Ripped off.

I cannot believe it. For the first time in such a long time, I decided to check out my Multiply for old times' sake, when I came across this particular blog in the viewing history.

Much to my surprise, most of her entries were taken from my blogs. Her intro/welcome page is very similar to mine. You can compare that to my Multiply homepage and even to my profile page here. Then, one of her headings was also taken from Brighter Than Sunshine, much like the one in my Multiply. And to my biggest surprise (and horror), two of her blog entries were completely, one-hundred percent mine: Ignite and I'm Okay. Compare that with hers.

You can go check it out yourself. She isn't my contact and I was able to view her profile, so I'm sure you can too. I sent her a message on her guestbook and a private one to let her know, but I don't know if she even updates that thing still. But from the looks of it, the last time she checked my Multiply was just last Thursday.

It's just -- unbelievable. I write what I write because they are what I feel during that moment, and all of them are real emotions that only really come out of me as I type them down. It surprises me how it's so easy for some people to just copy/paste something very personal to me and pass them off as their own. Why would they even do that? I appreciate that there are people out there who have told me (offline or online) that they find some of my entries believable, relatable, and enjoyable even, and for that I am very grateful. But I don't feel flattered at all when they use it as it is and claim it as theirs. I feel cheated, honestly.

I know this kind of thing comes along with being a writer -- there will be people who will rip off your words and claim them. But really, people? I'm not anybody, I don't see the point of taking some unknown 18-year-old girl's blog entries. Then again, maybe that's what they think. Because I'm just some random girl, they feel no shame taking what isn't theirs.

Please tell me I'm not exaggerating and that I saw what I saw.

I don't know what to do with this girl, if she ever responds. But I hope whoever gets to read this entry (and compares our blogs) do realize how wrong this is. And I hope she does too. I may not have the power to go as far as taking this to court, but if this is how she believes being creative and original is, I feel sorry for her.