Copying Site... Beware

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North Windposted 13 years ago
For those of you who use Firefox and their add on "Wot" remember you can rate the site according to trustworthiness etc. If many people vote this site down it will trigger a warning to Firefox users so that they will think twice before entering the site.If the site is voted up then it will receive an excellent "Wot" reputation. Right now as far as I type the site has no "Wot" rating at all.
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  jenuboukaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Good to know North Wind Adding it now!
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rmrposted 13 years ago
Looks like the guy guy owns another site, called Ezinemark. I haven't looked around that one yet.
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  jenuboukaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Oh great, I don't have the energy to even think what is there.
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  It looks much more legit than this one. It has pictures of people, and I searched for a bit, and didn't see copies of hubs I know.
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oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years ago
Wow, this is quite horrifying that they are taking hubs from here as they are being published, and seeming to get away with it!

Very very discouraging, but I would still rather know than not know.
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SmartAndFunposted 13 years ago
There haven't been many new hubs showing up on my feed today and I'm wondering if this is why! We need to get this thing shut down so we can all get back to work.
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oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years ago
Now I know how everyone here feels officially, I found several, four at least so far and I have hardly looked. This is really bad. Word for word, photos, everything. Several different "authors" stealing my recent work.
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FatFreddysCatposted 13 years ago
These bastards got me, too... after seeing all the comments and this forum thread I wandered around BigEzine for a while and found a Hub that I just posted yesterday, copied word-for-word right down to the photos. Son of a @#$%!!! I have already started firing off e-mails to the proper authorities. Let's bring these dinguses down!!!
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  gqgirlposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I to emailed them. but it's been a while and I still haven't heard back!
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Read the thread. Emailing them won't do any good.
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sunforgedposted 13 years ago
For future assistance:

I often included a small copyright notice with certain text in my hubs

Not because I thought it kept anyone from stealing it - but rather it helped me to find the unique phrases I used, without the tedium of typing in my own titles.

Then, rather than use the possible sites search engine, I could rely on google for assistance by using the site operator

so for example:

site:bigezine.com "hubpages"

(put that into google and you should see 383 articles that certainly came from Hubpages)

Now if you had a unique identifier in your hubs - some odd turn of phrase or such - lets say it was "magenta turkey feeder"

You could set up a google alert that scanned for that term - then you are notified when one of your articles containing that phrase is indexed.

Now, I didnt pick the term Hubpages, just for fun ...

HubPages doesnt have the legal power to attack the site for your works, as you are the rights holders ..

But, they certainly can and should for their own content .. they have a Lawyer on staff or call I'm sure ..

so: http://education.bigezine.com/the-hubpa … 42077.html

now, Hubpages.com has the full legal right to pursue that site and the rest of you can benefit from their effective takedown of the site.
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  They even copied that!!
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I have found 5 of their hubs that have been copied so far!
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Oh! I guess there should be a way to stop the feed right? Its just hubbers who use it and I'm sure none of us are as dependent on them as that crazy site! So, until they're down I guess we should stop it. Why take the risk and let more hubs get copied? It would just harm them and potentially the subdomains too?
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  Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Brandon, they even copied a hub that is thrashing them...lol
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Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years ago
I just posted a hub that I hope bigezines copies... just because of the last sentence.
http://daughterofmaat.hubpages.com/hub/ … o-I-Do-Now

It also includes research I've just finished on copyrights and the rights for intellectual property. It doesn't encompass all copyright law, but there are a few ideas to deter would-be thieves. As for our current situation, sunforged is right. Hubpages now has legal recourse, it's all dependant on whether or not they will act on it.
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lobobrandonposted 13 years ago
Is there a way to stop the feed from updating?
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sunforgedposted 13 years ago
Hubpages "feeds" dont display full copies of an article, the site is not(likely) using a feed to scrape HP.

They just send a little bot over to do it for them.

That could be identified and blocked based on its behaviour, but it would be quite difficult considering the amount of traffic this site has and all the little friendly bots that often visit
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  gqgirlposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Well I know it's a pain because my hub that got copied is now showing up here as a duplicate! Burns my bubble!
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Which is why HubPages should do something to help fix it. This, and many other reasons. Luckily, I have my own blog. If this happens, I will just copy and paste out of here.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  That's my game plan. I've already mapped out how I can rearrange my website to incorporate most of my hubs when I unpublish them and started looking into other avenues for the other hubs. I'm going to give until the end of the week and see how this situation turns out. I love all of you guys and most certainly would stay in touch, but I'm not about to give HP any more of my content with the way they are handling this situation.
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Hmm thanks for the info.
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coolcash4liveposted 13 years ago
It is very sad when people steal contents from other source without giving credit to the owner. This is a bad karma
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  amithak50posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Yeah ..This is happening and we need to send messages like DMCA,contacting the owner of the site
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Judi Beeposted 13 years ago
The fact that BigEzine's first article on their homepage today is a stolen hub all about how they are a bunch of plagiarists is causing me a little bit of amusement today!
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  Redwallposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  At this point I didn't feel their website could fail any further, guess I was wrong lol
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  Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  That is funny, we should get 20 or 30 people to write hubs slamming them
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I would add a hub for that!
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  stephhicks68posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Same here! LOL! I have a hub that I have been working on for several days that I just cannot bring myself to finish/publish because it will get stolen right away.
  
  I can put together a quick hub on stolen content and publish that instead. Of course, without backlinks.
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I did that yesterday, and I have not seen it there. I think I am insulted...lol.
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  amithak50posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Very right ..
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Oh, please don't encourage them UW! Every new Hub about them just gives That Site extra backlinks and more traffic.
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  FatFreddysCatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  For real? Haha!! That makes me feel a little better about being sniped by these hosers. It also seems to indicate that if they're not even policing the content they steal, then they're too stupid to stay in business for very long...
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oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years ago
This all is a huge game changer for me. It changes everything I think about publishing on HubPages, they stole more than just several of my hubs.

It is hard to put into words how I feel about this kind of theft being allowed to go on.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  oceansnsunsets - don't let this steal your drive and momentum. This could happen to anyone writing on any site, not just HubPages. We as writer's just need to do what we should do to get them closed down. Hubpages cannot do it for us - we have to do it.
  It is hard, and it is frustrating I know, I have had at least 10 of mine taken, but don't let them steal your joy of writing.
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Homesteadbound, and what do you suggest is the best thing to do? File complaints with Google, is that the very best thing? It sounds like some things work, others don't. Curious if you would share what you are doing when you say, "We have to do it." Thanks so much for any help.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  This is what I have done so far. I have filed DMCA complaints as Jason Menayan has suggested on page two of this thread (see blue box). I have not heard back on any of them, but I can only hope they are being showered with these things and will eventually shut them down. this was the link he suggested:
  
  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
  
  Be sure to "Click on that link and choose "Web Search" radio button."
  
  The second thing I have done is to contact SoftLayer, the host firm for BigEzine and send an email to abuse@softlayer.com
  
  using the following format:
  
  I am writing to you to avail myself of my rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in §512 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
  
  1. The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on:
  
  ######THE_URL_OF_YOUR-HUB#######
  
  2. The URLs where my copyrighted material is located include:
  
  ##LINK OF STOLEN MATERIAL#####
  
  3. My contact information is as follows:
  
  ##YOUR NAME##
  ##YOUR MAILING ADDRESS##
  ##YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS##
  
  4. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  
  5. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  
  ##YOUR NAME##"
  
  This must be the correct format (filling in the appropriate information of course), because the first one where I did not use this format was rejected by them.
  
  So far that is all I know to do. But as I find out more, I am trying to share with as many people as possible.
  
  I have not published anymore articles myself, but I am having to rebuild my company's worksite this week so I have not had time to write either. I will continue to write, not sure about publishing, but I do believe if enough people do what needs to be done, this will be resolved.
  
  It also would not hurt to visit their site and contact hubbers whose work has been copied and let them know what to do. I have contacted over 150 hub owners to let them know that their material has been stolen so they can take these actions also.
  
  I have done this for each hub that I have found to be copied.
  Hope this helps!
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  TheInspiredLifeposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  When I sent this to abuse@softlayer.com I got a message back telling me to send it to copyright@softlayer.com...you may want to go ahead and send one off there.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks, TheInspiredLife! I will spread the word.
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Homesteadbound, thank you very much. I had not seen the other comments you mentioned, though I have seen so many.
  You did indeed help, thank you so much! Thanks to Inspired Life too, for sharing where they said to send a complaint also.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Your welcome, Together we will lick this issue!
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  What bugs me about this statement is that HubPages' content has also been stolen by this site. Don't get me wrong, I understand they cannot do anything for our individual hubs we've written, but I'm concerned about whether or not they have done anything for the content they hold copyrights over that are being stolen. Perhaps they are and just haven't made an announcement. If not, though, it's extremely disheartening to be told we have to jump through all these hoops when they aren't. Shouldn't HubPages be standing right along with us in this as their work is being treated exactly the same way?
  
  I don't know if I want my writing associated with a company that won't join the people who build it up (the writers producing content for them) in defending our rights. We should ALL be filing DMCA complaints and helping each other navigate the proper way to do so, and that includes HubPages. This situation isn't making me lose motivation to write. I've run a website for 9 years and this is not the first time my work has been plagiarized. What this situation is doing, however, is making me lose motivation to publish my writing on HubPages.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Evylyn Rose - I can't help but believe that they are doing what they need to do to protect themselves and are standing with us. They have much on their plate, in addition to dealing with unexpected issues like this. From all of the tools and training they provide, I feel that they do care about their writers and their site. They therefore will do what they need to do to protect their investment.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  homesteadbound, I hope that you're right. Unfortunately, that's not the feedback those of us who have raised concerns are getting. I love the community here at HubPages. You are all awesome. But I don't like that we are being left to handle this when HubPages is also being plagiarized. It's like they are leaving it to us to do the work for them when, if they did care, they would have at least one representative standing and fighting this battle with us. When things like this come up, a business has to rearrange some priorities. Letting something like this sit can cause more problems in the long run making even more work for them in the future.
  
  Yes, they do provide some great tools that are convenient. But that's it: They are convenient. Any one of us is just as capable of starting up our own websites and blogs and adding all these features in ourselves. Some of us are even html/java/other coding savvy enough to do it from scratch and completely on our own. As for networking, look at us! We already made a wonderful group for writers that includes more than just HubPages outside of here. HubPages offers convenience, but are they offering real service?
  
  There's no right or wrong in choosing to stay or go. For me, however, I don't see why I should let any of the revenue my writing earns go to a company that doesn't care about me beyond making it easier for me so I write more and quicker to bring in even more revenue. A business should not let the fact that they need to earn money go unnoticed (if they aren't earning money, then they can't stay in business), but they also should not lose sight of the community on a personal level. In HubPages' case, the community is their backbone and without us, they would fall flat. Putting an issue like this on the back burner doesn't help anyone.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  We can not. We don't own your Hubs, and under the law, we can not file DMCA complaints on your behalf. All we can do is point you in the right direction about how to go about the process. Other sites, like Demand Media, do, but they own that content (the authors don't). That's a key difference.
  
  It's worth mentioning that a no-authority site like this one that has only copied content will not outrank your original content in Google search results. If a high-authority site were suddenly copying your Hubs, I would be concerned and take action (i.e. file DMCA complaints). But that's not happening.
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  TheInspiredLifeposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Is HubPages not concerned that their content is also being copied? Are you filing DMCA reports on your own copied pages? We are not asking you to do that for our pages...we already have. We are just asking that HubPages do the same for their own copied content on this site, as many official HP pages are on that site.
  
  Plus, at least one person has noted that their Hub has been marked for duplicate content because of this site...what can you do about that?
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  We will take care of our own content, but thank you for your concern.
  They should contact the support team. If that's indeed the case, the support team can override the duplicate content checker.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Jason, HubPages original content is also being stolen in the same manner as ours. As I already stated and TheInspiredLife just said, yes, we writers must file our own complaints for our copyrighted work. What I am upset about is that you are not standing with us in this fight as work attributed specifically to HubPages is being plagiarized as well. It is not just our work being stolen, but yours too.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I'm not sure what you mean when you say we are not standing by you?
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  As you can see in this thread, hubbers are coming together to offer tips, support, and assistance, helping to clear up the situation. We don't expect every single staff member to join in the discussion, but at least a single representative who does more than say "We can't do anything" would show that HubPages actually cares about its writers and is willing to help out in situations like these.
  
  For some hubbers, this is the first time ever running into a problem like this. A lot of suggestions that have been made are by those who are unaware of the proper way to handle this situation and so many of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off not realizing that we are wasting time writing and sending emails and DMCA complaints to all the wrong places. We would expect HubPages to offer a little more support than just a link or two to hubs that have info on how to write a DMCA. It helps a little, but not as much as having some real guidance in this specific situation.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Evylyn: We strongly recommend you follow the best practices we share in the Learning Center.
  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
  
  We can't oversee and comment on every post in the Forums, and we hope that most will take a few moment to read what we've shared. There really is valuable advice in it, and we strongly suggest that affected Hubbers keep a level head and simply file the DMCA complaints and be done with it. That is, in fact, exactly what we do.
  
  I understand it is unnerving on an emotional level to see your Hubs unscrupulously copied, though. Publishing online anywhere that's public (i.e. anywhere except your own private blog) opens up the possibility that someone will copy something of yours.
  
  The Learning Center entry again (please share it):
  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Jason, I appreciate that HubPages provides us with information in the Learning Center. Unfortunately, much of the information that relates to this issue is generalized and will not help us with the problems we have been running into. We have been using the information found there, but we've had to search around for the missing tidbits and waste time being run around in circles by the very people we are told to submit our complaints to. The Learning Center is valuable, but does not provide information on every little obstacles we may come up across.
  
  This goes back to why we think there should be at least one representative of HubPages working with us here. Yes, you can't be expected to read every single post, but even just skimming this thread you can see how many times we've hit dead ends only to realize we made a wrong turn along the way. The Learning Center can't catch this, but a staff member could. If someone were to work closely with us while we resolve this issue, they could use the experience to write more content to add to the Learning Center to give better guidance when something like this happens again.
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  High five to you Evylyn Rose! I've been thinking the same thing for days. I think Hub Pages should have come out with a hub on how to handle it from the start. It would have been very useful to say something to us when it was first noticed, rather than having everyone clicking around doing no good.
  You are right, everyone is running around like mad trying to figure out what to do, when someone from HP should have been posting a hub to help us out.
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  rmrposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I understand that HubPages staff can't go tracking down every content thief that comes along. I am curious about one thing, though. In cases like this, where scrapers take every hub that's published on a daily basis, wouldn't this line from the DMCA notice allow them to take some kind of action?
  
  I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  
  I'm not being contrary. I've just wondered about that particular line every time this has happened; and it has happened more than a few times.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I have been wondering this as well. I don't imagine there are too many hubbers here who would deny HubPages the authorization to act on our behalf in this situation.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I understand your frustration, and bigezine will not be the last crappy site that copies everything on HubPages, but we are not legally authorized to act as your agent in these kinds of matters. Our site has always (somewhat uniquely) allowed Hubbers to retain their own copyright, and to act as their own agents when copyright is threatened.
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  It could happen on any site. But, most sites would be working with you to help out. I don't see that happening here.
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Kalmiyaposted 13 years ago
Uninvited Writer; I think that's an interesting idea. Just write a hub about what they're doing including all the contact info on where to report them, etc. and publish that. They will just upload it automatically to their site and if there is anyone actually looking at their site, that's what they'll get. Still, it's all just stupidly ridiculous.
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  DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Just make sure not to include any links to the offending site in the article, as that will give them more valuable backlinks.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Kalmiya - you would want to include different information than anyone else is including or your hub will get pulled for duplicate content. Then you just wasted your time.
  But I think that doing that might be playing into their hand and wasting your time anyway. It certainly does not help you in the long run. This will pass (fingers crossed) sooner or later, and then that hub does nothing for you in the future. But if it makes you feel better now and you are not concerned with time, go for it!
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Pearldiverposted 13 years ago
This is a complete model of 68 articles splat com BS from last year - and perhaps even the same players as last time.

Has no one been in touch with Name dot com...
I'm sure softlayer is merely a reseller for Name dot com...
so stop catering to softlayer's set of hoops and just dump the WHOLE Problem on Name dot com - Let them force the Take Down!

With such blatant theft the onus falls on their hosting company completely.. but talk to the chief (Name dot com) rather than reseller agent/indians (Softlayer)

And..

Make a series of complaints to eNom as they OWN ALL .com domains and have the Absolute Power to apply a Registrar's Lock on ANY site that - Provides FALSE ownership info (which these guys have!) and - Can Lock any site that is actively involved in fraudulent activities!

STOP Wasting your time with these turkeys and the pleasure they gain from reading all the panic talk online! Just Take their Damn Site Down via the Domain Registrar - Name dot com .... who are agents for eNom.. END of Story!

AS FOR ME.... I spent 50 hours on the last lot of thieves and then got banned last time I got involved in this piracy BS... so...I'm sure with this post.... everyone else has the ability to NUKE these turkeys! Why immortalize them in hubs? Just Nuke Them via the Registrar!
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Pearldiver, this is what I am trying to get at the most...What IS the best thing we can do, as I can see this all taking me a lot of time JUST for my own that have been stolen, and I am not even sure it will work. So many different suggestions with others saying, "oh that won't work" and it all has me kind of confused. I like how you want to go for the jugular here, so to speak!
  
  I have never filed a complaint with eNom or the "Registrar" etc. So much to learn, ugh...
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  Pearldiverposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  EVERY DOMAIN whether developed into a website or not developed (just parked)... MUST BE Registered annually with a nominated domain registrar. eNom are primary registrars and allocate secondary registration and hosting agencies to companies like Name dot com etc. Those companies then on sell the facilities to 'reseller' accounts (like Softlayer, Ihostthieves, etc)... The chosen domains that these turkeys have registered and developed into article thieving sites are probably registered via Name dot com but hosted with one of their 100s of reseller accounts (softlayer etc). What you must understand is: that often these turkeys actually are also reseller accounts, but aren't identified as having that role also, as they 'mask' the relationship, so that when copyright holders complain, they can deflect those complaints, because the copyright owners can easily get frustrated and give up... thinking that the 'hosting' company seems to agree with the thief and they don't know how to circumvent that trap!
  
  Easy... Just deal with the Big guys.. Name dot com AND/OR their superiors eNom.
  When you look at who eNom are... you will ask yourself... "Are Demand Studios intentionally targeting HP - by supporting the scrapping of their competitor's content?" - AND if you go after the thieves via eNom... well, I guess you might find it appropriate to ask eNom that very same question!!
  And watch how fast that fire could spread! I think you will find that they use their clout (Unlike HP (interestingly) is prepared to) to Force a Take Down of the offenders!
  If you want to Kick Butt... Think Outside the Box, Save your boot and just NUKE THEM!
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  This seems like very important information Pearldiver, and I hope everyone reads this! Thanks so much.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for this info. Considering how many of us have written to SoftLayer already and the site is still up has been bugging me. It's just like an open door policy: If the next tier up isn't doing their job when approached (or are the problem), go above them.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  The absolute best advice is the advice given by HubPages in this thread.
  
  Report your stolen work to Google through Webmaster Tools (if you're not using Webmaster Tools, go and sign up now).
  
  Be sure to include all of your Hubs which have been stolen, and the URL's of each of the copies.
  
  If everyone with stolen Hubs does the same, Google will drop the copies from their search results. Without Google traffic, the site won't be worth continuing and they will eventually give up.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I've made frequent post on this thread saying exactly that, Pearldiver! Giving these b!^#@%$%^ free publicity by publishing Hubs or Tweeting/Facebook sharing about it is the dumbest, silliest, stupidest thing anyone could do.
  
  Unfortunately these days, most people seem to read the forums in threaded format and/or don't bother to read a thread through before they post, so nobody has paid a blind bit of attention to the occasional sensible piece of advice which has been posted.
  
  I've been telling people to report through Webmaster tools and with the hosting company. I didn't know the registrar of the domain name could do anything? Can they cancel the name?
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  A site needs a domain name for the hosting company to host, so I would imagine the answer is yes. Unfortunately, we do not have the information on who the domain name is through. GoDaddy is incorrect.
  
  It may take some time, but the site will stop appearing on Google thanks to all of us filing complaints. However, there are other search engines out there and simply having links all over the net can provide even more traffic than search engines do all together. That could potentially provide enough motivation for the site to remain up even if they don't get any Google traffic. I don't see having their links removed from Google alone enough to get them to just give up so easily. We need the host company to take the site down, but, as TheInspiredLife has mentioned, they may just be making us jump through hoops for nothing.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  ....which is one reason why everyone needs to think about where they've talked about this site, and delete all links to it right now!
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Pearldiverposted 13 years ago
As I said earlier.... STOP Wasting your time with reseller hosts - eg: Softlayer

Bypass all the BS and simply ADDRESS Your DMCAs to Name dot com along with a note stating it is your belief that Softlayer may have a Vested Interest in the party that has stolen the content!

End of story....

Why are there so many misleading pieces of advice in this thread?

If you don't like that your work has been stolen... then ATTACK those parties who maintain an interest with the thieves! Don't pussyfoot around and try to be Nice! They don't give a Rat's Butt about YOU or they wouldn't Steal your hard work... would they?

If you want your work withdrawn... YOU MUST TAKE DOWN the Site! Don't be Nice Be Angry and DEMAND YOUR WORK is Removed!! Don't say "Please!" Just NUKE them!

I've told you how... If you don't respect my advice (which actually works) then... don't complain that they aren't playing fair! They aren't and Never Intended to... this is for me the 5th time I have had my work scrapped here and the 4th time that this method of attacking the thieves has resulted in taking down the offending sites!
Be strong... press the NUKE Button

Good Luck.... I've done my bit to Help... I don't want to be banned again for trying to take down Article Thieves... I HATE THEM... clearly too passionately!
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  DeborahNeyensposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Pearldiver, do you have an email address where we may direct our complaints? Thanks. I've notified copyright@softlayer.com and Google and haven't had a response from either place.
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  rlbert00posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Ok, so I took your advice and emailed name.com and enom.com. Here is what they told me...I got a response from name.com first indicating that they were not able to assist me because they were not the affiliated in anyway with big e zine.com and suggested I contact Soft Layer, who I have already email but have not gotten a response from.
  
  Later this afternoon I received a response fro enom informing me that they were neither the host nor the the registrant, and then they gave me the name of the registrant. Who did they tell me was the registrant? Imagine my surprise when I scrolled down the email to learn that, according to enom anyway, the registrant is...wait for it...name.com.
  
  Have you ever felt like a one-legged man is an asskicking contest? I'm at a loss, I have 7 dmac complaints that I filed through Google Webmaster Tools, I suppose I'll sit on my thumbs until I hear from them...whenever that may be.
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Becky Katzposted 13 years ago
Thanks for the help Pearldiver. I will be doing that and suggesting it to others. I just received the DMCA's I filed back again. I am fed up with this scum.
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TheInspiredLifeposted 13 years ago
When I did a search to figure out the fastest way to take down a scraper website...the top of the list was a blog offering a very detailed guide on how to scrape! It even gives a list of the best places to scrape from, and describes how to steal all content from an entire site, wipe it clean of all ads and links, and post a "clean" copy as if it were your own. The blogger refers to this as "necessary" because it takes too much time to write quality content for a website...and he says you can scrape and use the content to fill up your "spam sites." It made me sick reading it...and there were tons of comments from people saying they were doing this or were going to use the info to do this. One of the points in this guide was that they try to find content is fresh and new, so it hasn't been listed in the search engines yet...which makes sense why our hubs are being copied right when published. It also advised users to find very high quality content that is already optimized with keywords so their new site will be amazing and rank high...makes me sick.

I did notice they said the easiest way to scrape is through RSS feeds.

Are we fighting a losing battle here? Is it really possible to get everything taken down every time something is "scraped" or will it just keep happening over and over? If this is something being taught as a necessity for those learning SEO...it may just be never ending. I also came across some bloggers who have taken a more casual attitude because it has happened to them so much...if they get a backlink because the thieves didn't take out links, they may leave it?
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FatFreddysCatposted 13 years ago
I just had the chance to check my e-mail and I got a standard "here's how to file a DCMA complaint" form letter from both HubPages and from Softlayer ... so I will have to deal with that later..
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TheInspiredLifeposted 13 years ago
I am also feeling discouraged from writing anymore on HubPages. I really liked it here, but if I am going to be on my own dealing with these issues all the time, I would rather do my own thing on a blog or website which may not be such an easy target for scraping. I know we have helped each other here, but all we are doing is helping each other find basic information that I have also found through searching and reading blogs...if there is no further help, then convenience is not enough to make me stay and go through this over and over.

Honestly, I have been thinking my HubPages account may just become a place I post lower quality work for the sake of a backlink...because it is such a horrible feeling knowing my best stuff is being copied and used elsewhere under someone else's name.

HubPages should be worried because many writers may decide the site is not a safe place to post their best work. That will take the quality of the entire site down. Eventually, it may not even be worth scraping anymore! That is sad, but if others have lost trust in the site as I have, it could happen.
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I totally hear you and agree TheInspiredLife, and many others seem to feel the same way, evidently. Ultimately it is up to each individual, and HubPages on what to do. The cause and effect of those choices will play out. So the points matter.
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ThoughtSandwichesposted 13 years ago
lol..."We will take care of our own content, but thank you for your concern." That just about says it all, eh?
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jimmythejockposted 13 years ago
I can't see the site being there much longer lol, I just did a search and found that the hubs and forum posts from here are first on google bigezine doesn't even rank on the first page of search and Google has already removed links because of copyright complaints. A sure sign that its days are numbered.....jimmy
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  JKennyposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Good to hear jimmy. I also did a search for them earlier, and Google told me that a number of results had been omitted, due to a number of DMCA complaints, they'll be gone soon enough.
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  jimmythejockposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  It may not be soon enough for some but it will be gone and forgotten soon.....jimmy
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Nicely said.
  
  For crap sites with 100% copied/spun content: file a DMCA with Google (Web Search) and stop worrying about it.
  
  For reputable sites that still copied your Hubs: file a DMCA with the site directly and stop worrying about it.
  
  (The common thread is to stop worrying after filing the DMCA )
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  jenuboukaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  There needs to be a little one up here, so ONE UP on your comment Jason.
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Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years ago
I understand hubpages has no authority in this matter, I also understand they are a corporation and as such, are not going to interfere in these types of cases which is why they state we own our own content. I admit it's an easy out for them, but I can see their point of view as well.

What I don't understand is why, when hubpages found out about this issue, they didn't post a sitewide message letting us know our content had possibly been copied. At the very least, they could have done that and given us all a chance to file DMCA complaints right away. This has been going on since March 16th as far as I can tell, and we're just now finding out about it.

I'll take care of my own content, it would have been nice to be made aware of the issue weeks ago however.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Or even just a highlight in the weekly emails would have been appropriate. I know a lot of us would have been saved a lot of headaches with some guidance on this particular situation had we known which emails not to waste our time writing DMCA complaints to. I know I wrote to three different companies just because I could not find the company name listed when searching for the hosting company of the domain just for someone to list Softlayer later on. Many of us are now realizing that Softlayer is not helping in this situation either. We just now found out the domain name is under GoDaddy. I use them for my website and had I figured it out sooner, I wouldn't have wasted my time emailing anyone else.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Please refer to Learning Center entry official advice we provide:
  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
  
  Going after the host and registrar might bring the site down (remember they can always move), but we think it's a far better use of your time to make sure the copied content doesn't show up in Google search results.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  DoM: I was personally out in a place in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone signal, much less an Internet connection. But, as I've said before, copying happens all the time and the important thing to do is not panic about it. If the copying is not done on a reputable site, then you should not be worrying about it outranking your original content in search results.
  
  We share some options you can pursue if you want to be alerted about copied content, so that you can take appropriate action (i.e. filing DMCA complaints). Please note that they are not free:
  http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
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  jimmythejockposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I have to agree with Jason in 5 years around 50% of my hubs have been copied and most of the time a dmca complant does the trick, but I have also seen the entire site copied elswhere and given time they are removed from the search engines. I have never noticed a drop in visitors to my Hubs nor a drop in earnings caused by this issue.
  Patience and hubber complaints to the host site will close the site down soon enough.....jimmy
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  cclitgirlposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  +1 Jimmy. That's a relief.
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  Will Apseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I have noticed big drops in traffic as a result of copying since Google changed its rules on the issue, so it is important to at least get the page removed from Google web search as fast as possible.
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Oh, where were you? The middle of nowhere sounds awesome right about now!
  
  Thank you for the link, and I do understand that this sort of thing happens quite a lot. I'm currently looking into retaining legal services for possible future issues. The concern about duplicated content however, may warrant further discussion. Do you have a link to infomation on contacting the correct people at hubpages in regards to correcting duplicate issues? I haven't had a problem yet, but posting a link for others may be beneficial.
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  Jason Menayanposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Upstate (?) Connecticut. Lost my cell signal an hour before I even got there!
  
  Here's a link to the contact form for our support team:
  http://hubpages.com/contact_us/
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thank you for the link! I'm actually going to bookmark it just incase I need it.
  
  Interestingly, we live in an area of Florida that is a complete dead zone. We are out in the country but there's a cell tower not a mile away. It seems dead zones can be anywhere, even next to a tower! Although, not having service can be nice everyonce in awhile!
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kgala0405posted 13 years ago
I just saw something that proves this is some sort of automatic program stealing the hubs. They actually published a hub talking about how their site is stealing hubs. I'm not going to post a link but its written by the robot Derrick Garrett
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  That's actualy my hub, and they edited all the copyrights to say Father of Daughter of Maat. Insulting to say the least since my father is no longer here. Ironically, their name is still strewn throughout the hub, so anyone reading it will hopefully wonder why someone wrote an article like that about the site it's hosted on!
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  FatFreddysCatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  "Derrick" is the name on my stolen article too. He's quite a renaissance man, he's "written" articles about music, politics, electronic equipment, television shows, and the list goes on.... hahaha.
  
  Anyway, using the guidelines laid out earlier in this thread (and in some other Hubs that cover the subject) I've just e-mailed my very first DMCA complaint. Lord only knows if it's going to do any good, but hey, I stood up for myself.
  
  Let's hope the cheesebags who run BigEzine are crushed under the weight of their own deception soon, so we can all get back to what we're good at - writing Hubs!!!!
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Also report them to Google using Webmaster Tools.
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2uesdayposted 13 years ago
You know for me this is getting like walking down a street that is a tourist area regularly targeted by pick pockets and thieves.

In the end you stop using that route as you become tired and cannot find a way of having eyes in the back of your head and enough wits or time to ward of the unscrupulous.
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Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years ago
In response to those who found that bigezines is hosted by godaddy, I emailed godaddy. I posted the response I got at the bottom of my hub here:

<link snipped>
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  So in other words, we're right back to having to deal with SoftLayer who does not seem to be doing anything?
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks to all the chatter on this thread, I suspect very few people have actually filed a DMCA with Softlayer yet.
  
  http://www.softlayer.com/legal/copyrigh … ement-dmca
  
  We need people to focus on filing with Webmaster Tools and Softlayer for every Hub, instead of wasting time writing Hubs and publicising the Offending Site to all and sundry.
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  TheInspiredLifeposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I have done the DMCA with webmaster tools and no response on that. I have now sent messages 3 times to Softlayer, and they are sending me in a circle. I sent to abuse@softlayer.com and got a message to send it to copyright@softlayer.com. So I sent to the copyright address and got a message back from the abuse address, so I believe it is all being answered by the same people. I changed my email title field when I sent it to the copyright address, so I know they were responding to that message and not the first one.
  
  So I have now sent another demand to the copyright email with official language from a template given by a blogger, with all the official language in it...and I expect to get a message back from the abuse email again. It is a generic message they are sending to every request, regardless of where you send it to.
  
  Google has not responded to the DMCA filings, and all my articles are still up on that site. So, I guess there is nothing else I can do. I am tired of running in circles with SoftLayer.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  When did you submit it? Google is a big company, it can take a while for them to take action, but they will. You did file through the webmaster tools form?
  http://support.google.com/webmasters/bi … swer=93713
  
  Your complaint won't get your content removed from the site - but Google will drop it from its search engine results, which is just as effective.
  
  Softlayer (and any other host) won't act on emails unless they are in the official DMCA format, so you should now see a result. I'm sure they will give you a generic response at first, but if enough Hubbers do the same, they can't ignore us.
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Marisa - Would the following be considered "official DMCA format"
  
  I am writing to you to avail myself of my rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in §512 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
  
  1. The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on:
  
  ######THE_URL_OF_YOUR-HUB#######
  
  2. The URLs where my copyrighted material is located include:
  
  ##LINK OF STOLEN MATERIAL#####
  
  3. My contact information is as follows:
  
  ##YOUR NAME##
  ##YOUR MAILING ADDRESS##
  ##YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS##
  
  4. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  
  5. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  
  ##YOUR NAME##"
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Yes you've got it right!
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I am so glad, since that is what I have been advising others also. You have relieved me of much concern. Thanks! I was sweating.
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  j-u-i-c-eposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for sticking it through and keeping everyone on track Marisa. And thanks homesteadbound for the DMCA template.
  
  I've filed with Google via webmaster tools and directly with softlayer and it would have been a lot more painful without the help of everyone in the forum.
  
  Well, most of you, anyway.
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Apparently yes. And I believe softlayer is part of the whole scheme and so are ignoring our DMCA's. The best course of action would be to keep copies of all emails to and from those who have anything to do with this problem. File DMCA's with google AND bing (don't forget bing) and contact an attorney. It would be possible to file a class action suit against these people if we don't get anywhere with the DMCA's.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Softlayer has already taken down two sites belonging to these jokers in the past, so I doubt they are part of the scheme. They are just a big company and like all big companies, it takes time for them to react.
  
  Also, they will ignore all emails unless they're in proper DMCA format - and I suspect at least some Hubbers have just sent them an ordinary email. Besides, judging from many of the comments in this thread, some people don't read through the thread and probably don't even realize that's the right thing to do.
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I did send an email in proper DMCA format, and I got a generic letter in return, whether or not this is just a standard response letting me know they received my email, or their actual response, I can't be sure. But I do hope you're right and they do the same to this site. Thanks again for your suggestion for my hub. It is much easier to read now.
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Kalmiyaposted 13 years ago
Thanks everyone for the comments and direction. Pearldiver, I've sent a 'request' into Name.com naming Softlayer and Bigezine (is it GoDaddy now?). And have decided not to publish a hub just for the sake of it telling possible readers that the site is junk. This is certainly a lot to think about just getting going here.

Separately, I would say I would have expected some kind of system-wide alert telling everyone the website in question who was stealing material and maybe a 7 point guideline on how they could deal with it, maybe when we log in. This would have been really helpful for newbies or those who haven't encountered this before and are just trying to get hubs up rather than just stumbling upon a thread where I happened to clue into what was going on. I know there is a resource centre but admit that I don't go there as it's a little more work sifting through advice hubs. This will surely happen again and if there is some kind of early warning system (like for tsunamis!) at the first sign of such activity (maybe even a reporting centre to receive alerts) then we would be able to get all Hubbers on any offending party like a ton of bricks at the get go.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  GoDaddy and Name.com have no association with BigEzine. We should only be alerting Google and SoftLayer to the copyright violations.
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  Daughter Of Maatposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Don't forget bing! lol
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, and Bing too!
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  Pearldiverposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Please..... When you are going to offer advice on issues like this.. please make sure that your information is CORRECT and Factual.
  
  FYI.... as previously confirmed... (like 3 days ago!) - Name dot com are the Registrar of this Scam site! Kindly don't tell others that that information is wrong or flawed... at least unless you know what you are talking about!
  
  If you Do Not Understand How the Domain Registration system works (and it's not that complex)... then I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the entire process and thus LEARN that your options available in such circumstances, are indeed far, far wider than you may currently believe! If you go back to one of my earlier posts, you will find that I have explained WHAT a Register (Name dot com) can do, when one of it's clients (Softlayer) has a relationship with an offending party! Before you shoot me down on MY KNOWLEDGE, please check the accuracy of our own... you may find that the advice that I am sharing is of Far Greater Value than you are prepared to consider, but (as I said) it is very direct and bypasses those parties who want you to give up and not fight for your rights!
  
  Name dot com have the ability to apply a 'Register Lock' to the offending site - immediately and at great expense to the offending site. Immediate Take Down.. blank screen... canceled hosting, registration, bad publicity.. the lot!
  
  I believe I suggested this in good faith to those effected by this problem and I certainly don't appreciate having solid advice undermined. Now, consider also the advice provided by Jason and other senior hubbers AND Make sure that you File DMCAs - But consider either 'SUBSTITUTING' Softlayer for Name dot com or file with BOTH of them.... Also File with Google and then you have Forced the issue and ensured that the Registrar (the 'God' of all Websites and domains) has then acted in your interests as Copyright Owner, rather than unwittingly protecting the Thieves!
  
  As everyone has been told... ALWAYS File your DMCAs.. but with such blatant thieves... Also nail them via their primary register - Name dot com in this case!
  
  Thanks.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks for explaining that, Pearldiver,I've learned something new.
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  Evylyn Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I did read your earlier posts and believed them in good faith. However, those who have emailed these sources have also shared the results of their efforts. If all they do is tell us they have no association with the offending site, then what use is there in emailing them? Sure, we can all email the sources you've provided, but if they are just going to tell us we have the wrong information or divert us back to SoftLayer, why would we?
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Pearldiver - The only email I can find for name.com is support@name.com
  Is this who we would file our reports to?
  
  This is really all new to me and I am trying to figure it out.
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Kalmiyaposted 13 years ago
Oh, okay. I've emailed Softlayer but am just getting bouncebacks. I'll go do Bing next. Tks!
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WebsiteConfettiposted 13 years ago
google seems to be taking some action. I google the website name and for starters a hub was first place google ranking, but the bottom of the search results had this message

"In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org."

The search results is still filled with subdomains though... but aleast its progressing a little
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WebsiteConfettiposted 13 years ago
I dont know if Im allowed to post a link to my hub, so I wont, but ive just published a hub that basically lists what hubbers affected need to do, as I was finding it hard to find dcma urls etc through all the posts.
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BRIAN SLATERposted 13 years ago
I went to the site this morning to check the latest articles that had been added (5th) and saw several hubs from hp people recently published. However when I tried to open any of them it wouldn't let me. Just maybe things are starting to happen.
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Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago
I had a DMCA response from Google this morning. They are going to remove the page that started this thread.

As a side note, you might not believe how much I checked that I had my original and the copied URL's the right way round when I raised my DMCA report.
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Haha I can understand
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Alison Grahamposted 13 years ago
I was alerted to this by a hubber who emailed me to say they had found one of my hubs - I checked and it is definitely there, but has not been indexed so hopefully G are 'on the case'!
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Marcy Goodfleischposted 13 years ago
This entire mess has taken more hours of my time this week than I care to calculate. I fully understand that publishing on the Internet comes with these risks. I also fully understand that because our hubs are copyrighted by us as individuals, and the complaint process is set up to be submitted by the copyright owner, sites such as ours are a bit hamstrung in the options to address it at their level. And yet it affects the entire site.

Since this isn't the first (or last) time this sort of thing has happened, perhaps some laws or regulations should be pursued to give a means for an entire site to go after infringement. This site is stealing our writing (and our individual livelihoods), but it is also pirating the entire value (our hubs) that HubPages uses to operate as a business. Laws need to take this into account so that sites such as HP have avenues to pursue in addition to the avenues we writers can take.
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AEvansposted 13 years ago
There were 12 of my hubs that were copied verbatim on BigEzine.com I filed DMCA complaints with Google. 3 have already been removed.

Our work is date stamped on HP so we retain our original work. I also use copyscape and myfreecopyright.com

I realize it is disheartening because when I had seen my work it was upsetting. What we can do is continue to protect our work by using those sites, notate on each hub it is copyright protected. Which I didn't do on the last round of hubs.

We should not let what has happened stop us from writing. I am not going to let it stop me; but I am going to start placing the copyright back onto my hubs.
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  Jason Marovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Are they still getting hubs from HubPages feed?
  
  That was the only reason I paused with my publishing past couple days. I'm not really concerned with the site, as Jason said there's no chance it's going to outrank my original, but still, I'd rather keep copies of my stuff online to a minimum.
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alliemacbposted 13 years ago
Just found my recently published How to make no- bake cookies hub oublished word for word on this site with my pictures and layout lifted directly. Am going to file complaint with Google. So annoyed.
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  Nell Roseposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Loads of us have reported it to Google, the trouble is the site has taken down the ads at the moment, and google has said they can't do anything. I think you have to report it elsewhere, go and take a look at the other forum posts, I am sure they mentioned it on there, okay?
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  alliemacbposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks - I've now found a total of 8 ripped off articles, some of which use personal photos of mine. I'll take a look at the rest of the forum to see what to do.
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Nell, you have to report it through Google webmaster tools, not Google Adsense. They can't get the content removed, but they can remove it from search engine results which means they won't get any traffic.
  http://support.google.com/bin/static.py … page=ts.cs
  
  You should also report it to the site's host:
  
  http://www.softlayer.com/legal/copyrigh … ement-dmca
  
  Make sure you specify the URL's of your own article and the exact URL's of the copies.
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  Rosie2010posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I just sent notices to softlayer as well. Thanks for all your help, Marisa.
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Don Crowsonposted 13 years ago
I just found one of my hubs on that site, and I am not going to write any more hubs until something is done about that site. The world may be full of thieves, but the intellectual properties must be protected or there is no reason to create anything.
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  Jason Marovichposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Exactly. I'm not looking to create more work for myself by publishing. Hopefully, the site will be taken down soon, or cut off from our feed.
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Kalmiyaposted 13 years ago
Hello: I'm having a new problem related to my email that is linked to HubPages. A spam email was sent to all of my contacts saying 'try this, it's great' with a link to

http: // www. news 1 5o.net / biz? pag e=0482508
spaced out so the link doesn't occure

which promotes something saying 'make $39,000 a year...'. This email does not show up in my 'sent' file but I do see the failure notice for those emails that did not go through.

Has anyone else experience this yet? This is getting to be a nightmare.
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Its not By HubPages maybe some thing else that you subscribed for - some spammy site
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  This has nothing to do with HubPages. Your email has been hacked by someone else.
  
  This happened to me, too.
  
  You should report it to your email provider. And run anti-virus and anti-malware checks on every inch of your PC right now!
  
  I'm not sure what else to do - I was lucky, I had another email address which I preferred to use anyway. So I just deleted all my contacts from the hacked email account (so the hacker couldn't send anything more to them), and switched to my other account.
  reply report
3. 95
  brittanytoddposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Change your email account's password and you won't send out any spam messages. Someone hacked into your account and sent it. If you change the password, they can't do it anymore. I hope this helps!
  reply report
  88
  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  It depends on how the account has been hacked. If she's got a key logger virus, it will just pick up the new password.
  reply report
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  brittanytoddposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  True, but most likely, if she changes her password, they won't be able to send them in the future. If they persist, then she should delete her account entirely and transfer her emails/contacts to the new account.
  reply report
90
Outbound Danposted 13 years ago
Damn, they got me too. At least I don't feel left out...
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82
Marcy Goodfleischposted 13 years ago
I found another site with BigE's news release and sent them a message explaining the situation and asking that they unpublish the news release. At the bottom of the news release, the contact number was listed as 435-870-8352. This would be the contact representing BigE. I tried calling it and there's a fast busy signal. Then I did a reverse number check and the information on who owns it is not available.
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1. 66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Don't bother calling them they may just abuse you. It's not going to make a difference anyway. However, contacting the other site could be ok.
  reply report
66
lobobrandonposted 13 years ago
How long do I wait? I just published two hubs and I checked they're not copied yet. I was refraining as I didn't want to do the DMCA thing. But, now I might as well get included in this mess and file a report. But, they need to copy it first - Hopefully its done within the next 3 hours or not at all as I want to do it before bed.
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1. 77
  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  lbobrandon - now you want to get copied! lol! It usually is pretty quick, and then you can just go do a search for your titles, and you know it has been done! lol
  reply report
  66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Nope I don't want to I know it's gonna happen so might as well file the complaint when I've got the time
  reply report
  77
  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I love your attitude! If I can ever get my website finished, and then be able to work on a hub, that is what I intend to do. Publish and then keep checking.
  reply report
  79
  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Looks like the site has been taken down. You can get to their main page, but if you click on any of the articles, you get the message "server cannot be found", or some such thing. I guess all the filing did some good
  reply report
  66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I just went to three articles on their home page all opened.
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Really, I just checked it out, and on both browsers, I get that message every time I clicked on an article. Yup, went back to try it again. Still won't let me.
  
  reply report
  79
  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Okay, just went back in. Looks like it only does for me on the main page. If I click on a category, and then click on a link, it does open the article. Don't know why.
  reply report
  76
  AEvansposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  The same thing happened to me. But when I typed in one of my articles it was still there. I filed DMCA with Google and that other site, so hopefully it will be resolved soon.
  reply report
  66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Hmm I clicked from the main page it opened as well but I see the pic
  reply report
  77
  ThePracticalMommyposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  One of my articles is still there and the link still works (one I already filed a DCMA for...). I'm on the site now.
  reply report
  77
  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I did not have any problems on the site. It still seems to be fully functional. Yesterday they were scraping from at least 3 other sites, but I did not find any HP hubs in the mix, but I only checked 5 of them.
  reply report
  66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  They were grabbing from another article directory as well - they allow scraping but with backlinks; these guys didn't give them the backlinks though
  reply report
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Kalmiyaposted 13 years ago
Thanks for the info. I've changed my email password and deleted all my contacts so hopefully this will cure the problem. Using the info I've found here I also did the whois and looked at the page elements etc. and found I was spammed by a registration in the Ukraine. Sheesh.
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73
Enelle Lambposted 13 years ago
Sorry guys - didn't know there was an existing thread! (I just posted one today - hangs head sheepishly.) However, from what I have seen, the site appears to be still operating and accepting emails. I followed several links and they are all showing up with content.
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1. 66
  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Yup, they're still up and running.
  reply report
2. 77
  ThePracticalMommyposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I wasn't able to send an email to the site as a DCMA complaint. It said it was no longer accepting emails. I already sent the complaints to Google Webmaster and SoftLayer, so I guess I'll just wait a day and try again.
  reply report
82
oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years ago
Hopefully good news, but on both my Firefox browser and Internet explorer browser, I can't pull up any of the articles on BigEzine's Home page!

Does this mean that maybe everyone's hard work paid off? It seems to not be allowing any views of their content, or is that just me? Let me know here if you end up checking, I am very curious.
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1. 77
  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  oceansnsunsets - that happens to me on the home page as well, but all the other category pages seem to be working fine.
  reply report
  95
  Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  The same thing happened to me on Chrome. I am wondering if we are being blocked or the content has been removed. Chrome said they can't locate "Bigezine.com". Make me wonder. I am wondering how easy will this thing be to fight since they are stealing the hubs almost immediately after bieng published.
  reply report
  61
  missoliveposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Cardisa - I can still access BigEzine and the hubs are still there. I'm using a Mac and going through Safari
  reply report
  82
  North Windposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I can access it as well using Explorer. Firefox leads me to the site but the pages on the site are blank. Explorer shows everything the way it was and as far as I can see all of the hubs are still there except for the ones blasting the site.
  reply report
  95
  Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I will try explorer. Maybe it's just a glitch with the tow browsers. Thanks guys.
  reply report
  77
  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Cardisa - using Firefox, I was not able to get any of articles on the home page to come up, but I was able to get the articles on the other pages to come up.
  reply report
  67
  Cheeky Girlposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Look carefully at the url addresses of some of the links on the pirate site and you will notice that they begin with a small fullstop "." Any link that begins with such a character will not display in a browser as it is a false url character. It appears just before the word "big" in each link. So you will get a page result saying that link does not exist. But it does.
  
  Now if you now go to the writers links to the top left of the main index screen, their "pages" links can be read and accessed without those full stops.
  
  The url to the site has been changed to "lifestyle.bigezine.com", and this is where all the apparent author article links go to.
  
  They are trying to find ways around being unpublished.
  reply report
  57
  Dale Hydeposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  It appears that they are feeling the "heat" so to speak, from all the filing we have been doing. Changing the url will work for the immediate time, however, it creates a scenario that the previous complaints will not apply to the new "site" as that is what a new url will look like in the eyes of Google.
  
  I am not sure what they are up to. I never have seen any ads there, so I wonder why they are pursuing this activity with no visible means of income from the site? Maybe they have some plans for the future with a large data base of articles, stolen, of course.
  reply report
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  They're hoping to survive until the heat is off, then they will put the ads back on again.
  reply report
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  j-u-i-c-eposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Yep. They copy massive amounts of content, wait for people to stop complaining, then put up ads. This happened to the Bethesda Softworks forum. There's a forum called game_skyrim_com w/o underscores that scraped millions of forum posts in late December. They had no ads on their site and apparently any attempts that were made to shut them down were ignored and people just sort of forgot about them. Now there are ads on the site and they rank on page 2 in Google. Free content and legitimacy through negligence. I'm sure you could find a ton of these sites if you looked for them.
  reply report
91
alexadryposted 13 years ago
Looks like now some of the latest articles are copied from Sooper Articles and Article Base.
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1. 67
  PhoenixVposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Do you know any owners or site operators or article writers on those sites that you can make aware of what is happening?
  reply report
0
Lady_Eposted 13 years ago
I'm thinking of posting something on Twitter mabye "Ezine please stop copying articles from Hubpages". Maybe word will get round (Retweets) and it will rock them a bit.

Any thoughts on this? Is it a Good Idea?
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1. 67
  PhoenixVposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I think that doing something is better than doing nothing.
  reply report
2. 72
  lorlie6posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Hi Lady_E, long time, no see!
  I think tweeting/re-tweeting this situation is a grand idea, in fact, I may do just that when on Twitter today.
  Great idea!
  PS: Good to see you again!
  reply report
  88
  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Don't! Don't! Don't!
  
  Think about it for a minute. How many people have ever heard of this site? What will they do when you mention it, even if you say bad things? Curiosity will win - they'll go and have a look.
  
  99% of the world has never heard of this site, so let's keep it that way. On the internet, ANY publicity is worth having, even if it's bad - so don't feed this monster.
  
  Remember, this site will never get traffic due to people choosing to visit the site - they'll get traffic via the search engines, and most people don't even look at the name of the site when clicking on a link. So telling people to avoid the site won't make a ha'porth of difference.
  reply report
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  Sally's Troveposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I admire your perseverance. You've been on top of this from the start, warning folks about channeling a path to the offending site by way of linking, and guiding others back into this thread to get the real dope on what's happening. I just love it when someone doesn't read a thread through. Well, love, hate. It's kind of funny. There's a wealth of information in this thread, but still, people jump in here without reading it from the start. You've done more hand-holding than I ever would have done.
  reply report
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  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thanks Sally. You know what the funny thing is? I haven't published any new Hubs in March, so I don't even have any copied Hubs on there.
  reply report
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  lobobrandonposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I'm not sure; but, I guess they stopped scraping hubs as the two I published yesterday aren't up there. At least i can't find them.
  reply report
  72
  lorlie6posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Thank you, Marisa, for opening my eyes to this. I really hadn't thought of the consequenses and am now glad I didn't get around to 'tweeting' the thing.
  I see what you mean about 'feeding the monster' and agree wholeheartedly.
  Thought it was a good idea initially, of course, but thanks for your chess-like thinking!
  reply report
3. 88
  Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad idea.
  
  Do NOT give this site free publicity, please! These guys don't care if you say nasty things about them - in fact every time you mention them, they're rubbing their hands with glee and laughing at the panic they're causing.
  
  The rule here is - don't get mad, get even. The ONLY things that will work are filing a DMCA with Softlayer and filing a complaint through Google Webmaster Tools.
  
  Softlayer have taken down previous sites by these clowns, so they will do it again IF they get enough complaints.
  
  Google won't get the site closed down, but they will remove all the content from their search engine results, which will destroy most of their traffic. If they're making no money, they'll give up eventually.
  reply report
  82
  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  I didn't look at it as a way to give the site free publicity at all, but rather doing people a favor that may not know their content is being copied.
  
  In reading through this thread, it is covered in people being discouraged that more didn't speak up even when they did know about it. People in this thread seemed to indicate they would have been reporting for a multitude of reasons had they only known.
  
  So one has to weigh everything, helping people protect themselves from immoral site owners with no scruples vs. maybe giving help to this site in some way in just checking out how we all have been doing already.
  
  For me alone, I have been giving that site plenty of views, but now I am done as I hope that is it, that they just stole 7 of my hubs. Most people, generally speaking don't root for the thieves of the world. I took it as a good and helpful to others idea. If I had only seen this because a person posted it on Twitter, I could have checked my stuff, and would have been thankful for the heads up.
  reply report
  82
  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Marissa and a few others have been helpful to me though in much of this thread, that can't be denied, so thanks Marissa and everyone else that was so helpful!
  reply report
  72
  lorlie6posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  os, 7? That's awful. I think I'll go check some more and see if they've pirated any of mine. Thank God I don't have too many!
  I do think it would be helpful to others who are being stolen from, but per Marisa's post, I don't think I'll go that route after all.
  reply report
59
FatFreddysCatposted 13 years ago
Last I checked, my stolen Hub was still up on PigCheezeScene - so much for my DMCA complaint huh?
reply report
0
DMartelonlineposted 13 years ago
the links are broken and you now have to add www before the . when you try to change pages. It looks like they are trying a new trick, running them through translation before they are posted which changes them enough to make them unique again.
reply report
0
DMartelonlineposted 13 years ago
in fact look at this puppy: http://.bigezine.com/steps-to-take-if-your-hub-has-been-copied-by-big-ezine-148254.html
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1. 62
  WebsiteConfettiposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  @dmartelonline that's my hub! I couldn't get the article to open on my computer though... Or any of their articles for that matter... I wonder if hey have edited out their email address or link to their unprotected Whois data!
  reply report
2. 79
  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  
  This is the message I get when I go to their site. Hope it's a good thing.
  reply report
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  brittanytoddposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  YAY! Thanks for posting!
  reply report
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  cloverleaffarmposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  That is what I get, when I go to the main page. I hope it is a good sign.
  reply report
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  Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Clover, the site is still there, I am there right now. Maybe your browser is having a glitch.
  reply report
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  homesteadboundposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  cloverleaf - are you using firefox. I am and I have gotten that on the BigE page, but also hubpages and my email. It seems to be having problems the last couple days!
  reply report
  72
  No_Clueposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  When you click on the link of an article on the home page, and it tells you the server can't find the link, look up at the address bar....the address is incomplete...I clicked on Butterflie Effect on Home Page 11...the address in the address bar came up .bigezine.com/butterflie-effect-149478.html...then I remembered that the addresses to all three of my pieces on there was in education.bigezine.com/........so I typed in education at the very beginning of the address and went right to the full on page. ..I was hopefull to....but NOT!
  reply report
  72
  No_Clueposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  They are still at it but threw in a little hidden glitch to make us think otherwise, that's what it looks like to me anyway....sly DOGS!
  reply report
67
PhoenixVposted 13 years ago
We can leave a review on the site at Alexa. Some people already have because their poetry is being stolen. I am not a poet, but poetry can be very personal and can you imagine your poetry being stolen and copy and pasted on some site like that?
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1. 72
  lorlie6posted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Ouch!
  reply report
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  oceansnsunsetsposted 13 years agoin reply to this
  Excellent idea Phoenix! That seems like a sure thing, as all sites want to do well there. I noticed on the one graph, that it was going down. If we all voted a one star, and left a comment, that would be amazingly helpful.
  
  You are right, about the people getting poetry stolen. It is so brazen really, and for the people that got personal family photos stolen.
  reply report

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