How about Preventing a user from selecting and copying text?

1. 84

   joween18posted 10 years ago

   Hi everyone, I had this one suggestion to prevent stolen hubs, how about making hubs cannot be copied by restricting selection using javascript or any script? This is kind a simple script. Or give the authors the ability to add this script to their hubs?
   Or when someone is copying a hub, a script will include the link of the hub, like myanimelist.net does. Or the RSS hub backlink and copyright in the beginning or end of an RSS Feed hub?  Just suggesting

   replyreport
   1. 71

      Matthew Meyerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The reality of online publishing is that if someone can read content in a web browser, then they have a copy of the content on their computer.
      
      While it is possible to eliminate a users ability to copy text via JavaScript, this most impacts readers and has the effect of breaking the reader experience.
      
      Consider if a reader wanted to copy a sentence from your Hub and then share it on Twitter or Facebook with a link. If copy was disabled for a Hub, then they would be unable to do this.
      
      A more technically proficient person could simply disable JavaScript or view the page source, so it would mostly inconvenience a legitimate reader.
      
      I added this information to a FAQ entry to help others going forward.
      http://hubpages.com/faq/#disablecopy

      replyreport
      1. 91

         Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Matthew, shouldn't a reader click a social share button if they want to share? If they're being so pedantic they want to copy sentences to put into their own share option, I think HP are pandering to a few people at the expense of the majority of authors by not putting on disable right click. Plus don't they get to add their own comments as they post on social media anyway?
         
         Also, I can't say I've ever shared anything by copying and pasting sentences etc. I just click share buttons. So I don't know if there's massive amounts of people doing it.....
         
         Please consider no right click. I really don't see how it would interrupt anyone's reading experience at all. They can still read it and they can still share it. Hubbers are annoyed at having to report tons of stuff and this would help a little bit. Please reconsider!!!
         
         Plus, added benefit is that HP will no longer be seen as a go to site for copying for amateurs, only for those with serious software.
         
         PS - no right click could just be for text. I know a lot of people have photo hubs that would have to move if images were disabled.....but disabling text would help everyone.

         replyreport
         1. 80

            Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I agree with Susanne - if someone wants to copy only a sentence, they can type it our, or share a link. Disabling the ability to simply copy a sentence does NOT interfere with the average reader's experience. The experience here is reading, not copying.
            
            Sure, if someone really messes with things, they can figure out how to copy text, but why are we making it easy for anyone to copy content on the site?  I have one hub that's been copied at least six times (still shows all six sites have it) the site has a URL ending in ZA (???) I can't find a way to contact them, and clearly, they don't care.  Several others are copied, too. Some are bloggers, and even some of those are hard to track. 
            
            WHY is Hubpages refusing to do anything that might help even a tiny bit? It takes time for us to handle any copied content issue. Perhaps that small amount of time could be spent tracking down and fighting the real thieves (the ones using bots and stealing massive amounts of content). Instead, we have to spend time addressing even the smaller operations.
            
            Writers here are the ones who have spent hours creating content.  Are you telling us you're not going to support and protect us, because it might create a minute of annioyance for a reader, when you can implement legitimate ways to satisfy both parties?
            
            Meanwhile - I've reported a New Hubber who posted a link here on the forum to 'his' hub. The entire content is copied from a textbook.  The 'Hubber' cannot write clear English. I've included links to the textbook.  Why is this person still on the site? 
            
            We seem to have counter-productive practices regarding copied content. It's okay for people to steal our work, and it's okay for people to publish hubs that are stolen content.

            replyreport
            1. 92

               Thelma Albertsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with you Marcy Goodfleisch. Is it not better for us writers here at HP if this site will do something against the thieves? Like making this site hard to be copied and pasted?

               replyreport
            2. 67

               Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Yes!!
               
               I've noticed things that were clearly copied, and I've reported them.
               
               I've never actually gone back to be sure they were gone later. Perhaps I should start checking back?
               
               I might have been incorrect about some of these things, but you can kind of tell when something is from a pamphlet or brochure.

               replyreport
         2. 67

            Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I like your thinking.

            replyreport
      2. 84

         joween18posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi guys, I'm back.... just wanted to add this... what if instead of disabling anything, why just include the hub link? when someone wants to copy a phrase from a hub... Like for example, a hub about a tutorial of making a paper aeroplane..
         
         So if a reader wanted to copy the phrase "Prepare a piece of paper..." then a link back to your hub will be included..
         
         then instead of just..
         "Prepare a piece of paper..."
         
         it will be:
         "Prepare a piece of paper... Read more at: http://joween18.hubpages.com/tut-paper-airplane"..
         
         It would be convenient if the user wants to share it to a social nerworking site like Facebook, coz Facebook interprets the link automatically.. or in our case we wanted to share a lot of our hubs, then it would save a lot of time..

         replyreport
         1. 91

            Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            That's a pretty good idea.

            replyreport
         2. 93

            melbelposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I think including the link leads copiers to believe that it's okay to copy and paste... because they're citing their source.

            replyreport
            1. 91

               Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Good point, but maybe a copyright notice could be included in the link?

               replyreport
   2. 93

      melbelposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Giving users this kind of capability is exactly why I'm glad MySpace is dead.

      replyreport
2. 68

   relacheposted 10 years ago

   Although you have only been on this site for five months, this is an ongoing discussion that has been taking place for nearly the entire time this website has existed.  You may also note that content copying is a widespread problem across the entire internet, and not just here.
   
   I have some questions for you.
   
   1) Do you really think that no one has ever suggested your same suggestion before in the history of HubPages or the Internet?
   
   2) If that would really work to stop content thieves, don't you think that there would already be something like that here?  If something like that would really work don't you think it would be in place all over the entire Internet?

   replyreport
   1. 67

      Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, my answers are as follows:
      
      1.  I have no way of knowing.
      
      2.  HubPages is particularly vulnerable, I would think, because there are many different authors, posting many different articles (Hubs), all of whose content is the original work of one individual person, not a corporate entity.
      
      Corporate entities have a lot of -- what do you call it?  --- like, templates, cut and paste, "prefab" I guess, which is not original in any event, on their websites.
      
      But, corporate entities also have unlimited resources to go after any plagiarism they find anywhere in the universe, basically.
      
      {My first You Tube video is of me sitting in a coffee shop web camming myself trying to figure out how to make a You Tube video. LOL
      
      { YT removed it, saying "plagiarism" --- because of the background music that was playing in the coffee shop at the time. It took me a really long time to figure it out. The message said something about music, which baffled me because I didn't have any music ---- or so I thought :-) Proving that we really DON't pay attention to background music.}
      
      These variables might make Hubpages an especially ripe plagiaristic field.

      replyreport
3. 78

   mathomposted 10 years ago

   Or, to put it more politely, since we all get started on the web at different times:
   
   Most content thievery is not done by humans manually using the copy/paste functions of their web browsers.
   
   Instead, it's done by bots, mini computer programs written by the thieves that scan the web and "scrape" all the code and content (or text content) from webpages they encounter. It's automated, and there's no point at which a human ever selects "copy" and "paste" from a pulldown menu.
   
   Why can't we block bots? Because, unfortunately, bots are also how search engines like Google find our content and list it under search results. If we blocked the computer programs responsible for copying our content, it would prevent hubs from showing up in Google or other search engines. That would make Hubpages practically invisible to the entire web, and our traffic would drop to almost nothing.

   replyreport
   1. 84

      joween18posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I see. I actually understand this... Thanks!

      replyreport
   2. 90

      JayeWisdomposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, mathon, for putting it 'more politely', a skill some forum posters don't seem to have acquired.

      replyreport
4. 91

   Suzanne Dayposted 10 years ago

   I still believe that disable right click would get rid of some copiers. Not the article spinning idiots, but the ones starting wordpress and blogger sites with only a few pages, who obviously just copy and paste manually.
   
   No right click would get rid of these people, which would be roughly 1/6 of people I am reporting. Anything that helps with the copier war should be considered....

   replyreport
   1. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think Suzanne is right. Disabling right click would help.
      
      Some people do just copy and paste. One lady on a Yahoo group thought that when she saw the Share buttons, it actually meant that she could copy and paste it and share with anyone. If she thought that, there are lots of people out there that naive. If she would have shared the link instead, it would have helped the site owner.

      replyreport
      1. 86

         DzyMsLizzyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Reminds me of that commercial, "...I'm saving a lot of time by pasting my vacation photos to my wall..."
         The sad part about that is, there really ARE people that dumb out there...

         replyreport
      2. 67

         Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Wow, really?
         
         Ouch!

         replyreport
   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      But those people are probably never going to be a threat to you anyway, as their blogs are too small to ever get any attention from Google.

      replyreport
      1. 89

         Health Reportsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I am finding on a blog of mine that people are copying and pasting to legitimate blogs, that get good readership, my content as their post.  Then they pepper their posts with links to sales sites.  I guess they are in the SEO game, and if they get away with it they are boosting the site they are promoting.

         replyreport
      2. 91

         Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Marisa, probably as you say, except I found one hub had 40 duplicated copies on Wordpress and Blogger sometime back and this all could have been prevented with no right click. Luckily they're all gone now!

         replyreport
   3. 67

      Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Another good point. Thanks, Suzanne.

      replyreport
5. 75

   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   At least the writer here has been banned from the site. I don't get why they can't disallow right clicking though.

   replyreport
   1. 80

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Barbara - the one I'm referring to is still on the site. Another one was banned recently.  The one I reported posted a day or two ago, asking people to read his/her hub. They now have two hubs published.  But their OP is practically illiterate.  I'll make a new comment to bring the thread to the top.

      replyreport
      1. 75

         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I thought this guy was banned, but you are right. I think I might have gotten two threads mixed up.

         replyreport
6. 89

   Kathleen Odenthalposted 10 years ago

   I dont understand why more sites don't add that feature to protect themselves to some extent. I know that I have worked on websites where disabling right clicks was super easy. I think this is a great suggeston.

   replyreport
7. 82

   classicalgeekposted 10 years ago

   You can't disable them from using keyboard shortcuts, though. Most people know how to copy/paste using those.

   replyreport
   1. 91

      Suzanne Dayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you can't select the text with a cursor, how can you select it using keyboard shortcuts? Apart from print screening it?

      replyreport
      1. 82

         classicalgeekposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         There are keyboard shortcuts for selecting text, too.

         replyreport
      2. 80

         Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Ctrl A selects all text.

         replyreport
         1. 75

            Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'm going to try that. I didn't know that one. I like to keep a copy of my own stuff in Word.

            replyreport
            1. 75

               Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I tried it, but it copies the ads too.

               replyreport
               1. 80

                  Jayne Lancerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh yes, it selects everything, including what you probably don't need.

                  replyreport
8. 59

   JESUSJAYposted 10 years ago

   Why do people do that? why do they want to steal original written content when they know it does not belong to them? humans are quite something!

   replyreport
   1. 75

      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Because they are lazy and greedy at the same time. I never knew there were so many dishonest people in the world until I started to use the internet.

      replyreport
      1. 67

         Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Well, perhaps we should not characterize them like that.
         
         Some of them might be trying to escape a very desperate situation in a Third World country, or they might even be forced physically. They might be victims of human trafficking, and their kidnappers are using them for forced labor.

         replyreport
9. 90

   JayeWisdomposted 10 years ago

   I hadn't read this thread prior to posting my own similar question in a forum today. Relache replied with the link to Matthew's FAQ about not interfering with the reader who wants to copy and paste ONE sentence to Twitter and Facebook.  I could hardly believe what I was reading!
   
   The refusal of the HP Administrative Team to at the very least stop those WordPress and BlogSpot so-called 'bloggers' who steal from everyone because they're too lazy (or illiterate) to write copy themselves is disappointing. These thieves ARE draining our traffic. I can't believe all of them are super-techs who wouldn't be stopped or at least slowed down by the right click disablement. I agree with Marcy that HP should make some effort to support and protect the site's writers and am dismayed that it is apparently not a priority.

   replyreport
   1. 80

      psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Have you noticed that almost none of the major sites do this? Have you considered that Hub-bosses are not doing it for a reason other than to be mean to us?
      
      Like it interferes with honest users and does not impede a dishonest one? I am not any kind of online tech geek and I know how to get around 'no copy' scripts in less than 5 seconds. And the extra script has also kind of potential to slow pages loading and generally screw things up. That is why I do not use it on my own websites and would not want it to be used here.

      replyreport
      1. 67

         Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         H m m m - Well, that does make sense also.

         replyreport
   2. 67

      Huntgoddessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm inclined to agree, although I really don't even understand the tech aspects of this.

      replyreport