I know some people think I over-reacted to this whole thing. So someone took a photo of yours and posted it somewhere because they were just wanting to share a cute dog photo with others.You should be flattered. Big deal. Get over it. That may be, and for a short while after the first encounter I was coming around to that idea.

But … it’s more the way the whole thing went down with the person (after being asked nicely) to take the photo down and them refusing. Said person kind of threatened me at one point and said (I’ll paraphrase here since their English was so poor and lapsed into what I think was Dutch) “you know well where it comes from, so secure it, delete it or ...”. In other words they were admitting that they took it directly from my blog.

FaceBook was very quick to remove the first photo. Thank You, FaceBook!

But … when I went back to their site to check, what did I see but two more photos taken directly from the same blog entry—posted after the other photo was removed. I left a comment again regarding taking down the photos, but when I went back in a few minutes later that person had posted the same two photos again (first time the photos had the date stamp of being posted 15 hours ago; the second time the date stamp was having been posted 8 minutes ago) and had banned me from commenting. Now they were on there twice. So in essence this person was poking fingers at me. On purpose. A pay-back I guess for reporting them to FB. Kind of like haha I know where you are and I can do whatever I like, so there. Just plain nasty.

I have to tell you I felt violated. Just like when I had my wallet lifted from my purse in Paris. It’s not like the photos were on Flickr or Tumblr, they were on my blog. They entered my personal space. And they did it not once, but twice.

Finally with the help of Carolyn leaving multiple comments to remove the photos, he did, before FaceBook could remove them. Thank you, Carolyn for your tenacious terrier work!

Again, I know this kind of thing probably happens all the time in these days of “free sharing” but this one felt more like a violation in the way it was done. Like someone came into my home and robbed me and then thumbed their nose at me.

Did I overeact? Maybe. You decide. Either way, it’s over now. At least I hope so.

Thank you for listening.

(photo: Things Aren’t Always Black & White) half-wet tree; Skylands

Very cool photo. I want a copy for my “favorites” file. 

Glad you got it to finally work out.  I understand your feelings.  Hopefully he wont bother you again.  Good job fighting back.

Rick, sure I’ll “share” the photo with you. Just don’t post it on FB. (See, I do still have a sense of humor!)

Debra, thanks for understanding! So far so good as there have been no new photos of mine posted on his site today.

Your welcome!  I think I finally shamed him into taking it down.  He/she maybe didn’t want all those negative comments on their FB page??  Who knows, but I’m glad I could help.

I think the whole thing could have been avoided if the FB poster had simply asked you, or made you aware that he wanted to share the photos, rather than simply ganking (my brother’s word) them from your blog. It’s a good example of how communication and a little courtesy could have transformed a negative situation. (And obviously reposting them just to spite you was beyond the pale!)

And yes, good job Carolyn!

C,

Steve, exactly! I like your brother’s word “ganking”! This person would not know how to be courteous.

Tonight I added a copyright on all photos I’ll post in my blog and on tumblr.  I really wish I had done this ages ago.  It may not be a cure-all but it will certainly deter some people.  I have one photo on tumblr that has gotten so many hits and reblogs in the last day or so and it does not have my name on it…don’t know where it will end up now and, even though my EXIF data is imbedded, I’m still uncomfortable.  I’ve learned from your post.  Glad to see it’s ended for you!