• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Know-it-all Nikki
  • Knit
  • My Heart
  • Read
  • Explore
    • Alaska
    • Depression and Anxiety
    • Life
    • Monday Motivation
    • Nikki’s Notes
    • Recipes
You are here: Home / Me / NickMom: The New Stranger Danger, Taking Your Child’s Pictures and Why You Should Care

NickMom: The New Stranger Danger, Taking Your Child’s Pictures and Why You Should Care

By Know-it-All Nikki 9 Comments

As a parent, I teach my kids that stealing is wrong. That’s part of  our job, right? We teach the abc’s, 123’s, tying shoes, riding bikes, don’t put your finger in the light socket, baseball bats are outside toys, so are basketballs, footballs, scooters, and so is the frisbee. Hitting is wrong, so is name calling, kicking, punching, spitting, stealing and don’t talk to strangers cause they could steal you.

At least that’s what I’ve been teaching for 16 (almost 17… holy shit batman) years now. How about you?

And I’m so very tired of telling the kids all of this but I do it day in and day out because I hope that one day, one of those very important things will stick in their heads and they will listen to dear old mom.

But you see, even grown-ups need to be reminded of these things, if not have it shoved down their throats until it sinks in, because right now, some of them, No, A LOT of them are doing it wrong.

Every day bloggers encounter people who steal content, images, ideas and our brands but nothing, NOTHING should raise the hair on the back of a parent or family blogger’s neck and make the color drain from their face more than seeing their child’s face on another website and that blogger had no idea it was happening.

But it is happening and right now, NickMom.com (I’m not linking them, I refuse) is the biggest offender.  Amy from ResourcefulMommy.com wrote a wonderful piece that she has been updating that gives the full back story of how NickMom has stolen content, images, and branding from the guys at HowtobeaDad.com, Kelby Carr, and many other bloggers. And if you don’t believe that this is really happening even after reading Amy’s post, check out Kelby’s account of her interaction with NickMom and why she’s urging us all to Be Original.

And sadly some of the bloggers that were reached out to, don’t care. But they should and even if you’re not a blogger you should care, and I am going to tell you why because I wholeheartedly feel that it could happen to anyone who chooses to share their images or ideas in a public (internet) space.

I feel (and this is my personal opinion), that what NickMom is doing is no better than a pervert on the street, oggling your kids, your family, your moments, laying in wait to take them to do with as they wish.

Think on that for a minute, let it seep in and visualize yourself playing with your child at a park or in your own front yard while a sinister looking van sits 500 or more feet away with an unknown, un-named, person sitting inside capturing your moments on video or pictures and then taking those moments back to their secret place to change, edit or crop for their own nefarious purposes. And you’re non the wiser.

You wouldn’t let that happen would you? You wouldn’t stand by while someone creepily watches you and/or your children play. No, you would get out your phone, call 911, pick them up, take them inside, take a picture of their license plate or snap a picture of them and run to the police with it wouldn’t you?

And why would you do that? Because you want to protect your family.

NickMom.com Stealing from Bloggers

It’s a shame because he’s damn adorable.

Unfortunately, it’s harder for bloggers to do that same thing. We don’t know where our pictures end up or where our content ends up so we diligently put check marks in place to search out our photos, our content, our names. We rely on other bloggers to say, “Yo. I saw your kid on xyz.com, did you know he was there?” We watermark, Right Click protect… everything we can think of to make sure that what we put out there, what we want shared, is done with our consent, with our stamp of approval, and with our knowledge.

If we let sites like NickMom walk away with no more than an “Oopsie” on their part then we’re opening the door for other corporations to do it as if we’re inviting the stranger in with cookies and milk. Note: I do not eat cookies and milk with strangers.

As I was frantically searching last week for our own children on NickMom, my husband walked into the bedroom and said, “Now you know why I don’t want our pictures online”. He’s right.

It’s a real fear that they will end up somewhere worse than NickMom and for some other reason than websites like NickMom can’t come up with their own original funnies.

Around the blogger community there has been a lot of discussion and the one I find most ironic is that Nickelodeon network (parent of NickMom.com) claims to honor and respect the bloggers that they want to work with and they too think stealing is wrong (remember the iCarly episode, “iTake on Dingo”? Thank you Shannan for the hat tip on that!) The kids and I have seen that episode a dozen times and every time I get very preachy to the kids about plagiarism and stealing other people’s original works and why I gets so irate when I find my content somewhere else.

We have all talked this subject up one side and down the other, in and out and backwards again and we’ll keep on talking it until companies, brands, the content mills, scraping sites, and everyone in between gets it through their head that we’ve simply had enough: It is not enough or right to sit there and say, “we know we’ve done wrong but we’re only going to fix things when the copyright holders get in touch with us, and then… we’ll discuss it first.”

NickMom.com is coming to your front yard and kidnapping. It’s time to put an end to it.

 

 

Filed Under: Me, On Blogging Tagged With: content theft, copyright infringement, family, icarly, Nickelodeon, NickMom.com, On Blogging, Parenting, stealing

Affiliate Disclosure

Know-it-All Nikki is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

*Posts containing affiliate links will always be disclosed.

Previous Post: « My Audience Does Not Have Hot Flashes and How Media Companies Can Do Better at Blogger Outreach
Next Post: Surviving Frankenstorm Sandy and other Tips to help you ride out Severe Weather »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Erica Mueller

    September 20, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    A to the MEN.

    I think this angle bothers me more than the stealing. Those are my kids. I didn’t give you permission to use their faces. Even my mother in-law has asked to use our kids pictures on her blog and my husband has said no. Those photos are OURS.

    Reply
  2. Erica Mueller

    September 20, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    A to the MEN.

    I think this angle bothers me more than the stealing. Those are my kids. I didn’t give you permission to use their faces. Even my mother in-law has asked to use our kids pictures on her blog and my husband has said no. Those photos are OURS.

    Reply
  3. Erica Mueller

    September 20, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    A to the MEN.

    I think this angle bothers me more than the stealing. Those are my kids. I didn’t give you permission to use their faces. Even my mother in-law has asked to use our kids pictures on her blog and my husband has said no. Those photos are OURS.

    Reply
  4. carla

    October 27, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    Nicole,
    Funny thing. I was just coming out of a grocery store here in a suburb of Mass. when two very large twenty year olds, a woman and man dressed in goth, approached me with my 7 yr. old son and asked me if they could take my son’s pic with the goth guy for a “scavenger hunt” in a thumb war! I said, “no, I don’t think so.” My 12 yr. old daughter said I was being too crazy and couldn’t see the harm. All is that I could think of is my son’s face pasted on God know’s whose body, doing God knows what! Am I being too overprotective? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
  5. carla

    October 27, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    Nicole,
    Funny thing. I was just coming out of a grocery store here in a suburb of Mass. when two very large twenty year olds, a woman and man dressed in goth, approached me with my 7 yr. old son and asked me if they could take my son’s pic with the goth guy for a “scavenger hunt” in a thumb war! I said, “no, I don’t think so.” My 12 yr. old daughter said I was being too crazy and couldn’t see the harm. All is that I could think of is my son’s face pasted on God know’s whose body, doing God knows what! Am I being too overprotective? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
  6. carla

    October 27, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    Nicole,
    Funny thing. I was just coming out of a grocery store here in a suburb of Mass. when two very large twenty year olds, a woman and man dressed in goth, approached me with my 7 yr. old son and asked me if they could take my son’s pic with the goth guy for a “scavenger hunt” in a thumb war! I said, “no, I don’t think so.” My 12 yr. old daughter said I was being too crazy and couldn’t see the harm. All is that I could think of is my son’s face pasted on God know’s whose body, doing God knows what! Am I being too overprotective? Thanks 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi there!

I’m Nikki and I’m thrilled to have you here. I’m powered by a good chai latte, loads of chocolate, and humor. Here at Know-it-all Nikki, I dish up honest conversations about self-care and mental health. I also share living with a congenital heart defect, my love of books, knitting, midlife, and life as a Buckeye exploring The Last Frontier. So, pull up a seat, grab your tea, and let’s spill some tea, have a lot of laughs, and a few good cries. To learn more about what makes me tick, CLICK HERE

knowitallnikki

I will never not be amazed or awestruck at the sig I will never not be amazed or awestruck at the sight of a rainbow. 
.
.
.
.
.

#therainbowconnection #rainbowsaftertherain🌈 #naturelovers #naturelovers #rainbowcolors #roygbiv #alaskaliving #alaskalife #rainbowsunset
Some people would see this and say, "my God what a Some people would see this and say, "my God what a mess!" But I know the truth; it's September 2nd and I am one day late to making new batches of chai latte and hot chocolate mixes.
Why? Because #itsfallyall 
I know it may be sweltering where you are but for me, this is the unofficial start to my favorite season. Does that make me a basic bitch? Maybe, but I don't care.

.
.
.
.
.
#autumn #fallvibes #hotchocolate #cozylife #hallmarkmovies, #chailatte #fallcolors #autumnvibes
Hey guys... the books are inside. No? Ok, carry on Hey guys... the books are inside. No? Ok, carry on then.
.
.
.
.
#alaskaliving #alaskawildlife #cranes #sandhillcrane #sandhillcranes #birds #birdsofinstagram
That's right! There's a new post on the blog! I've That's right! There's a new post on the blog! I've wanted to write this one for awhile but wasn't quite sure how I felt. Then a conversation with a friend on Monday turned on the light bulb in my head and it was... EUREKA 💡. Has this ever happened to you?

.
.
.
.
#instareels #reelsofinstagram #gettingoldsucks #achd #ACHDAdventuresWithNikki #adultchdsurvivor #chdvoice #1in100
When you're trying to find something to eat for lu When you're trying to find something to eat for lunch and didn't bring the big bag in to carry your wallet and phone, you decide you want a plastic basket like the one(s) @heatherspinsayarn and your daughter from another mother has. And once you have said basket, you get your lunch and checkout...

But THEN you decide the basket oils perfect for taking only the essentials into the library so you fill it with your WIP, the jerky your bought, pens, your journal, phone, wallet, and keys. And now you feel all minimalist even though the big bag is still in the car with everything else. 🤣
I decided today to clean out my bag. And by "bag", I decided today to clean out my bag. And by "bag", I mean the giant @landsend tote bag I received when I went to the last ever GOOD Type-A Mom conference in 2017.
.
.
Here are some of the items I found...
2 pairs if wired earbuds
3 pairs of wireless earbuds
2 disposable masks
1 reusable mask
4 types of loose leaf herbal tea packets
- A more than comfortable stack of receipts for someone who doesn't work anymore
- An even more than comfortable stack of garbage
1 pen bag
1 small makeup bag courtesy @ipsy 
- a plastic closable case for bobby pins and hair ties
Saline solution
Flonase
2 rolls of washi tape
1 bobby pin
5 hair ties
5 scrunchies 
3 small notebooks
1 phone charger adapter that you plug in🔌 
1 phone stand
1 tablet or book stand
1 gauge swatch for the temperature blanket @heatherspinsayarn and I never started 🤣🤣
1 medicine bottle with extra strength Tylenol
2 moist towelettes (packaged)
3 kinds of hand lotion
1 lip balm
1 office clamp
1 small paper clip
1 really awesome microfiber eyeglass cleaner (I can share a link if you want it)
1 pair of very dirty clip-on sunglasses 
1 travel size pack of kleenex
1 notepad I made out of the library's recycling paper
A pair of fingerless gloves (not knitted)
A business card for the Alaska state troopers
1 knitting needle sizer
2 stitch markers
 A complete set ofstitch markers
A Travel size tooth bush, toothpaste, and flosadeck of tarot cards
4 fabric headbands
1 sports headband
Passport
Wallet
5 pens
1 mechanical pencil
- Too much Alaska sand in the bottom
- A combination crochet hook / knitting needle
.
.
And do you know what wasn't in there? The one thing I can't find... my driver's license
.
.
.
My office has no door. If I'm in the middle of wor My office has no door. If I'm in the middle of work, a phone call, or the @stitchingthemilestogether podcast there are extreme measures I need to take in order to get some privacy. 
.
.
The curtain is held closed by office binder clips (not just for files and potato chip bags anymore!) On the other side if the curtain is a baby gate because dogs are like moose and they will not be held back by binder clips. 
.
.
This works so well that I'm considering just leaving it like this permanently!
.
.
.
.
#officelife #homeofficedecor #homeofficelife #amwriting #freelancewriter #freelancelife
Not the most flattering picture I've ever taken so Not the most flattering picture I've ever taken so you MUST know how much I love and miss Nickles Maple Twist Sweet Rolls. These were a staple growing up in Ohio and my kids love them too.
.
Now, of course I can't find them here in Alaska so when @heatherspinsayarn talked about ordering them for the station, I may have let out the saddest, lowest sigh on the planet. Heather pitied me so much she sent me a maple twist sweet roll package.
.
She requested a picture and this is probably the best evidence I can provide. I promise the moment I began chewing, I was smiling like a fool (with my mouth closed of course). .
.
.
.
.
#nicklesbakery #stitchingthemilestogether #carepackage # fiberbffs
After an abysmal birthday month, it's time to rese After an abysmal birthday month, it's time to reset some things and get myself into a better headspace. 
.
But it isn't easy and I believe the words we use have the power to influence our mental health. Notice I use the words "Good choices"? That's because the word HABIT has negative connotations for me. 
.
It's doing something that I have chosen to do, over a habit I am enforcing on myself. I will be writing about this next week so be sure to check out the blog!
.
.
.
.
.
#goodchoices #passionplanner #PashFam #passionplannerambassador #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #selfcarefirst #smallvictories #passionplannerweekly #mayismentalhealthawarenessmonth
Load More Follow on Instagram

Footer

  • About this site
  • Advertising
    • Request a book review
  • Privacy Policy
  • Hire Me

Copyright 2006-2023 NLS Creative Privacy Policy