May 26th, '08, 20:02
Posts: 1459
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 15:10
by Mary R » May 26th, '08, 20:02
Today I received this e-mail from Twinings. I bet most of you did too.
Twinings Jerk wrote:Hi Mary,
I am writing to let you know that I thoroughly enjoy the content your site offers as I visit your site quite regularly. I also wanted to inform you that we have just begun to syndicate your content on the Twinings website (
http://www.twinings.ca/?q=blog).
Our intention with the Twinings blog is to provide an expert tea resource for tea lovers. As a subject matter expert, your blog came up and we decided to syndicate your blog content. We would love for you to check out our website. We would also appreciate any comments or feedback about the site as well.
While we may not be aggregating all the blog entries from your site, we attempt to post all the entries pertaining to tea drinking, tea health benefits, tea reviews, etc. You'll also notice that we have included a link to your website in our blog roll on our page. We would also appreciate a link on your website either in a links, resources, or blog roll section (or wherever is appropriate). Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Dennis Pang
Corporate Services Manager, SoMedia Networks
I'm a little hacked that they just up and are "syndicating my blog content" without my permission. There's a large part of me that's responding "Damnit, that's mine and I'm not sharing!" but there's also a large part of me that says "Seriously...is it worth getting steamed over?"
What say you? Shady or an 'honor'?
May 26th, '08, 20:22
Posts: 1559
Joined: Jan 28th, '07, 02:24
Location: Fort Worth, TX
by Space Samurai » May 26th, '08, 20:22
I got one of those a few months back. I didn't write back or anything, but it does increase traffic to my blog.
May 26th, '08, 21:55
Posts: 8065
Joined: Jan 8th, '08, 06:00
Location: Southern CA
Been thanked: 2 times
by Victoria » May 26th, '08, 21:55
I've never even had the courtesy of an email. I'm just Googling and finding my content all over out there. Some hacked and chopped till I can hardly recognize it. I have even found it on foreign language sites!
But as Space says, it does help the hits.
May 26th, '08, 22:24
Posts: 1559
Joined: Jan 28th, '07, 02:24
Location: Fort Worth, TX
by Space Samurai » May 26th, '08, 22:24
It happens, but since most of the time no one is trying to pass my work off as theirs, I try to be good natured about it. I have seen some of my own research get copied, and make the rounds from blog to blog to blog, an that I find irksome.
May 26th, '08, 23:20
Posts: 1136
Joined: Dec 2nd, '07, 17:53
Location: New York
by joelbct » May 26th, '08, 23:20
Wow, if they were "syndicating" my blog (when I have one) on a mass-market corporate tea site such as twinings.com, I would tell them to cease and desist at once, compliment or no.
There is a huge difference between a fair use reference and copying entire blog entries.
And no way would I link to their site, either. Tea Underground forever, baby!
(edit: PS, woot woot, 400 posts!)
May 26th, '08, 23:34
Posts: 1936
Joined: May 22nd, '06, 11:28
Location: Trapped inside a bamboo tong!
by hop_goblin » May 26th, '08, 23:34
yeah, they added me as well sometime ago so I added them as well to be polite
May 27th, '08, 00:29
Adagio
Posts: 475
Joined: May 20th, '05, 16:14
Location: New York, NY
by ilya » May 27th, '08, 00:29
Just wanted to remind everyone here that Adagio has a similar website we launched a few months ago called
TeaCritic. We decided to allow people to opt-in rather than force them to opt-out, so if you are interested in having your blog entries syndicated, feel free to
sign up.
May 27th, '08, 01:00
Posts: 1548
Joined: Jun 8th, '07, 13:00
Location: 3161 A.D.
by Wesli » May 27th, '08, 01:00
I write my blog for myself, although I write it keeping in mind that the audience is more than myself. I don't write it for merit, nor do I get money out of it (free tea sometimes
). It's purely for the benefit of helping me develop my palate, and keeping some records. It doesn't take too much of my effort or time, and it's no real commitment. If it helps others, then that is awesome. That means others get benefits, and I receive no detriments. This is called "injecting good into the world."
May 27th, '08, 01:50
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Been thanked: 1 time
by Salsero » May 27th, '08, 01:50
Wesli wrote:I write my blog for myself, although I write it keeping in mind that the audience is more than myself. I don't write it for merit, nor do I get money out of it (free tea sometimes
). It's purely for the benefit of helping me develop my palate, and keeping some records. It doesn't take too much of my effort or time, and it's no real commitment. If it helps others, then that is awesome. That means others get benefits, and I receive no detriments. This is called "injecting good into the world."
Indeed, Wesli, your blog is a force for good in the world! I have learned a lot from it, and I always feel that my tastes are in close synch with yours. You nicely balance philosophizing, purple prose, and down to earth evaluation.
May 27th, '08, 09:31
Posts: 1136
Joined: Dec 2nd, '07, 17:53
Location: New York
by joelbct » May 27th, '08, 09:31
Salsero wrote:Wesli wrote:I write my blog for myself, although I write it keeping in mind that the audience is more than myself. I don't write it for merit, nor do I get money out of it (free tea sometimes
). It's purely for the benefit of helping me develop my palate, and keeping some records. It doesn't take too much of my effort or time, and it's no real commitment. If it helps others, then that is awesome. That means others get benefits, and I receive no detriments. This is called "injecting good into the world."
Indeed, Wesli, your blog is a force for good in the world! I have learned a lot from it, and I always feel that my tastes are in close synch with yours. You nicely balance philosophizing, purple prose, and down to earth evaluation.
Awww what a big happy tea family, I am getting all warm and fuzzy inside
But seriously, I like all of you guys' blogs too.
May 27th, '08, 14:39
Posts: 1978
Joined: Jan 14th, '08, 18:01
Location: CA
by Pentox » May 27th, '08, 14:39
Yeah, I got one of those as well. Still not really sure what to make of it.
May 27th, '08, 17:40
Posts: 1483
Joined: Mar 19th, '06, 12:42
Location: On the couch
by Proinsias » May 27th, '08, 17:40
I wasn't too chuffed at first but after looking around the site a little it seems that one of the bigger tea companies over here are a least making some effort in the direction of decent tea and tea knowledge.
I approach my blog with the same spirit as I approach most stuff online - I have little control over deciding what happens with what I write, coupled with large periods of inactivity.
I'm all for them promoting me, I think I might pass on promoting them until I've drank a decent cup of tea brewed from Twinnings leaf. I suspect they'll do more for my site than I'll do for them.
May 27th, '08, 19:12
Posts: 727
Joined: Dec 22nd, '07, 21:02
Location: the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy
by Sydney » May 27th, '08, 19:12
I received one of these emails from them a few months back, and then this new one.
I just wondered with the new one what happened between the 2 emails. heh
I don't have any feelings against it that merit a reply email, so it's all good by me.
May 28th, '08, 14:27
Posts: 1598
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 16:13
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
by scruffmcgruff » May 28th, '08, 14:27
Yeah, I got one and didn't really mind, though something felt a little off about syndicating with them. IIRC they credit you for your work, so that's not an issue, at least. I figure that "Tea Guy Speaks" guy writes enough crap to flood the blog 24/7 anyway, so my stuff probably doesn't even get seen.
