Kingpins of Bad Neighbourhoods
I was chatting to another blogger last night over Skype and he happened to mention something that was getting under his skin. Another blogger repeatedly referenced topics that first appeared on my friends blog but this other guy never credited him, not once.
This can happen absolutely accidentally. We all pretty much read the same blogs in any niche, hear much the same news, have similar ideas. The examples he gave were very compelling though. It doesn’t help that the two blogs are not so much in the same niche but in direct competition.
There is no way to avoid this, you have to just let it ride and hope your audience is smart enough to work it out. It happens to all of us.
Our one piece of protection is our own uniqueness. If you always create rather than reproduce, rephrase or rework you will be more original and therefore more valuable over the longer term. People who rehash tired old topics and formula will start to lose their audience over time whereas yours will grow as word of mouth spreads.
Another thing to give you confidence without resorting to attacks is to remember that this practice is the symptom of something deeper. In New York the police discovered if they painted over graffiti and fixed up broken windows the overall crime rate went down in those areas. Someone with such poor ethics likely has built their own bad neighborhood. Likely their followers will be much the same or else will see the light soon enough.
People who “steal” are working from a position of weakness. They acknowledge they are either too lazy or not smart enough to create their own so they have to take yours. In most cases you will find one piece of bad behavior among a bigger pattern of overall bad habits. If they are rotten enough to take credit for your work, what else might they be getting up to? Look at their blog and I am sure you will find all sorts of other abusive tactics going on.
With this in mind my advice to my friend, and my advice to you, stick to your ethics. Do not call them out on what they get up to, rise above it. Continue to do the best work you can, provide value and delight, help people solve their problems and entertain. While you are doing all you can to help they will be doing all they can to take. People are smart, they will work out who is the good guy eventually.
Have you ever come across this, or had to deal with a unscrupulous blogger? How did you manage the situation? Let me know in the comments …
