I'm not sure what's going to happen with this blog. I don't want to delete the blog...I enjoy sharing ideas with other mamas, and I just really like documenting our activities. This is the best time of my life, and I don't want to forget a thing. However, the thought of pictures of my child being on websites without my knowledge makes me feel sick. If this childcare owner was willing to steal images to use as her own, then what would stop some pervert from stealing pics from my site. I always thought that since there are so many, many blogs out there that no one would ever bother stealing my pics. Now I know that way of thinking was flawed. I have about 10 posts saved in draft, so I'll go ahead and post them over the next few days, and we'll just see where we go from there. Right now I think we'll try to watermark photos and be more careful about keeping O's face off the blog, but I'm not sure yet what our final decision will be. I just know that I'm really looking forward to having several internet free days at the beach next week!
Thanks for all of your comments and support, and please be aware that if people are stealing my pics then they may be stealing yours, too! It's just a coincidence that a loyal and kind reader recognized that the pics were stolen from my site and then notified me. Without her, I would have NEVER known. Thanks again, Elizabeth!
UPDATE: The owner of the childcare website has emailed an apology to us, and I can't ask for more than that :) She has asked that her personal info be deleted from the comments section, so I will honor this request. Thanks to all of you for your support :)
It's hard to believe someone would be so dishonest and lazy. I really like following your blog, but I'll totally understand if you decide not to continue
ReplyDeleteI'll be very disappointed if you decide to stop blogging but I completely understand : (
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I make some grammar mistakes on the comment above. Here's what I meant:
ReplyDeleteI feel so bad! I also love following your blog, O is so lucky to have you for a mom. I will miss you, but totally understand how devastating this must be for you.
Wow. I really hope you'll continue, and I hope you'll find a way to feel safe doing so. I am not good at watermarking my photos -- I guess I'll have to learn how!
ReplyDeleteHave a great vacation!
I am sorry that this has happened to you. As a photographer, it is so hard to balance the line of sharing and sharing too much. I want clients to see my work and their photos on my blog - but I don't want anyone "borrowing" them for themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sick to think that people are so shallow.
I sent you some information just a minute ago. :)
Hugs to you.
Have a wonderful trip to the beach.
I hope that you will continue. As one of the commenters said in your other post - one dishonest (or misguided) individual doesn't represent majority of your readers that will miss you. When I started reading your blog, I noticed that you are already very careful with not naming your daughter and not showing her face. Maybe adding explicit copyright to your blog will help here.
ReplyDeleteSuper creepy. I have been very open on my blog and it just now freaked me out how violated I would feel if this were to happen to me and my family. It's one thing to explore strangers blogs for ideas & inspiration. It's another ballgame to steal images from a TOTAL stranger! Again, super creepy.
ReplyDeleteit's so terrible to think that someone could be so careless with such valuable pictures of your child! i'm so so sorry this happened to you, and it has really made me think about what kind of blog to turn mine into. Right now it's a family blog w/lots of preschool activities, and i'm wondering if i should just cut the family stuff out. too many pics that could get stolen. definitely lots to think about!
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm a regular reader and I really love your blog. I'm so sorry this has happened to you and I would understand if you stopped blogging, although I would greatly miss it - it's one of my all time favourites.
ReplyDeleteYou have been doing a wonderful thing by sharing your life and your journey with others, and I'd like to say thanks! I've learnt so much from you!
Oh Melissa, I just read this tonight and I am so outraged for you. It really makes a person vulnerable - the internet can be so good and so bad all at once. It's also made me think about what to do with the craft blog. My family blog has to stay as is because grandparents etc enjoy the regular updates of the kids' development and capers. But the craft blog - maybe I need to try harder with privacy. Sometimes I see pictures from my blog on other sites and there are my kids' faces on them. They are always linked back to me, but just seeing my little ones there without my permission does give me the willies. I hope you'll get some closure soon, and start to feel safe again. My thoughts are with you.
ReplyDeleteI just started reading your blog, and you really are making a terrific contribution to all the mamas out there who are really trying to engage their children with great activities! I'd hate to see you quit altogether, although I do know how invasive and uncomfortable it is to have images floating out there.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, you can keep photos of your children out of the mix, or you can learn some photoshop skills to paste a big fat watermark over your images so that IF someone steals them, it is obvious because it lists your own blog address across them, or whatever type of watermark you choose. This is a constant problem for professional photographers (like myself) and protecting your images is important. People are less likely to steal/use images that point directly to their guilt/indiscretion. If you need any help figuring out how to watermark images, please let me know, I'd be glad to help.
Did you send that thief an email? What did she say? I'm sorry this happened to you, I can completely understand your frustration! I do read your blog though, for ideas for my son in a few years! (He's 5 months old :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you stay on board, but do what is best for you :-) Take care.
Hi, we blog so that our friends and relatives (especially Grandparents) can stay in contact with our children as we live so far away from them. I guess you have to balance the fact that your pleasure and enjoyment shouldn't be curbed by infringements of your privacy by others - whilst minimising risk (i.e we don't show pictures of our boys playing in the bath / paddling pool etc) - also photos of our boys could be taken by others at the park, beach, parties etc and we don't stop them doing those things.
ReplyDeleteAnnoying as it may be you need to do what feels safe and right for you and your family.
lizziecraven@gmail.com
Noooo don't stop! This blog is amazing. It's terrible that the nursery teacher was so lazy as to use your photos, particularly as they contain images of children, and without asking permission. She should she remove them immediately. Plagiarism is a massive problem in this info sharing world, and the quality and nature of the photos means that they are perfect for a nursery site. I doubt she meant it maliciously, although her behaviour shows she's probably terrible at her chosen profession. However they are not so good for a pervert - there are very sadly, a horrific number of sites catering for them already.
ReplyDeletePlease don't go - it would be a great loss to the internet and many many moms / mums (I'm from the UK) all over the world. Thank you so much for a wonderful blog.
Here's what I would do: take a few nights to take Os face, even side views, off the pictures. It would take forever, but at least then you could keep all the photos of past activities on the blog.
ReplyDeleteThen I would just do from neck down pics.
Watermark them too.
Its a shame but this happens, and you are right, perverts are out there, as well as thieves.
But know how important and inspirational your blog is to us and remember how much you enjoy it. Don't let that childminder destroy that for you.
Now don't let this stress you, go have fun on that beach :0)
So sorry that this has happened to you, thank you for the warning, I will certainly be carefully considering which photos I use of my blog - I also try to only use photos that do not show her face.
ReplyDeleteI can understand if you feel the need to go private with your blog but as a reader who has only just found it, I would be very disappointed as I love it and think that it is such a valuable tool for other Mums and such a lovely record for you and O.
Good luck whatever you decide
Christie
see i've never really put her pic of name on my blog most do't even know what region i live in! Now i know and hope others understand why i've always been like that! with just a few exceptions you being one :)
ReplyDeleteyou are soo careful and i know that must have been so scary for you to see them on another site!
go with your heart and what feels right you don't need this added stress and neither does little kicker :)
There are tools out there to make it difficult to steal photos and easy to track down people who have. I would recommend using some of them. I'm not a pro, so I don't know exactly what they are, but I would check lifehacker.com and makeuseof.com. Or you could make your blog subscriber-based, which wouldn't necessarily solve the problem, but you know...
ReplyDeleteI've been a follower FOREVER and you've inspired me on homeschooling instead of pre-schooling...
ReplyDeleteA few things I did - I changed the title of my blog 100% - changed my profile details 100% - and changed the content of my blog by doing a 'search' in the edit posts section to remove ALL NAMES. NO names are given, we go by "big J" (husband) little J (toddler) big E (oldest son) and only ppl who know me realize that it's us. I had to send my friends/family emails. I know you prob. don't want to go through all of that... so the only other suggestion I have is to use a photo editing program like ps elements OR a free one like picnik.com to apply a watermark with a copyright on it. That way theft of your photography can be persued if it becomes a hassle....
I really hope you continue - whatever way possible. You're inspring!
If you have statcounter on your blog (free), you can track downloads and see what images have been downloaded from your blog. For recent images, you can usually tell who downloaded them - so if you wanted to check that every few days you would be able to know instantly if someone was using your images incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry this happened to you, I hope you find a solution that you are completely happy with soon.
Oh, I hope that you will continue blogging!! I have so enjoyed your blog, and have many of your posts bookmarked for ideas to do with my own daughter! I am a homeschooling mommy, and you have inspired me, and I am sure, so so many with all the love and effort you put into your work, and your daughter!
ReplyDeleteI hope you will find watermarking to be a good solution. I need to do that myself on some images, and I know it's very easy to do, I just haven't taken the time.
If you do decide to go private, I hope that you will find a way for us honest folks to still follow you! I would miss your blog greatly!!
I am so incredibly sorry to hear that you are having to deal with all of this! I absolutely love your blog and I would be really sad not to have such an awesome resource anymore, although I truly would understand. I know that another blogger had a similar issue where people were stealing her writing by just copying and pasting off of her blog and she was able to put on some sort of safe guard that didn't allow people to highlight things from her site. You may want to touch base with her (or just the people at blogger) and see if it might help you and your situation out. Her blog is http://blog.cjanerun.com/ and I am fairly certain it is powered by blogger. Best of luck to you!
ReplyDeleteAh, yes! I completely forgot about disabling highlighting on your blog (which prevents people from being able to copy and paste). It won't really help with the photo downloading issue, but it will stop being from lifting text.
ReplyDeleteEasy instructions for how to do it can be found here:
http://www.lollidoodle.com/pages/disablehighlight.htm
Another way to disable photo downloading is to disable the "right-click" function on your blog. It won't stop people from grabbing pictures using the PrintScreen function, but it will make it more difficult. Directions for how to do that can be found here:
http://bloggingforbread.blogspot.com/2008/02/disable-right-click-on-blog-blogger.html
One last thing...you can obtain a copyright license for your blog for free here:
http://creativecommons.org/
This makes me sick to my stomach. I'm a brand new mom (my first baby is 9 weeks old), and I've been following your blog and others like it since before I was pregnant, gathering ideas of activities to do with her when she's a bit older. You are such an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI have so many of your posts bookmarked. I really hope you choose to continue, but understand if you don't. I've never commented before, but want to let you know how much I appreciate your work.
i don't know how I ever found your blog, but it was the first one that I started to follow. I learned a lot about trying to keep my kids safe on the internet just by following you. I think it's horrible that someone would steal your information.
ReplyDeleteHere is my suggestion:You could invite all of us that are registered as following your blog and make it a private blog. That makes it semi private again. Then if we want to share the blog with a friend, we have to send you their email address with a request. Of course this creates more work for you, but maybe someone you trust could take over that part of the blog. You could also say that you fulfill the requests once a month. That way it is only 12 times a year, not a daily chore. Whatever you choose, have a great vacation!
I am SO sorry that happened! I just stumbled onto your site the day before yesterday and immediately added it to my blogroll because I was so super impressed with your creativity in homeschooling! I was really looking forward to using your ideas with my own little tot. I understand your hesitance to continue blogging, but do hope you can find a way to.
ReplyDeleteBest Wishes to you.
hi
ReplyDeleteI just want to say thank you so far for sharing your ideas. I love following your blog too.
which ever way you decide to go you have already inspired this family>
Hi, I love your blog and have been inspired to use many of your ideas with my own children. I'm sure that there are many of us (nice moms with similar interests) out there who really appreciate all of the amazing ideas and photos that you share with us. I'll miss your blog if you decide to stop blogging, and I hope you'll find a way to give us occasional updates!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that it happened to you. But I really hope that you would continue blogging. I have found so many inspirations from you.
ReplyDeleteI can understand your concerns. I have feared somnething like that would happened to friends and to us. I have considered using watermarks. I have been reading much on copyright laws and how to protect myself, family and my blog. The choice to go private is one that weighed heavily on many of us lately including myself. Do what you feel is right.
ReplyDeleteI love following your blog too, though I don't hardly ever comment - I love all the activity ideas, as I'm going to be homeschooling my son.
ReplyDeleteA watermark is a GREAT idea!
Is there a way to moderate the blog so that only approved guests may view it? Sort of how comments are moderated?? Good luck, I just found you and love your ideas so far! Amanda
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to chime in and echo what everyone else said. I love your blog and it has inspired me for activities I can do with my own son. I would be very sad if you decided to give up blogging. It's important to be careful about your privacy and personal information on the internet because anyone could be out there reading, but it would be such a shame to lose all the value this blog has created for others who read it with the best of intentions.
ReplyDeleteThats awful!!!
ReplyDeleteI will be very sad if you close your blog because we get so many great ideas from you. But, I completely understand if you feel you have too.
I can't beleive someone tried to pass your photos off as their work. I don't think I would want my kid at that childcare providers establishment. Its just not something an honest person would do..... This person obviously has very little respect for children Or she wouldn't have posted pics of a little girl she doesnt know.
I just recently discovered your blog within the last week and a half and I can honestly say you help direct activites for us since we are new to homeschooling and discovering different teaching methods. In this short amount of time, we have already created the sillouhette paintings, family memory game, water painting on cardstock with markers and a sprinkler, rock painting, and you have provided soooo much knowledge with the matching/learning games! We already have many more of your activities lined up to begin this week!
ReplyDeleteI cannot thank you enough or express how much my own children truly enjoy our activities that we share that were inspired by your very own. While any parent/reasonable person could understand your dilema, I do hope you know in your heart there are people that truly flourish and are inspired from the purpose of your blog. I hope you choose not to let one irresponsible person throw all of that away. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I hope you are able to modify your blog to your comfort without deleting it completely. Your own dilema has made me really evaluate how much I would feel comfortable sharing now.
We appreciate that you share your wonderful stories and activities with us that help us on our new journey as well....THANK YOU!
Wow, I haven't read your blog in a week, and when I click on it today I saw this news! I'm so sorry that someone stole your photos - what a violation for her to use photos of your daughter!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your blog and I hope that you continue to post, but like everyone else has said, well totally understand if you decide to stop.