Unjustly accused of plagiarism

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   OldRosesposted 11 years ago

   I just received an email from Hub pages accusing me of plagiarism.  They have unpublished one of my hubs.  That hub is entirely my own work based on my experience as a Master Gardener.  I also work in a botanical garden.  I have a TON of gardening knowledge that I am sharing on Hub pages.  Do I have any recourse?  How can I get them to show me the source of their accusation?  the article was published a couple of days ago.  Perhaps someone has stolen it and is claiming it is theirs.  What can I do to get my hub published again?

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      SomewayOuttaHereposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      i'd email them...no doubt, it's a mistake if it is your work

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      They didn't accuse you of plagiarism - they said it was a duplicate of something else on the web.
      
      Have you posted major portions of the hub somewhere else?  Have you copied large portions from another site as a reference?  Or, as you say, perhaps it has been stolen - HP is pretty good at detecting which one is original, but they are not perfect.
      
      Using other sources as reference often gets hubbers in trouble; one of the more common problems are hubs with large areas of biblical quotes.  They are duplicate of material elsewhere, even though obviously quotes.  Hubbers often post a hub in several places as well - they are obviously duplicates even though owned by one person.
      
      To find the duplicate, copy a paragraph or so, paste in into google and search for it.  Duplicates will almost always show up that way. 
      
      What is the title of the hub?  Not the URL, just the title?

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      OldRosesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      As a follow-up to my original post - I emailed the Hub Pages Team and explained what happened and that I had deleted all of the Hubs on Writing.com.  Just a few hours later, they emailed me back that my Hub had been re-published and I was in good standing again.  WOW!!  That's just incredibly fast and responsive!  I truly thought that I was going to be fighting this for weeks.  I originally joined Hub Pages 5 years ago, wrote a few Hubs and then left as I'm sure many people do.  I'm back now and what a difference 5 years makes.  It's a whole new site, so positive and supportive.  I'm a Hubber for life now.

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         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         That's great that it was solved so easily and quickly.
         
         And welcome back to HP.  Yes, it's changed and there are lots of new rules that you probably aren't aware of.  It might be wise to read through the learning center and see what else you might be in violation of - Panda brought about many changes here in their effort to recover.  There have been quite a few senior hubbers caught up in new rules that they had never seen before.

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2. 93

   OldRosesposted 11 years ago

   The title is "Why Did My Lilac Stop Blooming?".  And I just realized that I use my account with Writing.com as a backup for all of my writing so I've been putting copies of my hubs there.  It has never been a problem before.  I'm "hiding" them now so they shouldn't come up in any search engines.  Now, how do I get my hub re-published?

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      So you plagiarized yourself!
      
      You're not the first to make that mistake, though.  So many insist that because they own both copies they are not copies somehow - you're easy in that regard.
      
      Republishing; if they are truly hidden (equivalent of an HP "unpublished" hub, maybe) then when the google cache is empty you can request that the hubs be re-published.  Or you can write to HP and request review, though I doubt it will help if that cache is still available.
      
      To speed up the process (it can take 2 weeks or more) you can request google de-index the copies via webmaster tools, but other SE's won't be so easy and I know of no quick method there.

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   wildernessposted 11 years ago

   From "Herbs For Shade":
   "Taragon is another of the fines herbes. Be very careful when purchasing tarragon. Make sure that you are getting French Taragon (Artemisia dracunculus ‘sativa’) and not Russian Taragon (Artemisia dracunuculus dracunculoides) which has no scent or flavor."   and:
   
   "Mints come in a seemingly endless variety. For cooking, use spearmint. Peppermint is used as a tea for indigestion. As a chocolate lover, I always have chocolate mint in my garden. It smells like peppermint patties! Other kinds of mint include orange mint, pineapple mint, apple mint and banana"
   
   From a google search, showing Writing.com as the source:
   
   "Not everyone's first love can bloom to its full beauty. It may be nipped ... Be very careful when purchasing tarragon. Make sure that you are getting French Taragon (Artemisia dracunculus 'sativa') and not Russian Taragon (Artemisia dracunuculus dracunculoides) which has no scent or flavor.   and:
   
   
   "Mints come in a seemingly endless variety. ... Peppermint is used as a tea for indigestion. As a chocolate lover, I always have chocolate mint in my garden. ... Other kinds of mint include orange mint, pineapple mint, apple mint and banana ..." 
   
   I suspect there is much more.  Is this the problem?
   
   *edit*  I see you beat me to the answer - this is redundant, then.

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      classicalgeekposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      And it's supposed to be tarragon each time. Sorry, I can't help myself.

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   tamronposted 11 years ago

   You can down load this <link snipped>  its free and it points out what parts of your article is duplicated.  I have an article that tells you how to use the software just for that purpose it also has a lot of cool features.
   
   I use this tool mainly for rewrites.  You might can use this tool in the future.  If you have found the source of where your article is duplicated you can paste your article and the source into the two windows and it will tell you where its duplicated in the article.

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      melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This software doesn't check for duplicate content. It assists in spinning content.

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         tamronposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         No it doesn't go and look at my article it tells you how to use it.  Flagged for Duplicated Content.  It also tells you if you are stuffing keywords or don't have enough keywords.
         I got a buzz tonight excuse me.
         
         Its really for rewrites but you can use it to find what parts of your content is duplicated.  If you would just listen!

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            tamronposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I am going to check it my self.  I don't understand what you mean. You are right it is suppose to be for rewrites(correct)what I am telling you it shows you where the duplicated content is Read my article!  You will understand if not contact me I will help you.

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   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   This is an easy way to check for duplicates that may be out there.
   http://www.copyscape.com/
   
   Not saying it is 100% as I do not have that much experience of checking other people's work, only my own.  Another way is to do the search on Google using a sentence marked up with " marks.
   
   It is easy to get confused when you move content about, so it is useful to have a way of checking.

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