaytoAirguns.com. Verbal. No paper. Same mistake I'd made before, apparently not yet fully learned.
What I Built
I designed all the banner ads in Photoshop. Set up a hosted ad server — the whole architecture for managing, rotating, and tracking ad inventory. I sold the ad slots directly to clients, handled the pitching, built the rate card. The ad operation was mine from concept to execution.
It ran. It worked. Clients were paying. Revenue was coming in.
The Partner
Then Travis brought in Rick Eutsler. I'll call him what he was: a snake in the grass. Together they decided the arrangement with me was no longer necessary.
They didn't renegotiate. They didn't offer a buyout. They cloned the entire setup — took the same hosted ad server platform I'd chosen and configured, populated it with the same banner ads I'd designed in Photoshop, switched it over, and removed my access.
My intellectual property, repurposed for their benefit, without compensation or even a conversation.
What I Have
I have the original Photoshop design files for every ad. I have website backups proving admin access to the platform. I have the full email trail. Travis has sent multiple apology emails since — March 2024, December 2024 — saying he wants to make it right. I haven't responded yet.
If it ever needed to go further, I have a solid leg to stand on. The paper trail exists. The IP documentation exists. The timing is documented.
What I Did About It
I registered a network of airgun-related domains. AirgunNetwork.com. Others. Internal revenge, I'll admit it. If you're going to use my expertise to build your traffic and then cut me out, I'll build competing properties that bleed yours. That's not a threat — that's just what happens when you mess with someone who understands search engine domination.
Someday I may launch pcpforum.com specifically to compete with Gateway to Airguns. More likely, I'll sell the whole airgun network — it's separate from AirTanksPlus — and let someone else build it out.
The Lessons
Intellectual property is only protected if you can prove it.
The Photoshop files with their creation timestamps. The email trail showing I was setting up the ad infrastructure. The admin access logs. That documentation is the difference between "he said/she said" and an actual case. Document your work, date it, and keep copies somewhere they can't reach.
Watch who they bring in.
A new partner entering an existing arrangement is a red flag. Not always — but often. When someone who's been getting value from you suddenly needs outside input, ask yourself what that input is for. Sometimes it's genuine growth. Sometimes it's building a case to replace you.
The verbal 25% deal is a trap every time.
This was my fourth time learning this exact lesson. Four different people. Four different industries. Same result. If you're reading this and you're about to agree to a verbal revenue share, stop. Write it down first. It takes ten minutes and it's the difference between a partnership and a donation.
Don't mess with someone who can outrank you.
I'm not saying this as a threat. I'm saying it as context: if you burn someone who understands search, they can publish accurate, documented, first-person accounts of what happened and let Google do the rest. That's not revenge — that's transparency. This page exists because other people deserve to know how business gets done by certain operators in this space.