I just hate it when something gets stuck in my mind and I cannot shake it loose, no way, no how. Maybe not exactly an earworm but a brainworm. So it is with a recent brouhaha over on a popular quilting forum.
Although there were several aspects to the little tiff, a primary one was about copyright. This brings to mind a blog posting I read on a popular quilter’s blog (let’s call her blogger A) about how wonderful another quilter (called blogger B) was to go through the process of trying to give proper credit for a quilting design.
Okay, I visit the “stand-up” quilter’s blog and, indeed, she did go through the hoops; although, she really needn’t since the design was freehand AND has been used by many over a long period of time. In fact, it was the blogger A that had the nerve to publicly point out to blogger B that she thought the design was that of another’s. This, of course, prompted blogger B to jump through hoops to ensure no toes were stepped upon.
Why this incident keeps replaying in my head is that blogger A appears to be one of the worst offenders to this “give credit where credit is due” if she were to play by the set of rules she applies to others! Check out one of her entries. Look closely at the pictures. See those fills? Look familiar? See those feathers? Look familiar?
If not, check out some of the feather and fill publications available to quilters these days. Better yet, check the very entry of hers that she used to support her suggestion that Blogger B used designs that should have been credited to someone else! Hmmm, don’t recall Blogger A crediting someone else for her “doodles”.
I am NOT saying she needed to give credit to someone else for her doodles. But on the same note, neither did blogger B for a design that is generic and can probably be found in some old book on illustrations! (Check out design #5 on plate XIV in Owen Jones book, “The Grammar of Ornament”, if you don’t believe me!)
To add to this hypocrisy, blogger A frequently will post pics of a book cover or a magazine article page and I wonder whether SHE gets proper authorization to do so (as required by copyright laws). Likely considered not a major infraction by many, but certainly a bit two-faced considering her penchant for policing others!
