Ferarro

Okay, it's time for me to put my 2 coppers in regarding the whole Ferarro mess.

I don't play a Retribution Paladin. I love my main character - who is, in fact, a Paladin - but Retribution is not my playstyle.

That doesn't mean I don't appreciate good Ret Pallies. I recognize that other people make fantastic Ret Pallies. I play with a Ret Pally named Rizal who blows me away with his mad DPS skillz. I think Ret Pallies are a very welcome addition to the family of viable raid specs.

I learned a lot of things about Retribution Paladins from Ferarro's blog. I came there to be educated and entertained. For that I will always be grateful to whoever was behind the blog.

Regardless of what Jong says, the content was solid, and it remains a great resource for Paladins of all stripes.

But.

The Lost snippets, the photos, the non-WoW blog posts, they were what made me connect to the author of the blog. Did it help that she was an attractive blonde? Hell yes. But give me some credit; I don't follow bloggers at random based on their looks.

To find out that the photos were stolen from another blogger was a slap in the face.

To find out that other content was taken and repurposed was a stab in the heart.

These are things you do not do.

Like the rest of the community who visited Ferarro's blog, I was deeply disappointed in how the whole mess was handled by the nameless person at the keyboard. There were so many ways that it could have been handled better. Ways that did not involve the ongoing theft of another blogger's content to maintain a five-year-old deception.

I wonder how much the image of the WoW blogger has been tainted by this whole scandal. Speaking as a very insignificant member of this slice of the blogosphere, I can say that it just became a bit harder to hold my head up high.

So here's what I propose: let's call it even.

Nameless blogger, if you want to go out and set up your own Ret-Pally blog, that's fine. My best wishes to you. I may even drop by for a visit. If there's something there I connect with, I may even leave a comment.

In exchange, shut down Ferarro's blog. Right now. The guides can be hosted on Retpaladin.com if there's a clamor for them to stay up. But get rid of that blog; it's tainted.

And for Christ's sake, please leave Sarah Townsend alone.