Wade, I do hope this is unintentional. It's unlikely as this is not the first time (and others I know have had similar, er, recreations of their work), but I have to assume the blogger in question is devoid of original ideas. That would be sad for the blog followers. Let's hope for the best.

Cathy, that's it — if you like something and want to continue the thought, give credit! BTW, you're an original to me. 🙂

I've laughed at myself a time or two in the beginning of my blogging efforts when I was sure I came up with something really clever, only to do a Google search and find scads of blogs with the same idea. Heck, in the early days, I didn't even think about Googling to see if possibly someone else had the same idea. I can thank Jenn Mattern for opening my eyes to that one.

And I am a firm believer that we each have our own unique spin to things. BUT–there's a HUGE difference between putting your own spin on something and re-working the original.

Blogs inspire me all the time. The difference is I give them some link love credit when they do. I've even given credit when I couldn't remember where I read it –something along the lines of if I could remember who said this, I'd give them credit.

At a minimum, re-tooling someone else's post is lazy. And, like you said, Lori, it is definitely NOT cool.

That being said, I do believe that some people copy unintentionally. Before you start throwing rocks, when you're inspired by someone it is easy to get wrapped in their message. I'm not saying this is true for your reference, but I can empathize when someone is trying very hard to emulate.

When I read it I had an immediate sense of deja vu. There was a certain phrase repeated in it that was pure Lori (and it didn't have anything to do with marketing, if you can believe that). So much so that I came straight to this blog to see if I was right. And there was your eerily similar post that pre-dated the other one by several weeks.

I don't if the other blogger intentionally copied you – like you said, wordings had been changed – but at the very least there was a powerful subliminal influence at work. The first time it happened, it would have been easy to chalk it up as an unintentional compliment, but apparently this blogger has parroted you before – which makes it harder to view as an unintentional compliment.

Krista, that sucks. I can't understand what people think to gain by mirroring another's business. There's something unique in all of us that differentiates even the most identical of situations. I hope your VIP travel client can rise above this.

My temptation would be to name the blog You Heard it Here First.

They've completely ripped off his business model, packages, etc. And the posts I write for the blog are being changed just enough that it probably wouldn't be considered plagiarism. BUT it's still painfully obvious what's going on.

I'm a fan of Shark Tank, and this situation shows why they are always iffy about getting involved in something that isn't proprietary.