Further to the subject uppermost in my mind lately; badmomgoodmom left a link in a comment to her post on the theft of content in blogging, an extremely interesting article, well-researched, thorough and informative. I’m a newbie at understanding all this stuff, and badmomgoodmom explains it clearly and succinctly.
Other helpful articles I read on the subject are here and here, those links provided to me by ElleC.
Before all this I had no idea that blog-scraping even existed, let alone that it was such a huge problem! I guess I’ve led a very sheltered little blogging life so far, just imagining everyone was just like me, quietly plugging away in their own little world, talking about things that are near and dear to their own hearts, things they are passionate about. In a not-for-profit kind of a way. I know, how naive, right? I am learning, boy am I learning! To find out that content theft often relates straight back to that really annoying Adsense crap you see on some blogs is an eye-opener.
In happier…? well, in decidedly more mundane and less nefarious happenings, anyway; later on I am walking this big ball of fur in to have her shots.
I Love This Dress Too On You. And The Link To Your Cardigan How To!! Thanks A Bunch. I Have A Me Made Leopard To That Is Too Much, But Will Be Perfect To Be Redone As A Light Cardi Such As Yours.Truly Inspiring As Usual Carolyn!
P/s: I Hope Whatever These Blog Content Robber doing Wont Discourage You For Continuing Being You.. I For One Learning So Much Just Through Your Sharing Of What You Make… 🙂
Beautiful dress and lovely cardigan.
Thanks a lot for sharing the details of making the cardigan.
Great dress, how is the neckline done? Is it joined on? It looks fab. Jo x
Thank you Jo, the link to the post on the construction of my knots dress, with all the info on that neckline, is in the "Details" section, just after the weather report 🙂
I love that dress, I need to take a leaf out of your book and get to work on some pattern magic projects 🙂
I hope doggy behaves herself at the vets!
I remember your post on the dress, which is absolutely gorgeous (wouldn't it look lovely in silk, as a wedding dress, full length). the cardigan is lovely as well.
Carolyn, there are a lot of scally wags on the internet – it provides a nice anonymous shield, which is a great pity for those of us that use it for communicative, creative, and not for profit reasons. It's quite obvious that the offending site was scraping, because no-one can write over 1100 posts in a year if they are just bloggers.
Great outfit. I am also shocked by blog lifting. An American sewer Amanda found her dress being sold on Etsy. Seller in Ukraine.
Love the outfit. Especially the neckline of the dress. One would wonder what the purpose stealing a blog is. How bizarre. Are they advertising on it. How strange. I will have to read more about it.
Lovely outfit. Carolyn.
I´m also thinking about the blog theft and I cannot see what benefits come from stealing from other blogs. I visited the one who stole your stuff, and really, there isn´t a lot of action going on there. I´m very confused…
Oh, I do love your leopard twin set! I think the dress is fab, too, only those knots seem really big to me. It is great for pulling the eye towards the face, but the leopard print sort of helps to balance that major focus. And those men's shirts are just so crisp and 'snazzy' (my Grandpa's word), they are gorgeous. I understand now about content theft and profit motive. I sort of knew about robots and search engine optimization, but I find writing my blog hard enough without doing the additional stuff. In fact, I'm wondering if it might not be coming up to the time when I should close it down and get on with other stuff. You obviously are able to maintain prodigious productivity, but I'm too easily distracted. I have the suspicion that people take my photos all the time, but it costs me naught and I had the pleasure of taking them. I appreciate your not wishing to share your hard work without credit and you've linked to an amazing resource for those who share your concerns. Well done all around!
If it wasn’t already apparent by the lack of advertisements and “sponsored posts” on my blog”, then please let me state that absolutely I make no money off my blog, either from my photos or anything I have written. And to do so is not my aim; everything I share here is because I want to, because I believe creativity is to be broadcasted and not hoarded away where no one can see it. Unlike the person who set up that spam blog, who would have been receiving an income off of my posts thanks to the ads they are running there. To assume that I “do not wish to share my hard work without credit” is incorrect and actually quite hurtful to me.
I wonder if you really still wouldn't mind if, like me, you came across another blog that had copied months and months and months of your writing and your photos. My blog was not the only one to be ripped of by this spam blogger. I came across another post about the writer’s late mother, with a picture of her and a heartfelt words about how much she was missed in her daughter’s life. It was an easy matter for me to search for and find the “real” blog from which the post originated. I thought about contacting the writer to tell her how her post was being used, but could not bring myself to do so, honestly if it had been me I would really rather not know, it would be devastating to know how your grief was being exploited so thoroughly in such a callous and cold-blooded manner. Of course, I know that spam blogging is not personal, but when the posts being ripped off ARE personal to the original writer, then the re-use of it for a stranger’s profit becomes very personal indeed, and is hard to separate your logical brain “it’s not hurting me really” from your emotional reaction. I’m only hoping that my complaint brings that spam blog down.
It is disturbing to be invaded by scalpers as well as offhanded comments. I made quite a few posts wherein I vented and performed "guerrilla blogging" designed to put off the wave of new bloggers who were both "reblogging" per WordPress.com's function button and just plain copying and pasting. After I got the offenders to remove the posts I deleted my venting posts. I really didn't want to increase my readership.
Each instance of theft is different and some can be remedied for the better. One blogger who had copied and pasted from me at TheStitchery, Jourth, SelfishSeamstress, diaryofasewingfanatic (she was going right down her fav blog list) actually finally removed all the posts she had lifted from everyone. All of them! The nice thing is that her own personal posts were and are very interesting. Other offending new bloggers had a happy ending, as well.
BTW even after removal of the posts from the thieving blog Google Reader keeps them visible for years! It's best not to give the offenders any press time at all and you were wise to not inform the writer of the grief post since this scalping blog is not going to respond, it's a purely commercial site, not a new blogger trying to build a readership. Some you end up just having to ignore, ignore, ignore. Good luck and vent when needed. ~MaryBeth~
I have a bit of a 'thing' for animal prints and I love your cardy. It works very well with your lovely dress 🙂
I hope Sienna behaves when having her shots 😀
Your dress is gorgeous and the cardigan, too. I always enjoy your garments, 6 way posts, very inspiring.
I'm hoping that spam blogger disappears too.
And you look great today as does Sienna. That knot effect is definitely worth trying.
I remember when you made a post in that dress, it was a beautiful revelation to me …. I'm completely in love with it!! I guess we're not aware of the frustration that is stealing our intellectual property until it is produced … I too have experienced that …
Thanks for the link.
I meant to post another story about why several sewing bloggers have seen their content scraped and reappear on "adult" sites. It's because Google doesn't index p@rn sites. However, sites that appear to have generally safe content, and the occasional adult word, are indexed. That's why those sites need to steal content to "pad" their sites.
That's interesting, BMGM. Thx. I avoid Google as much as possible, WP.com doesn't allow Analytics which is fine with me
Oh, wow, I love the leopard cardigan with this dress. A soft edgy look, if this is possible 😉
Beautiful.
Just beautiful! Love the neutral with the interesting details and the print.
Thank you for continuing to share your beautiful pictures and sewing creations with us even though you must feel so exploited. We appreciate you continuing to share.
One of my favorite dresses that you have done…very pretty and fresh look for beige!
Beautiful dress! I came here after reading your comment on Amanda's Adventures blog for some tips on your stolen content problem, but I see the first article you linked to already says what I was going to suggest. Best of luck with your problem!