13 Comments to “Imitation”

1. April 9th, 2009 at 7:56 am
   MizFit said

   This is both a tough and a touchy question. When I had a small blog before it would honestly irk me when people “borrowed” content (didnt quite cut and paste but close) as I was small enough that no one knew it had originate with me.
   What I blog about now (healthy living) is a topic which is kind of done to death.
   There are a dearth of new!amazing!topics so all of us healthy lifestyle bloggers merely attempt to put our own mark or spin on well worn topics.

   All that to say Im certain people might imagine Ive ‘borrowed’ some of their topics as there are simply so few and all so oft rehashed.

   uh oh.
   Im ranting.

   and the twitter RT sans the retweet? Id so not like that one as it would be like cramming someone else’s words in my piehole.
   not.cool.

   Miz.

2. April 9th, 2009 at 8:01 am
   Henie said

   This very thing happened to me yesterday in a “non-RT” from a new follower no less! It made the old veins kink for a moment but in the end, I realize that as long as it helps others, then it’s cool!:~)

   As far as content on my site, that’s an entirely different aspect and I won’t be “flattered” at all.(grin)

   Thanks for this informative post and the suggested links! :~)

3. April 9th, 2009 at 8:13 am
   Ed said

   Agreed Kathryn.

   Reuse without attribution is stealing. Period.
   That includes Twitter.

   One of the worst facets of this I’ve witnessed on perhaps a daily basis,
   is the number of major personalities, “A and [also significant]B list”
   Twitter users constantly reusing
   my tweets with no acknowledgement.
   They often grab their own bit.ly link, and mix up the words.

   But when they tweet the identical 8 breaking items or new perspectives in a row, it’s being a leech.
   It happened recently on an opinion tweet. I was repeated, but as original thought by the others.
   Except only I knew the info following private exchanges with the CEO.
   I’m going to start calling folks out with evidence.

   Best,
   @Ed

4. April 9th, 2009 at 8:16 am
   Kathryn said

   MizFit - Rant away. Borrowing an idea and then shaping it into something of your own is different I think. There are only so many ideas , so they say… but cutting and pasting = wrong. Thanks for dropping by.

   Henie - I had that happen to with the same reaction, it was a topic close to my heart so I felt good more people were exposed and a little sad , actually the person didn’t think it was wrong….

5. April 9th, 2009 at 8:21 am
   Kathryn said

   Ed - thank you Ed. I didn’t want to mention this but what happened to me was from a fairly significant A/B lister as well. I was shocked at first, but this as I mentioned to Henie, was glad the info was being shared. It was identical , and seconds after I tweeted . Thanks for stopping by Ed.

6. April 9th, 2009 at 8:23 am
   John A. Taylor said

   KJ,

   Great and timely thoughts. Definitely, in the midst of our real-time communication, we should be sure to give credit to the source.

   There are times that we inadvertently fail to give proper credit. I find it helpful, even when writing original material that has been influenced by others, to credit those who have impacted my thinking.

   When we catch ourselves failing to mention a source, we should be quick to send out a correction.

   I’ve had Twitter clients cut off the source on a retweet, and I’ve tried to quickly send another trimmed retweet that shows the origins.

   Simple mistakes are sometimes unavoidable. However, cutting and pasting another individual’s work, or slightly modifying it in order to claim it as your own, is simply theft.

7. April 9th, 2009 at 8:34 am
   Marsha said

   We’ve been running a survey, trying as hard as we can to get lots of responses. Then we see the topic of the survey posted on a blog (of someone who follows me on Twitter), without any mention of the survey, asking the same question. I wouldn’t mind anyone using the survey question as a blog topic, but why not help us out by posting a link to our survey? It wouldn’t take away anything from the post. Actually might add to it. I don’t really understand….

   I think that’s my bottom line. If we get credited when our work is used, I’m fine with it.

8. April 9th, 2009 at 9:10 am
   Richard Reeve said

   It’s a fascinating problem. I think it comes down to one’s mission in the space. If you are planning on turning a profit on your sharing, if that your main goal, giving it away might not be the best strategy. (of course David Meerman Scott has some wonderful strategies of how to navigate these minefields in his World Wide Rave). If your mission is to be a thought influencer, then the losing control of the content almost becomes essential. The ideas will have no “currency” if others do not make them their own. That being said, many seem to clamor for attention by not playing fair. My sense is it works itself out much like the kids in the kindergarten sand box. Those who don’t play nice will need to spend some time in the corner.

9. April 9th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
   Todd Smith said

   Richard - You really hit the nail on the head with your astute observation. Giving content away is essential for influencing thought, yet counterproductive when trying to sell the content being shared. As a photographer, I run into this problem too.

   I think a lot of people find a solution in the middle ground, where they share some things but not everything for free. I guess that is what marketing is… sending out enough teasers to whet the appetite but not giving away the store.

10. April 19th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
    Marsha Collier said

    It’s a lot easier to say “it’s important to protect you work,” but it’s far more difficult to put those words into action.

    Creative Commons is nice “in theory.” Someone copied pages from a couple of my books and put them on the web. They covered it with a Creative Commons license. I reported the situation and “the Commons” didn’t protect me.

    I’m deluged daily by people copying from my books - which are my living. I could spend 6 hours a day reporting them only to have one file go down and 6 more up.

11. April 20th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    This is a really tough topic.

    I got a PR pitch today on a book about Autoblogging. I sent it back with a note about wondering why I’d promote a book teaching people how to steal my content.

    I think the problem is a scary one. I don’t if I fear it more or fear the possible regulation.

    Like you, Marcia, it’s my living.

12. October 21st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
    Carl said

    I wondered about people using “my stuff” for about a month, many years ago. After that I never thought about it again.

    I’ve reached the conclusion that my stuff can only ever be built on someone else’s stuff and that it’s quite normal for people I’ve never met and who have never read what I’ve written to have very similar thoughts.

    Worrying about people “stealing” will use up energy you need for good writing. I tell myself: “If I’m worried about yesterday’s work, I’m standing still.” And I don’t want to be standing still, since good writing always moves forward. So I had a good idea today? Fine, acknowledge it and move on; there are better ideas wating for me tomorrow.

    If any of the great composers had to link to every influence and flourish borrowed or improved on from earlier masters they’d never have written a note.

    Just recently Tom Petty was asked what he thought about the Foo-Fighters using a very similar riff to a song he created many years ago. He was totally at ease with it and accepted the flattery.

    The concept of building on the past and improving technique was prominent in all artforms until the middle of last century and now everyone wants to be the new messiah; the quintessential pop star; the pioneer of something so exquistly new and exciting it dwarfs all that has come before.

    Relax.

    If you’re being sued, you probably didn’t go far enough.

    Regards,
    Carl.

13. December 16th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
    steve said

    i’m interested in zen, and so i try to not be attached to ideas and writings like they are “mine.” i just create and share freely. i think it’s more beautiful that way.

    warmly