DonnaK:  Obviously there are hundreds of thousands of fan-built sites for celebrities all over the net, but very few of them end up being awesome. RDJ has dozens of fansites, some of which unfortunately seem to feel they’ve cornered the market on Mr. Downey. But there’s a new site out there, not more than a month old, that’s striving to be bigger, badder and more awesome than the others. Since I’ve watched this site grow from an idea into a real, working, info-filled and beautifully designed site, I thought it deserved an awesome plug.

A small amount of backstory is in order here. The RDJ corner of fandom is pretty much owned by Downey Unlimited. You’ll notice I didn’t put a link to the site, and that’s because no one should ever visit this infernal place. Why, you might ask? Simple - the way they conduct business sucks. Before you’re allowed access to the main parts of the site - including the extensive photo galleries - you have to sign a form stating that you will not use, reproduce, download or repost any images from this site anywhere on the net. Let me make this very clear. DOWNEY UNLIMITED DOES NOT OWN THESE IMAGES. We’re talking here about standard wire service pics, scans from magazines, even Robert’s baby pictures for fuck’s sake. They watermark them all much like Getty does and claim “ownership” of them, telling you what you can or cannot do with them. That is so beyond not cool I don’t know where to start. They don’t own the pictures, they didn’t take the pictures, and yet they adamantly and loudly tell you what you are allowed to do with said pictures. SO NOT AWESOME. So far beyond not awesome that I’m going to tell everyone to stay as far away from Downey Unlimited - hereafter referred to as DU -  as they can, because that shit just isn’t cool, not on any level.

Enter Man-like-me.com. Man-like-me is run by an awesome woman named Theresa. She started the site last month after deciding she didn’t like the way DU was doing business. Theresa decided enough was enough and that she was going to start man-like-me.com. She asked for volunteers among the RDJ fan communities on LJ and got loads of support. She began to build her own gallery, taking nothing from DU and staying as far away from them as possible. Despite interference from DU, Theresa continued to build her site her way - with no restrictions, no crazy watermarks, and no harassment. When the site opened on July 21st, it was small but growing quickly. Today the gallery is growing fast, she has a great support staff and the design is WONDERFUL. And she did it all without harassing her public. Imagine that!

So I’m giving a HUGE HUGE HUGE Awesome Thumbs-up to Theresa and her new RDJ fansite, man-like-me.com. She is awesome, her site is awesome, her attitude is awesome and I think man-like-me is going to grow into a major contender someday really soon. Congratulation, Theresa… you are truly one of the awesome ones, as is your work. Bravo, m’dear.