So, I haven’t really been posting all that often these days… And there are a couple reasons for that…
First, I am working in survival mode right now. I am a week away from my exam, and very behind on my studying (I totally didn’t follow my study plan), so I am basically doing the bare minimum to get through my regular day without letting things get too chaotic, and all my other time is spent studying. If I were to allow myself more than a few minutes to look at blogs and write something, I would totally get distracted and not get any studying done… so I’ve pretty much cut myself off from the fun blogging world…
Second, I don’t have any extra posts written ahead of time. From what I understand, a lot of bloggers have a collection of posts that they have ready to go, or almost ready to go, that they can schedule ahead of time for when they are busy or so that the pressure of writing is lessened. I don’t have that. I have pretty much just written posts as they come, and schedule them to go up the following day. I would love to post more, but I’m just not sure what to write… I started this blog to keep track of my goals and my progress on my goals, but I’ve stalled out a little on progress that is worth blogging about… So what do I write?
So, now I come to the question in the title of this post… I’ve been trying to figure out blogging etiquette. Is it okay to copy ideas for posts? I’m definitely not creative enough to come up with something that has never been done before… I mean everything has been done before… so I guess even if I come up with a “new” idea, if I were to google it, I’m sure that it would return something… but what is the blogging etiquette for this? I see a lot of posts on similar topics from the blogs that I read, and sometimes they reference other posts, but sometimes they don’t… Is there a generally accepted rule for this? And is it okay that I get inspiration and ideas from other people’s posts?
All-Round Better Me 
It is definitely okay to use an idea from another post you’ve read. Just copying the post isn’t okay but writing about the same topic is fine.
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Thanks, that’s sort of what I was thinking, but wasn’t sure if everyone agreed. I definitely wouldn’t be copying another post exactly, but writing my own take on the subject…
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
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Here’s what I do, and it’s by no means the be-all, end-all of blogging etiquette. If you read a post and it sparks some tangent, etc, I will have a link to that post early on in the post. Something like “Recently I was reading ARBM and she was talking about decluttering… which got me thinking about Y”. I try to link and give proper thanks to anyone I read, but the trouble is, you can’t read everyone. And an even larger problem, and the part that makes this process fall apart is that a lot of the “bigger” bloggers don’t read the “smaller” bloggers, so they don’t realize the topics and posts might overlay.
For example, last week I wrote about the TFSA increase. Yesterday and I’m sure for the next few days, there will be lots of posts flying around about that topic because it’s buzzing around the Canadian PF community. That said, if the post isn’t time sensitive (aka just a random post I have scheduled that isn’t specific to the beginning of the month, or the TFSA increase), and someone beats me to the punch, I try to shift around as much as possible. Not everyone does that, and I don’t necessarily think everyone should, but it’s how I work.
I used to have posts scheduled out about a month, but I’ve been falling behind because I haven’t been writing as much as I used to. It’s nice not to have a crunch to get a post out “because I publish on Monday”. I’m going to try to get back to that, but we’ll see how it goes 🙂 I need inspiration!
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Thanks Alicia! I like your method, and I totally wouldn’t expect any of the bigger bloggers to read my blog… I’m surprised anyone is reading really! 🙂 But I think I may adopt your method of mentioning and linking the inspiring posts… So long as I can use the subject without being thought of as rude, I definitely don’t mind sharing the inspiration. Does that make sense?
I did read your post on the TFSA first and then noticed that other bloggers were discussing it as well, I was all like “Alicia already said all that!” LOL!
I would love to have things so organized that I have a posting schedule, but my inspiration is so sporadic and patchy… something to work on I suppose.
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Like you, I’m still a beginner, but I agree that I see a lot of similar posts out there. I think most bloggers would appreciate you taking inspiration from them, especially if you give them credit!
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I think that’s what I’ll do. I find a lot of inspiration in other people’s ideas, so if I credit them and link up, then hopefully they will appreciate it and not be bothered by my using the same ideas… 🙂
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Off course it’s ok to get inspiration and ideas from othes! Isn’t that how most things work? You talk to someone and they say something that triggers an idea. You see something when your out and about. You read something that is just up your ally, that maybe give a different perspective than you originally was thinking, and this sparks something you want to share. We all get inspiration from different places, from people, nature, animals++ Having said that, I also believe in giving credit, where credits due. A link to a post that inspired, a mention of a person that inspired, a ref to a passage in a book or poem or song you are using, that seems only fitting 🙂
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Perfect! It is true that we do get inspiration from all over… and the ease of sharing ideas is really the beauty of the internet. It seems that we are all on the same page, so it must be okay! 🙂
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I am always inspired by other bloggers. For instance, my latest post, a “day in the life” post, was written precisely because I saw other bloggers doing it and I thought it would be fun. I think as long as you put your own spin on an idea, which I usually do by describing my personal experiences, you’re fine. If the topic is particularly innovative or I want to reference or build on what the other blogger said, I’ll link to that post.
One thing I do to have stuff to write about is to keep a running list of potential topics. If I have some specific ideas, I may do some bullet points to help me outline. I also tend to start writing posts and leave them and then come back a few days, weeks or months later. I’d love to have a backlog of posts scheduled and ready to go, but so far, I haven’t really been able to make it happen.
Good luck with your studying and your exam!
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I’ve really enjoyed reading the “day in the life” posts that have been around lately, yours included. It was one of those ideas that I was thinking of using, but that one I didn’t see any issue with copying… it’s some others that have me thinking and want to expand on their ideas. Some of your posts are in that pool too!
I think that I might start doing that, having some drafts that are just works in progress that I can work on when I have time and the ideas hit me. Then come back to them later to clean them up. Maybe if I do that enough I can have some sort of backlog going…
Studying this weekend is going to be tough… NHL playoffs are starting and the weather here is supposed to be awesome… ugh… I think I’ll need all the luck I can get…
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I definitely get inspiration from other bloggers, but I like to link to the blog I got the idea(s) from. In school, we also learned about the Blogger’s Code of Ethics which is pretty standard, but good to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger's_Code_of_Conduct
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Thanks for the link! It is good to see that people are trying to work together to make the internet a nicer place. I definitely want to give credit where credit is due (as Anne Lene said above), and I’m all for linking to other people’s posts, I just wasn’t sure if it was cool to borrow ideas and inspiration from others. Seems to be a common thing, so if I just make sure to link back to my inspiration, I think I’ll go ahead with some of these ideas for posts…
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I agree with everyone else, you can totally use other blogs as inspiration for your own. I think the trick is to take your own spin on things, and add something unique. It’s entirely possible your readers won’t ever see those other blogs, and if they do, it can sometimes lead to a fruitful discussion. If anything you’re probably being too cautious about the whole thing, so just go and write whatever you like. If it’s inspired by someone else, cool. If it’s entirely your own ideas, that’s cool too! As long as you don’t blatantly plagiarize someone, I think you’ll be fine.
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