Those of you that follow my Strategic Living Facebook page are aware that my former website, Backdoor Survival was recently resold to an entity in the Philippines. For now, I will refrain from lambasting prepping and survival sites owned by investors and not preppers. Instead, I wish to publicly make you aware of a grievance I have with the new owners.
In brief, they are misusing my name and personal story by claiming they belong to the founder, a so-called Mary Johnson. This is a lie.
Because they have failed to respond to my numerous emails and attempts to content them via social media, I will frame this as an “Open Letter” and hope they see and respond.
An Open Letter to the Backdoor Survival Ownership Team
Dear Backdoor Survival,
As you may know, I am the original founder of Backdoor Survival and from 2010 to May 2017, was the author of the majority of the content on the website. Over the years, I posted over 1800 articles with just a very small number written by guest authors and even then, the guest articles were introduced and summarized with my own verbiage.
I am contacting you today because I have learned that you and Digital Dividends LLC are the new owners of Backdoor Survival.
Imagine my shock and disbelief when I discovered that you chose to predominately promote and use a large image of me on the about page. This was a blatant violation of the purchase and sale agreement I executed with Owl Mountain in May 2017.
Upon discovery of my image being used in such a manner, I made many attempts to contact the site via email and via social media. I used the contact form and also left post comments. I did not receive any response whatsoever to my inquiries.
A few days ago I went to the site and was shocked to see that my bio and personal story had been hijacked by Mary Johnson. Not only that, Ms. Johnson is now referenced as the founder of the site. Not only is that an outright lie, but it is also a gross hijacking of my sterling reputation and history as the founder of a prominent survival and preparedness website.
It is important to note that while I did allow Owl Mountain to use my bio within the framework of sharing how and why I started Backdoor Survival, this permission was done verbally and on a conditional basis so long as there was no abuse involved.
Assigning my personal history and my bio to another individual is just plain wrong. Furthermore, to link to my personal history on the ABOUT link on your site is a gross misrepresentation of the truth. Backdoor Survival is not about me and has not been since May 2017.
Along these same lines, I have discovered that a number of articles dated after May 2017 are still showing my name as the author even though I was no longer writing for the site. Many of these articles have been changed to the extent that they are unrecognizable. Some contain harmful falsehoods that are a clear indication that whoever made the modifications does not understand preparedness, homesteading, or the use of natural remedies and essential oils. Not only that, but the grammar and punctuation is also poor to the extent of being embarrassing.
In closing, I ask that you take immediate steps to so the following:
1. Remove my personal history and bio from the Backdoor Survival “About” page at https://www.backdoorsurvival.com/about-backdoor-survival-gaye/.
2. Remove my name as the author of any and all articles that are dated after May 2017.
3. Acknowledge publicly on the website and on Facebook that I am no longer a participant in the site and that you apologize for the misuse of my image, personal history, and biography.
Sincerely,
Gaye Levy
How You Can Help
If you or someone you know has contact with the individuals involved with the “new” Backdoor Survival, please let them know that misuse of my personal biography and history is despicable and dishonorable. Furthermore, let them know that to allow Mary Johnson to take credit as the founder of the site is not only misleading and a lie, but it is fake news. As much as I hate that term, it is what it is.
Summing It All Up
August 2020 has been filled with a number of traumatic events that have affected me personally. This, however, was and is the frosting on the proverbial cake. That said, as a prepper, I have learned to do my best to roll with whatever this crazy world throws my way. Sometimes it is not easy but like you, I know I will prevail.
I repeat myself when I say my followers here on Strategic Living are the best. Thank you for reading and listening, and know you are appreciated.
Yours for a Joyful Life,
Gaye
Strategic Haul
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I am sorry that you are going through this aggravation. What happened to Samantha Biggers taking over the site. I am glad I have your original articles stashed on my hard-drive! Stay well.
Samantha was the Editor in Chief. It was a paid position and she was never in an ownership role. She and I have become friends so please do follow her at https://www.samanthabiggers.com.
I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. I sent an email to Backdoor Survival to correct their inaccurate information posted about the founder, ASAP.
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much, Donna. It is aggravating.
Oh my gosh….this is awful. I just sent off an email through their contact us link and your name came up.
This must be so heartbreaking.
The email address has my name but does not come to me. Thankfully.
Hello Gaye,
The team at backdoorsurvival would like to publicly apologize for the misuse of your image. We were told it was okay to leave the website as is, in fact we haven’t changed anything from the website since we bought it.
The team was on vacation and we didn’t get notice of any communication until you were able to contact us through linkedin. Once we got your message, all these issues have been fixed within 12 hours.
Thanks
Please note that your team may be misleading you in that changes have been made to the About page in recent weeks. As an example, Owl Mountain featured Samantha on the About page along with a nod to me as the founder. This was accompanied by a small photo. At some time in the last couple of weeks, Samantha’s information was removed and a huge picture with my name was prominently displayed on the page. There was no indication that I was no longer involved.
I started checking the page on a regular basis only to discover that Mary Johnson (whoever that is) had hijacked my identity. The survival and preparedness community is quite protective of each other. I would caution you down the road to be very careful that your content providers do not misrepresent any of the original authors or myself.
It is getting late here in Arizona but I will check out the corrective actions you are taking in the morning. Please know that I do appreciate the public apology and perhaps we can jump on a Skype call once all of this blows over. This has been a very long week.
PS: The gravatar used in your comment is my photo. Please add changing it to your list of site modifications.
I am glad to hear Sam had nothing to do with this as I felt she showed great stewardship of the site. This explains why I haven’t gotten any recent email updates. Should I get any I will unsubscribe and tell them exactly why. It is crazy you have no control over your intellectual property
Gaye, I am so sorry this has been done to your good name and dedicated identity. It is criminal. Although Samantha Biggers is a good homesteader and writer, I left BDS a long time ago because something felt really off about the ownership. For them to have sold the website to people that have no connection to prepping shows they have no conscience. Your legacy deserves respect.
Hi Karen. Thanks for your kind comments. Unfortunately the company that owned BDS previously just sold to whoever came up with the money first. When a site is sold that is often how it is done, especially when both the buyer and the seller are companies that invest in “digital real estate” and have no personal connection. I was left without a job for a month. I was paid by the word and for some editing work but had no stakehold in the site itself. I am still writing. I have my own site, http://www.samanthabiggers.com. My personal site is still a little rough around the edges but I am working on getting it looking good and hope to post twice per week as soon as some of the last minute farm harvesting is complete. We are getting there! Fall temperatures are starting to show up here in the mountains. Best wishes, Samantha Biggers
Thanks for posting this and letting us (followers) know about the whole ordeal. I’m a stickler for checking sources and horrified as well when misinformation is spread (had our share here in the States lately though, haven’t we?!) Now, more than ever we need reliable info sources, so keep preaching!
Stay safe (and cool in this heat now!)
So sorry to hear about this experience. I have followed you first at BS, and since you started SLB. I am glad for the public apology; I hope that it ends satisfactorily. Keep up your blog! I have learned so much from you.
ever since you left bds i’ve been less and less interested in their articles. while samantha’s contributions remain informative and level-headed, the new owners seem more invested in demonstrating their own expertise than in imparting it to others. also the ads have become more intrusive, and the subject matter more combative and militaristic. not surprising, i guess. but i have learned tremendously from you over the years, and so have many, many others–that, and our gratitude, is your legacy, not a website. it’s one you can be proud of. i’ll continue to enjoy your strategic living posts, but i’m unfollowing bds on facebook and removing the website from my bookmarks; what they did to you, whether it was carelessness or indifference, was wrong.
Well , this certainly explains a LOT !
I had an issue or three that are now put to rest.
Forward and onward.
Thanks to Samantha and Gaye for clearing this all up.
Dave
Hello Gaye,
The team at backdoorsurvival would like to publicly apologize for the misuse of your image. We were told it was okay to leave the website as is, in fact we haven’t changed anything from the website since we bought it.
The team was on vacation and we didn’t get notice of any communication until you were able to contact us through linkedin. Once we got your message, all these issues have been fixed within 12 hours.
This new comment should fix the gravatar issue.
Thanks
Actually the website did change since you bought it. I stated in an email that you were welcome to keep my bio and image in the about section but you needed to list me as “the former editor-in-chief”. If you had just changed the About Section enough to reflect that Gaye and I were both formerly involved and not currently involved, we would not be having this conversation. Backdoor Survival had a large reader base at the time and I wanted it to be clear to everyone that I was no longer making any editorial decision or writing new posts. Other websites I have contributed to list me as “Writer Emeritus” or something similar to reflect that I was a former writer. Instead of using the correct terminology you erased my image and bio entirely and made it look as though Gaye was the current owner. You then added a fake name to her bio. Sorry but that was done after you bought the site. Clearly, someone was not on vacation and was making changes that were noticed by readers. I have no idea exactly how many people are working on this project with you but someone was making changes after the sale.
Is there a reason you are re-posting this comment? To echo what Samantha said, you most certainly did change the site and specifically the “About” page. Who the heck is Mary Johnson, who for a short time, took over my identity.
I am embarrassed and ashamed for you.
Such garbage…who wants to read prepping material from a company with board members. No way their lives are paralleled by the lives of the prepping communities. On top of that, already doing nefarious things with the site. Status quo. I’m sorry Gaye, just keep being you, your integrity is intact. We are all judged one day by our actions. They are misrepresenting you, you are not misrepresenting yourself or them. Therefore, in my opinion the aggravation belongs to them and should remain on their conscience.