Hello friends,
I've just taken an action with which I'm not very comfortable, but I think it's the right thing to do in the service of this community. I've revoked one of our member's authorship privileges on this blog. I took this step because a friend emailed me today to alert me that someone had lifted a post from my blog, comments and all (including an in-line reply from me) and claimed it as her own. Apparently she's done this to more than one knit blogger, and when I saw that several of the posts in question (including mine) had to do with the Baby Surprise Jacket, it occurred to me that she might be a member here. She was. I have no way of knowing whether she originally saw the content she stole on this board -- my post, at least, was taken from my personal blog and not from this one -- but I'd like this not to happen to any more knitters of Baby Surprise Jackets.
For my part, I've left her a comment politely asking that she remove my post from her site. Others have lodged formal complaints and had Wordpress delete their work from her blog.
I hope this little corner of the internet can continue to stand for mutual support and admiration plus fair play. Elizabeth and Meg have always gone to great lengths to credit their sources because it's the gracious thing to do. Let's uphold that spirit.
Thanks,
Sarah
UPDATE: The blogger in question has contacted me to say that she doesn't know what happened to draw Zimmermania content to her blog, but that she is working with Wordpress support to correct the problem. It may all be a technical glitch; I'm willing to allow for computer error and reinstate this author if she lets me know the wires have been uncrossed and there's no longer any likelihood of this happening.
UPDATE #2: I've been corresponding with this author and I'm now convinced that she suffered a horrible blog malfunction (possibly even a hacker attack of some kind) and was NOT willfully stealing content from Zimmermania. She is working hard to delete all content that isn't her own. She is understandably frustrated and hurt by how quick readers, including me, were to assume she was thieving. I've apologized to her and I'll leave the comments open on this post in case anyone else wishes to do so.
Wow, that's awful! I'm shocked that a member of the knitting community would do such a thing.
ReplyDeleteLet's hear it for self-policing!
This boggles my mind. Stealing posts AND comments? Why would someone do that?
ReplyDeleteAnd, how does one check to see if their own content is safe?
Jeanne, I wish I knew the answer to that question. I think it's best posed to your blog host... there may be some security steps you can take. I've got all kinds of spam filtering to stop junk coming in, but it never occurred to me that people would be taking content OUT! I mean, why? I guess it's like plagiarism, pretending you've knit things and written about them when you haven't. I'm trying to keep in mind the old saying about imitation being a form of flattery.
ReplyDeleteIt happened to me, too, and the content was lifted from Zimmermania, not from my blog. Heck, one of the pictures is of me wearing my Lloie's cardigan. How weird is that? It creeps me out and I cannot imagine why anyone would do this.
ReplyDeleteHow would one know this happened to them?
ReplyDeleteHelp. Ever since I tried to join Zimmermania I have been receiving messages from other people who have also tried to join you. Why are their messages coming to me? Also, I never got an acknowlegement to my original mail. Please help me and those that are trying to join you.
ReplyDeleteI've just come across this blog and am up to Oct 2009. How very sad I am to find that you Zimmermaniacs are more maniac and less Zimmer. I think I have read enough.
ReplyDeleteOdd, how quickly you were willing to burn her at the stake but when it became obvious that it was a computer glitch, you were all silent.
I imagine it creeped her out as well....to have all of you, stone in hand and torches at the ready besides having all that stuff dumped in her own blog...stuff she had not written and probably had only glanced at.
I think I've read enough to figure out that this community is not for me. Even though this happened in 2009 and it is now 2024, I am puzzled that not one of you apologized. I only hope that in the intervening years, you harpies have been hijacked and scammed so you realize how terrible and time consuming it is.
ReplyDelete