Tuesday 8 April 2014

Blog Piracy - Let's make a stand!

After I have made and finished my very first quilt over two years ago, I knew then and there that I fell in love quilting.  Finally I found something I liked to do and I knew it was not going to be one of those hobbies that would have my attention for just a little while and to later just gather dust.  Believe me I have tried a few other types of crafts, like mosaics, decoupage and even a bit of scrap booking, but non of them grabbed my attention like quilting did.

I jumped right in.  Bought whatever fabric I could find, which included cotton and polyester.  Not a great combination I know, but I had no guidance, no help. Only a magazine with instructions.  Sure the pattern called for 100 percent cotton, but I did not even know what to look for!  I just grabbed fabrics that I thought would work well together and started making a quilt.  When it came to sewing the blocks together I knew something was completely wrong, the seams did not match up at all..  but I carried on eager to get it finished.

Once I was done, and stepped back looking at the quilt I made I felt PROUD.  I made it!  Hours spent cutting, sewing, piecing and quilting, it was ALL my work!  But I knew I needed help, I knew I wanted to learn more.

So that was when I started looking to the internet.  I was overwhelmed with information, so many websites, blogs and YouTube videos.  The more pages I opened up the more I wanted to learn.  That was when I became fascinated with free motion quilting.  It was also when I considered starting my OWN blog.  Something I can page through like a diary, seeing my progress and seeing how my interest, skill and style of quilting changed and hopefully (NO most definitely) improve...

So in all honesty my blog was for ME.  If I was lucky enough to get a few followers it would just be a bonus.   After two years of blogging, my blog has over 300 followers with an average of 15 000 pageviews a month.  My Facebook Page has over 500 likes and on Instagram over 400.  Yes, these are JUST numbers, but after a while of blogging I knew that I WANTED others to see and read my blog.  If these numbers kept on rising, I knew it was worth while to carry on writing and sharing.

Now you might wonder where I am going to with all of this.

Well some time ago I read a blog post where the content of that particular blog, was COPIED and posted to another blog, as their own.  I did not think that my little blog would ever run the risk of something like that happening.  But I wanted to have some kind of insurance, so I started adding a watermark or text in the corners of my pictures, adding my blog name and address.  

But clearly it wont stop pirates!!  I was kindly informed by one of my fellow bloggers that my blog and the entire blog posts are being copied.  I was shocked to say the least.  After visiting the site (Quilt Patterns Pro) I realized that its hundreds if not thousands of quilting blogs being copied.  

Screen print from Quilt Patterns Pro
At first glance it appeared to be a blog directory like QuilterBlogs, but there is a big difference.  QuilterBlogs is a website that LINKS back to your site.  You submit your blog to their directory and from then on whenever you publish a blog post it will appear on their website.  When someone click on the heading or any part of that post it will direct them to your blog.  

This is NOT the case at the site mentioned above.  My blog and many others are being pirated with NO link back to your site.  To see if your blog is also being listed, just enter your blog name into the search bar.

There is hope however, The Bitchy Stitcher shared a blog post sharing HOW to report and how to shut them down.

So... to all my fellow quilting bloggers, lets make a stand and get this site scrapped!  

I love it and urge my fellow bloggers to share my work on their blogs.  I do it too, but at least we all have the courtesy of linking back and giving credit where its due.


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15 comments:

Kitchener Quilter said...

Quite shocking! I just searched my own blog, and it's there, too. Thanks for the heads up on this one.

Kathleen said...

Wow, there's just about every blog I follow on this site!! How in the world does one let all of the know about this?

Carole said...

Hopefully it is working, I notified several other bloggers as well. As of today, the site is down and a server message appears. Thanks so much to everyone that sent messages to the host GoDaddy, and hopefully it is down for good!!

Bluebell Ridge Handworks said...

So sorry this type of unprofessional and unethical behavior happens! It does appear the site is down...at least for now.

Danih03 said...

I guess it got shut down! Sorry this happened to you!

Unknown said...

What the hell!?!? I saw this earlier in the day and found I was on there, too. It's down now... lets hope for good.

Ellie-Mae said...

Looks like it's down. Phew. Let's hope it stays that way.

Karin said...

Yes, instead of quilting, I spent half my day looking into this yesterday . I got an email from a kind reader ...when I looked I was shocked...over 10 posts of mine that I could see. Went to work on identifying the host and wrote a fairly formal letter to them in the evening. Also contacted Google...I will post about this tonight...in my exploration came across a few things that one can do, although ultimately this cannot be stopped. What was impressive was how quilters rallied together...the company would have received a few emails, letters etc yesterday. Saw this morning that the website is down. Go quilters !

MalinisQuilts said...

I just checked this site and looks like it has been brought down. I am glad that everyone took action so fast.

sherry said...

i was on there also…some one notified me but by the time i looked the site was already down…so thanx fellow quilters and bloggers for being right on it…i am in the process of making patterns of my quilts and do not want my work pirated...

Lea said...

What a shame this goes on. I don't have a blog but believe if all of you quilt bloggers join together you can stop this pirate. I just tried to go in from the link you had and couldn't open it. Then out of curiousity I googled it and they didn't come up. For what my 2 cents are worth I think all quilt bloggers should mention this in a post and link back to you to read more here, helping to get the word out.

FlourishingPalms said...

I looked at the blog before it was taken down. My posts weren't there, so I guess that means that in five years- plus of blogging, I didn't have anything worthy of stealing! Glad the rest of you don't have to worry about it anymore.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

It is too bad that things like this happen! I couldn't get to it so maybe they have removed it. Thanks for sharing.
Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday

Allison said...

How awful! Didn't they while young that "cheaters never prosper?" So glad to see it was taken down. Hopefully, they won't pop up again as a different blog.

Diana @ Red Delicious Life said...

Glad to see that it's been shut down. Just curious, how do you place the watermark on your blog photos? Do you just add it in using a website like PicMonkey?

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