Ranting in Writing Blogs
Those who read A Writer's Edge at the website will see some of the changes I've made in the home page -- and resulting construction problems. Yes, as much as I advocate using Blogger for your ordinary blogging needs, sometimes it sucks like Electrolux. Until I drag the page into DreamWeaver, I won't be able to fix the bottom that, I suspect, visitors seldom view anyway.I've included a "recent visitors" box from Blog Catalog now, mainly because it's the only way I can see more than ten visitors from there to thank and entice to leave a shout on my Profile page or a Comment or Review or to join The Neighborhood on the blog's page. I may expand the features from MyBlogLog, too, currently in the left column.
This must be the Week of the Blog for email, because I've received several nutty messages, including a request to remove a link to a news article because someone is unhappy with what the article says. I don't even mention the person in my post! He writes to me, "Yes, I am the subject of the slander in the article." His logic goes like this: my link causes the newspaper article "to show up highly on the search engines...what is happening as a result of the hyperlink in your post that is objectionable to me." I"d much rather that my links cause my blog to show up highly in the search engines, but maybe there's a lesson here, somewhere.
Then a Google Alert alarmed me when I found one of my recent posts appearing in toto in someone else's blog, but WITHOUT links or attribution. Jeez! If you're going to steal my work, at least leave the link or use my name. I wasted an hour or more trying to track down an email address for the hacker jerk (he has several sites on Blogspot), found none, so settled for wading through Blogger's complaint system, only to receive a lengthy email from them, saying that I had to put a full DMCA complaint in writing. Sheesh! Shall I post his name, this Indian student? Let you visit his sites and leave nasty remarks? Would you? Or would he welcome the attention?
Labels: blogging, promotion, technology, websites
posted by Georganna Hancock M.S. | 10:00 AM
3 Comments:
And another thing: Last month a brainstorm struck for a new blog. I knew the perfect domain name, but found it parked at GoDaddy, owned by a woman in Florida since 2005.
I emailed her telling her of my desire to start a blog with that name and asking if she would be willing to transfer the name to me. Nothing. Ten days later I asked again.
"How much?" she asked. Taken aback, I offered to reimburse her the expenses of registering the name.
She made a snide remark about not thinking I'd just fallen "off a turnip truck", so I asked, "How much do you want?"
You'd think that if she expected to be paid in the beginning, she would provide a price, right? No the communication abruptly terminated.
So the name just sits, ostensibly making money for GoDaddy from the advertising on the parking page, and the muse, with her flame doused, packs up and departs.
Georganna,
Sorry to hear about the unauthorized posting of your work. Jeanne at Writer's Notes just wrote about unauthorized use of her content, and the post has generated a lot of comment. That inspired me to start a series on copyright on my own blog, and the first installment has received some interesting comments.
Thanks, Lillie. Maybe I'll take a look at both posts and get some ideas. Usually I pursue such incidents vigorously and with good results. In this case, however, I can't get at the perpetrator because his blog is hosted at Blogspot, and obviously Blogger is difficult to work with.
Still, I'm tempted to go hoot, hoot, hoot the guy down in a comment ... except he could just delete it.
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