Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
Open Letter to My Blogmates
I’ve learned a lot these past few days. I learned far more about DCMA than I ever wanted to. I also learned that I have wonderful online friends who are incredibly supportive. Well, I knew that last part, but it’s nice being reminded every now and then, like when talk me out of taking a flying lead and nuking my blog from orbit.
Thank you for the support and much needed perspective, trE, msjadeli, petrujviljoen, iidorun, and Dewin Nefol. Again, I’m not going to fight this because I didn’t get into poetry and creative writing to quibble over someone unethically stealing site traffic. I imagine I’d feel differently if there was evidence of someone actually passing my work off as their own.
I was always leaning towards shuttering my blog, and once it’s time to renew my domain in February, I just may bow out then rather than paying the fee. I’ve got a few months to mull it over. But I won’t let a content thief influence my choices.
Thanks again, and sorry for the melodrama.
Your friend,
Barry
Hephaestus’ Waste & Cosmic Rubble 
No apologies necessary, buddy. I am certain we’ve all been there. I decided that my words need a home and no one is going to deny me of that. *big hugs* I hope you’ll stick around after February, but whatever you decide, I’ll always be around. I’ve known you too long not to be. 😊
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Barry, happy to hear you didn’t nuke your blog and you’ll be here for at least the next 6 months. That means you’ll be here for OctWriPoMo (I know you did the April one, but hoping you’ll do the October one also.) Your poetry is appreciated and as you are the one behind your poetry, so are you! Also, no need to apologize for the “melodrama” as you called it. You’re still here and that’s the good news 🙂
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No melodrama here. Your work has been stolen and it’s reason to be upset, nay, furious! I’ll take this opportunity to visit the thieves and see if any of my stuff is there. Also I’ll go around the hosting sites as mentioned before and leave a comment regarding all of this and hope they take it up with WordPress. msjadeli mentioned a badge one can stick on one’s blog about these guys. I downloaded it and will put it on my page today. It’s something.
Should you decide to leave, we will let you go, it’s your choice. But your work will be missed. It’s good, it’s informative, and insightful. I often take sabbaticals from WordPress, posting only when I feel I have something to share.
The copyright laws are clear. I realise it’s different from country to country but the main tenet is the same: one’s work is one’s own. These guys should be stopped. What we all can do as well is to reblog your first post about this and spread the word so people can protect their work.
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Hey!! I just clicked through the tygpress site to see if they took any of my work and they’ve closed down with an apology to all bloggers’ stuff they’ve taken!!! This is what it says:
”Tygpress.com is temporarily out of service due to technical issues. will be back soon…
Tygpress.com was created with an intention to create a blog search site , but due to some techical issues, full contents of respective sites were being displayed instead of just excerpts as intended. We thank the complainants for bringing this issue to our notice and We are extremely sorry to the content owners”
Way to go. Opening one’s mouth and complaining does help!!
Barry – stay. If you want to.
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Now where did my comment go? I clicked through to the Tygpress site and it has closed down with an apology to all bloggers whose work they’ve been posting. Apparently unintentionally – yeah, right! Maybe?
This is what it says:
”Tygpress.com is temporarily out of service due to technical issues. will be back soon…
Tygpress.com was created with an intention to create a blog search site , but due to some techical issues, full contents of respective sites were being displayed instead of just excerpts as intended. We thank the complainants for bringing this issue to our notice and We are extremely sorry to the content owners”
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Damn. The little guy won? That never happens!
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It actually happens a bit more often these days Barry. The old school of thinking there’s nothing to be done is slowly weakening. And high time too. One mustn’t give up, that’s all.
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