Blogging Etiquette and Fundamentals of Writing 101

I almost forgot that I have been meaning to write this post.  This may come as a shock to some, but I actually have a Bachelor's Degree in Literature.  I know, I know, I don't write like I do, but it's true.  Surprisingly, I actually did quite well back then. I know I suffer from run-on sentences, and my grammar is probably down the tubes at this point in my life haha, and even though that was many moons ago, there is still one principle of writing that I have learned and will never forget. 

It is about plagiarism (intentional or not).  With the onslaught of beauty blogs, we are inundated with so many reviews that we don't know what is original and what is actually just regurgitated information.  Basically, I'm saying that when you write a post, it is just like writing a paper for school.  You are presenting your own thoughts and ideas for the world to read it versus just one professor.  I strongly urge each blogger who reads this to take the fundamental concept of citing seriously.  In the academic world, if you do not cite, you are considered to plagiarize and that is quite serious.  In the beauty world, you will just end up pissing off people.  If you are writing a post, and you got the idea from another blogger, be ethical and state that.  I try my best to tell you all where my inspirations come from.   It is not only polite, but it is one of the fundamentals of writing, and isn't writing what we are actually doing on blogs?

Image taken from google image search

This doesn't just apply to ideas, it also applies to photos.  Just like an academic paper, where you have to cite every single picture and idea/sentence that isn't your own, you should also do that on your blog.  Stealing pictures without consent is a huge no no in the blogging world, so why do people think that stealing ideas is acceptable?  If I see something that inspired me to do a similar post, I always mention who inspired me.  I have to start doing the same with photos.  I'm not perfect. Sometimes I take photos off the Internet and do not site where it came from, but at least from here on out, I know that I personally need to apply proper citation from my academic days onto this blog. Because at the end of the day, I want everything on my blog to be 100% ethical.

So why am I writing this post?  I will say that on several different occasions and different people, I have seen my ideas and photos taken by someone and clearly marked it as their own, and this offended me.  So I wanted to write why I was offended, and take actions as to how I can avoid doing the same thing to someone else.  

Give Credit where Credit Is Due!

What do you guys think of this? 

Are you for citing? or do you think I'm taking this way too seriously? lol