Good Friday afternoon!
We’ve had quite a week behind the scenes at Hollaback, and I’m both exhausted and exhilarated by what’s going to come from all of it.
First, we had a three-day discussion about blogging and plagiarism. It happened to me this week, and there was no mistaking it. I was furious and, being a Hollaback Girl and all, I posted about it on my own blog this morning (Rule #5: Don’t Be a Sea Witch) and from the comments (one crazy long one from our friend Heather!), it became clear that way more discussion on this topic is necessary. Don’t worry! We’ve got it covered and in the next couple weeks will be discussing the difference between inspiration and plagiarism, how it can happen on accident, the legal stuff, and what to do if it happens to you. It’s a pretty important topic, because no writer or blogger deserves to have her voice stolen when someone gets all Ursula on her.
At the same time, we had a big discussion on “owning it.” This came in part from a post I wrote last week (Rule #4: Thou Shall Own It) and another one this week (The Thing About Body Image) and led to the post What Do You Seriously and Officially Own? Several bloggers (Hollaback and non) jumped at the opportunity to “own it” on their blogs, and I am sharing this here because it’s clearly something that feels really good, that more health bloggers could stand to do. My first tip for avoiding negative comments is to state your position up front and often and own it; people would prefer to know what a blogger stands for than to watch them try to please everyone! And in owning it, many bloggers became more real to their readers and to their friends in this community, which was amazing to witness.
You can Meet the Owners and read all the posts that went up in the past couple days, but I really encourage you to take this weekend to own it on your blog as well! It feels really liberating and it makes your blog better.
Get to it and have a great weekend!
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We might also have to have a discussion on how to speak to the older generation about blogging and what the parameters are. I just found out that my mom’s been reading mine behind my back for months, and as wrong as that is, a tiny part of me feels that I should have explained that it’s kinda like a diary and if I’d wanted you to read it I would have told you where to find it.
Awesome as always, Rachel! I’ve spent all day thinking about all the things I own (or need to own) AND I’m giving a workshop on plagiarism at my workplace in a few weeks. I love good timing.
Am v. excited for more discussion! You know i am always super excited to hear what you have to say on a subject and then ask a million questions to reconsider everything I thought I knew.
Thanks for being the kind of girl who welcomes discussion, and supports a wide variety of opinion, even when you don’t agree yourself.
i like you, Rachel. (duh.)
Heather´s last post ..Oh- Crazy Woman