I recently re-blogged someone else's post for the first time.
I feel dirty.
I can't escape the feeling that I'm taking credit for someone else's work or that I've haven't give the writer her full due. Silly, right? It was a featured post; already branded with a gold star and soon to be maxed out on points. The post was already destined for stardom, SEO glory, and adulation by adoring AR fans.
The post in question is Tni LeBlanc's "Top 5 Mistakes Short Sale Sellers Make." I read it and I thought it was quality writing. I felt like the piece accomplished its objective and was a nice summary of pitfalls short sale sellers can run into. I thought her second and third points (Letting the house fall apart and Making the house difficult to show) were especially insightful. Who hasn't shown a short sale whose showing instructions read something like, "Call seller for appointment and then text listing agent for lockbox location. Lockbox combination can be found under the glassy igneous rock along the rock wall in backyard." Jeez...Nothing like raising the degree of difficulty on an already challenging transaction.
But I digress. The post was outstanding. I couldn't have done better myself. And so I didn't.
It was such a complete piece of writing, I couldn't even come up with a quality comment. All I could eek out was, "Awesome post. Perfect. I'm re-blogging as well." My comment was pretty much one of those "Great post." generic 25 point comments you see littered throughout Active Rain. Even though I mentioned I was re-blogging, I wasn't sure if I would or not. I had never re-blogged before.
I sheepishly dragged my cursor toward the green rounded rectangle in the upper right hand cover of the post. I held my breath and gently hit, "re-blog." I added some mindless commentary that didn't do the post justice and re-blogged to "share with a broader audience."
Yet I still feel guilty. I feel like copied someone's homework or cheated on my SAT's. This is stupid, right? I've been re-blogged before and have been flattered that someone appreciates something I had to say. But...most of my re-blogs have come from people who didn't comment or direct feedback my way--secret admirers, you might say. Maybe there's an ethics to re-blogging. Maybe if you like someone's post that much in addition to hitting that green button, you should tell the writer you appreciated his/her work.
Will I re-blog again? I don't know. I just reread Bob's official post and I understand the intellectual arguments. Still re-blogging still strikes me as the AR equivalent of forwarding an email with a dirty joke or "You know you were born in the 1970's when..." I hate when people forward me emails. (re: funny--read this)
My guilt may stem from the fact that re-blogging is unoriginal. I took something from the "marketplace of ideas" off someone else's shelf and put it on my own. Furthermore, I created more noise without adding anything new to the conversation. There's nothing wrong with just listening, just reading a blog post and enjoying it in the moment for the sake of reading.
At any rate, I feel better for making this confession. Thanks for listening. If you want to re-blog this, be my guest. Or if you feel guilty, share that experience with me as well. Perhaps we can start a re-blogging support group.
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