People Who Have Editor's Choice Hubs

1. 44

   Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

   In reading the forum post from two years ago when all Hub URLs were changed to Subdomains, many people reported that copied Hubs began to outrank theirs when the change was made.  I think this might happen again and we have five forum threads going right now about copied content. Be sure to do all you can to have the plagiarism removed or your new Hub URLs could suffer in their rankings on search results.  Three of the sites have copied almost everything on HubPages and are not responding to DMCA notices. 
   
   Find your stolen content on these threads:
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115415
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115428
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115339
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115356
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/115453

   replyreport
   1. 80

      HollieTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      In reading the forum post from two years ago when all Hub URLs were changed to Subdomains, many people reported that copied Hubs began to outrank theirs when the change was made.
      
      Yes, but wasn't that also around the time (and just prior) that Google started to sandbox accounts? Perhaps you can enlighten me, but I can't remember Google sandboxing accounts before the farmers update. And to the best of my knowledge, scraped hubs usually only outrank the originals when the originals have been sandboxed. Or is that not the case?

      replyreport
      1. 44

         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Google sandboxed accounts before and after the time HubPages changed to Subdomains.  Here is the forum post Paul E. made two years ago describing how much traffic improved when a Hub was on a Subdomain rather than on the main HubPages URL:
         
         http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/78912
         
         It's more than a dozen pages, but if you read all the way through you will find Hubbers reported that some of their high-ranking Hubs were outranked by copied sites when the URL was changed.  The new URL, you see, appears as the copy because it was just created.
         
         I think it is a matter of concern especially since the whole HubPages site has been copied and I think only a 'Cease and Desist' letter from Paul E. can take the sites down.  I've done all I can.  I've located and posted the owners of the sites and their street addresses and the physical address in San Francisco of the one with a proxy host.

         replyreport
      2. 92

         Judi Beeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hollie, these latest few scraper sites are outranking a number of hubs, including Paul E's - he wrote a hub about it recently.  Don't know if we are all sandboxed though - I didn't think I was, but who knows!
         
         http://pauledmondson.hubpages.com/hub/T … ng-Scraped

         replyreport
         1. 80

            HollieTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Judi, I know, the dreaded rank08 site scraped all my content  Arrgg!!! [insert profanities here]. But I was under the impression, and Paul E mentions this too, that if you've been penalised by pandas and so forth, your sub is pushed so far down the SERPs that the scrapers can outrank you. (with your own bloody content, which is so annoying)
            
            I'm not just aware of anyone whose sub has not been penalised, or was otherwise doing well, that has been outranked by the scrapers. I'm not saying that this isn't the case, just the impression that I was under.

            replyreport
2. 64

   Shadow Jacksonposted 11 years ago

   That's disturbing. How do we save our content?

   replyreport
3. 80

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   I agree with Writer Fox - we need for Paul to intervene.  One of the options on the DMCA form is to indicate you represent the owner/author of the content.  Our hubs are being shifted around in ways we cannot control (I am not complaining - only pointing this out).  With urls changing, we cannot even file a DMCA with any reliability - as hubs are phased into the EC program, the url can change on us. And Google doesn't devote much time to investigating 'confusion' in complaints.
   
   It seems it would be far more effective for the site to complain that the entire site (or most of it, or even a sizable portion) has been scraped rather than dozens of Hubbers having to do this individually - over and over and over. 
   
   Please consider doing this, Paul - we are really (really) tired of messing with scrapers - we would rather devote our time to writing and promoting our hubs.  When scrapers hit us, it discourages us from writing more content.  The site can, and should (IMO) step in in cases of massive content theft.

   replyreport
4. 90

   suzettenaplesposted 11 years ago

   I have to agree with Marcy, here.  When entire hub pages (topic pages) it is time for the CEO (Paul) to step in and put a stop to this scrapping.  This is not just a few Hubbers being plagiarized but the entire hub web site.  I don't understand why the hubpages administrators would've want to put a stop to this because they are loosing money as well, just not individual Hubbers.  Who else will want to join this writing community if they know they will be plagarized?  This whole situation doesn't make any sense to me.  I know it is not a perfect world, but it is time for the HP site administrators to take a stand on this.

   replyreport
   1. 94

      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Outside of hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit in Pakistan, China or wherever (which you could also do) I can't think of a single thing HP can do that you can't.
      
      True, the name of HP should carry more weight than yours, but a thief doesn't care whose name is on that DMCA.  The last set of claims I filed was through some scammy host, and they didn't care either, being as much a thief as the site owner.
      
      On the other hand, 50 hubbers filing 500 DMCA's just might get some attention.  Throw in a bunch of complaints to Adsense, Amazon or other monetization methods and so far, things have happened.
      
      Time consuming?  Sure, but it's a part of writing on the web.  Either protect your work from thieves, just like everyone else does, or go downhill from the illegal competition.  Or let other hubbers do the work for you - that seems a popular option sometimes.

      replyreport
      1. 44

         Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         When the content theft involves stealing the entire site, it affects traffic.  Certainly, not all 99,277 Hubbers check for plagiarized Hubs.  Many are not aware that it's a problem let alone what to do about it.
         
         HubPages could send a 'Cease and Desist Letter' to the owner of rank08.com at the address I located in Illinois.
         
         Here's a template:
         http://thompsonhall.com/cease-desist-le … #copyright
         
         I think even a slow typist could produce that letter by filling in the blanks in about 10 minutes.
         
         Cost of a process server in Illinois: online costs advertised are less than $100.  These services deliver a copy of the letter in person and sign-off that it was 'handed to' or 'dropped at the feet of' the actual person addressed in the letter.
         
         If it's not worth $100 and ten minutes of time for HubPages Corp. to increase traffic to Hubs and increase corporate earnings, what else can be said?

         replyreport
5. 88

   Victoria Lynnposted 11 years ago

   It's exhausting. I didn't even file DMCAs the last time I heard about the scraping. I'm tired of it.

   replyreport
6. 72

   Jenn-Anneposted 11 years ago

   We had this same issue a few months back - a scraper had copied essentially the entire hubpages site onto a series of websites and continued to add new hubs as fast as they were published. Many of us argued that copying on such a huge scale should warrant intervention from Hubpages staffers but we were repeatedly told no. Hoping this time things will be different. In the meantime, keep posting on this thread and encourage as many people as possible to file DCMAs.

   replyreport
7. 46

   Doodleheadposted 11 years ago

   Jenn-Anne--
   
   Possible this is $$ related.  Is it possible that having copied information could help HP ranking?   I don't know.  Just think'in.

   replyreport
8. 88

   IzzyMposted 11 years ago

   I well remember the whole Panda scenario, but copied content did not become an issue for me until 3 weeks after my hub account moved to a  subdomain.
   
   Not only did my traffic fall by a massive 90%, but scraped content appeared at the top of the SERPS for exact hub titles, while mine were nowhere to be seen, or on page 10 or something.
   
   I believe my account was sandboxed.
   
   This happened 2 years ago and I have never recovered, but lots of other hubbers have suffered the same fate AND recovered since, without making changes.
   
   I made many changes, and possibly just succeeded in making things worse for myself.
   
   As for filing DMCA's, I never bothered writing nicely to people. Just file a report directly with Google and they will drop the copied content from the index. Job done!
   
   It's my content. I do not expect Hubpages to do this for me.

   replyreport
9. 82

   phdast7posted 11 years ago

   Thanks for all the commentary and infor mation, Writer Fox.   We, Hubbers, do need Paul Edmundson, HP CEO, to step in and do something.   This affects the corporate HP bottom line and earnings even more than it affects ours.   We would like to hear from HP management that they are getting involved in this situation.

   replyreport
   1. 70

      galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's not likely to happen. My personal opinion is that HP is profiting from the Google ads on all those copies so  it's to their benefit to allow the scrapers to take all they want. Maybe they're not really scrapers after all!
      By the way- any Editors Choice or  Hubs of the Day been copied???? good question.

      replyreport
      1. 88

         IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         How can HP possibly profit from someone stealing content here? No-one steal the ads too!

         replyreport
      2. 72

         Jenn-Anneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The person who benefits from scraped content is the scraper. That's why they do it - to post our content as their own, place ads on it and benefit from our hard work. HP loses as much as we do when content is stolen.

         replyreport
      3. 91

         Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Both my editor's choice and hub of the day have been copied. I just filed dozens of DCMA reports today. How would HP benefit from our content being stolen????

         replyreport
         1. 78

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Here's a question for you guys:  I started here 19 months ago.  I am not sure, but I think at that time HP was already putting our work on sub domains.  Am I correct?  If I am, then the only people who have really had problems are those who were writing under the HP umbrella.  I don't know of any of my articles being stolen, and the few times I have looked I have not found any...but this does not mean it has not happened.  Just wondering what my personal risk is here.  Anybody?

            replyreport
            1. 88

               IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Your personal risk of having work stolen is just the same as everyone else.
               
               The easiest way to check for plagiarism , while using Google Chrome, is to highlight a section of text, right click, and choose 'search in Google'.
               
               Even better if you then edit the search text by putting quotes around it. That way, the search will only include exact results.

               replyreport
               1. 44

                  Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  +1
                  
                  I started on HP after subdomains were the norm.  Every Hub I have published on this site has been stolen at least once.

                  replyreport
            2. 80

               HollieTposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Check out rank 08, they scraped us all.

               replyreport
               1. 88

                  IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Not the first, nor the last.
                  
                  Some people know good content when they find it!
                  
                  The problem of scraped content only arises when the copiers out-rank the originals.
                  
                  Over to Google.

                  replyreport
                  1. 44

                     Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     It has been my experience and the experience of others I work for that a duplicate on the Internet can take both the original and the copy out of rankings.  A plagiarized webpage can hurt your rankings even if it is not outranking yours at a given moment.  The more copies a page on the Internet that do not link back to the original source (as in syndicated content), the more your content looks like "ordinary information" instead of original thought.

                     replyreport
                     1. 88

                        IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        If what you are saying is true, what is the point in writing new hubs? Google cannot determine who published first - Google rewards copiers.
                        You can guess the next sentence!

                        replyreport
                        1. 44

                           Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           Publishing Hubs does require constantly filing DMCA requests.  At least, that has been my experience here. I really think HubPages staff should be filing when the entire site has been scraped.

                           replyreport
                           1. 91

                              Cardisaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              I agree with you WF. When the entire site has been scraped all of HP material including their logo is used so why aren't they doing anything? Rank08 uses HP favicon in the browser, isn't that reason enough to report them?

                              replyreport
                              1. 44

                                 Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                 It's reason to report with the first article the site scraped.  I don't know why HubPages staff hasn't filed a request, but no one has responded to the many, many forum threads here. 
                                 
                                 Remember, each Hubber can only report about his individual articles.  Unfortunately, that is often not enough to get an entire site removed with other plagiarized Hubs still remaining online.

                                 replyreport
                     2. 78

                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        Writer Fox:  You would think that Google would build something into its programming that would show that an article was "first" and then eliminate copied material.  The plagiarism that is going on is really their fault because they are not protecting original writers by doing something like this.

                        replyreport
                        1. 44

                           Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           It's not really Google's job to protect writers, but it does offer ways to report plagiarism and responds to DMCA requests.
                           
                           Google does attempt to feature the original source of content, but cannot always detect the original especially when the original changes its URL, as in the case of 'Editor Choice' Hubs.

                           replyreport
                           1. 78

                              TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              Writer Fox:  I understand about the URL change issue, but surely a time and date stamp of some sort would be easy to affix to articles and they would automatically tell Google who the original writers are.
                              
                              It may not be their "job" to protect writers, but ethically they should try to do more as many people have been victimized and it is through Google that this is happening!

                              replyreport
                              1. 44

                                 Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                 One of the problems is that HubPages puts its own date stamp that shows up on the Google snippet (the Description Tag) and it is NOT the date the Hub was published but the date it was last edited – which could be today instead of 3 years ago.  What message do you think that sends to Google?

                                 replyreport
                                 1. 78

                                    TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                    Writer Fox:  The more you talk, the more I'm beginning to think the culprit here is the HP team and not Google.  What is wrong with these people?  If they understand about the dating and how important it is to help avoid plagiarism, why don't they fix it?  It would be as simple as getting rid of the "date edited" column for everybody and could save thousands of hours of work and many headaches for the writers here.  Maybe they should hire YOU to address these issue???

                                    replyreport
                                    1. 44

                                       Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                       Thanks, but no thanks.  The date is an issue.  Date stamps are usually used for news sites and for blogs.  To put it on an evergreen article, removing important parts of the description tag to make room for it, makes it more difficult to compete on search engine results.  Have you ever seen a date on a Wikipedia article show up on search results?  No.  Yet, at the bottom of each Wiki article you can see when it was last updated. The date stamp makes it look to searches like the webpage is brand new and not established as reputable information.  Again, 'freshness' is for news and blogs.

                                       report
10. 80

    HollieTposted 11 years ago

    I think it was Susana, the other day, who posted copies of DMCA's filed against this site. One from HP was amongst them. Ridiculous to suggest that HP would some how benefit from having their own sites content scraped.

    replyreport
11. 83

    earnerposted 11 years ago

    The trouble is, with the drop in income ... and my 200+ hubs yesterday producing a total income of less than enough to buy a 1" cube of cheap cheese.... $100 to get it through any court is several months' income. 
    
    Not to mention the mental anxiety and sheer time it'd take.

    replyreport