[image via Fanaticas por Consumismo]
So, it has come to my attention that once again there has been someone blatantly stealing content from several of the blogs I read. Does this surprise me? Not particularly, as the anonymity of the internet allows people to pretend to be completely different people. That said, I do believe most bloggers know the frustration of having your content "borrowed" from or seeing someone suddenly using your personal pictures on their own blog. It simply isn't fun to go through when you invest a great deal of time and energy to make your blog interesting and engaging for your readers to see someone take credit for your hard work. All I can say is this when it comes to blogging: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Take the time to provide back links or email the author if you would like to re-post the content, do a blog swap or interview the author, there are countless ways of sharing great blogs without diminishing other people's hard work. One of the best things about blogging is the community you get to know and stealing content from other people is not being a good community member. So, to put it simply, if you wouldn't act this way offline you have no reason to be a liar or a cheat online.
