Who knew that a site called the Baking Blog would end up meaning so much to me? My sister told me about it after I insisted she try some cupcakes that just weren’t quite right.
“These taste delicious to me, Helga. You are too picky. I actually tried a recipe from a website for people just like you the other day. Well, I was going to, but there were too many steps. Just because you explain in great detail why it has to mixed exactly this many times in exactly this way for an exact length of time doesn’t mean everyone is going to find it worth the effort.”
I frowned at her. I heard her argument and wanted to understand it, but my inner scientist knew exactly why the best recipes turn out better when you are precise.
“So are you going to tell me the name of the website?”
“It’s the Baking Blog. You would expect a fancier name with the recipes they post. If you make any of them, I promise to taste test.”
“Are you just telling me about this site so you have the goodies without the work?”
“You always said I should be your brother,” she took another generous bite of her cupcake, “And your efforts are always worth it.”
Thus I created my online persona: HelgaBaker. Within a few months, my scientific approach to recipes attracted the attention of the site administrators and they bumped me to gold member. With that upgrade, I received samples of baking ingredients and opportunities to try new products.
Fast forward to this morning when I did my morning check for posts or comments that needed the special attention that only HelgaBaker can provide. Three emails thanking me for my latest post raised my eyebrows and my worries.
I clicked on the link to “my” post and gasped as I glanced at what purported to be a new chocolate chip cookie recipe of my creation. I immediately recognized it, as anyone would, as the recipe on the back of one of the most recognized chocolate chips in America. In fact, the recipe even included the name in it. At the Baker Blog, we don’t endorse one brand over another. We do tell you which brands we tried in each recipe as they can result in subtle differences in texture and flavor, but we don’t list one specific brand to be used in the recipe.
The second article endorsed a brand of cookie sheets that I had never heard of let alone used. I grumbled to myself. I don’t write product reviews. I have tested products and shared my thoughts with Lizbeth, our product presenter, but I have never written a review or endorsement of any product on the site.
The third article actually insulted a couple of the other administrators by name. I bit my tongue and quickly logged into my administrator account. I deleted the first post and then removed the other two from the server as well. When I double checked my changes, all three remained on the site.
“No. How can that be?”
I tried again. The posts remained. My email informed me that another post had gone live. Seconds later, another message arrived from one of the original administrators.
“Helga,
“I think someone has hacked your account. Have you seen the posts that you allegedly posted in the past twenty-four hours? Call me immediately.
“Sonya”
The phone call didn’t resolve the issue, so we called an impromptu meeting at the coffee shop that lies about midway between our three houses. Despite meeting online, we lived closer to each other than we realized, all in the same city and with a coffee shop situated not further than three miles from any of us. Normally, I would walk, but today required speed, so I raced over in my car.
As I rushed inside, I glanced around. I quickly found Sonya and Maeve, leaning into each other to exchange heated words. Sonya waved me over as she finished saying something and I hurried over.
“Did you find out anything?” I whispered as I slid into my seat.
“Nothing.” Maeve looked at Sonya meaningfully.
“So we are wondering what you know.” Sonya looked down at her hands, but I didn’t miss the accusation in her words.
“I don’t know anything either.” I sighed, “Except that I didn't write those posts.”
“Hello, ladies,” a voice interrupted.
We all looked up in surprise. A young man with dark hair falling over his eyes grinned as he looked down at us. As our silence continued, his smile faded a little.
“I’m so glad to finally meet you.”
“Um?” We exchanged looks.
“I’m James Brûlée!” He awaited our reaction.
I exchanged a puzzled look with Sonya as Maeve gasped.
“I guessed wrong then.” He frowned and turned to me. “I’m sorry I thought you were the one censoring me, Ms. Baker.”
As he raised a tablet and started tapping quickly on the screen. Sonya and I looked to Maeve for an explanation. My phone pinged to inform me that four of my posts had been successfully removed from the blog. I clicked on the blog to confirm and then looked up at James.
“You?”
“Yes. Me.” He glared at Maeve. “I have been submitting articles for consideration and being rejected. I thought by Ms. Baker, but apparently you were the one threatened by my ideas.”
“Her name isn’t Ms. Baker,” Maeve offered with disdain.
“Yeah. She just likes to bake,” Sonya giggled nervously.
“He can call me that it he likes. I just want to know what is going on here.”
“I am more than willing to tell my side.” James pulled over a chair and sat down between Sonya and I, so he could watch Maeve as he explained. “I have been submitting articles to your site for over a year now. None of my articles ever appeared, but I kept seeing my exact words cropping up in other articles on the site. They were all posted by Helga Baker. I sent an email asking for an explanation to the administrator, who responded with a brief explanation that my articles were not in line with the site’s philosophy and that any similarity in articles that had been posted must be a coincidence.”
“Those edits you suggested for my articles were plagiarized from his?” I looked at Maeve.
She sneered at me, “You can’t believe that?”
“I did think they weren’t your normal style but I thought that was because you were trying to craft your words to match mine.”
“Well, that is exactly what happened,” she jumped on the explanation.
“I can show you my original articles and the my copies of the emails I sent.” James offered, lifting his tablet to tap away swiftly again.
“That’s okay. I have known Maeve long enough to know when she is lying.” Sonya patted the young man’s shoulder. “So how are we going to make this right, Maeve?”
Maeve stared at her friend with her mouth wide open in surprise before defensively proclaiming. “I will not be blackmailed.”
“And we won’t be party to plagiarism,” Sonya rejoined.
“I agree. Part of our site’s philosophy is to support those who love to bake delicious things and share what they learn about the process with others. If his thoughts are good enough to include in my articles, surely they are good enough to add a fourth administrator.”
“But he is a baby.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“We want the next generation to enjoy baking, too, don’t we?” Sonya asked.
Maeve sighed. “I suppose so, but you know how I feel about change.”
“Then I can be his second set of eyes for editing and approval before he posts.” I offered.
“I guess.” Maeve agreed after a long pause.
“And I will be taking over the administrator email.” Sonya added.
Maeve grumbled about that.
James smiled at us. “So I just renovated my kitchen. How about you ladies join me this weekend to bake up some fun and get to know each other better as I join in the wonderful venture you created at the Baking Blog.”
“You talk funny for a teenager,” Maeve mumbled.
“That’s because I read too much, or so my mother tells me.” James laughed with us.
When the laughter settled, we made arrangements for our baking party. Who knew a mysterious morning would lead to making a new friend?
~~The blog in this story is fictional. It is not mean to represent any known blog, so if you find one and it is fabulous, I had nothing to do with it, but please tell me about it. (Yet, anyway. Anyone want to pay me to write a recipe blog???) I kind of feel like I should throw a recipe on this post just to give you something fun to do this weekend—eat yumminess. Sorry. No recipes today. 2022 is coming in with a lot of wrath directed my way.~~
No comments:
Post a Comment