Blog Plagiarism

[sillydoll]

I am really peeed off! I found one of my blog posts copied in its entirety on a health blog website! They have copied the whole post, photos and all, with no credit or link back to my site.

I have a request on the front page of my blog:

©2007 Amawalker. All original writing and photographs on this website.
Please ask for permission before using any part of this blog on your own blog or website and then include a credit or a link to this blog.

This crowd has just ignored it and copied an entire post onto their blog. And I can't seem to find a contact - although I have made two comments.

http://www.oxadox.com/index.php?article ... 27166_html

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Sil
If it´s any consolation, this is a very poor website that´s obviously put together by a robot. Maybe "imitation is the highest form of flattery..." Your copy was complete and appealing enough for some lazy and dishonest quack to want to steal and make his own! It happens to every decent writer.

But still there´s no excuse for this. I commented, too. For what good it will do. Robots can´t read comments, and lowlifes just don´t care.

Reb.

 

[Arn]

Sil, cretins exist in the world and we will know them by their company.

Fret not, some where...some day...their just deserts will be delivered as by all the thunder and storms on high.

The bloody bastards!

Arn

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I have found forum postings re-posted on similar websites. I think sometimes people 'selling' something just want google traffic to come to their website, and they'll use any material to get people there.
Margaret

 

[William Marques]

One must always be sure that when accusing others of pinching pictures or quotes that one do not do the same ones-self.

I have spoken to a number of people about this and nobody likes it when their pictures or words are used without their permission. Always ask and if necessary acknowledge the source of your photos or quote.

 

[ivar]

I have also seen forum posts on other sites. I believe this is a robot or some sort of automated system that create these pages, they do it to make money.

How? Notice that they copied your post related to a medical topic? This is not a coincidence I think. Adds on pages on this topic, generate up to 2-3 USD per click (this is high). They would never take text from your blog on topics that do not generate high ad value.

Not sure what to do to stop it though.

Un saludo,
Ivar

 

[john]

Sil/Ivar,

Plagiarism has also been a problem experienced by some gardening bloggers whom I read. Have a look at this interesting post by Hanna who keeps a blog This Garden is Illegal. (So called as her city ordinance prohibit growing veg in the front garden but she sneaks a few in anyway!)

http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/2007 ... ights.html

If that link doesn't work look up the blog and under 'blog stuff' follow the posts on coypyright infringement.

Regards
John

 

[sillydoll]

I have a note on the sidebar of my blog saying that I don't mind if someone uses my photos or words for their blog, as long as they ask and give me credit and/or a link back to my blog (the original source).

I think that some pictures and words are used over and over and over again on different websites and blogs until nobody knows where they originated. Most of the photos of wild plants and flowers that I used in the Medicine article came from http://www.opsu.edu I added their website URL at the end of the post.

Last year I was contacted by the author of the mantra 'Here begins the Journey - Now begins the Day - With one step upon the Road - My soul is on its Way.' I used it as an opening verse on a blog post. She asked me where I had taken it from. I told her that I honestly couldn't tell her. People share little verses and mantras with me all the time and I have about 6 pages of them. She told me to either credit her or remove the verse. I like the verse so I put a credit next to the verse. If you google the verse my blog comes up first - I haven't been able to find her name at all so perhaps it has never been published on the Internet.

Just the other day I read one of our forum members' posts and found my photo with sheep and a shepherd on her blog. I only remembered this particular photo because I had offered it to the CSJ for their Roads to Santiago Spiritual Companion booklet last year. She said she found it in their Spanish file ... .

It seems that if you post something on the internet, which is a public domain, you have to accept that it is available to everyone. It would be nice to give credit where its due. So, if I have used anybody's photos on my blog without permission, please forgive me ... let me know and I will give you the credit you deserve.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

If you want to be really Zen about it, you can just Let It Go into the universe and detach your ego from all the stuff you´ve "created." Unless it is vital to your livelihood, why be possessive of something that is beautiful and beneficial to others, and was initially given to you, perhaps, as a gift?

I know it´s galling when the greed-heads try to make a buck out of your hard work, but in the final analysis, who reads the byline anyway? It´s all just ego. And ego is all puffery and hot air.

(i expect to hear from my labor union about this within a couple of hours..!)

Reb.

 

[sillydoll]

You are right!
I really don't mind if stuff is copied by other peregrinos for pilgrimage blogs or websites - thats why we put the info out there, it was the gall of the 'robot' to take the whole post (not bits of it) and copy it onto his blog with no reference to where it all came from.
I didn't actually 'create' much of it. I laboriously typed out the descriptions of plants from a 4-page A4 leaflet entitled "Os Remedios do Camiño" collected at an exhibition in Santiago in 2004. I then pasted this into a Google translater. It is in Galego which made the translation to English rather difficult.
(There is no copyright symbol on the leaflet!)

 

[Peter Robins]

It seems that if you post something on the internet, which is a public domain, you have to accept that it is available to everyone. It would be nice to give credit where its due.

Under the Berne Convention, unless otherwise stated, all original material is subject to copyright, including anything on the web, whether there's a copyright notice or not. How you enforce it is quite another matter.

oxadox.com is registered to one Qiyao Huang in Guangdong http://www.who.is/whois-com/ip-address/oxadox.com/
I'm sure Ivar is right that this is some sort of automatic site-scraper that hoovers up health-related webpages and sticks ads next to them, hoping to make some money out of clicks. I doubt if there's much you can do about this. You could get Google to cancel their account, but they'll just start up again tomorrow with a different name. Then again, if you took original material and included it in your blog without attribution . . . :shock:

 

[sillydoll]

Wow - I'd hate to try and hide from you Peter!
I've been told in a PM that someone IS pissed off with me for putting his photos on my blog without giving credit. I suppose "what goes around comes around". (I don't know who it is or which photos they are so I can't do anything about it).
I wish Mr Qiyao Huang a big Guang dong where it hurts most!!

 

[WolverineDG]

I clicked on the link, sil, & it's gone now.

Kelly

 

[sillydoll]

I don't think it was my whining that did it. Probably Rebekahs' rebuke ( strongly worded ) that scared them! Must be a human behind the robot!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Naah, it wasn´t the rebuke. It was the Zen. See? It´s gone and Become One with Everything! :wink: