PSA: Protect Your Blog!

People always say "oh that would never happen to me." They usually say it about something tragic... "A car accident? Oh that would never happen to me." "Cancer? Nah, that'll never happen to me." It's been said about almost anything and everything.

"Having content stolen from my blog? Nope, that wouldn't happen to me."

Or at least, that's what I thought until just a few nights ago. I'd heard about some copyright infringement issues, but I figured "well, I have a disclaimer/disclosure page, so that will cover me if anything happens. Of course, nothing is going to happen."

And it happened.

I Google my blog once in a while just to see what comes up about it... usually it's just posts from my blog or guest posts I've had on other blogs or places where I have my blog profile up (bloggers.com, blogaholic.com, etc.)

So when a post of mine showed up on a site I never recognized before? I got kinda scared...

I clicked on the link and it took me to this other blog that had a post of mine IN ITS ENTIRETY posted there. My pictures. My words. My everything. It was a weird feeling, seeing something I had written on a site it shouldn't have been on... clicking on the pictures took me to some spam site. Not what I had when I initially posted it.

I did more Google'ing to find out what I was supposed to do in this situation. I was able to file a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) infringement complaint with Google for them to look into the matter. Filling out the forms was a pretty serious matter. I had to give them my full legal name, explain/describe the content that I was claiming was mine and show where it was originally posted as well as sharing the information for the infringing site. (note: I would've contacted the owner for the other blog first to request it be removed; however, there was no contact information that could be found).

It's a happy ending story in that Google responded in less than 24 hours and removed the content from the other site (thank you, Google!) I was very impressed with the service, and it's caused me to become more aware. Aside from just my disclaimer/disclosure page, I've also registered my blog with Copyscape.com and MyFreeCopyright.com. I just don't want to take any chances of something worse happening in the future.

So, take this as a warning, dear friends. Anything can be taken from the Internet and claimed as someone else's. You can't stop everyone, but you can take the proper steps to try to protect yourself.

Have you ever had any issues with someone stealing your content or re-posting without your permission?

It's a BIG day today!!

Hi Lovelies!! So today is kind of a monumental moment!! Today is my six month bloggiversary!!! Yes, six months ago today was my first every blog post! (please don't go back and read it; lol, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing at the time hahaha)

But! Here I am! Half a year later and still doing it!!! This is a big deal because sometimes I take up a "new hobby"' and get bored doing it.. or feel like I'm not very good at it... (knitting for instance! I was all about doing that and made EVERYONE in my family a scarf for Christmas! hahaha. But I never learned anything other than the regular garter stitch so I got frustrated and stopped...) (Or basketball! I tried that my sophomore year of high school and was horrrrrible at it. hahah Since I wasn't "good" at it, I never played again.) Bottom line, I'm not very good at sticking with things (commitment issues? lol)

ANYWAY, so it's actually a pretty huge accomplishment that I'm still doing this. As many of you who also blog know, there are definitely highs and lows in this arena... highs when your page views keep going up and you gain followers... lows when it feels like nobody is even accidentally visiting your page! Highs when you have huge lists of things to review and write about... lows when you have "writers block" and don't feel like blogging at all. *sigh* We've all been there. But I stuck with it.

And you stuck with me! To those of you who have been with me since the beginning and to those of you who just joined me, thank you so much! Thank you for reading! Thank you for commenting! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for retweeting! Thank you for caring! Thank you for becoming some of the best virtual friends a girl could ever ask for!

Also this week, I hit 100 followers! Yay yay!! (I think I'm up to 103!) I don't know how you all found me, but I'm glad you have! I never imagined this many people would want to read what I write, so this means so much to me:) I hope that I will continue to keep you educated, enlightened, and more than anything entertained:) The moment blogging is no longer fun for me, I know my blog will  no longer be fun for you:)

I'm looking to hopefully re-vamp my whole blog as I start this new chapter (any people good with graphic design that wants to help??;). And also, trying to decide what to do to celebrate my 100 followers! (giveaway? contest? offering an autographed picture of myself? lol jk hahahaha)

Anyhow, seriously, thank you everyone for being here! I hope to have many more celebrations in the future here!!:)

A Public Service Announcement from Yours Truly;)

Hi Lovelies! So I think I'm going to do away with Q&A Wednesday for now, because there just doesn't seem to be enough Q's for all of my A's. I'm going to try a few different things on Wednesdays to see what works and what doesn't (don't forget to take part in the polls on the right side and let me know what you like to read about best).

For this week's Wednesday, I thought I'd throw out something a wee bit more personal (feel free to skip; it's a little lengthy).

Earlier today, I'd read Sara's blog post which got really personal about her and her past, present, future with boys and whatnot. It's extremely well written, and I thought she did a great job in being so open with her readers. If you're a blogger, you know how hard it can be to keep that balance of being personal enough so the readers feel like they know you, without getting too personal and pushing them away. It's a fine line that we all walk depending on our own level of comfort.

But with her post and some other things going on, I started to think about how hard it is to be a girl. (I'm not saying it's not hard to be a boy; but I really don't have any experience with that. lol. Sorry, boy readers, just bear with me for a bit:) Anyway, we have all this pressure of how to look and how to talk and how to act and how to think... dress like this.. don't do that... be this tiny or no one will ever love you.

It's exhausting.

And it's almost easier to buy in to all the lies that are out there than to accept ourselves for who we really are. To embrace our flaws. To see ourselves as how others honestly see us and not how we do when we constantly pick everything apart and overanalyze everything.

I bring up Sara's post, because I'd told her that as cliche as it is, no one else can ever love you until you love yourself. (warning! warning! here comes the personal part!!)

I have struggled with this for.... oh 28+ years, I suppose. hahaha. For so so so so sooooo long I tried to be everything that everyone else wanted me to be. I wanted so badly to be "liked" that's I'd morph into whatever I thought people liked, and that could change depending on whomever I was around. But the bottom line was always the same:

Be happy.

Be perfect.

And on the outside, I totally was. Super involved in school. Lots of friends. Great grades. A boyfriend almost every day of my life. Parents were proud. Teachers loved me. Girls were jealous of me.

But I still wasn't happy.

All those times, I was trying to to keep everyone else happy, I wasn't doing anything for me to be happy. I didn't know who I was (which, okay, that whole "find yourself" BS is overused, but still somewhat true). Or what I wanted. Almost every single decision in my life has been based on what other people think. Or what other people want.

I tell this to other girls all the time, "At some point in your life, you have to figure out what it is that YOU want." Oh, if only I could follow my own advice.

Anyway, this isn't to get all depressed and ohh woe is me, 'cause honestly, it's not like that at all! (well, maybe a little, lol). But I want you to know that if you feel like that, you're not alone. You can't always hide behind the glossy lips and the glittery fingernails and pretend everything is perfect. You don't have to be perfect. You just need to be you, and be happy with YOU, and LOVE YOU---whatever you that turns out to be and whether there's anyone else even around:)

She was daddy's little girl
Momma's little angel
Teacher's pet, pageant queen
She said "All my life I've been pleasin' everyone but me,
Waking up in someone else's dream"

~Faith Hill~