Stealing PoliTits

Updated: I'm happy to tell you that the blogger at the new Politits has deleted my content although I'll be keeping an eye on this because I also notice from my statcounter that they've been crawling the archives to the tune of 40 entries in a day. What they can see or retrieve by doing that, I have no idea, but it makes me wonder what they're up to. They're also deleting my and your comments with no response.

Anyway, I appreciate their quick response to my request to delete the content.

Also, if you still have a link to politits on your blog, you may want to delete it because it will now go to this new version, unless, of course, you like what they're doing over there which is  up to you obviously. Could I sound any more Midwestern?

Well, here's something odd. I visited my Google Reader to see what was new in the rss feeds and my old blog PoliTits' feed was bold like it had new posts. I nearly choked on my martini. How could that be? That blog has been deleted for quite some time. I've begged Google to show mercy and let me have it back to no avail. So here it is and someone else is posting there.

What the?

Naturally, I left a hysterical comment or two because not only did this person swipe the PoliTits name, but they're using my old content including words and images. Again, I'm left wondering what the hell?

Here's one of my mistakes - I let myself wonder what's wrong with people? I mean, I've made a cottage industry out of telling you what's wrong with me, my husband, my kids, my extended family, the Pussies for Peace, random neighbors, assorted boyfriends, and a a few friends with excellent senses of humor, but really? What would compel someone to steal a blog - lock, stock and photos of things on the backs of trucks? Shit. This is irritating.

Mostly it's irritating because if I'd known the PoliTits name was up for grabs again, I would have snatched it up and recreated it with the old posts using my rss feed just like this thief appears to have done. Plus I'd use the PoliTits name correctly. It was and will always be PoliTits not Politits. And I would never call myself PoliTits. I was DCup and then (.)(.) and then The Blogger Formerly Known as DCup and then back to DCup until finally I decided the whole pseudonym thing was too ridiculous to maintain and I started blogging using my real name.

And also - a pink template? Sheesh. 'Tits hasn't been pink in years.

I've contacted Blogger to see if this can be fixed. What a pain in the ass though. It makes me rethink the whole idea of blogging and writing online. If it's that easy to steal, how does anything ever belong to anyone? Maybe it's time to hang this up and keep my writing to myself until it's published for real either through traditional methods or by self-publishing with a reputable company.

The upside is that this proves once and for all that I'm taking some pride and ownership of my work because if I ever get my hands on the person who's done this, I promise you they'll be sorry. I'm a pincher and have awesome thumbnails suited for the purpose.

Learn a lesson here - protect yourself. Put some protections on your content and photos. If you deleted a blog and don't want the name reused, be sure to go back and see if you can get the name back. Even if you don't plan to blog there, you can tie up the name so someone else can't. Now I have to figure out how to lock down content, if possible so this stealing can't continue. I think I can fix my rss feeds so that they don't give full content. I'll be setting that up right away.

How stupid is this? A complete waste of my time except that it's going to drive me crazy if I don't get this resolved. The idea that someone is using my content - largely drawn from my life - without my permission is a violation and beyond annoying.

And if you're reading this, politits, do the right thing. Stop stealing and get your own blog. You might be surprised at how much fun it is to create your own content.