someone has cruelly stolen my intellectual property :(

    When I started this blog, I spent weeks pouring over what I wanted to call it. I wanted to create an online community where those of us who have been through the ringer, those of us who have been in and out of psychiatric treatment, therapy, and just become more and more traumatized, to come together and commiserate. To be vulnerable but anonymous, to bare our souls to each other and to find a way to combat the stigma that haunts us.

As someone who has suffered with severe depression my entire life, I just wanted to feel connected to people who understood me, and to let others know they are understood. 

Instead, imagine my absolute shock when I get an email regarding a brand new website: sadgirldiaries.com. Yes, that IS very close to this website! At first I thought "well that's a coincidence" but I looked through it anyway... and it became undeniable. At first I couldn't believe what I was reading, that someone had come to my preciously built community, and stolen everything. YUP, it's true! 

If you visit the website (but please don't, I'm certainly not trying to support or encourage her), you will notice immediately that Sarah has stolen my logo design (she has changed it slightly to be less original but even the flowers are nearly the same), stolen my name as much as she can (sadgirldiarIES), and stolen my entire website idea. I've found her instagram and patreon, all linked on her site, and she has not been smart enough to cover the evidence that she has stolen everything! 

Proof: Here is a screenshot I captured of her latest patreon post (I've now included mobile versions as well!), on August 14, saying she is changing the website name and design! Yup. I am mortified. (This was well after my site was established, and after the same IP address that updates her site was on this one.... interesting!)  How can someone even be so cruel without feeling immense guilt... she's certainly not someone I'd trust my mental health stories with. 

The patreon especially is so disgusting, not only is she stealing something someone else worked hard to create (for FREE and that will always be free!) she is now trying to monetize it for her own gain. 

I would never and will never try to make money off of this site like that. Off of people's mental health struggles. For me this is a sacred space.

In the deepest depths of my depression, creating this blog was all I had keeping me going. Holding on to the hope that someone else out there would understand was keeping me going. So to see that someone is trying to steal everything is quite a sad shock. The irony of a supposed literary magazine editor plagiarizing all of her ideas from someone else is not lost on me. I'm sure this isn't the first idea she has stolen. It's so gross.

Lucky for me, she seems to have barely any patreon subscribers at the moment. it looks like she is still trying to get this stolen idea off the ground. I have reached out to ask her (ok, demand!) that she change her website content back to its original form and stop stealing my stuff. Email below for full transparency from me (mobile added!). 

I have sent a lawyer friend an email already, but I do not have a lot of money and energy to fight this, but I will definitely try. They have been a big help. I won't Sarah co-opt the community that I've built here with your folks. Please spread the word about what is happening so people know the truth, and reach out to Sarah if you care (NOT to harass!!!) to let her know that what she is doing is not OK and that you won't support it.

That's really all I have to say for now. I am beyond upset at this turn of events, and I hope that my lawyer can get her website put back the way it was before she found mine. I probably won't be updating once he gets back to me, just in case. 

Updated to show more proof of malicious intent:

She changed her logo to a near copy of mine in mid August, after finding my website through SEO :( Clearly she liked my ideas, at least.

Here is the caption under the same logo reveal post, but on instagram. She even openly admits she's been looking for a logo design and finally found one that seems perfect ... on this website. She may steal but she isn't very smart about it.

And here is a post where she openly admits to suddenly rebranding her own site into Sad Girl Diaries. We really inspired her friends! What was wrong with Sad Girls Club literary blog, Sarah? No one was reading the writing when it was just your own? Is anything actually your own creation? Probably not.

More proof. here is the oldest post on her website. She only started posting these at the end of August, but posted 60 pages worth very quickly in order to make it look legit. The nefariousness of this is literally making my heart pound as I write it down. She really worked so hard to steal this stuff! 

I would've used that brain power to come up with my own ideas, but that's just me. 

On August 14, she launched the site. Again well after this one was established.  I can't keep making comments here it is breaking my heart too much and firing up my chest. 

Also - "an online literary magazine"? Lol she took the idea but named it something ten times as pretentious. She doesn't understand what accessible, grassroots media actually is. It really reminds me of some of the students that did a BA with me, who were very full of themselves because they owned thesauruses.

The proof just keeps coming: Here's her site's info showing that it was indeed created in late July, after she was "inspired" by all the work I put in here.

her post admitting that she suddenly decided to rebrand her entire site into a space for shared stories called sad girl diaries ... thanks for admitting it, I guess? 

What really upsets me though, is her calling herself "the original sad girl", clearly to try and discredit me if people were to find her site, making it look like I'M the one who stole from her! Too bad I keep receipts, always (and you should, too!). But the audacity really boils my blood. I can't even imagine acting the way she has.

her schtick may have worked if I didn't find her site, too, because she's gone to great lengths to make it look like hers has a huge team behind it and a long history, with "contests" and stuff that don't look very legit. 

It's also just a wix site template, she didn't even make her own like me!!! >:O

I can't believe she probably thought she could "steamroll some pathetic depressed girl" and make money off of her idea. It makes me so angry (is it the autism? lol) that she's done all this. Why do people think they can discredit people just for being mentally ill? Lol that's not how it works in a mental health community. I never in a million years assumed someone would find this teeny site and want to steal the entire thing. Maybe I would be flattered if I weren't so angry and upset. At least the truth is out now.

Update: I've updated this post again to show some of the messages I've received, 2/3 from the exact same IP address. when you comment on a site, you leave a digital fingerprint behind. 

When I make a mistake, I generally apologize and try to fix it. Although stealing is not a mistake, and I would never do that. Nor am I sending anyone "hate" by sharing the facts and proof. Someone saying something you don't like does not make it hate.

If someone's livelihood depends on stealing ... then yeah, get a new job. I doubt the website she literally just created is her livelihood, since it isn't very popular right now. 

And now they've just decided to straight up bully. I'm not painting Sarah as anything - she painted herself when she decided to steal. I really hope she puts her site back to how it was, but it seems like if she was going to be honest, she would've done so already.

Sarah has now said that she is receiving spam emails. IF you have done this - STOP! It is not OK to harass someone. If you are sending spam or mean messages, you do not belong here. Please come back when you are ready to participate more kindly. I do not condone this behaviour. 

I've redacted the spam referenced to not give anyone any ideas. Don't harass anyone on my behalf.