Edit: Carlo has taken down his site. I’ve put up a cached version. Thanks to everyone for the support — goes to show that a voice can count for something on the internet.
Carlo, who lives somewhere in Metro Manila and sometimes, not most of the time, in Pangasinan, Philippines, has stolen from me. There are others who steal my work, but this is usually the pictures I take, which they use as backgrounds for their own sites (most commonly the starry sky at Bancroft). I try not to take offence to this; the file sizes are commonly small, so it doesn’t make much of a dent in my monthly bandwidth. There are also people like Sophia, who has made her presence known to me, and uses my words every so often in her own writing as a flattering gesture.
Carlo is different.
Word for word.
This entry, which I struggled days to write, into which I poured my heart, was posted on his blog a day after mine. He did change the title, although I think this hardly ameliorates his actions. He also used my Petal Game picture (perhaps without noticing my watermark in the lower right-hand corner), as well as a line from my post inspired by Eternal Sunshine, for a different entry.
It saddens me to think not of how easily someone can steal things on the internet, but how willing they are to do it. I can only wonder how many other people have stolen from me. Lorelle, who offers some great points on what to do if someone steals your content, suggests open communication, in combination with as a letter of cease and decist. And while I’m in complete agreement with this, I felt that for the first time I should write about it instead, to make it public, so that others may be aware of their own works. There are people who will quote without referencing. There are people who will take without returning.
Because what’s the point of blogging, when one’s words aren’t one’s own?
HA
I duely visited the creeps site, and left a nasty message for him
teehee
that’s crap
I cant even imagine how shallow this fink is in real life…
as shallow as pond scum
hi! thanks for the kind words you left on my blog about goodbyes and letting go. i have been blogging for 3 years now. there’s a huge part of me that feels tired and indifferent. that’s something i have to deal with for now.… but you were right when you said it’s time to let go. it is.
letting go is something that just happens from within. it’s not when you say goodbye to everybody. it’s when you know from within that there’s nothing to go back to anymore. [okay, i’m babbling.]
and i’m sorry about having had your entries copied. i know that must have been equality frustrating on your part to see somebody pass your thoughts as their own.
Hopefully Carlo will now try and develop an identity of his own ;)
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Geez. I don’t know what to say. I used to visit that blog. Wow. That came as a shock for me. Wow. And I empathized. I feels somewhat manipulated. I dunno. Really am shocked.
The pics were taken outside a curch near a park in Lund in Sweden. Very beautiful :)
That’s pretty sick of people to do that. I guess they have no life of their own. They are jealous and they want attention. I’ve alway thought that the best thing to do is to take evidence and then make it all public.
And I agree with Bean; hopefully he will try to develop an identity of his own. But I doubt he will make it :P
It’s saddening such people have to stoop so low as to steal others’ works, for whatever reason (none which are justifiable).
Oh my fucking god!
Like Jeeper, I used to be an audience of his blog. How could he fool the hell out of us? This is an outrage.
Again, oh my fucking god!
Hopefully Carlo won’t be stealing anything from anyone again. And Amy, your beautiful, comment on his site were perfect, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
i dont know what to say… i did check his site and i was shocked… i want to apologize for him being his “kababayan” but i guess he better do it himself…
im sorry it happened to you… good thing u found out.
i like ur writings very much that i linked u up. i hope u wont mind… but u can always tell me and i’ll gladly remove your url from my list.
thanks…
i was trying to open your sitelink from my page but i guess im included in the list of unauthorized viewers. it’s ok. i will have to remove the deadlink…