As most of us who read or write a blog can attest to, the internet is a funny thing. You can be who you want and there typically isn’t anyone who is going to call you out on stuff….because no one knows any better. People who enjoy mellow day hikes turn themselves into bad ass mountaineers, and easy joggers become legit runners. All in a day’s work, right?
And you know, that kind of stuff online doesn’t bother me. In fact, go on with your bad self if that’s what it takes to make you feel good. Seriously, I’m okay with it. However, I experienced something recently that made me equal parts of irritated and hysterical, and since we’re all a part of online world, I thought I’d share my humorous story!
Case in point: a million years ago (or like last year), I wrote this super quick and easy post on chocolate covered strawberries made in an ice cube tray. I had made it on a whim and decided to share the post with y’all just for fun. It was no big deal and it was just a fun post for a mid-week write up. Turns out that post is my single most viewed post to date. In fact, it was viewed 2,579 times in the month of February alone…which for my stats, is a lot for a post that I wrote last year!
You see, the darn thing got pinned onto Pinterest and went hog wild from there. I’ve lost count of how many times it has been pinned but seriously, it’s ridiculous. I guess everyone is looking for easy ways to get their chocolate fix, right?
However, this is where things get all screwy. As it turns out, people just started stealing the image from Pinterest and claiming it as their own. My favorite is this four square-grid that someone created by using three of my photos. They apparently didn’t like my final picture though, so they stole an entirely different one and included it on the grid. Obviously, I didn’t know any of this was going on since it wasn’t being cited back to my blog, but the darn thing is starting to pop up on my Facebook feed!
I logged into my personal FB account the other night to see this staring at me from the top of my feed:
A friend from CrossFit follows the “MB Things I Know” page and had shared this to her own wall. When I saw the photos, I was like, “Holy hell, those are mine!” (Well, at least three of them…whoever decided to add that fake final photo on the bottom right was crazy. It doesn’t even look like it came out of my ice cube tray!)
Turns out a reader had sent them to her (the page admin) and she was happy to give me credit. No big deal at all and she was very nice. However, since then the darn photos have popped up EVERYWHERE. I’m talking pages in foreign languages and everything.
And you know, I’m not entirely sure I care. I like that so many people are enjoying the idea and I’m sure I’m not the first person to ever think of it! However, it’s pretty bonkers and yes, irritating, to see so many people rave about this unique idea and then be too lazy to try it on their own and/or snap photos. What’s the deal with the stealing?
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What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve seen in the online world?
Ever had anything stolen from your blog?
26 Comments
That is pretty funny, and I would be annoyed too! I guess it goes to show the value in watermarking photos, not that it can’t be photoshopped out. Those do look good
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That’s exactly why I started watermarking some photos awhile back, but even then, people have pinned the original image and cropped it out, just like you said. I just don’t get it! Why not try to make it yourself?! It’s insanely easy?
Calee (Chimes Design) puts a faint watermark through the middle of her photos – might be something to consider? http://www.chimesdesign.com/blog/2013/03/18/lightbulb-feeling-stitchy-on-this-marvelous-monday/
but really, it’s ridiculous that you’re even thinking about this. and how weird to see your photos on someone else’s facebook post. not cool.
I feel like I am sharing this story for the 3rd time with you – how my FB pics were stolen and used on a dating website, which was pointed out to me by a guy I used to “date”? I was a hispanic bisexual. The WORST part of the whole thing is that now my dream is to get on Catfished and meet the love of my life Nev and he contacts people all the time who have had their pictures stolen like this and I fear the whole thing happened to me to early in life. GOD it hurt just to type that. NEV I LOVE YOU.
Don’t hate me….but what is Catfished? And who is Nev?!
I’m not cool enough to have had anything stolen 😉 In all seriousness it sucks when this happens. But like you said, it’s a real gray area for me. I’m not all about watermarking everything since it takes time and can make otherwise fantastic photos gaudy (depending on placement, etc). I think that if someone wants to steal something, either way, it will happen. And most often it’s just out of ignorance. Ya know? Tough call.
Yeah, it’s a tricky one. I’ve started watermarking some, not the others. Really depends on my mood and level of motivation 🙂
Just be glad it’s not a picture of Tal’s anus.
I was thinking about that when I was writing this!! That person got all sassy with you, right?! That one made me laugh!
Wow. I feel like every other day I am reading about blogger problems like this. First, your really crappy reader comments. Now more stealing. It makes me so sad that people can’t be honest and good. I would be mad that that happened too.
I suppose it’s just a matter of time, huh? I’ll take this as the hint to start water marking stuff now… I never used to do it, but now that Pinterest spreads photos/links like wildfire, I guess it’s a smart move.
As a sometimes lazy blogger, I often use photos I find from googling whatever topic I’m looking for. If the photo doesn’t come up copyrighted I use it. Rarely giving credit to the site I found it on. Opps. I’ve seen my photos on other sites as well. I guess I just operated on the “if I put it out there, it’s out there” kind of thinking. I do know if you don’t want something on Pinterest you can report it as used without permission – I’ve had pins pulled when they were reported (I wasn’t the orginal pinner). I don’t like the idea that someone passes off my idea as theirs but I do want to share what I post so…
At least it’s bring loads of people to your post. 🙂
Crazy! I’m like you…I can’t decide how much I care about some of this stuff. But it is pretty annoying, for sure. I think I’d be most upset about stolen writing vs. stolen photos.
Wow that is craziness! Congrats on the popular post and idea though!
Dude this is legit something I think about. I share lots of my photography on my blog, and would really be urched if someone stole it and posted it as their own. I don’t know how to protect my images (as in, you can’t click on the image to open it in another page, nor can you right-click ‘save as’). Do you know anything about how to protect images?
Do you use WordPress.org? If you do, when you’re adding your photo from your Media Library, on the right (where you rename, resize, etc), you can pick where the photo links to – attachment page, special URL or – the winner – NONE! That should keep people from opening and saving your photo!
(SRY, Heather, for hijacking your comments!)
Hate to say it, but that only stops people with basic computer knowledge from getting the photo. Not to mention you can just take a screenshot (I’ve had people do that on my photo site!). I’ve gotten around “right click protect” all the time as a challenge to see if I could do it, even on my own photography site.
Thanks for the quick/temporary fix, Lynne! But dang it, I guess Heidi might be right…. so Heidi, do you have any suggestions??
If you really really really care, don’t put it online :/ But there’s always watermarking, though to really make it effective you have to put it across the middle of the photo, which can be distracting/ugly/etc. I guess it all depends on your comfort level and how much you care. If someone wants something bad enough, they’ll get it, at least a watermark will make it super annoying to look at! haha
Crazy! People think that just because there’s a computer screen separating themselves from others, they can do what they want. I’m glad you didn’t get too peeved about it, but I can see how that would be really frustrating!
I have your strawberries pinned 🙂 lol I’ve seen this a lot….it’s mostly pages I can’t believe they don’t link it. Crazy. I’ve seen a few recipes stolen exactly like that with a collage of pics abducted placed on fb. Once I saw a pic on my works fb page displaying necklaces and I knew it was stolen from a blog I read. Outted them 😛
I use to drag race cars, and some ebay knockoff parts company stole a photo of my car, which is highly recognizable due to the modifications/stickers/unique dent in the front bumper, chopped out my watermark and was using it to sell parts my car didn’t even have on it… since I did a lot of motorsports photography, I reported it to ebay since they completely ruined the photo and also sent them a message saying to stop using it and reminding them that removing a watermark is actually a worse penalty under law as they were willfully destroying evidence of ownership of the photo… 2 hours later and all the ebay listings were removed, go me!
It is really an uphill battle, however. Anytime something goes on the internet there’s no way to protect it. I fight this all the time as a photographer.
Wow. That is wild. I remember those strawberries and recognize the pics but darned if I would know they were yours or where I saw them. I have started watermarking my pictures now too.
Mostly images, and since I borrow people’s all the time (with credit), it seems strange that people can go to the effort of stealing it but not the effort of giving the source.
ahh photos and the web, I have to admit when i first started I wwas guilty of looking for a photo of say a city and then grabbing and while I link the author if it gets pinned they probably aren’t getting the credit they deserve. I’m more concerned when I see people reposting what looks ohhh exactly like what i just did.
I often use other people’s photos on my blog, but I get them from Creative Commons, so I know I have permission, and I ALWAYS give credit and link back to the owner. I mean, I’m posting the pic because I like their work, so why wouldn’t I promote that?
This story makes me so annoyed that I need to go nosh on some chocolate. Wonder where I can find a good recipe for chocolate covered strawberries … 😉
That’s crazy! I don’t ever steal anyone’s pictures and I just assume no one is out there stealing mine but I wouldn’t be surprised.