Blogging Issues

Chewing on a lot of blogging issues right now. I'm not a happy camper. Dazed and confused.

I'm outraged at the thief who so blatantly stole Chez Pim's posts, more outraged that his blog is gaining in popularity from all the flap.

I'm thankful to Sam, who posted a helpful comment at Chez Pim about Creative Commons, a licensing organization for the web.

I'm sheepish about some of my earliest blog posts where I did use illustrations from the web that I in my naivete did not attribute, mostly for lack of graphics savoir faire in posting. I hope it wasn't too evil of me. I hope that those transgressions are somewhat absolved by the fact that I don't make any money from my blog -- not even any little "donate" widgets.

I'm concerned because I just heard of someone (not a blogger) who apparently is making the rounds of Paris starting a work like my Real Americans in Paris project. I start worrying, wondering if I should just keep my mouth shut, stop blogging, and get back to throwing my heart, soul and time into paid writing projects.

I had fretted about whether to post the announcement of Real Americans in Paris when I first began, but figured that it would lend more legitimacy to the project, and help publicize the casting call for interviewees. It has. But if it's true that another Paris expat has taken the idea and is running with it, where does that leave me? Do I get to say "I have dibs on that idea?" Or is it a question of running faster than the next guy to get the Big Project out there.


A reader asked me if I was inspired by the film Paris je t'aime, and although I loved the movie, it's very different from my project. I've been studying the relationship of Americans to France for decades. I originally also had a proposal for interviewing "everyday" Parisians, but found that Run Around Paris does an excellent job of that. Real Americans in Paris is looking at the relationship between contemporary Americans in Paris and their adopted city.

So here's what I'm chewing on. Do bloggers merely serve as a free source of information for those who are set to capitalize on their ideas and knowledge?