What’s on the iPod: One by Ed Sheeran
It’s been a busy start to the week. Like I expected, the work is flowing in. I’ve already hit my target for this month, and October is looking just as sweet. Today, I’ll be working on a large project, finalizing plans for another large project, and marketing so that I have a successful November and a good Christmas. Plan now for the holidays, I say.
In my travels around the Internet, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend emerging. Maybe it’s just the circles I run in, but I’m seeing a bit of swiping of conversation content — stuff from private conversations, ideas from other people, and generally ideas that are not being attributed to the person whose idea it was in the first place. There’s only one time when it’s okay to reveal a private conversation in public–
—when you get permission from the other people involved.
If that’s not bad enough, I know of a few cases in which the conversations and ideas have been taken, used, and not attributed. How do I know this happens? Because days/weeks prior to whatever blog post or article appears, I’ve come across the original comments or blog posts.
Not cool.
We are writers. Writers, like trained journalists, are bound by the same ethical code. If it’s not your idea, you must give attribution. Unless you’ve been granted full permission to take the idea and run with it, it’s not yours.
But those ideas are so good, so juicy! I myself have based posts on public conversations from various forums and blogs. What I haven’t done is taken the entire idea and made it my own.
So how do you handle using these great ideas?
Ask. I don’t care if it’s an informal conversation or a private one; if someone gives you a great idea, ask if you can run with it. I’ve done it with my email chums, and I’ve talked with a few people who have given me super ideas (see Monday’s post based on Valorie’s suggestion) about expanding their ideas.
Attribute. When you’re looking at SmoothWriter27’s comment on a blog or forum and you don’t know who that is, mention either the handle or the forum. If you can get that person to respond to you, you can ask. However, if it’s a case where you’re disagreeing and showing the world how wrong this person’s advice is, they’d thank you to not mention them. In that case, attribution would embarrass and cause harm to their reputation.
Offer a guest post. Not every idea has to be yours (because not every idea is). Don’t be selfish — if someone comes up with a great idea you want to share, offer them the guest post opportunity. If they don’t want to, then ask if you can use it yourself (with attribution).
Include links. Selfish is the writer or blogger who won’t direct visitors to the source of their information. It’s deceitful, and it smacks of desperation — this is a person who wants you to believe they have all the answers. Not so. No one does. If you say “Over on Susan’s blog today…” make sure you include the hyperlink to Susan’s blog.
Writers, how do you handle ideas you’ve come across?
What’s the worst you’ve seen?
Right on, Lori. I always try to give credit and if my boomer brain forgets, I admit it's not my idea or that my post was inspired by someone else.
I've experienced having a blog comment of mine lifted verbatim and included in another writer's (and I use the term loosely) list post – 10 Ways to Do XX.
It's not that I wanted credit as much as it was such a blatant rip-off. She didn't even have the decency to create a variation. How rude. 😉
Cathy, I forget sometimes, too. It's when it's constant that I start to wonder, hmm…is that person just not getting how to do this?
Oh, I've had that happen, too. That's another example of how NOT to use another person's ideas — maybe the best example!
I tend to do the same thing with recipes and knitting patterns, too.
I never claim I invented a recipe or pattern if I got it from someone (or somewhere else). I'm not making my famous mac & cheese, I'm making my sister-in-law's mother's recipe (which she got off a Cremette box in the '70s). I didn't make my roasted tomatoes last week, I made Meetal's roasted tomatoes. Even if I've adapted a recipe or pattern, I'll do my best to mention it or at least say where I found the original.
The same should apply to any ideas. Occasionally you'll forget where something comes from, but that's not license to claim you created it. Writers — or anyone dealing with any form of IP – should know better.
When those bloggers lift ideas without giving credit, it only negates the air professionalism they're trying to project.
That's what separates you from the pack, Paula. You get that attribution is required in all cases.