cool and not cool

picture courtesy of dana from this post

okay so i guess it has to be said because in the past month a few of my pictures have been taken off my site and used to promote other sites.

so here we go.

i totally love when others find me and my creations through another site due to the fact that they linked to me and or shared a picture of one of my creations with credit back to the place they found it. thank you! yes this wonderful world of blogging and cyberspace is amazing and a wonderful tool to find help in whatever you are looking to find to do. we live in a awfully fast paced cyber world, where with a click of a mouse and a couple pushes of the keyboard, or heck with a few touches on your touch screen, you can buy, sell, or learn ANYTHING.
what an amazing time to be a part of.

but with all the fast paced and all the free internet information sharing there comes the overstepping of boundaries, calling something yours when it's not.

i'm mainly talking about finding a picture on the internet and then taking it, posting it, and not giving credit as to where you got it from. or like in the picture featured above, in BIDRACK'S site's case. (never even heard of them but apparently i bought my OWN PURSE i made a pattern for from them) and seriously? stephania? do i look like a stephania? but even better did you notice the blond in the upper left hand corner holding a hideous green wallet. yeah also my picture except bidrack changed the chocolate bar dana was holding and photoshoped their product in.
**edited: since dana and i have linked to bidrack's site and outed them they've all of a sudden deleted and changed their page to no longer claim our winnings. hmmm, interesting. i suggest you stay away from that site because i've also googled them and there's a lot red flags there.

this has not been the first time that this has happened to me. nor will it probably be the last. heck most likely it's happened to a lot of you too?

okay so lets talk a little bit about what's cool to do and what's not so cool to do:


it's totally cool to use my pictures when you are:
*promoting something you saw on my site and you link my picture back to said item or post. dude, thanks so much for doing so!
*you have asked permission from me to use my picture for something other than promoting my site. (hey just ask! i've said yes in the past, try me and we'll talk about it!)
*when using pinterest, tumbler, stumble upon, or any other awesome link site. i love those too! but please give credit to where you got it.

it is so NOT cool:
*when you take one of my pictures and use it for your online shop profile and or for a description of your product. this includes facebook, etsy, blogger, and where ever else you can put a profile picture.

*when promoting your store...really? i know, call me crazy, but don't you want to picture things that YOU'VE made? i think that's called false advertising.

*when you have not asked permission or do not give any credit of the picture that is not taken with your own personal camera. i know it happens all the time and i know sometimes we download pictures onto our computers for inspiration or eye candy...if you forgot where the source of the picture is from...say so. i've done that once even on this blog. but don't let people assume its your picture by not even acknowledging that it's not yours.

also what's NOT cool: because it happens so often it's not even funny.

i understand a lot of us create things that are similar. heck a lot of us come up with the same idea around the same time. i get it, that's how fads, styles, and well basically EVERYTHING in life works, but...and this is a BIG BUT:

*taking a tutorial (free or a bought pattern) setting up and taking pictures with your OWN camera with your OWN material BUT showing the SAME steps and changing the wording slightly(or even using the same wording), does not make it your OWN, that's still considered crossing the line in my eyes. (and yes i know, i don't jump to conclusions when someone has done a tutorial with the same steps, and just assume they have taken it from somewhere, remember my disclaimer of we come up with the same stuff around the same time, i'm the first person to tell you: been happening since the beginning of time.)

a lot of us get the same end result using different methods...this is totally awesome because we learn new ways and create shortcuts or even sometimes creating something entirely new...this is how i think we keep pushing boundaries and keep revolutionizing ideas.

and then of course common sense and courtesy:

*never EVER copy and paste someone else's tutorials onto your site even if you give credit to them. it's still taken WITHOUT my consent. i will give consent if asked, well, if i see fit. otherwise it's a real big fat no no, and really all kinds of lame.

now.
on a nicer note, thanks to all who have either emailed me or somehow contacted me to let me know when these things happen. i try to keep a calm and open mind to things, and when a site is completely in the wrong, like bidrack, i will contact and try to figure something out. thus far i've only had good experiences. and that makes me feel at ease.

another good note, i finished another fun project due to make it's debut next week, hopefully monday!
okay that is all.
we'll talk soon