Two things have grabbed my HNT attention, especially in the past week. I've gotten some emails about them, and some are just observations I've seen as I go through everyone's posts. I'm not going to give you names or URLs of anyone here. There's just no sense in getting into a war between those who "get" HNT, and those who are too dense who don't.
THE FIRST PISSY concerns the stealing of individuals' HNT shots and using them on their own sites. Two major instances. One was brought to my attention by an email from someone who decided to drop out of HNT because she didn't realize that pictures might show up on other's sites. This particular site had a post entitled "The silliness of HNT", and his first line is "Is anyone else tired of HNT?" That doesn't bother me. Everyone is certainly entitled to there own opinion, especially on their own site. But he proceeded to post 15-16 different HNTs that he'd visited, and invited his readers to laugh along with him as he criticized, lampooned, and spewed forth his "review" of what is wrong with HNT. Again, it's not his opinions, or his commenters, that bother me--though I find it humorous that they all "know" what the original intent of HNT was. Sorry, guys. There's only one person who knows what the original intent was/is. No, it's the pirating of HNT pics off of other sites without permission that steams me. For as self-righteous and ego-building as this guy's post was (he had over 50 comments, most of which nodded their heads in agreement and looked down on the sad, pathetic souls who partake in HNT, including some former HNTers), I noticed that: A) he doesn't do HNT himself, and B) it hasn't stopped him from checking it out on an apparently regular basis.
The second instance is someone who basically uses/posts others' HNTs for most of his site. Regularly, and without permission. Granted, he is much more pleasant, very complimentary, and sometimes links back to the original sites. To his credit, he is a familiar figure among many HNT comment boxes. But again, he steals HNTs from other sites and that makes up at least half of his site! "Creepy" is the word I've heard most from those who were surprised to find themselves on his site. All the more creepy when you consider that he's got a Flickr account made up of his favorite HNT pics. Again--WITHOUT PERMISSION!
Another site that was built entirely on the pictures of others was the Bloggin' Hottie site. The difference here is that he actually contacted women to become a "Bloggin' Hottie", and they supplied the photos (I believe). While I never felt that this was a great site, the women who participated seemed to like it. But depending on others for your creativity apparently has its drawbacks. I read elsewhere that he's trying to sell his domain. And I haven't seen much of him around in about a month or so...
One can argue that any picture that shows up on the internet makes it fair game. I don't quite believe that, but how many of us have asked to use any of the pictures that we find and use on our sites? I have been called out for using pictures without permission (especially the Valentine's Day perfect girl collage--since taken down). The girl in question and one of her bloggerfriends raked me over the coals pretty good in their posts, but I didn't try to defend myself. Because, to some degree, they were right. By the same token, I've done a couple of birthday tributes using pics that I didn't ask permission for, but I "knew" the people I was stealing from, and they certainly weren't used as fodder for my criticism or as a major component of my blog.
What can be done? I'm not sure. Certainly contacting the owner of the site and requesting that your pictures be removed is an option. I haven't researched Blogger enough to know if there is some sort of action that they can take, if requested. I would say that a general plea to everyone to not use pictures without permission is the best that can be done. To new HNTers--this isn't a normal thing that happens, and I don't think you need to worry much about this sort of thing.
THE SECOND PISSY (but not as pissy) is a point that has been brought up by many people over the past couple of weeks. HNT, nekkid or naked? I'm not about to tell anyone what to post for their HNT. I've said that numerous times. But there seems to be more of an attitude that one can post full frontal nudity and pass it off as "half-nekkid". There's a big difference between an artistic nude shot (you all have a pretty good idea of the ones I'm talking about), and whipping out a quick shot of your girlie/boy bits and calling it half-nekkid. Posting the same picture that you might find on a porno site is not necessarily in the spirit of HNT.
Am I calling for modesty here? Not at all. But there's a difference between art-nekkid and porn-nekkid. If I have to make a call, it would be for more art-nekkid. I think that there's been some liberties taken with the "half" part of HNT. From both the men and the women. I'm all for freedom of expression and everything, but is there anything wrong with some wide boundaries? I recommend that everyone refresh themselves with the Guidelines.
OK--pissiness over for now! Enjoy your weekend!
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