Today, I have the unpleasurable (word!) task of socializing out in the big bad place we call real world. Yes, even with a spelling error I refuse to fix, it will be unpleasurable. See, I’m a stay at home. I don’t do the PTA (my hair is all wrong for it) and I don’t get a library fix (cause I’m not responsible enough to return books for at least three months) and I rarely meet up with friends cause we all be busy. Next year I might look helping out with my youngest class room but kids are different then adults. You give a kid a smile and they love you for life. You give an adult a smile and they look you over head to toe and internally debate if your worthy.

Ssssooooo…the man has decided we need to socialize today. With this comes the kicking and screaming being dragged from the house scenario. No, I am not talking about the kids….me folks..that’s right..the grown up. I have so far come up with some really good and unique totally shot down reasons I should stay home; I need my lip waxed, I have split ends, not a thing in my bucket to wear, what if they don’t like me, they will look at you and wonder what the heck you were thinking, the dog needs a bath, my hair won’t go right, I have a headache and the list goes on. All it took was one long look from the man and a “if you don’t want to go…we won’t….” puppy dog impression and trudging off to the showers I went.

Off I will go with a smile plastered on my face and inside cringing and shaking. Then, when I get there…I will most likely have a great time and *gasp* even like the people and they will like me back. We will laugh, we will pick on the men and all will be good.

On to something a bit more serious. The other day I did something really really stupid. It was early morning in the shelter and a friend rezzed up a prim with a picture on it. I snapped a shot, passed it to someone else and asked the friend if he wanted a copy. He had way more coffee then I did and replied “that he wanted to research the original creator first.” My heart dropped. I have done some seriously stupid things before but never has it involved taking something from someone that could be construed as content theft. Heck, one time I even went so far as to yank a questionable item off my 5l wall to make sure I didn’t accidently contribute to someone else doing content theft! He found where it came from and then I did a bit more research and found another spot. Then had to log….came back and checked creator on the spot I found and just about broke down in tears. Not only did I “without thinking” steal something, but also passed along another creators content. With a very heavy sigh, I IM’d the original creator with an apology and offer of compensation and also sent an IM to the person I sent the item too. After all was said and done, I still have my account, I paid for what I took and everything that needed to be deleted from inventories on all ends was.

Why I am bringing this up? Well..mainly to let others know that doing the right thing off of stupid mistakes is never easy. Owning up to your mistakes sucks big time but it’s the right thing to do no matter the consequences. Nobody is perfect and everyone makes senseless mistakes. I learned about through this mess. The first would be to not act when I have no coffee but the most important lesson was doing the right thing makes you just plain feel good in the end. Yes, I got off lucky. With all the content theft going around, she really could have done anything she wanted to me and had every right to do so. And honestly, I would not have blamed her one bit either. Stealing content, either on purpose or through senseless acts is just plain wrong.

The other reason I bring this up is because the grid is apparently having another major skin content theft crises. You can head over to The Shopping Cart Disco (found under Random Shit blogroll) to read the actual details. To sum it up….a content creator from another on line source is investigating (yeah..appears RL lawyers are involved here) the creator of Minnu skins (sp?…slam me if you want..I never was a shopper there and not all that familiar with her work) for content theft.

Here is where it gets a little tricky and your own personal morals is going to play a huge part. Innocent until proven guilty for sure and without a doubt. However….if the skin creator is found guilty her items could be deleted from the grid by order of court. Purchasing said skins now that you know she is under a cloud of suspicion could leave you not only missing a bunch of goods should she be found guilty but also known as someone who lined the pockets of a creator who stole other peoples content and passed it off as her own. All of this assuming she is guilty and found guilty and all that jazz (complete personal opinion here….she did something….as to what, I’m not sure….those pictures by the original creator and her skins have some major similarities going on)

Anywhoo….first..content theft is a ridiculous part of the grid and if you know of it going on…say something to the original creator so they can do their own research. Second….if you make a mistake…own up to it and try to fix it and that means taking the consequences. Third….someone come socialize for me? Or at the very least…..get the greetings part over so I can just jump right to the fun part? Purty Pahlease?

(ooh and hello….one must read F.U.S.L in my blog roll…seriously…..good stuff)