TO THE CREEPY IMPOSTER
Dear Facebook and Flickr user Makena Becker. you are not me. those photos are not yours. and those children certainly aren't yours either. your creepiness has me reeling. you have five hours to remove all my photos, all my words, and all your really skeevy claims to be someone you are not before i take legal action. you have infringed on my copyright. and i am pretty freakin' ticked off and grossed out by it.
thank you to reader paola for letting me know about this.
i would have loved to keep this a lot more vague and focused more on the idea of creating your own life, how figuring out who you are, little by little, and being true to that potential and the people you love is what makes life really great. and i think the higher road is to maybe leave names off.. but i can't. this is just too weird and violating and there is no possible explanation i can think of where someone would do this "innocently." if you have an idea, i'd love to hear it. i'd love to have something to wet the fury burning in my chest.
until then, i've got a birthday party to prepare for.
also: i have operated this blog the same way i try to live my life- based in faith and happiness and expecting the good rather than fearing and expecting the worst. this is not the worst, but it is really really weird. and i may need to adjust things around here for awhile until i figure this out..
ADDED: dear people (the non creepy ones), i love you. i sincerely do. i wish you were all here in person. i would hug you and thank you, wipe away my angry tears and take you to the park for a big picnic. we'd eat fruit, watch kids run around, soak up the sun and celebrate life (and the fact that the pictures were all taken down! hooray!!). after getting in our fill of spring at the park, you'd help me try to foster a little bit of sympathy and a little understanding for those who do things that aren't right, but then we'd let it go and move on... and after all that i'd try to sucker you into helping me make cupcakes and clean and decorate for tomorrow's party.. i've got a lot to do and am suddenly sooo very tired.
thank you again. truly.
xoxoxo
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 11:02AM
Reader Comments (537)
w e i r d .
Ugh. This is completely creepy in every sense of the word. I am so sorry that this happened to you. *hugs* I hope that this gets straightened out quickly and that nothing like this ever happens again.
- katie,
please remember that you are surrounded by family and friends that love you, as well as readers who support and respect both you are your family. let this give you strength when you feel vulnerable.
be proud of your beautiful self.
- M
Hello! You don't know me, but I adore your blog. I think you are insanely talented and inspiring, and I am so sorry that you have been so violated. That really is unimaginable and I wish you the best as you try to figure out what to do next. What a horrible thing for someone to do. Hugs from San Francisco.
Katie..
So sorry.. it's totally crazy. I love your girls and I LOVE seeing them on here, but I don't think there is anyway to prevent this from happening. Watermarks are easily removed or cropped out (unless they are huge and across the entire photo, and that just doesn't look so nice.) I think it's just part of the deal with a blog. Your content is out there.. for anyone to see and use, as much as we'd like to think it's not.
Oh, the pros and cons of writing a blog.
xo
B
I am always baffled by people who pretend to be something they aren't. I was on a message board for months and mionths with a woman claiming she was pregnant along with the rest of us. Even after we figured it out, we literally had to force the truth out of her. But to steal pictures of your *children*, well that is just beyond appalling and utterly creepy. The internet is a scary place in many ways. We are all trying to answer those questions about how much is too much information? Where is the balance between privacy and sharing? I feel for you. Your blog is wonderful, your children are adorable. I hope this all passes quickly. But it will never be the same, will it? Damn her. Him. Whomever. Hugs coming your way.
So so icky. Gives me the chills. And makes me reconsider things. Hope you can continue to have faith and hope.
so discussed !!! It is the second time this is happening to a blog I know....So sorry !! hope I could come over and give you a hand for the party !
this is so f*&%ing disgusting and creepy i can't stand it.
i've flagged her/him on facebook.
picasa allows you to watermark all of your photos (i.e. "katie's pics so don't steal them you freaky weirdos!") i started doing this with all of my pics of my little boy and thought i was being super paranoid but after seeing what's happened to you...apparently not.
good luck and i hope you an get that icky feeling out of your stomach soon!
it's completely incomprehensible to me why someone would do this -- because she hasn't just stolen your beautiful photos (though it looks like maybe they're already gone from both facebook and flickr). it's like she's stolen your life, your story -- at least in her own mind. which makes me think she's a sad, mentally ill person. i really hope this doesn't creep you out too much to continue your lovely blog.
xo
Katie,
I'm a long-time reader of your blog, but have never posted before. What this person has done is completely reprehensible and I hope she has the decency to resolve this immediately.
Until that happens, hopefully your spirits can be buoyed by the unseasonably sunny Brooklyn weather and have an awesome party!
How terrible! I read your blog without commenting often and find such joy and inspiration in your posts. I am sorry that this happened, and hope that you will see the rest of us supporting you and hear us saying loudly that we're glad that you're here with your faith and happiness, being a part of the good.
wow... unbelievable... why would someone do that....
so sorry to hear this happened to you and yours.
<3
For Everyone's Info: I don't know if this currently applies but it used to be part of Flickr's user agreement that all photos uploaded to the site become either public domain or property of Flicker. This was the grounds for an extremely complicated copyright case involving a Texas minor who had her photo taken at a church picnic which was uploaded on Flicker and used in an Australian ad campaign. Beware and read user agreements. Still Katie, you're doing the right thing and should keep pushing it through. Strange days...
I found a link about it:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-suevirgin_21bus.ART.State.Edition1.35bdb09.html
That's really sad and scary and weird. I'm glad it seems to be getting resolved. You do have a very enviable life though; a very beautiful family and great talent for making things beautiful. I hope this is the last time you see your lovely world "borrowed" by someone else. I sure like reading your blog. xox
Hey Katie,
Longtime reader, not frequent poster saying a) I'm sorry, that is disturbing beyond belief and b) keep your chin up. I don't know what possesses people to be so rude over the internet (as if they aren't in person), but know you creativity completely inspires me and I send you all the support I can.
Best wishes for a most excellent party!
I love your blog. So sorry that this happened to you. Unfortunately, you aren't the only one today: http://sixandahalfstitches.typepad.com/six_and_a_half_stitches/2010/03/hide-float-fly.html
Ewww! That's gross. I can't believe someone would do something so horrible! And try to pretend like they were you with your kids. So wrong. So sick. I'm so, so sorry! Please let us know how it all turns out.
I'm so sorry this has happened to you...super scary and creepy! I can't believe someone would be that shallow to do that.
Ewww, that is just horrible. I'm so sorry you have been involved in this awfulness. It's awful and creepy, and I can imagine would be horribly unsettling. Hugs to you!
wow. weird. good for you for calling her out. who does something like this?
anyway, we (non creepies) really admire and appreciate you sharing your beautiful life with us but understand if things unfortunatly need to change.
I'M So Sorry, PEOPLE ARE SICK! I also hate people steeling credit card numbers!!!!!
UGH! Unfortunately, this happens all the time to people. It's icky and wrong. I haven't read all the comments, so I'm sure someone has already mentioned it, but you really should consider watermarking your images. At least it makes it obvious that it is NOT someone else's work. And make those watermarks go right across the face if you need to. It's okay!
I just wanted to add my voice to your other supporters, and say how sorry I am that you've experienced this. Your blog is such a pleasure to read, and I pop in often. You and your family's adventures are lovely to read about and from someone living on the other side of the world, it's nice to see what life is like your side of the pond! I'd be very sad if you felt you didn't want to continue your blog in the same generous way, sharing your life and family as you do, but it would also be totally understandable. Strength to you, please don't let this shake your faith entirely!
Nadia
What? That's so scary and intrusive. Who is this person?