When I wrote yesterday’s post, I was really upset, angry, and feeling a little helpless. But the last 24 hours have helped a lot. I am still very angry and upset, mostly at ‘Mary’ but partly at myself. I knew there were sites which copied and pasted other’s tutorials without credit, but I was naive enough to think that my blog wasn’t big enough, and my tutorials weren’t cool enough to warrant anyone’s attention. BTW, that’s not me digging for complements. I know I’m not a genius designer, and I’m okay with it! And you all have been so supportive it’s overwhelming, and I really appreciate all the comments, both here and there.
So here’s the update: We got lucky that the blog is hosted on blogspot. Copyright infringement is against international law, and therefore must be against Blogger’s policies. If they don’t act on infringement claims, they could be liable for damages. So I put in a formal complaint. Last night, they obviously saw ‘her’ post for what it was, and it’s been taken down. I think my friend Bonnie’s tutorial has been removed by Blogger as well. Of course, EVERYTHING on the site was stolen, so I want it shut down. And unfortunately, every time we go there to complain and comment, she gets more friggin’ money, because she’s a bloody splogger with ads everywhere and gets paid more when there are more hits. I’ve emailed every person she stole from, and so did a few other people, so their complaints *should* get the rest of the content pulled down at the very least.
I just checked and there are still loads of stolen tutorials up, and I don’t really know whether it’s worth it to comment or not. On the one hand, it’s total bs and she deserves tons of nasty comments, but on the other I don’t want her to get paid even bloody more because it’s infamous now.
If you want to complain, there’s an awesome tutorial on quick online tips that has a bunch of links, including how to complain to AdSense, which might actually do some good.
This also means I’ll have to watermark all past tutorial photos, and every tutorial photo from now on will be watermarked as well. I’m really sorry as I know it’s annoying and distracting. But I feel I have no choice. And now I don’t want to think about it any more!
This week’s features:
Creative Contentment shared how she gets her kids to do their chores – and it looks like a great idea that I’m going to try on Sunday (our cleaning day – yay.).
Ruth from Bread and Milk and Blackberries shared this recipe for Goody Chocolate Cupcakes which I’m considering baking this afternoon…
Zombie Leah wrote a tutorial for making a storage box out of old record covers – so cute!
Regena from The Distracted Domestic shows how to EASILY make ruffles – there are two styles and I love them both!
Suzy from Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom shows how to make temari balls. Seriously, I’ve made these before and they are so easy and sooo much fun! (Be sure to check out the links in her post, as well!)
And now for the quilt portion of our show:
Mary from Quilt Genius shared her first bargello quilt – is that not jaw dropping or what?!
Elizabeth from Phone Home Designs by E.T. made this Mod Sampler quilt from Oh Fransson! and it’s sooo lovely!
KRDL Paper and Fabric made this super cute baby quilt and posted a few other sweet pics of it.
That’s all I have for now! Thanks so much, everyone, for linking up!
© J C Excell, 2011
I am glad Blogger acted on your complaint – and I am sure that she won’t earn money just by people landing on her site, I am sure that they have to click through and buy things from the ads, or even if they just have to click on the ads, I suspect that very few people click on those random google ads. I never do!
Glad also that you are feeling a little happier – hope you have a really good weekend!
Pomona x
Thanks so much for featuring my Temari Balls! You totally put a smile in my day!
As for the idiot blogger, just keep in mind that what comes around goes around. Folks like that will never succeed on the web in the long run. Heck, I have a blog full of original content, and I have only really made enough money to maybe purchase a Happy Meal. I doubt she is raking in the dough from visitors.
She certainly isn’t making any friends. Ha!
Love your blog, Jenna. Keep up the great work!
suzy
That is so awful that people can steal and nothing happens to them. 🙁 Quilty Blogland should have a “blackball” list of sites that are not to be followed or visited. 🙂
Thanks for featuring my quilt!
Mary
http://www.quiltgenius.com
I just bought that super cute baby quilt from KRDL! Thanks for posting it. I loooove it!
Small victories count for a lot. I couldn’t resist leaving a truly bitchy comment yesterday because I don’t often get the chance. Shame she got revenue for it
Wow, I’m sooo sorry, but sometimes a bit of anger really is motivating especially when you direct it to making things right!!! I have been holed up getting kiddo’s through finals week and just now am reading my blog list. I hope that Mary person get’s her just desserts (and I hope they are all made with yucky ingredients).
You should, since you are primed and in the know, post a how-to in protecting “your” blog. How to watermark images, how to protect intellectual copyright. You are probably the most knowledgable blogger out there right now!
Shame on Mary- what a creep.
Heya! Sorry I’ve missed your posts recently, was out all last weekend and then we had a 49 hour powercut earlier in the week! Oh well, at least I can blog now!
Sorry to hear about ‘Mary’, looks like her blog has gone now, it’s awful that someone can take your tutorial like that and try and make money out of it! At least blogger could sort it out!
I’ve been thinking about making a watermark for my images, just in case people try stealing them without asking.
Love the features, the storage box looks great and I am amazed at the quilts! Some very talented people out there!
We went geocaching today btw, we found two caches that are within a couple of miles of our house, never knew they were there and it’s nice to get to know the local area – thanks for telling me about it! 🙂 x
Good for you! But bloody infuriating that she gets paid for us visiting – I bet she raked it in yesterday! x
Go YOU! You rock and so glad it’s all a learning process.
Thanks for your reply about how to post a comment to your post.
Isn’t this the craziest thing? Here there are talented people like you out in bloggyland that take the time to document each step of a process, then you take all that time to write up a post and insert those photos, and through the kindness of your heart you share them with people like me out in bloggyland. And then some cold-hearted witch goes and does what Mary did. I’m glad you investigated and figured out what to do. I just wish I had read your post earlier so I could go post a nasty comment on Mary’s blog. Can you provide a link to Bonnie’s blog? I’d love to go thank her for watching out for you…sometimes it’s easy to see a tutorial you think is interesting, but then later you think “whose blog did I see it on?” For her to remember and contact you is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
This is horrible. I took your advice and placed a complaint with both blogger and ad sense. Hopefully she’ll get shut down completely sooner than later.
If it’s any consolation, I think the woman is only using Google ads, which pay notoriously tiny amounts. She may be sneaky, but not sneaky enough to approach a decent advertising agency.
It was so cathartic just writing to every artist and letting them know what was happening. It was so helpful in letting go of that anger. And now, how can I be upset when it led me to make wonderful new friends like you? 😉 I’m just glad our tutorials are down, and I hope the rest aren’t far behind.
Oh, and Deborah, my blog is at http://www.bclef.com if you still want to check it out. 🙂
Hopefully I’ll have better luck leaving a comment here than I did last night. I hit “post comment” and it disappeared! Anywho, I’m so relieved that your (and mine also) tutorial was taken down. It’s so nice to know google follows up and “the system” actually works sometimes. Writing to you guys was my way of releasing the anger, and it was quite cathartic. Also, how can I be angry when I got to meet you and make a wonderful new friend? Always a bright side, right?
Deborah: if you still want to check out my blog, it’s at http://www.bclef.com. Not as awesome as Jenna’s here, but hopefully entertaining. 🙂