Question for a Friday

Robert Stadler's Question Mark Installation at St. Paul Church in Paris via Dom Dada on flicr

I have questions and lots of them....all the time. I was probably one of those kids that drove my parents wild with questions like "why don't we know anyone that's been killed by a killer bee?" or "Why don't McDonald's milkshakes ever melt?".

Well, here's one that has got me wondering lately. Have any of you received requests from PR firms asking that you visit a new blog? I received one request and thought to myself...."well...that's one way of doing it. Maybe I should have done that". Then I received a request from another PR firm for another new blog. So now I'm thinking, is this a growing trend? Are new blogs building a following through the PR firms rather than the old fashioned way? I have checked out the blogs, and they are nicely done, and the bloggers seem to love the design world as much as I do. They are stylish and informed.

I love PR Firms. They send me lots of very cool information that I might not know about otherwise. In fact, I would never have known about these blogs without them.....because...ahem....the bloggers have not been to katiedid.

Oh....another small thing..... I did notice there were no link lists on the blogs, so it seems no reciprocality. So I am not sure quite what to make of it. Blogging to me has been a building of a community, sharing ideas and supporting each other.

How do you all feel about this? I know there has been much written about blog etiquette and how to drive readership to one's blog through commenting on other blogs, etc. The Skirted Roundtable gals had a great discussion about it HERE. Colour Me Happy wrote about it HERE.

It seems that having a PR company handle all of the preliminary "meet and greets" is one way to go. I am curious how you all feel about it?

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  Do you think it would be an effective way to gain readership for the new bloggers? Or might it just put people off?



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  Do you feel it will have any impact on the community feeling of a blog?



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  Do you think the lack of reciprocal links will have an impact for these new bloggers?



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  Do you think we will be seeing more of this? Is it a growing trend?



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  Do you think that since there are so many new design blogs out there, it is a way to get the ball rolling more quickly?

See....lots of questions..... I know.... I'll stop now.

I would love to hear your thoughts on all of the pros and cons!

There is no question that I wish you a Happy Weekend!

Stop Copying Me!

I am having a bit of a dilemma here, and I'd like to ask for your input.

I experienced a bit of a traffic spike the last couple of days, which was a wonderful surprise! Thank you to all of you who come to read katiedid!

I was curious to know if there had been a link to my site that was directing a bit more traffic my way so I could thank whoever had been so nice.

Which brings me to a couple of questions. Technorati used to provide the answers, but doesn't seem to give as much information as it used to.

So I put the question out there to Google. Where else might I check who had linked to the katiedid blog? Up came information directing me to Copyscape. This is a handy little site that lets you know if there are any websites out there lifting copy from your blog or website.

My original quest had been to find out if there had been a helpful link to my blog, but I was curious about Copyscape, so I tried it out. Lo and behold, I found a site that is lifting all of my blog posts directly from my site, pictures and all. They do refer everyone back to my site as the original source, so at first I thought, just more exposure, right? But then, I realized, there is a LARGE amount of advertising on this site. So in essence, I am exerting a huge amount of effort to line someone else's pockets! Sooooo not right!!!

But is it considered plagiarism, since they list katiedid as the source?

Has anyone else experienced this? There are other design bloggers who have their hard work posted on this site and they may not know about it. I certainly didn't!( I will be letting these bloggers know, believe me!) The site even lists my blog in their sidebar as a "news source".

So what does one do? Copyscape does provide quite a bit of advice, but the website in question is owned by someone who has 288 other domains....so not likely to respond to my letter to "quit it".

It just occurred to me that since it appears this site automatically uploads all of my blog posts, THIS one will show up too.

So Mr. Copycat...you know who you are....STOP COPYING ME!

Anyone who has any information about this sort of thing, I would love to hear it!! Thanks all!