Friday, November 16, 2012

Stolen Content or "The Empress Has No Clothes"



“The thief, as will become apparent, was a special type of thief. This thief was an artist of theft. Other thieves merely stole everything that was not nailed down, but this thief stole the nails as well.”
― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery



When I first saw the post, I blinked a few times and said “Huh. Looks kinda familiar. Wait a minute – that looks really familiar.”

I realized I was looking at a copy of a post I did back in 2011 – tweaked just enough for the blogger to “make it her own” but not so much that the original idea didn’t come screaming back in my face. 

 Worst of all? This blogger actually POSTED A COMMENT to my post. She acknowledged it. 

Now, if this person didn’t want to acknowledge me, she could have at the very least provided a link to the source I gave attribution to – as I always do. 

When I post content I find elsewhere online, I always post a link – always post an attribution and always a thank you to the source. It’s not only good Netiquette, it’s the responsible thing to do. 

 I’m not trying to pass off someone else’s work as my own.
I’m not pretending to be something or someone I am not.

You’ve probably noticed; I haven’t named the offending blogger, and I won’t. She knows who she is; and I’m not writing this for public humiliation. I’m writing this as a wake up call to her. 

Your smoke and mirrors act is quickly coming to a coda. Your drastically reduced number of comments and blog traffic is probably telling you something you don’t want to acknowledge. We all see it : The Empress Has No Clothing.

-          Maura

PS – Stop stealing shit.