Open Source Blogging

I’ve been following the conversations on Twitter (@GetOutOfDebtGuy) and watching what others are saying about debt management, credit counseling, debt settlement and bankruptcy and it really has me worried and concerned.

I’m a guy that lived through financial problems myself and went bankrupt in 1990. I then went on to found and run a non-profit credit counseling company, Debt Counselors of America and Myvesta, for twelve years. I’ve served on the board of a Consumer Credit Counseling (CCCS) office, been to the restricted meetings of National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), I’ve met … Continue Reading

I will have to admit that those bloggers among us that go for the open blogging approach may have bigger balls than I do. Some days I’m a huge cheerleader of the movement and then others I’m a bit more reserved, and here is why.

When I publish a full RSS feed on my sites, I actually want people to copy and place the content on their site, including links and a linkback as the original source. I have no problem with that at all. Spread my words, share my points of view, use the content in that fashion. That approach … Continue Reading

One of the open big name open source tech bloggers whose content appeared on this site contacted me recently. He was a bit ‘concerned’ that his content was appearing on another site. But then again, that’s the byproduct of his ‘Please Steal My Content’ invitation isn’t it.

It is interesting to see the difference being being an open source blogger and letting people steal or use your content and actually putting that into practice. I don’t blame him for getting attentive that his content was being used as he offered because reality is different that rhetoric.

In the end, this site … Continue Reading

I had the pleasure of interviewing David from the David in Japan blog about his recent uncopyright move to make his an open source blog.

Q1: David, some would call you foolish while others view your recent move to give away your blog content for others to use and bravery. Before deciding to offer an uncopyright on your work, what went through your head?

It wasn’t quite as difficult of a decision for me as you might think. I’ve never really been a fan of copyright, at least not the current model of it. When this country (USA) started copyright was … Continue Reading

Recently I wrote a post and mentioned fear and blogging in the same sentence. See Open Source Blogging - One Point of View.

That really made me think about how beneficial the concept of open source blogging really is. If you let go of the fear that someone may “borrow” your work and instead just concentrate on producing content, imagine the relief that you will feel.

It’s a bit like that old expression, “You don’t own your stuff, your stuff owns you.” A couple of years ago we moved from the United States to the UK and I think we got … Continue Reading

In my last post “Please Steal My Content” I talked about how I found myself on this journey of open source blogging, letting my creative writing and web content go.

I promised that in my next post, this one, I was going to talk about what I learned about being vigilant about trying to protect my online content and why I’m less fussed about it today.

Let’s talk about some experiences and realities for a moment:

The minute you publish your information and content on the web, it is fair game. Now maybe it shouldn’t be but that is just the … Continue Reading