I am about to make you wait until tomorrow for the birthday in food recap because I honestly didn’t have the time to fully devote to putting the post together the way I would like it.
I know you want to know what was in a shopping bag from Cold Stone…we will discuss tomorrow, I promise.
Blogging takes a lot of time and dedication.
Translating post ideas from my brain into words that flow for you to understand, sharing thoughts and photos which require editing and letting you into my life takes a genuine effort along with a level of thoughtfulness that perhaps only my fellow bloggers can understand.
Sometimes it may appear to happen so effortlessly but that is a mirage. Writing and posting on a regular basis takes crazy creative brain power to be able to produce day in and day out.
You will never find me offering you blogging how-to’s because half the time I haven’t a clue as to what I am doing other than focusing on typing out my thoughts in an organized way, running a spell check and hitting publish.
I don’t even know if I get the behind the scenes work of operating my own website accomplished the right way, if my SEO’s are working for me or if my widgets and plug-ins are even doing what they should be at the right times and in the right places.
I annoy Amanda when I need assistance and I shoot off HELP ME! emails to my website designer when I am truly experiencing a blogging/website emergency (or what I consider an emergency).
But, of all the things I don’t know about blogging, the one thing I do know is ethics.
They say you should be flattered not upset when your friend copies your latest outfit, hair style or gets the same nail polish as you did the last week.
When I find myself reading all of my experiences, thoughts and sentences on someone else’s blog as if they are their own, I am not flattered.
Did you even know that the copy and paste feature can be violated and used for inappropriate things? Because it was and it is just not okay.
If I love something that I read and want to share it, I offer you the direct link to the website.
Why would I want to pretend like I thought of it myself?
My life experiences are mine and while they may be similar to yours, the way we write about them is completely different.
We all have our own styles and that’s what makes following several blogs and being a part of the blogging community a good time.
What I have trouble understanding is how or why someone would try to pass something off as their own.
Like, does that make you proud? It’s not yours, you didn’t write it yet you want the world to think that you did?
And what about when people notice that not only you didn’t write it but you copied it word for word from someone else?
Did we not learn at a young age about proper citation?
On a side note, do the kids still read Cliff Notes? I am just curious.
Blogging for some people is a business, for some it is a hobby and for some, it is both.
Either way, the law of ethics applies as does the little copyright symbol at the bottom of this page.
The blogging community is pretty tight-knit. We may not all know each other personally but we feel as if we do and support and respect each other as though we are real life friends.
I think that my fellow blends (blog friends) agree when I say that there’s an unspoken zero tolerance policy when it comes to blog plagiarism.
We may not be able to catch and prevent all plagiarism but there are some things we can do.
I found some helpful information on the subject which, of course, I am sharing with you in link form rather than pretending I thought of it all by myself:
How To Deal With Blog Plagiarism
Blogging, Copyright & Blog Plagiarism Part 1
No real questions today, just share you thoughts and experiences with blog plagiarism if you feel like it.
I will be back tomorrow with the birthday food fun!
Ooooh sorry you are dealing with that friend, that is not fun. I have seen a few cases of people copying, but not enough to bother me….yet. I think one of the best things about someones blog is their originality and their personality of being real coming through. Its a shame when people have to hide.
On a positive note, I already saw the pancakes, but there is moooooreeee? Cant wait!
Tina muir recently posted…Meatless Monday- Vegetable and Sweet Potato Cakes
Ha – I totally thought of you last night as I ate a few slices of birthday cake!
I’m curious as to what exactly happened?
Linda @ The Fitty recently posted…Spaghetti Squash Pasta Boat!
The only thing I think I’d be really upset about I’d if they took my pictures. Especially pictures of my kids.
Yeah, I hate posting photos of my son or even of myself too often for the same reason.
Aww, I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m assuming it was you.
In any event, I don’t really notice direct plagiarism in the blog world, except the one time I saw someone’s recipe copied pretty much verbatim, without a nod of acknowledgement towards the real recipe creator and that definitely wasn’t nice or cool.
I think this is a hard topic though, especially in the food and fitness community because we’re all blogging about the same things, just putting our own little spin on it, if you will. At least I hope people are putting their own spins on things as opposed to just copying and pasting entire paragraphs of content. If people are actually doing that, I figure it will catch up with them eventually. Karma right?
I totally agree with you – we all share a similar interest and love of the same things but copying someone else’s posts word for word as if you wrote it yourself is just not okay on any level. I don’t see it often but when I found myself reading my very own post on another blog as if it was their own posting, I was not happy at all. Totally believe in karma.
Just for the record, you never annoy me 😛 Plagiarism definitely does, though… It’s a hard thing to notice unless it’s your own work stolen, which I guess is why not many ppl bring it up in the community. I’ve had pictures taken without permission and recipes reposted without even a nod of acknowledgement. Its a bitch to have to deal with, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do about it without having to devote too much time and energy to go the legal route, so unless it’s getting super bad, I just try to shrug it off and keep doing my thing.
Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…. flourless apple cinnamon muffins .
I’m sorry that you are dealing with this. How did you catch it? I have no idea if people are using my stuff. Not really sure what they would be using anyway….
Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…2014 Twin Cities Marathon Recap and Review
I randomly stumbled on a blog I don’t follow and found myself reading word for word one of my most popular posts as if it was their own thoughts. No link, no mention of reading it on my site. Just posted as their own. Crazy, right?
I’m so sorry to hear you’re going through this! I’m not sure what people think they have to gain by doing this stuff? Word for word is just wrong. But I do think that many of us are blogging about health, fitness and food related topics that it is possible that there are similarities and we just have our own spin on those things. I can sort of relate to this. A few months ago, someone put a court order on the name of my blog. I discovered from my lawyer that they were bullying bloggers into changing their blog names for exclusivity. Point is there are some not very nice people out there even in the virtual world.
Megan @ Skinny Fitalicious recently posted…Popcorn & Girlfriends Always Go Together + a Giveaway
Thank you. Yeah, we all write on similar topics but with our own personalities, spins and takes on the foods and fitness of our choice. When someone takes an entire post word for word, I just wonder what the heck they are thinking lol.
I don’t write a blog. I do write a weekly message to my running club. I know how much time and effort that takes. I can’t imagine trying to do it everyday or having someone steal all those hours.
That is so frustrating! I have never had this happen (that I know of) but I would imagine feeling really shocked and violated. I hope that it can be addressed and taken care of easily!
Lisa @ Running Out Of Wine recently posted…The Most Inspiring Part Of The Racing Season
Oh I addressed it, that’s for sure. lol
That would definitely be a hard thing to catch if it’s a blog you don’t read or even know about. So strange, that would creep me out! I get that we blog about the same stuff but clearly we each have our own voice. I can’t imagine someone trying to steal mine. They’d most likely just make themselves look ridiculous as I’m sure was the case with the blogger that stole from you. Thanks for bringing this issue out, hadn’t even thought about it before.
Michele @ paleorunningmomma recently posted…10 Beauty Rules I Don’t Follow Anymore
The articles I read about blog plagiarizing offer us some tactics for locating the plagiarizers. I can’t say I would focus on finding them but this time, I fell upon reading my very own post (one of my most popular ones regarding the scale) and couldn’t believe I was reading my material word for word as if this person wrote it themselves. Crazy.
Oh, yuck! That must feel awful! I am so sorry! Good for you for putting the message out there though!
See it all the time and it’s annoying as hell- Early this year, Davida and I wrote a post on it-
http://thebigmansworld.com/2014/02/25/blogging-politics-copycat-blogging/
I also wrote a follow up- http://thebigmansworld.com/2014/06/24/line-blogging-inspiration-blogging-imitation/
It’s not cool at all and it just shows how disrespectful they are.
Arman @ thebigmansworld recently posted…Healthy Carrot Cake
I can’t even fathom why people would want to pass off someone else’s work and writing as their own. Crazy.