Why I blog.

I stumbled upon the diabetes OC nearly 3 years ago. I was searching for answers. I wanted an insulin pump. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I had questions. I felt alone. I knew no other type 1 diabetics (that I could talk to anyway). Basically, my diabetes life was in the process of crashing completely.

Then I ran across and article that Kerri wrote for dLife. She was near my age, she was funny and had an amazing was with words. From there I found her blog, and her blogroll.

I discovered that there were others out there who had diabetes too! They had bad days. They had good days. They got frustrated. They fell in love. They lived their lives. Suddenly, I wasn't alone.

I read blogs for nearly a year. I got my pump in May of 2006. On April 12, 2007, I posted my first blog post. I didn't really know what I was doing. Who of us does at first? But I posted. I only got 1 comment. From Scott K. Johnson. That first comment is thrilling.

Now I am coming up on my third anniversary (or blogoversary, as it may be known). I know many blogger. I may have never met you. But I count you among my friends. Just check my blog roll on the right! There are many more, and I try to update as I can, but the ones listed are amazing as it is.

I have found TuDiabetes.com.

The OC introduced me to Twitter.

I have more passwords than I care to mention.

But my life has been drastically improved by blogging and knowing other bloggers.

"So," you ask, "Why do you blog?"

I blog because I need a connection. I blog to help other people. I blog for my sanity. I blog because I love feeling like I am a part of something great. I blog because you guys are part of my family.

I DO NOT blog to make money. I never have. I would love for someone to pay me to do this, but I do it anyway. Because the money isn't a reason. It's something much bigger than that.

Yesterday a Tweet was sent out that referred me to this article. What I read chilled my heart. The title of the article: How the Health Blogosphere was Scammed.

I was nearly one of the scammed. I got the e-mail from Dr. Rutledge. I e-mailed him back, asking for clarification on what "featuring" my blog included. Instead of an answer, I got an e-mail back from a Victoria Ho asking for my blog address. I never replied.

Less than 2 weeks later, this all comes to light.

I have many of my family in the D-OC that were scammed. Their blogs were posted on this site. People who have other chronic illnesses and professionals who blog were also scammed.

Now that Wellsphere has been sold, that money that they earned will, more than likely, never be given to the people who rightly deserve it. The bloggers who's content made the site what it is.

Even though I never jumped on board with Wellsphere, I feel violated. When I post a blog, it is MY property. I put the work into it. It may not be great work, but it is MINE. I don't mine people asking to link back to me. But to have my work reproduced by some company that then thinks they can earn money from what I have written is disturbing.

There are many people in the blogosphere who have written professionally, freelancing and otherwise. I am not one of them. But they deserve to be paid for what Wellsphere made a profit from. To have your work sold for profit, and to never be informed is darkness in it's finest form. It's pure evil.

I hope that there is something done legally to be sure that no one else profits from these works.

Most people don't know this (although they do now), but I hope to someday be a published author. Maybe that's why this bothers me so badly.

So, to all of you who were violated in such a way, I am truly sorry. Let it make all of us smarter in our decision making. Let us have learned a valuable lesson, if nothing else comes from this debacle.