yesterday i realized that someone took all my content and publishes it every day. ALL pictures, ALL texts. with a link, yes - but no one uses it! it’s all THERE, why should anyone take the link and come over?

i didnt realize it by incoming traffic (analytics), but by a self-google-search. the site keepers didnt ask me, of course.
i dont like this.

being a professional author, i make a living of what i write and say - not on the blog, but at my radio/book/audiobook jobs.
if ANYbody can take it and make money (MOST sites like this ARE to make money, if not by ads, then via selling web/SL/other sevices like building a SLpresence, after people are being hooked with the help of MY unpaid work), this is not fair.

i will ask those guys to stop taking my content, i hope they do.

As for having your own aggregator, do give it a try. It’s awesome. Mine even has a ’search’ function, which makes the ‘archiving style’ aggregators superfluous. And you may easily export the list of feeds you are following, subdivide them in folders, mark things as ‘read’ or ‘unread’, etc. *hugs the reader*

When I created the feed, I did it for ME, for two reasons. The blogs that I wanted to read were not added to the Fashion Planet feed, and I found myself scrolling through ALOT of “freebie” posts, “drama llama” posts, duplicate “reviews” of the same item, and (I know I’m gonna get flamed for this) alot of “another fashion blog”s.

When I shared what I’d done with friends, word got out. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to share my project with everyone because I don’t want anyone to crucify me for my taste in quality, entertaining SL Fashion content. I realize this situation is a “darned if you do, darned if you don’t” but I really hate to hear FashionFeedofSL being referred to as an elitist feed. From my point of view, though, I didn’t really need another FashionPlanet with a hodge podge of anything remotely relating to fashion thrown on a page…and based on the feedback I’ve gotten lately…alot of people share that opinion.

I do appreciate your point about opting out though. I haven’t yet had anyone ask to be removed, probably because 90% of the feeds have been added on request, but I definitely want to make that option available.

- fashion @ the planet
- fashion @ iheartsl.com
- fashionfeedofsl.com

?

Re: Google’s archiving - You should have read my fine prints! so I do not see - that part of Google - as a commercial enterprise. They do - again, as far as I know - do not feed their cached sites to other search engine’s, so it’s - although according to my reasoning probably still ‘a crime’ - a different story. Of course, it’s a part of the bigger Commercial Google’s whole, and I might detest it someday, but at the moment, I’m fine with it.

Update regarding Grid.IHeartSL.com:

Although defending the archiving by saying ‘people asked for it’ - well, I did not - and the anonymous domain registration with ‘look at how easy Vint can find out the info’ -, the latter I might have accepted if they from starters provided decent contact information on the site, Melanie Kidd did react to this blogpost: just not here. *rolls out, nice how they just assume you’ll find out using technorati or whatever*

Grid.IheartSL.com now has a FAQ with contact information. Information about opting in (and out):

How do I opt-in or opt-out? (from iheartsl.com’s feed aggregator/syndication)

Having your blog added to or removed from our feed is easy! Simply send us an email at iheartsl@gmail.com and include your blog name, URL, feed URL, avatar name (optional), and e-mail address (optional).

While the reasons why we ask for your blog information is readily apparent, some may question the need for your avatar’s name or your e-mail address. The only reason why we ask for that information is so that it makes it easier for us to contact you either in-world or via e-mail. We have the UTMOST respect for your privacy and this information WILL NOT be shared. However, we understand that some will prefer to simply not share that information, which is why we are making it optional.

They also saved me the trouble of having to e-mail them asking to remove my feed from the aggregator. I do find some email or IM notification on that would have been appropriate, although I’m glad I’ll stay ‘opted out’ until they get rid of the archiving thingie. Which they are not planning to do anywhere soon.