Insider 'Trading'

Wait, did one of my friends become a celebrity and I didn't hear about? I ask because the other day I was annoyed by something this old friend of mine did, so I recycled a blog post I'd written about him and blasted it out over my Twitter account to let off some steam. (Doesn't really have the same effect as punching a wall or going on a bender, does it? But what the fuck.) The post kept his identity anonymous, but it allowed me to lament how I felt I had "lost him" to his new life as bareback porn actor and secret prostitute (he doesn't know that we all know what he's been doing). I'd blogged about it on Oct. 1, 2007, but when my friend Scott saw it (for the first time) in my tweet, he did a quick Internet search to see if he could find my friend's original hooker ad ("I wanted to see his face," Scott explained). Next thing I knew Scott was incrementally more interested in my friend's identity after he saw the post "on the Web site of 'The Insider'." HUH??? After initially thinking Scott was just kidding around, he finally was able to tell me how he came across the posting and sure enough, TheInsider.com has MY BLOG POST about my friend on its site -- in its entirety. Needless to say, I have never signed up to share my content with The Insider -- and if I had, I certainly would not have thought this post would be relevant for their audience. The truth is, the ONLY time I've had any dealings with them at all was when I called them out for their disgusting coverage of the assault of Rihanna by Chris Brown. But stealing my work in its entirety so no one would ever even need to click on the (thanks for the) link to my blog at the bottom (so I'd at least get SOMETHING out of the deal) sure isn't the way to go about making me want to.