Armchair BEA - Ethics

Design credit: 
Sarah of Puss Reboots

What a great topic as part of the Armchair BEA - ethics and blogging. My personal view is this -

• I will always disclose if I have received a copy of a book in exchange for a review. Over the last year though I have reviewed a few other things in addition to books.
• Never sell the books or items on, instead 
• I pass them along to another reader or user - (not ebooks)
• Donate them to a worthy cause
• I email the provider and seek the go ahead
• Review Policy - I do have a review policy - HERE although it could do with an overhaul
• I do not make any money from this (or any) blog that I am involved with. No affiliations with Amazon or other retail or institutions - to me blogging is a source of enjoyment, not a money making entity.
• I do not plagiarise.
• If I use an image I found on the internet I always provide the source of the image 
• I always seek permission where possible
• If I gain an idea for something on back of reading someone elses blog or post I provide a link - an example of this is the February Photo Collage Festival - You can see all the posts for this HERE
• I do though, advocate an organisation called Kiva and belong to the Genealogists for Families Team (GFF) which welcomes genealogists and their friends and families to join in. There is a badge on the sidebar on this blog which shows the Kiva loans that I have personally made as part of the GFF team.
• The opinions shared on Anglers Rest are mine and mine alone, unless I state otherwise.
• As part of my profession I am bound by a Code of Ethics. I never discuss professional issues on my blog, in fact I rarely mention my profession, which is in the healthcare arena. If I do relate to the day job I always talk in general terms or mention things that are specific to me. Furthermore, I signed the Official Secrets Act in 1992 thus rendering part of my professional life untalkable!

The biggest bug bear of blogging and sharing material has to be Pinterest. Whilst I have an account and use it I have in the last week read of several bits of material from genealogical bloggers being shared via Pinterest and the sharer has removed the source information completely. Then last weekend someone dropped me a message to say that someone had lifted my picture (the one that I use as my profile on this blog) and shared it to their board.

I did two things. Firstly I left a comment advising that the person had breached my copyright and I left my URL to this blog and secondly I reported the user and this particular issue to the Pinterest team. Within the day the "offender" was removed, well that account anyway, from the site. I guess this was because they had been swamped with complaints.

I have a copyright note on my blog and on my website. I trust that other people will respect that note, just as I will respect anyone else's copyright.

Final comment. - This blog is my virtual living room. I share an assortment of things, mainly book or genealogical related and share photos of holidays etc. This blog is a reflection of my integrity and personal values.

What a great and fascinating subject to write about; it was good to get those little grey cells (Hercule Poirot - Agatha Christie character) working.