sarah. word.

Damn... I missed 3! and my mom was an English teacher...

Of course, even growing up in western PA, I could never get behind the idea of skiing... careening uncontrollably down a mountain, in the cold? I guess that's why I live in Florida now ;)

=DB

Looks like fun... i'm hoping to buy land in colorado soon, build a cabin. Live like the people in the beer commercials... you know playing volleyball in the snow, have horses just running around through creeks. That sort of thing

Morals are a little lacking? That is now officially up for the "understatement of the year" award. I'd be interested to see what Tech TV would do if I "borrowed" their site's design template and CSS for my own blog. I mean, it was recommended as a legitimate practice on their site and all...

That quiz was so up my alley...10 out of 10!

Thanks for taking mine and others' comments seriously and correcting the misunderstanding. Cudos to you!

I think Amnesty International is coming out with a report on HTML and CSS code-stealers, and you are on the top of their list of offenders. People -- get over yourselves. It's just a stupid blog template.

Yeah, nice update Sarah. Instead of saying, "Stealing is OK," now you're saying, "Stealing isn't OK, but if you're going to do it, here's how."

Ok, maybe I can't win with some of you. Can't please all the people all the time. I tried!
s

Stealing blog templates supports terrorism. Call out the Marines!!!! ~sheesh~

One thing you have to learn, Sarah, is that people actual work hard for their layouts. Like yours. I'm sure you worked really hard on it, right? Or did you take it from someone? Maybe you need to credit the site you lifted it from. We all know it was Blogstyles. Step up to the plate and deal with the consequences.

To BooHoo, it may be "just a stupid blog template" to you...but the people that work to make things valid and nice, slick, pretty on the 'net, appreciate and go figure, really want their work acknowledged. Your comment shows the lack of respect you have for artists work as well as any morals.

what about using cheat codes for videogames? Will I be deported for that? Just want to know, in case I need to pack a suitcase or something...

uh-oh...blog police are at the front door...

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If you ask me, borrowing or copying a style of someone else just shows that you like what they did originally. By changing it and making it your own, you are no longer copying what they did but improving on it to make it your own. Most famous artists and musicians began by copying other artists' works, then creating their own styles as they became more proficient. We may be looking at the next Picasso of the computer age!

"I'd be interested to see what Tech TV would do if I "borrowed" their site's design template and CSS for my own blog. I mean, it was recommended as a legitimate practice on their site and all..."

Me too, I donno about that tip. Maybe you should have tought them to create their own css? Oh well, you'll get 'em next time

"I tried."

"Trying" means giving credit where it's due -- which I have yet to see here, or in your updated Blog Report. As far as musicians copying others works, if they fail to credit when said-copying occurs -- expect a fleet of lawyers showing up at their record company's door posthaste. What Sarah is promoting is a little easier to get away with, however, since the average Joe/Joanne on the 'net doesn't have an attorney on retainer when they find that their work has been lifted.

It's pretty pathetic when the one thing that's supposed to represent "you" -- your journal -- has to be directly lifted from someone else and passed off as your own individuality and creativity.

Which leads me again to that credit for your template design... You seem to be conveniently ignoring that every time it's brought up. I'd say "lesson learned".

Blogstyles! Cool! I actually didn't know where it came from originally. But heck yeah, I'd love to thank the person who made such a cool blog style that I love. I hope you like what I've done with it.
To those that continue to berate me in this comments section, I tried to correct the misunderstanding, I realize I pissed you off, I'm sorry, I hope we can all enjoy some sunshine now. bye bye
s

Although I disagree with your stealing promotion, I must thank you. I was able to find some free designs -- WITH LINKS TO THE AUTHOR. I searched for "MT Stylesheets" when I first began blogging -- linking, really -- but did not copy any since no one said I could. We're all waiting for a link to the author of your site template. Then, and only then, will we chill out. Some jobs are at stake here.

However, if you've received permission from the author -- before all the complaints, that is -- to use it and to not have to link back to him/her/them, I apologize.

Please don't take this too personal, it's the ethics of it all. Even George Harrison got caught stealing: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=george+harrison+he%27s+so+fine

ok..all of you that are up on your high pedestal knocking on sarah, first of all she said stealing isn't ok, second i bet none of you have ever "boworred" some software from a friend and i am sure that none of you have ever downloaded an mp3 that wasn't yours. enough!

A link to the author, the removal of "Steal, steal, steal" from TechTV's website, and a retraction on TV would be enough. However, the communication within the blogosphere may have to do.

I got 4/10 correct on the quiz. Me fail English? That's unpossible!

Wow, some people get really angry over the little things. Is a boycott of the SarahLane blog next?

Don't sweat it Sarah, and thanks for updating your blog so frequently. Morgan and Cat could learn a thing or two from you.

P.S. Keep up the good work on TSS.

"To those that continue to berate me in this comments section, I tried"

You're right, this is your blog, and you deserve to be left alone. I'll keep my righteousness on my on blog, S.

And no, jobs are not "at stake here." Come on people, while it is reprehensible to suggest stealing someone's style sheet, it's not on the same level of recommending eating babies. Perspective folks.

Thank goodness we have the self appointed paragons of virtue here to swoop in and tell us how to behave so as to not offend them!

whine whine whine

those who have glass jaws should watch out for people throwing rocks...

jobs could be at stake. what about the fledgling designer that has style sheets stolen by someone who took Sarah's advice? She advocated stealing in her orignal post. Out and out theft of the style sheets.

For future reference, you might want to include some linkware sites in your blog reports. Perhaps before advocating stealing. (Yes, I know you changed your position & I commend you for doing that!) :) Besides BlogStyles, another good site for linkware is Book of Styles (http://www.bookofstyles.org/).

Ooooh... the blog Goddess' have been angered! Everyone take cover!

Hahaha... makes your "blood boil." Pa-thetic.

Sarah RULES!

"jobs could be at stake?" I must go to bed too early to see the midnight infomercials about becoming a millionaire the stylesheet way. I was totally unaware of this apparently cutthroat, blog or be blogged stylesheet cottage industry that Sarah is singlehandedly destroying. Maybe that's why the economy is so bad...

I've spent a couple hours recently perusing stuff from blogskins, which I frequent, and blogstyles, which I don't, and you know what? There doesn't seem to be loads of originality going on anywhere, so let's make a deal...We'll make sure that Sarah begs forgiveness by prostrating herself before the almighty hoosafudges of the great blog collective, just as soon as the get-rich-quick million moan army of sheetwriters give credit and links to every person YOU'VE stolen ideas from to write your sheets...every copied table layout, color combination, photo placement, and other purloined elements, etc, etc, ad nauseam ad infinitum.

Otherwise, pretend you're at the movies...Silence is Golden. That's it...I'm not going to say another thing on this topic, because this has quite easily been the most meaningless debate I've had over the most meaningless thing there is, at least until next week.

Man, some ppl are real ball busters. I have ppl literally claiming to BE me and I just look at it as flattering. Lighten up already ;)

Yes, you are a thief, or you were until you credited the site you took this design from. It is unethical to advise people to "steal". Looking and learning are fine, I encourage that on my site. Stealing is wrong. Not understanding that is stupid, willfully ignorant, or sociopathic. And calling it 'research' is just begging for a Tom Lehrer reference.

Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.

http://wiw.org/~drz/tom.lehrer/revisited.html#lobachevsky
Lobachevsky by Tom Lehrer

Yes, you are. Plain and simple. And once you've been branded as such anything you say or do will come into question. Any words you write will have less credence (to anyone with an ounce of sense, that is).

Thief? Liar? Cheat? They're all basically the same animal. Maybe you weren't murdering babies and drinking their blood. But you can forget about a great deal of the online public believing anything you write or say from now on. Credibility is a precious commodity. Especially on the Net. I hope it was worth it.

"I've spent a couple hours recently perusing stuff from blogskins, which I frequent, and blogstyles, which I don't, and you know what? There doesn't seem to be loads of originality going on anywhere, so let's make a deal"

Hey Matt, those templates only require links back to the author. There are professionals -- like Stacy(e) at http://www.blogatelle.com -- who design some of the most popular blogs around: InstaPundit, Daily Pundit, Up Yours -- you should visit that one. It's not only the look but the web standards, check Google for more info.

aw neat, a nickyname. I'm well aware that there are professionals, but this "discussion" got started and has revolved, for the most part, around blogstyles, and so I picked the nearest blogger equivalent that I'm aware of. If it'll make you happy, I could do a review of every single site with the words "blog","template", or "stylesheet," but I'm willing to wager that you'll probably be too busy griping about something else that's totally irrelevant or shilling for someone else's site to really read into it. Plus, it's just not that damn important.

Say hi to Stacey.

You guys who are freaking out about blog styles make me laugh. The Spiderman reference, the plagerizm poetry, and the heavy "I hope it was worth it" quote were my favorites.
Rock on Sarah!

I wonder how some of these people can reach their keyboards from high atop their soapboxes.

Matt C, if Silence is Golden, why don't you lead by example?

Come on, people. When someone can't even use another's CSS or blog template I think the RIAA's influence on Intellectual Property has reached a little farther than one might think. Modern science would not be where it is today if current Intellectual Property ideas existed in the 1800's. Yeah, you could argue that giving credit to the creator is a good idea and I would agree with that. Anybody remember working together and sharing? Giving knowledge to others does not take knowledge away from the giver.

i will give freely any knowledge that is asked for. what Sarah is encouraging is theft.

same goes for this. I will give my money to you if you need it, but don't steal it from me.

6 of one, 1/2 dozen of another.

Melissa: because unlike some others, I'm not attmepting to portray myself as any type of authority or to impose what I believe to be moral or ethical on others. :)

Oh, it's ok Sarah. Don't feel bad. TechTV has sucked ass ever since it became all Leo all the time. Probably only 15 people saw your report anyways.

"I tried" ... yeah, saying "just chill out" next to "Steal, Steal, Steal" sure doesn't seem like trying to me. Get a grip.

Jeremy: People can get as high as they wish on their soapboxes when it comes to their OWN work, baby.

"When someone can't even use another's CSS or blog template I think the RIAA's influence on Intellectual Property has reached a little farther than one might think"

There you have it Sarah. The problem is that you encourage other people to rationalize theft. Creators have rights to what they create. Others have fair-use rights. But not the right to take someone else's creation and republish it as their own.

Without going into the politics of the RIAA's response to it or if they gave up their moral highground with their tactics, I don't think it's unreasonable to protect your rights to your creation.

Im bored, but feel an urge to comment to this nonsense! This reminds me of that old SNL skit where William Shatner tells all the bickering trekkies (btw i'm a fan but not freak)"IT'S JUST A SHOW, GET A LIFE!".

And keep in mind it was just about styles and layouts NOT content! That's like an author getting mad because even though you wrote a brand new story you copied THEIR idea of doing a novel on pastel pink paper in bold text.

And finally remember blogs are nothing more then basically scrapbooks not future mona lisas. To actually get mad over this kinda "theft" is like getting mad about someone wearing white before (or was that after" labor day. Nobody with a life cares of such things.

Years ago when I was in radio my morning show co-host gave me the following advice. "When you think you were terrible on the air, go back and listen to the tape. You were probably ok. On the other hand, when you think you were really great on the air, go back and listen to the tape. You were probably just ok."

Buffy completely missed the point. If you lie or play fast and loose with the truth in one area of your life, no matter how TRIVIAL it may seem, there's no reason to think you won't do the same thing elsewhere. A thief is a thief is a thief, no matter whether he's stealing pencils from the office or robbing a bank.

What's so hard to understand about THAT?

I'm guessing the people who are saying that it's no big deal aren't the same people who actually create templates from scratch. heh.

Hola - was just reading all your postings and I almost lost it. This is soooooo funny. Here are some facts about CSS.

CSS (cascading style sheets) do nothing more than set the 'style' (color, fonts, spacing, rollovers) of web pages - it has nothing to do with the actual content of the pages. Since when is it wrong to use someone’s colors? Oh, btw my blog is blue - so please don't anyone ever use the color blue ever again.. ever.. It's mine.

Please everyone post our blog URLS so that I can steal your colors - after all, they are YOUR colors. This is what happens when you get a bunch of people together who have no idea how to create a real webpage so they just install simple blog software. Go watch Call for Help and stop complaining.

"Oh, btw my blog is blue - so please don't anyone ever use the color blue ever again.. ever.. It's mine."

Exactly, Mark...you hit it on the head exactly with that one. This is not stealing. The only "content" to these templates are colors and formatting...there is nothing "ownable" here.

Well, besides the fact that css does more than make your page blue if you know what you're doing, it was suggested to *direct link* to somebody else's stylesheet. Um, hello? I pay for my bandwidth.

Good Lord...this whole thing has gone from "right and wrong" to "dumb and dumber"

You're kidding, right? Anybody with half a brain knows not to direct link files on other people's servers. That's just obvious and aside from the main fact here.

Regardless, it looks like the MT folks don't recommend ripping off people either:

The Screen Savers on Styles
http://www.movabletype.org/news/2003_05.shtml#000840

When you said don't steal from your blog, well alot of people actually have this your blog CSS since it's from BlogStyle. I mean my blog CSS is the same but the template is different. Same colour and everything. So right now I'm trying to beg my uncle to get me some new hosting to fix up that banner ad issue. And then maybe I'll get a different colour, I'm thinking "Dark Blue". Anyway if you want to see my site 4 your self check it out, http://www.alanly.ca/mt.

CSS defines the web page. have you ever been to a webpage without css? there is nothing there but text. it's like saying all that Picasso did was use color to define the art. I don't use the default MT templates, I create my own. I've spent hours creating my own. It's not just the colors, its the whole way the page looks. My page without CSS would be one long column with just black and white text. CSS IS content. It's visual content. A blog isn't what I write but how I express myself. I express myself with the css that makes my page look the way it does.

would Sarah also encourage people to just copy the design of the Mona Lisa? The only content there are colors and formatting. there is nothing ownable there.

I bet Ms. Lane is proud of all of you whining and complaining about your precious templates. As if you have never pirated software or music...

Did I stir the pot? Oops!

Am I on TV encouraging people to steal? Oops!

CSS is a tool, like HTML is a tool. A stylesheet -- if used properly -- can drive the entire style (hence the name, duh) and DESIGN of a site. If you don't believe me, then go to my site and turn off stylesheets (if your browser lets you); or view with a substandard browser. I embed images and such into the stylesheet elements. So saying that a stylesheet is merely defining your colors really shows your ignorance of CSS and stylesheets. Among other things.

if Sarah were on TV telling people to directly copy the MT code, would you understand then? its the same slippery slope.

Anyone else counting the days for Megan's return?

Anyone know who coined the term blog? Who shortened it from Web Log? 'Cos that guy probably has the copyright on the term, since he or she used it first, and would probably like everyone else who "blogs" to "give him his credit." Unless he's not an obsessed whiner desperately trying to make landfall on the high moral ground of the stylesheet posse.

As a matter of fact, I do (Jorn Barger)...you can find it in Rebecca Blood's "weblogs: a history and perspective</A.". Next.

Try the link here:
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Good stuff, thanks for the link. I noticed he doesn't seem to employ a complex stylesheet, if one is used at all - I didn't bother searching the source code, I was too interested in the actual content. Maybe some of the up-in-arms folks could donate one for him. He'd probably give you a link. Then you wouldn't have to fret and gnash teeth about Sarah Lane, the Saddam Hussein of blogging.

I guess if Sarah doesn't know what she's talking about, then she shouldn't be talking about it? Gosh that's just too easy! *gasp* She looks like a fool throughout this and that's plain as day.

This is the exact reason she shouldn't be flapping away about stealing designs, because people like YOU believe the things she says when she's waaaaaaaaaaay off.

Actually, if you were smart enough to follow Sarah's directions, you'd see that [first off, Rebecca Blood -- who authored the article -- is a girl] the site (rebeccablood.net) mentioned by me above has a stylesheet and it's quite complex actually. You can find it by viewing the source of the document above. Without linking directly to it here, it ends in:

/css/0802.css

Newbies. Why don't you research what you flap-off about first? It's not that hard. Really.

Which just proves all of our point that people will blindly follow without even realizing what they're doing or talking about.

Honestly what are you people still complaining about? Sarah corrected her stance and you're still not happy. You are the kind of people who give blogging a bad name. Blog snobs. Nobody wants to be a part of a community where people can't forgive and won't let it go. Get over yourself.

Nice one Newbie.
You people who are still complaining really come across as people who have no lives and have nothing better to do than obsess over Sarah and her blog. Get over it!!!

Right Katie...

I don't have a life, and I really don't have anything better to do but to obsess over Sarah. Blog or not.

hehe...and I'm not complaining.

Well, wow, please excuse me! The title of this entry is "Am I a Thief?" and if you look at the top of the little window you write in when you leave your wonderful bits of wisdom, it says "Comment on Am I a Thief?". That's what I was doing, and, um who are you to tell me not to? Sarah's keeper? Thatsgreat. At least I was on topic. Please go back to blindly following along, thanks!

she didn't correct her stance. if anything, it's worse. she is condescending and still teaching people how to steal the css code.

Wow. You've insulted people over the internet. How cool.

Poor Sarah, all she ever wanted to do was have a fun little blog...

I'm not sure if this is due to petty girl stuff or jealousy or what but it feels that way to me.

Girls, next time lets go for constructive criticism. The insults are ludicrous.

And personally, I don't care if you claim to know more about programming then the next person?

"would Sarah also encourage people to just copy the design of the Mona Lisa? The only content there are colors and formatting. there is nothing ownable there."

Written word is nothing but black and white. The colors are meaningless, but ideas are transfered by the words created...they have meaning and are ownable. The mona lisa is the the same, those colors combine to create something more than just the colors. Background colors, fonts, and font colors are part of the medium, not the content. (Yes CSS and tempates are more than just colors...don't get high and mighty with me; I'm a web designer for a fortune 500 company). Think about where your intellectual property ideas are coming from. Think about who influenced them, and why they want them that way. ...and if you don't want someone to use your sheets because "You spent hours working on them", then grow up. Thank god open source programers grew out of this mentality. Everything we are talking about is not content, it is not copywritable or able to be trademarked. I DONT support stealing content...this is not content or stealing.

"would Sarah also encourage people to just copy the design of the Mona Lisa? The only content there are colors and formatting. there is nothing ownable there."

-Sarah, you should totally do that...that would be so fun!!!!

And apparently relevant to developing code for blogs.

I'm sort of in the middle on this issue.

While I believe that certain popular members of the blogosphere think that they can do no wrong, most of the popular group are pretty nice and helpful.

Therefore, in some ways I also understand their point. Some people make their own graphics (backgrounds, buttons, etc.) then embed them in the stylesheets. In that case, if someone copies the stylesheets, then content IS being stolen, because it is art created by someone else.

Online is like real life in that there is a very fine line between right and wrong, and that line seems to always be blurred.

I will admit that I have not read the full original article, but I feel like I can comment on the discussion anyway......

"Stealing" i.e. copying the ENTIRE code would be a very slippery slope obviously, but there are certian elements of all code that are the same, and as a "newbie" how else are you to learn without "borrowing" someone elses code to see how it works? I am a musician, and although I can't copy an entire song from someone, I can "borrow" the chord progression from that tune and change it to fit my needs.

This CHANGE is the important part, as is making profit off of the intellectual property of another.

Encouragement to "steal" isn't a good thing, but if by steal you mean the basic structure of the site, colors, etc. then I don't see the issue. We all only have so much to work with. For example, aren't ALL newspapers basically the same format (or, let's face it, sitcoms). Super creative things can't be exactlly copied obviously, but certianly borrowed heavily from.

When you start EXACTLY copying a site or blog or cutting and pasting CONTENT then there is a real problem, or passing the design off as your own for fun and profit.

Finally (whew!), I think Sarah did a good job of clearing things up.

That is all. I'll shut up now.

Didn't like what she said? Well ...

http://www.angelfire.com/celeb2/stardogg/lol.htm

I suppose you've never done a right-click|Save background as|Set as background|Save image as or 'borrowed' someone else's javascript that did something cool, eh? Of course not.

Let the poor girl enjoy a blog for the love of god