Hello! And more... ;)

Posted on | Tuesday, October 4, 2011 | 3 Comments

I hope everyone had an amazing summer. I would have blogged more but summer is definitely the most busy time of the year. Usually, things start winding down a bit and I'm able to do some R&D during the fall/winter, but this year is particularly special as I have some completely new projects I've undertaken that I am very excited to share with everyone when they are ready.

Flowers from our summer garden.

In the midst of all sorts of projects, it came to light that several online stores have plagiarized my original text. I've also spoken with other creatives and designers who are experiencing the same thing. SO, I just thought I'd bring light to the topic - not just for me - but for others. Just want to point this out once, and hopefully never again. Not to sound too negative about anything, but it is definitely a huge pet peeve of mine when I've taken time to thoughtfully write something - anything - and someone else copies and pastes it into their own website. All the text on my websites are my original writings. I literally studied for years on how to write well from taking college courses to writing my own MA thesis with several professors as my mentors and editors. I only say this because writing is something you learn and develop. I don't always try to write as if it were going to be published, and I goof around at times with tweets and facebook posts, but when it comes to my business, I'm very serious about how I portray the business through writing. I've seen my self-written bio/profile copied word for word and I've seen countless instances of my business story, information and policies copied. Some people change one word here and there, but it's still a bit of a shame.

I know that there are many people who write for a living. I don't, but it doesn't mean that it's nothing for me to throw up some text on my website. For instance, my online policies were written and revised after a culmination of experiences over the last few years. Many times when I'm asked a new question or I have an issue, I'll adapt my policies to cater to my own experiences as they relate to the structure of my business and to accomodate my customers. It's really funny when someone just copies huge passages from my original writings and drops into their website - as if their experiences are exactly like mine.

It feels even more disrespectful, when designers in exactly the same industry copy my original text. You can grab some text from my policies, drop into a search engine and see for yourself. Examples (one of these things is not like the other): here, here, and here.

Sorry to go on and on about it, but it's annoying. I just wanted to say something so that anyone that might be doing it might read this and think twice. I had it really drilled into me when writing my thesis that you must credit your sources - you can literally get into some trouble if you don't. So for those copying my text, please don't. At the very least, link back to my site and give credit where credit is due. If you're having trouble writing, seek help or at least get in touch with me prior to copying and maybe we can work something out. Think about it this way. If you worked somewhere and put your hours in and then, when it came time to pick up your paycheck, someone else had already picked it up (i.e. benefited from your hard work and claimed it was their own) - wouldn't that suck?

Note: Might not keep this post up forever. Some links above I'm assuming (hoping) will change. Just having one of those moments... you know?

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