I’ve lost my faith in humanity

This afternoon started out uneventful enough, I had a thought that I’d change my Twitter handle (@bouncermb) to match my blog. Harmless right? So I thought.

In case you don’t know, Twitter only lets you have 15 characters in your handle. The easiest way to make My Life In Mommyland into 15 characters is to drop off the “My”.

Taken! What? It wasn’t last time I checked. I looked into it a little more and found that the owner of that handle has a blog of the same name. I think at that point all the blood rushed from my head.

When I was choosing a name for my blog I did my homework, I looked for other blogs and websites of the same name to make sure that I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes. I found nothing close to My Life In Mommyland, so I went with it and have been working since July 2009 to make it my own. I’ll admit, I took a pretty long leave of absence to get my house ready for sale, move and get accustomed to my new life in my new Mommyland, but I’m back now.

I can take part of the responsibility for what has happened to me, I didn’t protect myself by buying the domain and copyrighting. I didn’t think I really needed to, this is a hobby for me, something I do to share my story with the world. I guess I was naive in thinking that someone would come across my blog and make a different name for themselves. If this other blogger did the homework she should have, she had to have seen me. If you put the name of her blog in a Google search MY blog comes up first, I don’t know how she couldn’t have seen me. Perhaps she found my blog during it’s dormant period and thought it was abandoned. Does that make it OK?

Do I have a legal leg to stand on? No, and I know it. But morally and ethically what she did was wrong. I don’t understand how people can knowingly take from someone like that. Copyright or no copyright, the name was taken, move on. It’s not like Mommyland is a common word like “Coupon” or “House”. It’s not like she only used one of the same words that I do. It’s the same exact name minus the “My”, and in my book that’s too close to be OK.

So what am I going to do about it? I don’t know, I don’t think there is anything I can do. What I WILL do is keep blogging. What I WILL do is keep blogging under the name of My Life In Mommyland. What I WILL do is buy my domain, so no one else can try to take from me. What I WILL do is give Mommyland a face lift. What I WILL do is strive to make My Life In Mommyland even better for all of you.

I will not be pushed aside by some woman who has been blogging for 4 months. I was here first and I’m not going anywhere. Perhaps finding this other blog was a blessing in disguise, it’s showed me how much I do love and care for my blog. Maybe it’s not just a hobby for me after all.

I’d love your support, I’m still feeling pretty down about the whole situation. Give a girl a follow here, and on Twitter @bouncermb. An email of encouragement would probably go a long way too. Help me make My Life In Mommyland bigger and better than ever.

Thanks!