Things That Make Me #SMH Lately- February Edition

Well, I felt it was time for another edition of Things that Make Me #SMH Lately.  This a February edition, albeit a few days late. (Some of you may remember my January edition of this.)  I am not going to make this a regular or weekly thing.  Typically I like my blogging space to be an area of zen, fun, good food,  camaraderie, etc.  Not a big ole whine and moan session.  But lately there have been a few things that have just been making me do a palm plant to my forehead and just ask why...  I am just putting this out there because I need to know that I am not the only one.  That there must be others who share my same frustrations, right? ;)  I got 3 blogger related ones, and 2 IRL ones for you all today.

First up, the blogging related ones...

Forcing your followers to follow your blog in another way via a mandatory entry to enter a giveaway on your blog.  If I already follow a blogger through GFC or email, I do not also need to be following them through RSS or Bloglovin.)  Can we say redundant?? It is only padding numbers. No matter how many ways you try to persuade me to get your blog posts on my laptop screen, I am just ONE follower.  It is also insulting & unfair to your already loyal followers who may be happily receiving your blog posts on a daily basis through some other medium other than the one that you are requiring for entry into your giveaway.  My advice?  Care more about your followers- not increasing your numbers.

I love recipe challenges that other food bloggers host.  But I kind of loathe the ones where the winner is voted for by the online community.  Honestly, I just skip those kind of recipe challenge/contest link-ups.  It seems to me that it will come down to who bugged and badgered their friends, families, & readers the most to go to this blog page & vote, vote, vote & not so much on the originality and creativity of a blogger's recipe.  And I am so not comfortable pestering everyone I know online to just "take a  few seconds & a couple of clicks" to vote for me. ;P 

This one I just don't get, but bloggers who get upset, hurt, and up in arms about mean, hateful trolls who leave crappy anonymous comments on their blogs.  There is an easy solution- don't allow anonymous commenting.  Done.
I live by the blogging philosophy that if you can't own your comments, then you don't get to leave them on my blog.  Spiteful commenters just love when they find a blog that allows them anonymous commenting.  So I ask, why leave yourself wide open for that??  Ain't nobody got time for that! ;)

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And now, my two IRL ones...

The state making it so crazy difficult to get a driver's license.  I am induced into a paralyzing panic every time I even think about attempting to get a license in my home state again.  And the continuous horror stories from my friends & family members about the hours they spent at the DMV just to walk out with no driver's license do not help.  No joke- it is easier and faster to legally obtain a gun in this state than to get a driver's license.  There is something wrong with this picture.

Our immature, "we are going to take our toys and go home" government.  DO YOUR JOBS.  We, the American people, voted you in & are paying your salaries via our tax dollars for you to do just that.  

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I hope they all realize that while they sit there with their big cushy paychecks and wonderful health insurance (Ummmm... where are THEIR tax hikes?? Where are THEIR cuts??), the majority of Americans are struggling and can't take one more hit to their paychecks.  And yes, my little family is included in this.
Politicians- STOP trying to make the other party look bad & DO YOUR JOBS.  
The White House has provided a state by state breakdown of what this sequester will mean for American citizens.  Find out how your state would be affected.  Then make your voice heard!

Can any of you all feel me on these?

What has been making you #SMH lately?

Some Thoughts on Pinterest Plagiarism...

This has become a tiny thorn in my side recently- pinning a recipe post and then in the description box for the pin including the ENTIRE recipe in a condensed version of itself.  Here is why this is not cool, folks:

A.  All of us food bloggers appreciate a pin.  I have had recipes go absolutely viral from a single pin.  They are MUCH appreciated.  What is not appreciated?  Posting our entire recipe on your pin so that there is NO reason for anyone who sees and/or repins your pin of our recipe to ever visit our blogs. 

B.  It is our recipes.  Not yours.  Call it what you may, but you are basically swiping our content bold face from our blogs and "putting it your own words".  You know what they call that in college?  Plagiarism. 

C.  Most of us who identify ourselves as food bloggers work very hard on our recipe posts.  We brainstorm a recipe idea.  Do research.  Experiment in the kitchen with it, all while striving to get some quality photos of our dishes.  We want people to actually click to our posts and see our hard work.  This is why we blog- we take pride in what we put out there.  Please be respectful of that.

I am not saying that there is some sinister plot out there by Robin Hood-esque Pinners to swipe recipes from the food bloggers & give them to the Pinterest masses.  In fact, I am sure that many of the Pinners who have committed this breach of pinning etiquette haven't even thought of the 3 points I have outlined above.  

I am grateful for Pinners who stumble upon my blog or another Pinner's pin of one of my recipes and repin away.  Pinterest has been my #1 referring site for the past 3 months.  I have seen my daily page views double, even triple from Pinterest traffic recently.

Thank you to each and every one of you that has happened to have found one of my recipes clever enough, tasty enough, creative enough to pin.  I appreciate it. 
But please keep my content where it should be... on my blog.

As a Pinner, what are your thoughts on this?
My fellow food bloggers, are you seeing similar pins from your blogs?  How do you feel about them?