Rank08 Host Located

1. 49

   Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

   Rank08.com, one of the websites duplicating the entire HP website and hiding its hosting company behind the reverse proxy host CloudFlare, is hosted by a company owned by IBM.  I just got an email back from CloudFlare and the host is:
   
   SoftLayer Technologies
   4849 Alpha Road
   Dallas, Texas
   
   Send DMCA requests to:
   abuse@softlayer.com
   
   If you have a Hub, it's plagiarized on Rank08.

   replyreport
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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Well done and thanks!  Off to file.

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         JMcFarlandposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I just found my hubs there.  What information needs to be included to file?

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            Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Fill in the blanks with your information and send to the email address I gave above:
            
            Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A), this communication serves as a statement that:
            I am the exclusive rights holder of articles on the [http:// yoursubdomain .hubpages.com] website and the owner and author of the following articles, posted on www.HubPages.com:
            
            [List all of your Hub URLS – I used alphabetical order]
            
            These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon a site you are hosting at the following URLs:
            
            [List each plagiarized URL:  http://      www.  rank08.com/ etc.
            Use the same order you used to list your Hubs.]
            
            In fact, the site you are hosting is scraping the entire HubPages.com site in real-time.
            
            My request to rank08.com to remove my content has been unanswered.
            
            This is my contact information:
            
            [List a name – It's supposed to be your real, legal name
            address
            telephone number
            email]
            
            I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by me, the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
            
            I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible.
            
            I trust that you will discontinue hosting my plagiarized content on rank08.com  website.
            
            [Put the same name you used above at the end.  This is 'signing' the notice and is required.]

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               Alisha Adkinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you for this information.  I started to compose an e-mail to softlayer.com, but after laboriously cutting and pasting the first 10 links to my stolen material, I erroneously hit a key and my entire e-mail was eaten.  I can't stand to start over just now -- it's going to take me hours.  I feel for hubbers with 100+ copied hubs to report.
               The ENTIRE HubPages site is copied at  rank08.com.  Can't HubPages handle this on the behalf of its users?  Reporting these scraping sites  is in HubPages' best interest, and having every single user report individually is horribly inefficient.

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                  galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Hp is allowing it! Probably they're profiting from the ads.

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                     Alisha Adkinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Seriously?

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               BStoneBlogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you! Just sent off my request using your template. Fingers crossed!

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      Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      WF, I followed your instructions as per the other forum post about requesting lost revenue. I also filed the DCMA.

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         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you.  Short of a staff member of HP filing, the more Hubbers who file will increase the chances of the site being taken down by the host. I hope the entire site will be removed, not just those of us who filed about our individual Hubs.

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   3. 69

      VinitaAmritposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why do I see a page of  http://www.hawkhost.com/ when I type Rank08.com in my address bar? - Has the domain been called off? If anyone can figure that out pls do let us know as well.

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         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hawk Host is a reseller of hosting services from SoftLayer.  That's how the plagiarist site was hosted. The Rank08 content has been removed thanks to everyone who filed the DMCA notices. Hawk Host is now displaying a page saying that the URL has no content.

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2. 60

   Angie Martinposted 11 years ago

   Thanks so much for the info! After calling and complaining and filing DMCA complaints, I found that my "page" is no longer a mirror one that is updated as I update my hubs here at HP. I don't know if that's the way it is for everyone's page, but at least they've stopped the mirroring portion of the site. Off to file yet another DMCA notice!

   replyreport
3. 83

   Daughter Of Maatposted 11 years ago

   Softlayer technologies was the same company that hosted Bigezines when that site copied all of HP. Am I seeing a trend here?
   
   Off to file another DMCA myself.

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4. 62

   ologsinquitoposted 11 years ago

   Thank you for all of your hard work in this matter Writer Fox.

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      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You're welcome.  The host has another 24 hours to respond and the owner of the site can still object.  It's not over yet.  Keep those DMCA requests rolling in.  Remember, they may just take down the content of the people who file and leave the rest online, which hurts traffic to all of HubPages.

      replyreport
5. 89

   sparkleyfingerposted 11 years ago

   I have sent the email. As rank08 doesn't seem to have a search facility, I only saw one of my hubs, but i listed all of the URLs in my email. I haven't spent the time trapesing their site to find all of my articles, but I have little doubt that they are there, so I figure, let them do the work!

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6. 0

   ZachKaerposted 11 years ago

   Can someone explain how to report these sites? I barely started on here and have found my GIMP tutorials on other sites already. Where do I go and what steps do I take to try and stop this?

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7. 0

   ZachKaerposted 11 years ago

   going to a category and press ctrl+f will help you find your hubs...just an fyi
   that's how i found mine.

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      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The information is posted above on this thread and the wording of the email to send.

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         ZachKaerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Writer Fox I just scrolled past your post first time

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8. 84

   earnerposted 11 years ago

   I looked through for one of mine ....
   
   [1] I saw no ads showing on their pages
   [2] quite a few hubs were translated into French (automatically) .... I found the one I was looking for in French.

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9. 71

   Reality Bytesposted 11 years ago

   Going through the topics to find my own hubs, they are there.  When I click the link it brings me to my own page on HP. 
   
   The links of others leads to a duplicate of the hub with no ads.  Some are even translated into other languages. 
   
   Am I the only one being directed back to HP?

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10. 84

    earnerposted 11 years ago

    I have filed a DMCA.  For those with a long list of urls and MS Word, you can copy your list by doing this:
    
    In Hubpages, select the whole stats page.
    Paste it into Word and it'll appear in a table (certainly in Word 2003)
    Select each column in turn and choose Table, Delete Column, leaving you only with your titles.
    Now save that as an .html file using: File, Save As - save it anywhere/to your Desktop and in the filetype dropdown choose .html
    Find that file on your PC and open it up from your browser (File, Open)
    Ctrl A to Select All and Ctrl C to copy.  Then Ctrl V to paste it into your email.

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       sparkleyfingerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       awwwh! I just done it all the hard way!!!!

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          earnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Well, you've learnt a lesson.... being lazy and slow will mean somebody will present a solution that makes it easier ....
          
          

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             sparkleyfingerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             That is a very valuable lesson! Thank you!

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       Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       You need the actual URL, not the Hub title.

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          earnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          It clicks through, it's an html link..... and I wasn't going to track down 200+ urls myself.  I've got another 100+ hubs under another name that I CBA to do it with.
          
          Low traffic = low motivation to spend hours faffing.

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             Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Believe me, I'm on your side.  Hope it works.  And yes, it's a time bandit when HP could be doing this for everyone.

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11. 67

    LCDWriterposted 11 years ago

    Does it seem to be down now?

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12. 84

    earnerposted 11 years ago

    Yes the site has been taken down by the host.

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       Angie Martinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Finally! Woo-hoo!! 

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       FatFreddysCatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       "And there was much rejoicing (Yaaaaaay)"
       
       Seriously, great work everyone. Another one bites the digital curb....

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13. 84

    earnerposted 11 years ago

    I bubbled this, with a link to Writer Fox' profile.  Thus sending some good karma/traffic (potentially) in his/her (?) general direction.
    
    Thanks for making it easy.

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       Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Cool!
       So glad that site is down.  Turns out it was also redirected through an affiliate host.
       
       Don't write this guy off forever, though.  Unfortunately, people like that have a high reincarnation rate.

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14. 67

    Astra Nomikposted 11 years ago

    Here is a weird question... but how hard would it be to add some kind of encryption to Hub Pages to stop it from being so easily scraped by software that copies web content. If search engines and other companies can encrypt search engine results, surely HP can encrypt hubs and make them unscrapeable.
    
    This whole rank and file theft of other people's content is driving people away from hub pages as a writer community. The theft will damage HP's name in the world. Something should be done. But what IS being done?

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15. 75

    chef-de-jourposted 11 years ago

    That's an interesting question. If encryption is only a matter of cost then would it be worth a cent each for this to be done by HP, thus safeguarding all our hard work.
    
    Or is encryption simply not doable on our hubs? I'm not technically expert enough to know if anyhting like this can be done or if the idea is dead in the water?
    
    I'd pay a cent to guarantee 100% copyrighted material.

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16. 67

    Astra Nomikposted 11 years ago

    Wow.. I think that answers my question. I am so happy to see the evil rank08 got sucked down in to the fires of hell.

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17. 75

    chef-de-jourposted 11 years ago

    By the way Writer Fox, you should seriously think about being employed by HP for all the work you've done. Freelance basis?

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       Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks, but no thanks.  I agree that they need an SEO content editor but HubPages doesn't accept my advice even when it's free.  To pay for a good one in that part of the country would take a six-figure salary and HubPages is down to seven full-time employees right now.

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          Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I don't think the role of employee would suit you. I think you would have to be the boss.
          
          From what you have previously said this would mean:
          
          Unlimited affiliate links on any page (ignore those spam warnings from Google)
          
          Dofollow links for all (that will get the webspammers pouring in from every corner of the web)
          
          The main domain would not be used to try and boost traffic for hubbers deemed worthy, or generate the income that the site needs to carry on improving.
          
          Mirror sites that have no impact on HP when it is healthy (and can only be detected at all when the site suffers a massive penalty) would take up most of your time as you ruthlessly hunt them down.
          
          I think as boss of the site you would certainly put an end to the lingering uncertainties of its future success/demise.

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          1. 49

             Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             You need some new eye glasses, Will.  I proposed none of those things.  But I don't allow Trolls on forums I monitor.  In reviewing this forum's postings from two years ago when the site changed to Subdomains for authors, I noticed that you were called a Troll even then. Take it back under the bridge.
             http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/78912?page=25
             
             And I know how upset you are that your Hubs were not chosen for Editor's Choice.  Perhaps if you make some improvements they will be.
             
             With or without an EC award (I opted out), low quality articles don't belong on a website.

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