Saturday, April 26, 2008

Oops, They Did It Again!

It's that time of the year again, when birds are singing, bees are humming, butterflies are fluttering
and nasty people are stealing your content.

That's right folks, it's CTT (content theft time) once again! Yesterday I received an e-mail from my garden friend Frances of Faire Garden whose content had been stolen and published on a website. She asked me if I knew this website, I did not, but when I went over there I found her stolen content and, guess what? Oops, they did it again and they had stolen some of mine too. Wonderful. Not!

Of course I'm not going to provide a link to that site but if you want to know which one it is, send me an e-mail. You'll find my e-mail address on my profile.

If you want to know if you've been ripped off too, here's a link to a site where you can just type in your blog URL, do the clicky thing and find out if someone has been stealing your stuff. I did it yesterday and found out that someone else has been ripping me off as well. Oh joy! Not really! I've informed both of them that what they're doing is against the law (yes, amazing though it seems, well at least to some people, stealing is actually against the law) and that they should stop right away.

And you, gentle reader, if you are reading this on any site that's NOT a blog called Bliss, http://blissyo-elgarden.blogspot.com/ , you're reading stolen content.

Now where was I before we were interrupted by that not so funny CT newsflash? Oh yes, I was waxing lyrically about this wonderful time of the year with the bee buzzing, butterfly fluttering and bird singing thingy.
It's Spring, that magical time of the year that everybody enjoys. Birds are nesting, bees are pollinating and cats are having their own kind of Spring Fling. Love is in the air! And pretty soon all that loving will lead to this
or this
or this.
Oops, Macavity did it again. He's been fighting over the girls once again with this disastrous result. Macavity is a stray cat and an entire male. He is my rescue-kitty-in-progress. Male cats get into big fights at this time of year and get wounded too, sometimes very seriously. Macavity came to me last week dripping blood from a deep wound in his right front leg. He was feeling miserable and I am thankful that our relationship is such that he comes to me when he needs help.
It makes me sad to see him like this. How I wish that people were more responsible and have their cats neutered. That way we would not have all those unwanted cats and kittens and toms like Macavity would not get hurt.

He's on the mend now, after a week of eating hardly anything at all, he's eating again and comes to see me often. Yesterday and the day before, he spend hours in my company while I was pottering about in the garden. He was following me around, trying to get close to me. Hopefully it won't be long now before he is ready to be brought to the vet for neutering. He is still such a wary cat, very afraid of people and I don't want him to get totally stressed out when he gets neutered. So day by day I show him that there are nice people in this world too, who want to help him and make him happy. Mac is such a lovely and brave boy, he deserves the best!

And now for my third Oops. You know what they say about good things coming in threes and that probably goes for bad things too. But not here, this is Bliss remember? The place where nice things happen too. And something very nice has happened: my blog was nominated for Best International Garden Blog! Oops, you guys did it again! So it's not all woe here, but whoo hoo too. :-)

Our friend Colleen from In the Garden Online has been working hard once again to get the Mousies going. I take my hat off to her (well I would if I was wearing one) for all that hard work and the loads of time she has put in. Thanks very, very much Colleen.

It's voting time!

Nomination time is over and now it's time to vote. It's great to see so many lovely blogs and websites that have been nominated and I found it hard to cast my vote as so many of them deserve to win a Mousie.
If you haven't voted yet, please go here and cast your vote. You'll find a list of nominees, scroll down to Blogging Categories and click. Don't forget to click on the Podcast and Website Categories to cast your vote there too. If you feel inclined to vote for Bliss, well, the Bliss team and I certainly won't stop you. ;-)
Delia: what's up with this Mousie thing? People are weird! I prefer a real mouse or a play mouse stuffed with catnip any day of the week.
And for all the kind people who nominated Bliss either for Best International Garden Blog or any other category: a warm thank you and here's lovely bunch of spring flowers from my garden, just for you. It's nice to know that so many of you thought of me and really appreciate the things I try to show you with my blog. I love receiving compliments like that! So thank you all!

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.
W.E. Johns

40 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Yolanda, so sorry to hear about the theft problem. It is amazing how rampant theft is in the blogging world. I guess because it is so easy with a click of a button. I always think of those theives as lazy people. Too lazy to write their own blog.

Your poor outdoor cat. I hope he heals and you get him fixed soon so he won't have to go through any more big battles with such severe injuries.

That bouquet is just gorgeous as is your garden.

Viooltje said...

My compliments, Yolanda. You deserve all of your awards for 'maintaining' such a lovely and interesting gardening blog and having time to do all those other wonderful things in life. At times like this (Spring), I'm like a little child playing in the dirt, I'm totally taken over by gardening and garden centers, having all my other life activities suffer from that ;-) Poor Macavity, he's lucky to have his guarding angel. Many others out there don't (sigh). .
As far as content theft goes, I won't even go there, I had my video stolen off my website and only a year later I've unintentionally discovered some guy making money with it. But that doesn't surprise me at all. What does though, is that I have seen some Garden magazines using 'stolen' photos and even putting them on the front page. They've recently 'caught' two guys who owned such a magazine, and all they did was steal content from garden websites and blogs and kept printing out their lovely magazine. We share are infatuation and joy of gardening around the world while some other inconsiderate individuals found a way how to make a profit from our green thumb bedazzlement. How decent, right?

Anonymous said...

Ach het Macavity ventje! Die katers kunnen elkaar zo toetakelen. Nu maar hopen dat hij binnenkort mee kan naar de da. Hij zal inmiddels al voor voldoende nageslacht hebben gezorgd.

Gefeliciteerd met je nominatie!!
En die diefstal kun je ook zien als een compliment, ze vinden het wel zo mooi wat jij op het web zet, dat willen ze ook hebben :-)

Linda said...

Thank you for the link to the Copyscape site. I'll be checking it on a regular basis. One site did have some of my content but it also said it had been removed.

The kittie photos are adorable and I hope that Macavity is better soon.

garden girl said...

Congratulations on your nomination Yolanda! It's much-deserved.

Oh, poor Mac! I hope he's feeling better very soon.

Thank you for the link to the copyscape site. I'll be checking that for sure.

Gail said...

The kitties are adorable and I am so sorry that Macavity has been injured.
It's wonderful that he has found you.

Congratulations on your nomination!

Are they required to just remove your content from their site or are they shut down?

Gail

Nancy said...

Looks like they'd swiped some of my posts too, but have removed them recently.

Thanks for the heads up.

Kerri said...

Isn't it wonderful to see (and hear) the bees, birds and butterflies fluttering happily among the flowers?
I know all about those male kitty fights. Two of our dear boys have been chased away at the moment by 'Murphy' who is rather bossy and possessive, being the 'king cat' now. I hope Toby and my sweet Pete will return. All our females are fixed, so there's no one to fight over...so why the fuss I ask? Murphy sometimes looks as beat up as your Macavity, but he too bounces back quickly.
Those kitten faces are adorable :)

@JeanAnnVK said...

What the heck? Why would people steal content? Never mind, dumb question...I really appreciate the link and I will keep a watchful eye...

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Poor Macavity, I hope he can be fixed soon so he won't continue to have these troubles.

Congratulations on your nomination!

Lis vom Lindenhof said...

Na dann wünsch ich Macavity gute Besserung!
Ich habe heute bei herrlichem Wetter den ganzen Tag im Garten gearbeitet und jetzt sind wir zum grillen bei den Nachbarn eingeladen!

Schönen Sonntag

LG Lis

Amy said...

It's just terrible that someone has been stealing content from your blog. I always wondered how people even found out if this was happening.

Cheryl said...

Sorry to hear about the theft, people are really pathetic, aren't they.

Poor pussycat getting so badly hurt, so glad that he is on the ment. He has a lovely owner to take care of him.

Your blog is a credit to you and I enjoy it so much. Tku Yolanda.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Congratuations on your nomination (very well deserved). I hope that bad kitty boy is on the mend.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

People are stealing content?? Words or photos, or both?!

Fiona and James agree with Delia. They think humans are entirely confused about mice.

Finally, I've mentioned your blog as one I enjoy reading in my latest entry. :)

~ Monica

Frances, said...

Hi Yolanda, thanks for the link and bringing this to everyone's attention. I did write to that site and asked them to remove my story and photos and not do it again. Poor sweet Mac, it is to your credit that he feels comfort from being near to you. Hope it won't be long before he can be fixed. Congrats on the mousie nomination, very well deserved indeed.

Unknown said...

Poor McCavity. At least he has a caring person to help nurse him back to health. YEOW!

And those kittens? TOO adorable. I can't go anywhere near kittens, I can't seem to pick just one.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to hear about the content thieves...talk about laziness. Thankfully we have this wonderful network to share information about such rats and take action against them.

Poor MacAvity! Are you able to get antibiotics into him to treat the absesses, by pills or shots or liquid in food or something? One of our cats got bitten years ago and had two huge absesses; at the time I lived near a farmer who kept Amoxil and other meds on hand, and had a vet as a pal too, so it was easy to treat with the right dosage etc. With most of the catchildren always being indoors now, and all hands neutered, we don't have to deal with such dramatics. But OH....those kitten photos...

Karin said...

Thefts are really the bad side of blogging. It must be so frustrating finding out that someone has stolen your content. I'm not that worried about someone stealing my text but the pictures. I found my pic on another blog once...

Mac really looks sad. Hope he's better now. As always I really enjoy visiting your garden. Lovely spring - I love this time of the year. On Wednesday I'm going home to my garden (working in Stockholm these days) and I've been longing for a while now.

You get my vote! Enjoy your sunday, take care and kram to you!

Anonymous said...

Zo, eerst even gestemd, dank voor de blommen!
De tuin "barst" nu uit hè, heerlijk!
Gisteren het laatste gedeelte onkruidvrij gemaakt (nouja. . . ik kan inmiddels weer van voren af aan beginnen)de katjes in de ren commentaar leverend op de werkzaamheden en de vogels en ander vliegend spul.
Oh oh, arme Macavity, wat ben je toegetakeld, au au, hopelijk gaat de boel niet ontsteken, ik kan ook zo de pest in krijgen over de mensen die hun katten niet laten helpen en maar rond laten lopen, hier verderop bij een boerderij barst het ook van de katten, en maar doorfokken, ze zien er niet uit, brrr!
Je praat wel veel tegen hem zeker, dat kan ik wel zien!
Mac, je redding is nabij, even meewerken joh!
Yolanda een fijn restje van het weekend!
groeten, Marian

Ruth Welter said...

Yolanda, your cats as always, are adorable and your garden looks lovely.

Ah, the copyright issue...there has been a lot of theft going around these days. Can't people think of there own words or take their own photos, I just don't get it.

em said...

what a great, meaty post! thanks for all the information, congrats on your nomination and beautiful garden! i'm keeping mac in my thoughts for a more peaceful kitty life.

Anonymous said...

How do you feel about your content being read via Blotanical? Obviously if you signed up for Blotanical you've given permission for Stuart to republish your blog, and so he is not stealing your content. But he is making money off your writing and photographs by republishing them and running ads against your content.

So what is the core issue here? That someone has used your content without permission? or without attribution? or something else?

As for myself, it would bother me if someone used my content without attribution or permission but I sometimes allow people to use it if they've asked me and they give me credit for it.

Naturegirl said...

Yolanda quite the newsy post Here. Shame on those who choose to steal our creativity and call it their own.Tsk tsk!!
Oh that poor kitty with all his war wounds..he's blessed in finding you as his guardian angel!
You have my vote for sure Yolanda..it is always a treat to stop by! I'm still being kissed by the Arizona sunuxxbadmn for another week!
Grand Canyon comes up next! hugs NG

kate smudges said...

I guess that's the downside of being able, with the click of a mouse, to share our ideas and images with others everywhere. If it bothered me, I'd stop blogging.

MSS makes an interesting point above. I hadn't quite thought of Blotanical in such a way.

Here's hoping Mr Mac is feeling much better. He is lucky to have you showing him love.

Garden Cats + Crafts said...

Natürlich hast Du auch in diesem Jahr meine Stimme. Ist doch klar, Yolanda.

Armer MacAvity. Er scheint aber auch ein richtiger Kerl zu sein so um die Mädels zu fighten.

Der Frühling ist auch bei uns endlich richtig da. Schöne neue Woche wünsche ich Dir und sende Dir liebe Grüße,
Birgit

Frances, said...

I would like to address the comment made by Melissa about Blotanical. The site that lifted my entire post with photos did not display my blog name anywhere,or the background, etc, but rather presented it as their property. A link at the end with the word submit took you to my real blog. I did not sign up for this to happen and was not contacted for permission, as is the case on Blotanical. On blotanical, your blog is shown as you have designed it in every way, all your sidebar info, photos and words are there. Comments can be left for you after your post. I find it a different matter to sign up for something rather than the content being used without even giving credit to the author. Just wanted to say.

Ewa said...

Macavity looks really miserable - I hope he will be fine soon. I am always so much scared if I witness cat's fights - they are so much "live or die".

Theft of the content is very annoying - on the other hand only "best paintings are copied". I know it is not cheering up - just shows how great content you have and this should be protected.

Congratulations Yolanda on Mousie. I feel really honored to be in the same "basket" :)

The Diva said...

Oh Yolanda, that is so wrong. I hate it when my content is stolen.

I'm happy for you for the Mousie nod.

As to your cat, Macavity, he reminds me of the homeless people I work with at Sister BJ's garden. They want to remain on the street (for various reasons) but they trust us enough to help. Keep helping.~~Dee

Anonymous said...

het gaat wel lekker bij jou zie ik ?? de kater in the stressss ;))
hij zal zich wel vermaakt hebben , en de rest ??? ach mijn foto's gaan ook heel internet over hoor .... ze zijn alleen te klein om er iets mee te doen ;))
eigenlijk zou je je vereerd moeten voelen !! Anders niet meer op internet zetten maar een boek schrijven ;))
groetjes Lenie

A wildlife gardener said...

Congratulations on the nomination for the award, Yolanda :)

Poor Macavity! My stray Titch has been having similar trouble to Macavity. I have spent £50 at the vet for antibiotic injections in the past three months. I knew his real owner wouldn't bother to help him...and so did Titch..that's why he came to me. I will need to ask their permission, however, to see if I can pay to have Titch neutered too :)

Rotten thieves! I hope you gave them a piece of your mind. How shallow of them!

Love the doronicums and the rest of the Spring display...heavenly :)

Anonymous said...

I'm very sorry to hear about your recent issues with content theft. As someone who has put down over 600 cases of plagiarism, I feel your pain.

You might also want to check out the site Bitscan, bitscan.com, as it is a direct Copyscape competitor and offers different results. It's also free for up to 20 searches per month.

Also, if there is anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to write.

Robin (Bumblebee) said...

Well, it seems a time of trials. I hope all is settled down now!

We have a rescue kitty, Miss P. She lived under a bush near our house for two years. The neighbors fed her so I thought she was "their" cat until they moved--leaving her behind.

Well, it didn't take her long to domesticate herself. But then, females are just like that, I suppose.

Contrats on the nomination! Well deserved!

Robin at Bumblebee

Tracy said...

Hi, Yolanda! I've been offline a bit, so late in getting here...I was sooo sad to see here that someone has been ripping off your words! And that you friend has been hit by such theft too! Hope you can find more ways to protect your work. So sad we live in a word with such happenings...Your glorious spring blooms cheer though. Hope Macavity recovers from his fighitng...LOL! Oh, congrats on your nomination--well done, and well deserved! Happy Days to you & The Team ((HUGS))

Libbys Blog said...

Poor old puss cat!! He has such a sweet face!!!! I hope he trusts you very soon!!!!
Sorry to hear your blog has been copied again, some people really need to get a life!!!!

Kylee Baumle said...

Poor Macavity! We have some injuries here, as well, and all our kitties have been spayed and neutered. But we have a neighbor's cat, who hasn't been neutered that comes down here and makes all kinds of trouble. We have spoken with them about this cat, who is just MEAN and even mean to its owner (a 13-year-old girl), and they refuse to take it to the vet. I don't really know what to do, but I'm sick and tired of having it here 90% of the time, eating our food and terrorizing all the cats. I'm just ANGRY over it.

Congrats again on your nomination for a Mousie! Well-deserved!!

As far as the copying.....grrrrrrr!!!!!! It's hard for me to use CopyScape to find mine, since it brings up any site that uses the Proust quote.

Linda said...

I did contact that site Yolanda, asked to have my feeds removed, and after a few attemps, they did take mine off.

Anonymous said...

Ach die arme....
Gelukkig heeft hij jou, is ie er weer bovenop???
En gefeliciteerd met je nominatie, je hebt het verdiend!

Anonymous said...

Kittens are soooo cute! Poor MacAvity. Good thing he has you to help him!

Anonymous said...
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