Do You "Borrow" Ideas?

Let me ask you this - does Google borrow ideas? Absolutely, and so do I but only if I think I can make them better and only if I don't need copyrighted software to do it.

- Google created G+ to compete with Facebook
- Google created search to compete with Navigator
- Google helps themselves to all of the content online, and nobody really complains.
- Google news? 100% not theirs....

So what's good for Google is good for me too!

 

I feel the same way. Like if I see something nice and I want to make my own content out of it, then I'm going to do just that. Of course, I'll quote the source as well so it doesn't make me look bad or anything. Forums seem to borrow ideas from one another all the time. Especially on a lot of gaming and/or admin forums.

 

I’ve certainly seen discussion on other forums or blogs and reposted a version with questions on my site. I think it’s also good to check google trends, see what people are talking about and start conversation on your own site about it. This is actually pretty popular among bloggers. I’ll see if I can find a link, but I’ve read several blogs that talk about brainstorming topics then checking to see how popular they are on a global scale. You wouldn’t likely want to write a 500 word blog post if no one is even interested in the topic.

 

My response to this is going to go a bit off-topic from the original post, but....

That shouldn't prevent you from actually writing it if you think it's interesting anyway. You never know when a topic might suddenly become relevant out of no where, and you'll already have content ready for it.

 

Very true, I was just trying to use it as an example.

 

There is a huge difference between copying and stealing. Nothing is really that unique anymore so you need to find something you can take and make slightly better. I do it and I presume most people do. I think it is fine as long as it is not copying ideas directly.

 

I've noticed that sites that are in competition with each other, install the same resources or something similar and when they do, the first one who installed the resource accuses the other one of stealing ideas.

 

I personally do, the reason being is to expand my ideas on what is popular to incorporate within that niche. Usually, lurking on other forums allows me to think of unique ideas for my own forum.

 

I do to an extent. I look at topics on other forums and "enhance" them (by using better keywords, more descriptive etc).

 

In sports you have no choice but to copy the same team forums, and often times to duplicate the same content.
It's what sports fans are interested in so a site has to have certain content to survive, let alone grow.
The difference is I try to make my content more engaging than the competition.

 

Yeah, I definitely borrow ideas for topics and content. Indeed, forums are one of my news sources for gaming information in general, since quite a few interesting news worthy subjects get posted on forums and social networking sites rather than actual news sites or blogs.

 

I got inspiration off the techgame because thats the most popular technology forum out there so i just got a few of there forums but you can't really borrow ideas its more like taking.

 

Yeah sure, I really think everything that we can do has patterns, same with making ideas or BORROWING ideas from someone. What you're doing is just checking their pattern of doing something out and going "Hmm, I like that. Maybe I could try that."

Though there's the obvious STEALING which is definitely not cool IMO. Better to learn and improvise instead of just straight up steal someone's work.

 

Did Samsung copy Apple's iPhone and got away with it? Absolutely. Yet now, AAPL shareholders can only wish that Apple would copy the Galaxy 4 and would produce a 5 inch screen iPhone...

 

I think there is a thin line between borrowing an idea and adding a feature or functionality.
Like if I want to add such and such plugin to my site is that consider copy an idea?

 

I'm not sure if I can call it borrow because if you use them, you don't exactly return them. Lol But I think what I do is I get some inspiration from other forums then enhance them or create my own spin on them.

 

I'm smiling at what Diprod said. I would prefer to call it "gaining inspiration". No one can say that they have ever had a completely original idea. Ideas come to us as responses to problems many times. At other times, we look at the way someone else does something and say, "Why didn't they do it this way?" I think that's another way we get inspiration.

So, to answer your question, I think many of my ideas come about as a result of something I've seen or experienced elsewhere. However they usually aren't a copy and many times the link between what I do and the other idea is not even apparent.

 

I think we all do don't we? I know when I used to run a football forum that I would visit other forums to see what they were offering their members, and they would visit my forum to see what ideas they could get from me. I don't see anything wrong with it to be honest.

 

I wouldn't say I bothered ideas. More like I saw inspiration in whatever I saw.

There are times were we may see something and a new idea comes to mind.

 

Some time ago I went to apply for a job and was sent to a 3-day training.

The coach told us about the "Business Japanese model" consisting of borrowing or stealing successful ideas as foundation stone to our own.

It's not about copy exactly the idea but take it and improve it or developing a new one based on the original.