[Doc_LaVoy]

They say it's the sincerest form of flattery, but frankly, it just pissed us off.

A group from Aurora, IL is calling themselves the "Chicago Ghostbusters", and we here at the real GB:CD are quite irked. It seems they made a series of videos they they have submitted as part of Sony's contest earlier this summer. After I stumbled onto their vids I politely informed them that there was already a Chicago division and I linked them to our myspace.

My comment was deleted without hesitation.

So now the question becomes, what to do with these impostors? They didn't go through any of the proper channels to be included in GBI.

What do you all think?

Here's their Youtube profile: http://www.youtube.com/user/nxn21

[exo95er]

I'd have to say their videos are pretty slick.

They're the "Chicago Ghostbusters" and you're the "Ghostbusters: Chicago Division." Isn't Chicago big enough for two ghostbuster franchises?

Here we have a classic case of free market capitalism - I don't think you can take any legal action against them, so if you want them to go away, you'll need to outdo them in some fashion or another. Ultimately, it's your customers and fan-base in Chicago that'll determine which franchise is the one they'll call.

You should arrange a get together at a con or something - they seem pretty into Ghostbusters with their props and videos, so at least you have Ghostbusters in common to discuss and enjoy.

[Dan AKA]

You have not been keeping up with the Florida franchises, have you?

[jettajeffro]

I expect any day for there to be another group of Arizona Ghostbusters and they will most likely call themselves the Arizona Ghostbusters. We've ran into alot of ghostheads around here that are interested in the gear but not charity work and that's fine. Some are interested in charity work and still could form their own team. That's fine too. I think we'd really only be irked if they used our exact logo, but if they make their own version with the AZ flag that's fine and we couldn't and wouldn't do anything about it.

We do hope to someday have another section of our team in another city like Tucson, but they'll still be the Arizona Ghostbusters and not something like AZGB: Tuscon Squad Recon Team A. Just Arizona Ghostbusters living and operating in another city.

[AJ Quick]

It would be cool to have state divisions and then city divisions as a sub group of that state group.

[BigJon]

Why not make a better video then them and post it up stating you are the Chicago Ghostbusters? If your packs look anything better than theirs...I don't think you have much to worry about. XD

[Kissimmee_Buster]

That's like being a Ghostbuster living in Orlando; trying to start a group and all of a sudden a group pops up over night. Not my case, but I've heard about it, and frankly; People should research the area for any other GB groups and make sure they're not stepping in someone's spotlight. A ghostbuster is a ghostbuster really; just be sure to move over once in a while.

[Sledge]

Why not make a better video then them and post it up stating you are the Chicago Ghostbusters? If your packs look anything better than theirs...I don't think you have much to worry about. XD

yeah and as long as you don't film it in Moms basement either.

[Kissimmee_Buster]

Most towns or cities, require a filming permit; easy to obtain. But I don't think people will stop you from filming.

[ProtonCharger]

i'll tell you why this isnt a big deal.
1. who has any authority over franchises and franchise names?
2. what makes you think, that this is the only place that people go online for ghostbuster stuff?
3. what makes you think, that people want to deal with the rules and regulations for franchises someone made up?
4. are you an employee of sony? did an employee of sony or columbia, a copyright holder of ghostbusters or anyone related to the creation movie say "yeah, this is how we want franchising handled and we want this person to do it."?
5. ITS NOT REAL.

get over it.

guess what. im an orlando ghostbuster now. and those orlando ghost busters can piss off. anyone in orlando that they dont want in, can join me. after all i was here first. before they broke off of tampa and came to my home town and took my hometown as their franchise. ive got 10 years in this community. and 8 of them were in orlando trying very hard to find other people in this community that are in the area, as far north as deltona to as south as kissimmee. where do they get off?

you know, i like that florida has all these franchises. the whole damn idea behind franchises is its supposed to be every where. you dont have a one mcdonalds per f**** state do you? do you have truly nolen? people need to look up franchise in the dictionary and stop being cry babies and grow the f*** up. think about it. really sit down and think aobut it before you go "well, pc is just being a dick head again." otherwise stop eating at mcdonalds. stop eating at tgi fridays. stop eating at hooters. seriously, look at reality, before you cry so much about playing dress up.

[Doc_LaVoy]

It's a matter of the name. Obviously there are multiple Illinois divisions, but the fact is this. These guys live in a town a good hour away from Chicago proper. Calling themselves the "Chicago Ghostbusters" is a bit of a stretch.

They could call themselves the Aurora Division or Aurora Ghostbusters and we'd have absolutely no problem with them at all.

[Sledge]

. stop eating at hooters. .

But I never actually tried to eat them just nibble a bit.

[Kissimmee_Buster]

ProtonCharger is right in every sense; and that is why I'm proud to call him my Colleague

[Sledge]

Maybe try to talk to them about working together and try to split the area with like a north and south or so on.
like someone else said look at all our franchises in FL, yet we still find room for more and not only do not step on toes but we work together in some cases.

[Dan Shannon]

Okay, I'm going to spell this out for you as if you were 6: These guys are not only claiming this is their city, they refuse to acknowledge there's a team already here. We had left our information on their space. They deleted it. I contacted them personally, they sent back a nasty message.

I have no issue with more than one Chicago team, as long as they work WITH us, and not act like children when we contact them. I was actually being nice in asking them if they'd be willing to be ONE TEAM, and they gave me shit. DocLaVoy does not know this. I had been looking for more members since I wanted to start a "Night Shift" for our team so we could have a bigger group. They are being selfish assholes that really want to make the claim solely got themselves.

I believe in letting everyone join in the fun. I truly wanted these guys to be a part of this. DocLaVoy and Slimer7 wanted this too. The fact they are being total children about it is completely uncalled for and is the reason why both DocLaVoy and myself are rather upset and disappointed with the whole attitude taken by these people.

If it was strictly for the sake of making a video, I understand that. Ghostbustin' 911 has the same thing going (they just added a guy who was going from Chicago to the Twin Cities on the show and i laughed at it) but the fact that they responded as harshly as they did with me was totally unprofessional and extremely ill spirited in the way Ghostbusters is to be represented.

i'll tell you why this isnt a big deal.
1. who has any authority over franchises and franchise names?
2. what makes you think, that this is the only place that people go online for ghostbuster stuff?
3. what makes you think, that people want to deal with the rules and regulations for franchises someone made up?
4. are you an employee of sony? did an employee of sony or columbia, a copyright holder of ghostbusters or anyone related to the creation movie say "yeah, this is how we want franchising handled and we want this person to do it."?
5. ITS NOT REAL.

get over it.

guess what. im an orlando ghostbuster now. and those orlando Ghostbusters can piss off. anyone in orlando that they dont want in, can join me. after all i was here first. before they broke off of tampa and came to my home town and took my hometown as their franchise. ive got 10 years in this community. and 8 of them were in orlando trying very hard to find other people in this community that are in the area, as far north as deltona to as south as kissimmee. where do they get off?

you know, i like that florida has all these franchises. the whole damn idea behind franchises is its supposed to be every where. you dont have a one mcdonalds per f**** state do you? do you have truly nolen? people need to look up franchise in the dictionary and stop being cry babies and grow the f*** up. think about it. really sit down and think aobut it before you go "well, pc is just being a dick head again." otherwise stop eating at mcdonalds. stop eating at tgi fridays. stop eating at hooters. seriously, look at reality, before you cry so much about playing dress up.

In response to this, THAT WAS NOT WAS THIS IS ABOUT! I have no issue with another team. There was a Joliet Section Ghostbusters and I welcomed them with open arms. I met the Galena guys at Chicago Comic Con and we talked up a storm. This is not a restaurant chain, establishments such as stores and other walk-in services do not operate the same way as a business that enters into your home to give you ordered service. Orkin and Comcast need to cover large areas, some areas bigger than a major metropolitan city. They have one office to cover that area. Many people, but one office!

This may not be real, sure, but that does not give you or these jokers the right to be jerkoffs about it. They wanna be Ghostbusters in Chicago? I welcome them. They can join our group and have loads of fun. They don't wanna join, they have to be a little more distinguished in the way they represent themselves or at least aknowledge Chicago Division's presence. After all, the idea with this is to act as a community, not K-Mart vs Target-type shit.

Ethics. Common courtesy. Not calling people "f****g losers who don't know Ghostbusters" and making fat jokes because you really can't think of anything better to insult someone with.

PC, you and these other Chicago guys are the ones who need to pass Kindergarten.

[Kissimmee_Buster]

ProtonCharger is just being honest about it.

[Kissimmee_Buster]

I mean, if you were in His shoes; how would that make you feel? If I met the guy years ago, then we would be the Orlando Ghostbusters.

[Dan Shannon]

ProtonCharger is just being honest about it.

He may be right, but his attitude in conveying it sucks.

[Sledge]

well as it sits just make sure your group is registered here and over @ GBI... other than that I dont know what to tell you..... maybe we could all rush their basement with pitchforks and torches.

[ProtonCharger]

ProtonCharger is just being honest about it.

He may be right, but his attitude in conveying it sucks.

5. ITS NOT REAL.

get over it.

think about it. really sit down and think aobut it before you go "well, pc is just being a dick head again." otherwise stop eating at mcdonalds. stop eating at tgi fridays. stop eating at hooters. seriously, look at reality, before you cry so much about playing dress up.

im going to lay it down like you're six. It's not real. if im joe schmo and i have some buddies that want to enter a video in a contest, and go play dress up at around halloween and call myself the chicago ghostbusters, im going to ignore you too. not because you're an asshole, but because i dont care. some people dont take this half as seriously as you do. so quit your crying. just sit back in your chair, knowing that some how someone that doesnt have any sort of call over franchising said you were the chicago brand first. they'll be done with this soon, and you'll just look like a bunch of whiners on the internet. congratulations.

you need to pass reality and common sense. good kindergarten joke considering its source is a baby.

[Doc_LaVoy]

im going to lay it down like you're six. It's not real. if im joe schmo and i have some buddies that want to enter a video in a contest, and go play dress up at around halloween and call myself the chicago ghostbusters, im going to ignore you too. not because you're an asshole, but because i dont care. some people dont take this half as seriously as you do. so quit your crying. just sit back in your chair, knowing that some how someone that doesnt have any sort of call over franchising said you were the chicago brand first. they'll be done with this soon, and you'll just look like a bunch of whiners on the internet. congratulations.

you need to pass reality and common sense. good kindergarten joke considering its source is a baby.

So by your logic it's totally cool to call myself ProtonCharger and totally ignore you and the fact that you exist? Cool. I'll get right on that.

Okay, I'm going to spell this out for you as if you were 6: These guys are not only claiming this is their city, they refuse to acknowledge there's a team already here. We had left our information on their space. They deleted it. I contacted them personally, they sent back a nasty message.

You contacted them personally? I would be very interested to see exactly what they said. Could you forward that in an email to me?

[Dan AKA]

Enough. This is absolutely enough.

The fact of the matter is that without record I can not see if thier reaction of deleting your messages were justified or not. Especially with how Shannon has been acting lately I can only imagen what was said. Even though ProtonCharger brings up his point in a fairly rough way, he has brought up a good point.

Also, I don't know if you guys noticed, but thier name is entirely different. And no where in thier films are they claiming to be you. They're not using your logo, thier not even using completed props. Have you ever stopped to think that it was just a group of friends doing some fun videos?

No, it seems you blew your loads all over the idea that someone might be pissing on your imagenary territory. What seperates us from the rigid dictatorship of the 501 is our ability to take Franchises as a light hearted FUN activity. A loose sense of bonding over ghostbusters.

It's pretty damn clear these guys did it for the fun of it, and maybe to win something while doing it. They're fans, if I were them and some random nerd I've never heard about came in and started blowing his gasket over some imagenary "franchises" I delete the comment too, hell I'd feel I had every right to be as hostel as I wanted.

So it stops here. Everything after this post is, "Yeah Dan you're right. We're just being silly. Sorry about that temporary relapse in judgement."

Seriously, don't take something that is supposed to be fun and make it into a pissing contest with people who arn't even here.

[AJ Quick]

I agree with ProtonCharger and Dan AKA.

But if someone starts a Franchise called Ghostbusters Fans.. I will be pissed!

[ProtonCharger]

yeah dan you're right but, not about the lapse in my judgment. also aj and kissimme gb is right for agreeing with me

So by your logic it's totally cool to call myself ProtonCharger and totally ignore you and the fact that you exist? Cool. I'll get right on that.

go for it, ive been doing it for 10 years now. i never heard anything from castewar about it either, and im an entirely different beast.

[AJ Quick]

go for it, ive been doing it for 10 years now. i never heard anything from castewar about it either, and im an entirely different beast.

I actually thought you were a website.

[ProtonCharger]

now you know why i get so mad when people find out my name. im a sentient webspace that refers to himself as the first man. that hal 9000 guy has nothing on me.

[bradboss12]

Well, that's why we called ourselves the Steel City Ghostbusters with "Pittsburgh Ghostbusters" being a fictitous former franchise that grew into our franchise. There is GB Nightsquad, and they are PA based near Pittbsurgh, and the Philly GB's and we have no problems with anyone. I think Dan is saying their attitude is what upset him. Sad fact is if someone in the Burgh decided to use our logo etc, we don't have a legal leg to stand on. The thing that would worry me (and maybe it does Dan) is we are trying to start doing charity stuff on a nickle and dime budget and if we are doing good stuff and some @ssholes are out being drunk and disorderly and call themselves Steel City Ghostbusters that is a real problem as it could impede out charity work (following in the footsteps of the AZ group).

[mburkit]

. . . and the Philly GB's and we have no problems with anyone. . .

This is true BUT if you want trouble, all you have to do is ask! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

As for this whole "2 franchises with similar names" business, I understand where both Dan and Charger are coming from. On one hand, these franchises are just fantasy, so if someone wanted to move in on your operation, there's no way of stopping them. On the other hand, if someone decides to do that to you, they could destroy your reputation if you are trying to do charity work and what not.

[Deaditebuster]

We here at the Ghostbusters: Cleveland Branch (GBCB, not to try to steal anyones' thunder; it is just a catchy nickname we needed) tried to contact the Cleveland Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters: Cleveland and any other franchise in the Cleveland area. No one contacted us back, so we came up with our own name and tried to get certified by GBI. I'm still waiting on a GBI certificiation email, but we still do operate. Just throwin' that in there...

[bradboss12]

I contacted GBI last year. we'll operate with our without their blessing. Almost forgot Lehigh Valley--they are in PA, too!