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?