Monday, May 11, 2015

Help Me Solve A Dilemma: Readers Please Vote

  Ok, I'm going to put this to the readers. I really would like to hear everybody's opinions here. Here's the story:
  Last week I received a comment on an older post,one from last year. It was pretty much a commercial for a site on a particular doll-a-day subject I had done. That's fine. I don't mind that. I think it's great to share other sites and blogs that will inform and add to everyone's knowledge or enjoyment of their doll hobby, (Or whatever else I may have been talking about.) You may have noticed that I pass on links or information to the blogs of followers who join. The more the merrier. It wasn't even a big deal that the 'comment' was a commercial  for a site run by the person leaving the 'comment'. It might have been polite of them to say, 'hey, I have this site. Please visit.' or something along those lines, instead of just 'Blah blah site is a site all about blah blah, with lots of information,etc., etc.' What bothered me was, when I visited their site I found that they were using one of my pictures from the post they were commenting on, to illustrate a rarity. I didn't even realize the glaringly obvious difference between the normal and my rarity, and so didn't comment on it in my post. So, the commenter was using my picture to illustrate the rarity on her site, wants to advertise her site on my blog, and doesn't even alert me to the fact that I have a rarity? I'm not totally averse to someone using one of my pictures. I have been known to use a picture from the internet of a doll NRFB or mint in box to show readers what the doll looked like originally. I usually try to ask permission or use something very generic. I never use any picture that is someone's diorama picture or other 'creative' photography, unless I've searched extensively and can't find any other picture to illustrate what I'm talking about, and I have asked permission. In fact, the commenter and I have both used the same picture of a mint in box doll, me on the post I'm talking about, and them on their site. I don't know where I got the picture now, but truthfully, it's not impossible that I got it from them. (On the other hand, they could have gotten the picture from the same place I did. They have pictures from Joe Blitman's page on their site too, so maybe they use a lot of other people's pictures.Not a good thing to do on a regular basis.) So see, I can't complain too much. I guess it just would have been nice if they had been more polite about things.
  So, now with that off my chest, do you, my readers, think I should publish their comment/commercial? Everybody can always use more information, so I could be helpful. But.... Let's have a vote. I'll abide by the readers' decision.

5 comments:

  1. That really is a hard question... I think when they publish stuff from your side, you can also publish their comment/commercial. But of course you could also ask them. You would show them how to be more polite with this act too^^

    ReplyDelete
  2. I vote no. Commenting on such an old post is the mark of a spambot. Even if that's not the case here, it can come off as shady. Taking one of your pictures and using it without your permission is also illegal, no matter how creative or generic it is. In the US, you have a copyright on every picture you personally take. Doesn't matter if she attributes it to you, which she sounds like she didn't do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok, there's one for and one against. Let's see how this proceeds.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd say no. No matter what you did with any borrowed photos (and it seems you do everything to be ok), they should've at least try to ask permission and credit the photo to you. Did they do this? Do they link it back to you or use it without mentioning the source?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. I didn't even know they had used my picture until I checked out their site from seeing the 'comment' they left. They didn't mention on their page that the picture wasn't theirs.I totally would not have minded them using my picture. My main problem with them is that they not only didn't ask, but that then they didn't even point out to me that I had a rarity, and that they didn't even acknowledge that there is a person behind this blog. No hello or anything.It was like it was just a place for them to post their commercial for their own site.

      Delete

Thanks in advance for your comments.