The recent internet PDF incident...
The other night I awoke to my dog needing to go outside to go to the bathroom...it was 3am. As usual, while he is outside doing his business, I checked my email. To my astonishment, I received an email from a woman that explained to me that a tutorial that I had published on www.jewerylessons.com and within my tutorial page on my personal website, www.feelingstone.com was on an internet search engine.
Confused, I went to the search engine and typed in the name of the tutorial that the women emailing me at 3am explained. There it was! In all its glory and for anyone to download! Wow! I couldnt believe it and didn't know what to do.
As minutes continued, I realized that another woman had posted the link to the PDF on the internet into her Facebook page for her more than 500+ friends to go and snatch up because it was freely distributed on the search engine...an act that I had NOTHING to do with! I about fell over! In the wee hours of the morning I became irate. I became extremely confused and started feeling betrayed and violated. Why would someone post a tutorial that must be paid for on Facebook for anyone to see and use?!
To make a long story short there was something wrong in the crawling and indexing of that file of which linked it to the search engine. Beyond my control, the PDF was distributed on the internet. However, just because a file is on the internet, it does not constitute the redistribution of it, especially to mass amounts of people...including Facebook friends or emailing it to others. I do not have years of experience using the internet or marketing my products through websites. I have, however, decided to take much more time in learning how to recognize these types of issues in the future...shall they come up again.
On the bottom of the tutorial, it clearly states that the product should not be redistributed without the authors consent. Now, I would have never consented for my tutorial to be spread all over Facebook...not when I have worked very hard to make a product to sell...not to distribute a product for free.
From my experience in the wire wrapping and artistry industry, I have learned there are two types of people...ethical and unethical. An ethical person realizes that the industry is full of all types of loopholes and ways in which to act inappropriately but chooses to take the higher road. An unethical person finds the loopholes and jumps through them - behaving in any way that they see fit, regardless of who will be affected. In this case, someone acted unethical the moment they believed that posting my PDF was ok to put on their Facebook and give away for free! It is a very simple concept...ask before you take something from someone...a lesson we should have all learned in kindergarten. Just because it is sitting there does not mean it is yours.
I could go on and on about the emotional impact this has brought me and my family, but I will conclude by saying that...this too will pass. I will transcend through this miserable time by moving on and knowing who I am...an ethical person. My business is doing awesome and I am already on my way to posting more beautiful designs on www.jewelrylessons.com!
Sincerly,
Feelinstone Gifts LLC
