There’s a debate. There’s a very heated conversation. There is yet another uproar.
Ma, before you flip, Mistah – before you freak out, let me assure you that for a change I am not a part of it.
Yes Baba, you can gulp down the water without looking as if a chimpanzee spoke back to you in the German you are learning to comprehend.
I remember when I started blogging and the entire concept of contests was new, it was the pump of a newly discovered drug – the adrenalin high it gave was both cathartic and safe. Only if such a drug existed. Soon however we got into the groove, soon however FB took over and I lost my blog to the madness. However, my love for blogging is something I still hold close despite not being as frequent as I was before B school happened.
I came back this year to find “requests” of liking posts instead of giving a thought whether I really liked them. I came back to discover that the blog world was slowly discovering what me as a lawyer has coped with for long – the lax laws on cyber security and the very concept of “my content, being my own”.
To me my work is my baby and hell I am protective about it. Ideas cannot be copyrighted, however have we sold morality so shamelessly that unless there’s an iron rod in hand we will not be cautious of this implied rights? Blatantly terming something as “inspired post” is like being a kin of Anu Mallik. I don’t recall a single of his creations to not have a tune which I have hummed as a kid when Bollywood music was not allowed in home – the English originals I mean.
Worst is the plight of all those who suffer and have to actually give a detailed explanation about why they are crying “alert’. Good friends who come to rescue are targeted. Yes, how can I forget ‘comment moderation’ – it is nothing but like the layer of make up on an abused wife who smiles to make you believe that all is well in her fairy land. The option of ‘edit’ is like trying to squeeze in a few marks by editing answers when the teacher relies on you and hands back answer scripts without looking out for any miscreant acts!
Beneath lies the muck, beneath lies the dark truth – kidnapping a baby gives you shudders, have you ever thought it is the same for an author when it comes to her words?
Is winning so important that you fall in your own eyes, forget the power of worldly judgement?
Hey hey what happened?
Hey this is not about me re, just something a few friends have been subjected to and I have faced a lot when I stood up for them. This time I decided to keep shut but couldn’t stop this post from flowing out…
This is the reality of blogging world and it is sad. Instead of believing in one’s own creative ability, many look for a shorter route. When one puts out one’s work on web, it has every possibility of getting plagiarized. I don’t know how this can be stopped because just a banner cannot help.
We cannot stop it till the voice inside us is so loud that it supersedes all desires of 2 minutes fame. We forget that a fall and mention in the Hall of Shame has a much greater impact than the momentary claim to fame.
Exactly.
aiyo you got plagarised???
I have comment moderation on..but I swear its not like an abused wife…I moderate my comments so that I can reply to them..hai bhagwan Sags, now toh you are making me think so much about moderation
LOL on the first two lines…your Baba is a sweetheart eh?
awww sweety, thanks for the concern but it is not about me. Something which I am staying away from, however the episode brings back a lot of such similar ones which i have been a part of and then have been trolled for standing up.
Comment moderation is up on my blog too – for fist timers, my friends have comment moderation on to – and let me assure you I have nothing against it. However, there are a few people who will not publish comments which are against their blogs or a particular post. To me that seems like being hypo critic – saying that you believe in your own power of expression but not of other’s – esp when they know that they are wrong. Please don’t take it personally.
Yes Baba is my sweetheart, we don’t share the father daughter bond, instead it is more like being friends who shall land you in trouble and then bail you out
He is learning to comprehend German for his g’daughter *rolls her eyes*
I don’t have comment moderation on but I have blocked a few people in the past after they turned abusive. I am fine with a healthy debate but when someone starts calling me names, then that is the end of him on my blog.
Well Amit, I don’t have a problem with anyone who gets into a debate in civilized terms till the point I know that they are not arguing for the sake of it. My problem with comment moderation is for those bloggers who say “i’ll defend your right of speech” and yet refuse to publish those comments which are against their blogposts no matter how right the commentator was.
How do bloggers do that? I have never come across such a blogger but that is shocking and downright rude.
May you never come across such ones too Amit. Let at least some like you have faith in blogging and fellow bloggers
How they do it? Strange are the ways of the human mind is all I can say. All is ok when we do it, when it comes to others we pull out the fat specs of critique and bring out the moral police
Well, someone had to be the first in penning the anguish in the form of a blog post! Congrats
I am new to the blogging world….and the first thing that has appalled me is – ‘you scratch my back and I will scratch yours’. Doesn’t matter that my back is worth scratching and yours might be fill of boils and pock-marks. I noticed this in the new so-called IBL.
Thanks for posting this!
Welcome to the wonderful blog of blogging!
Well the “like my post” is beyond me and I shall not do it for a contest – I stand by that. I do not even participate in such contests which promote such things. To me content and its originality matters and nothing else. Welcome to my blog, hope to see you around often 
*full
(Sorry for the typo)
Yeah, it is pretty disgusting. Good post! Wish it reaches those who blatantly indulge in this behavior.
Thanks Rachna! Welcome to my space. Trust me even if it reaches them, they’ll agree with me here and pretend that they do not know it is they who are being spoken about here. We all re-create mini Bollywood in our own way!
I may not compare it to stealing my baby… (take my whole blog anytime) but sure I don’t want my posts to be credited to someone else. Thanks for expressing this in your blog.. We all are feeling the same.
Hi Farida, thanks for dropping by. I referred my words as my baby, as that is what I feel for my book from where people have quoted lines without giving me any credit (in the past). I completely understand the anguish. Am glad for the support
Despite all the madness that has ensued in the past two months, starting with a friend finding my posts were ‘inspiring’ someone else’s blog, I still love the world of blogging. It’s because people like you and a lot of other friends I know choose to raise their voice against this kind of win-at-any-cost kind of stuff that’s happening. I guess the blogging is a microcosm of the world – the good guys, the bad guys…and the great news is in the end the good guys win – or at least they get to look themselves in the mirror knowing that they did the right thing.
Welcome to my blog C! Hope you drop by often
Yes I completely agree with you. My G’father’s hand down lesson to us was that know the day you cannot meet the eyes in the mirror, you have wasted a life! However, saying that I have discovered the bestest of friends in the blog world, ones who stood by me in real life when I was low and the ones who celebrate my joy as their own. I couldn’t be more thankful to it for all the love!
Hopped here from Facebook. I fail to understand how can anyone claim to own a post, shamelessly copied from somewhere. I hear incidents like these so often, Thanks to social networking! I believe it was happening earlier as well, but most incidents went un-noticed because of a lack of a platform where posts were shared.
One good thing coming out of social networking could be that, now, we at least get to know who these people indulging in false practices are.
Welcome to my space Akansha! Well social networking comes with the anti-social elements too I guess
However, as you said thanks to discovering the like minded fellow bloggers we can indeed create a noise and let it be known that we hold blogging too close to our hearts to let it go awry! 
I’ve made great friends blogging too – I’m hoping to add you to the list
awwww thank you
am honored C! 
Tight hugs!
I have been following the thread that has prompted you to write this post, Sags and I am as disturbed and saddened as you to come across people who are willing to stoop to any pathetic level just to get noticed. If only they would realize how hollow their (ill)intentions seem!
I was very affected too Deeps and it brought back a lot of memories. Saddest however was the so called apology where ignorance seems to be the most perfect pretext in the name of a justification!
WHY did you not read my blog, why did you not comment, why did you not like my post , now I am sad
and and and You also did not VOTE for me hmmpfffff ..
I gues you are not friends with me … boooooooooooo hooooooooooo
No No I’ll be there soon
I have stopped participating in contests and voting! But I still read your posts
It is amazing that ‘lifting off’ is so darn easy for all and sundry….more than the laws. their conscience is something that needs to be questioned. Apt post at the apt time
I so agree with you, wish there was a like button I could hit! Kudos to what you did girly … loads of hugs!
This is such a relevant post in today’s times. Off late I have been coming across many such instances… including one which happened to Corinne. It is so shocking to see all this… I fail to understand what do these people derive by doing such cheap things…it makes me feel disgusted.
I have come across someone who has started leaving weird comments on my blog..need to do something about him ASAP. Thanks for this post
Oh yes I know that certain someone – please take care. Yes, such incidents are on the rise and I feel like slapping those who do it and then try to cut a sorry figure.
There’s so much brilliant content out there. Of course it’s tempting to pass it off as your own. But your blog is about who you are – it may be mediocre, vocabulary challenged but the thoughts are your own. Is there any greater pleasure than getting appreciation for something that’s genuinely yours!
Loved your post – sharp, to the point and full of spunk.