What is not fine though is when I post something unusual or quirky and within the hour they’re on the phone trying to get hold of it, then flagging it up as a special find or exclusive with no credit. I put hours and hours of time into research – anyone who’s tried to wade their way through the Google Translate version of an obscure Korean site will know that it’s a labour of love that takes nearly forever!
While it’s really not my style to list the offenders, I just think it is SO mean – why not just ask me to do a quick article on it with credits or a link to my blog? I will say that it is one magazine in particular that barely lets the ink dry before they’re on it – and also complaining if I get an exclusive. The thing they don’t realise is that often I’ve found products though hours of internet searching of foreign sites, and have, in some circumstances, ended up showing the PR their new spring/summer/whatever collection before the client actually has! We’ll often come to some kind of compromise about when I post it because I understand about other brands trying to copy etc, but you know, if the client has let it be leaked on line and I find it, it’s already in the public domain and therefore free to be posted about.
There’s nothing much I can do about it…the very things I’ve said above about being in the public domain means that it works the other way as well…all I’m saying is that I don’t like it when the boot is on the other foot ;-). However, there could be some more friendly ethics in the mix I think. I tend to credit where I can if a source is from another site or even a magazine or another writer…I don’t ever pretend I *just found it*…because I think its the right thing to do. It’s good blogger practice in general and just good manners as well.
Funnily enough, other bloggers taking pictures from my blog doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to, but I have had to have the discussion about a generous link and an ungenerous link. An ungenerous link is where you literally lift all the pictures and detail, list them on your site and then do a tiny link at the very end. You’ve already covered everything (with no permission) so there is no reason for your readers to go to the initial site. A generous link is where you pick up a couple of the pictures and only some of the detail and actively send readers to the host site to read and see the rest. That’s got to be a win-win all round really. Give generous links this Christmas!
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