Docstoc Contacts

1. 76

   sunforgedposted 15 years ago

   Im not a big fan of jumping through hoops...filling out numerous forms (although I have today) to make of for others mistakes and poor systems. I Ilike to go right to the source
   
   So here are all the contacts I could find on the owners of the site, crush their personal websites with comments about their assisting in copyright violations, give them a call, see if they are enjoying there day off..etc.
   
   http://alonshwartz.com/
   
   Alon schwartz personal website
   
   His linkedin profile
   
   http://www.linkedin.com/in/alonshwartz
   
   his facebook profile
   
   http://www.facebook.com/alon.shwartz?_fb_noscript=1
   
   
   his pitiful twitter profile
   
   http://twitter.com/alonsh
   (hit em with hundreds of @alonsh = thief tweets)
   
   more personal email
   
   alons@doctoc.com
   
   Hundreds of outraged comments and contacts addressing the owners should lead to a quicker resolution

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   1. 76

      sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I have posted a nice message at every contact and posted to twitter a coupe of times - 5.5k followers, one of my friends with a 20k account was kind enough to post also

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2. 82

   Sufidreamerposted 15 years ago

   Bump!

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3. 76

   sunforgedposted 15 years ago

   @alonsh Your website is responsible for thousands of DMCA violations, Hubpages writers have been filing dmca's with adsense all morning
   
   Please retweet

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4. 82

   Whitney05posted 15 years ago

   Or you can just use the DMCA notification page:
   http://www.docstoc.com/DMCA/
   
   Or email: copyright@docstoc.com using their DMCA guidelines (http://www.docstoc.com/User/cmsstatic.aspx?page_id=100)

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   1. 76

      sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      No whitney, why play by the rules? You get things done by going to the top
      
      I posted those links hours ago..

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5. 82

   Whitney05posted 15 years ago

   You get things done by playing by the rules. Remember they have Google Adsense on their pages, as do we. The best thing to do is play by the rules. They can easily cause false clicks, if you piss them off enough. Do you want your account closed with Adsense? I don't. Just play by the rules.

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   1. 76

      sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      tell that to those who are profiting from the theft of your work
      
      You jump through their hoops - Ill make doctocs=fraud/copyright infringers hit google trends

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6. 82

   Whitney05posted 15 years ago

   How is it their hoops? When Google tells you to do it that way? They want you to play by the rules.
   
   Or you can be childish, and do it your way, and suffer any potential consequences.

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   1. 76

      sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I see childish as an insult, I think you are a sheep, you are jumping through hoops and following directions of a site you have no interest in.
      
      DMCA complaints have been filled out in Bulk, docstoc has been  contacted hundreds of times im sure,
      
      Get a message to the owner, things happen..have any experience in Sales? never bother talking to the secretaries -

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7. 76

   sunforgedposted 15 years ago

   I follow rules when I am a willing participant.
   
   The owners of Site A are profiting from my work, I am not a member, friend or associate, I contact Site A , however I feel like until the problem is resolved
   
   I imagine I get things done much quicker

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8. 65

   emievilposted 15 years ago

   I posted a comment on his personal website telling him about the copied hubs (called them articles) and that he should take a personal interest in it since he's very proud of what he created. I don't know if he is personally responsible with what has happened but with the amount of DMCAs his site is going to receive, he should very well be worried about it.

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9. 78

   Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

   As I posted in the other thread:
   
   Don't you think we should wait and see what the other site has to say about it before we decided to destroy them? You are opening yourself up to libel charges if you say the site is complicit with the thief. We don't know that is the case yet.
   
   Now if they ignore all attempt by HP to rectify the situation, that will be different.

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   1. 76

      sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      You can wait, my systems are automated and personal. Personally contacting the owner is all I suggest.

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   2. 82

      Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      True, although it is probably fair to accuse them of some level of incompetence.
      
      Have to go with Sunforged on this one - I am pretty sure that the site's owners will want to fix this ASAP. I suspect that they are legit, and this is the sort of thing that they will cancel holidays for - it is that serious,

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      1. 82

         Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Definitely incompetence on their part for not checking copyrighted material. And, probably true that they're a legit company, but what gives us the right to harass them, when we can see what they have to say after all the bulk reports and official HubPages complaint?
         
         We have not given them any time to correct the situation, so what makes this method of harassment right?

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         1. 82

            Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            Whitney
            
            Put it this way - if I had invested thousands of dollars and a lot of time in a site, I would want to know and holidays be damned. This could destroy all of their hard work

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10. 82

    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    Yes there may have been bulk reports, but it's been 20 hours or so since the other initial thread. Many companies take Columbus Day as a holiday. Plus it's been a weekend. Give them time to get in the office and read the reports.
    
    You are being childish.
    
    File the reports, give them a chance to read them, and rectify the situation.
    
    HubPages has even contacted them, but remember it's been over a weekend. Like Uninvited Writer said, if they ignore the reports, and HubPages, then take further action. Until then, you can't tell if they're ignoring anything over a freaking weekend and holiday.

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    1. 71

       thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Google works everyday. They have the phone numbers and contact information for this company, as the site makes money with Adsense. If an Adsense associate got 1,000 clicks an hour they would be banned without question. This site is making personal money off of copyrighted material. That alone is enough to go to court about, never mind be removed by Google. It's there problem that they don't check the copyright status on articles. Just like its the associates fault they didn't monitor there adsnse code.
       
       Don't argue about that, its true and you know it. Thats why Hubpages has its program to flag copyrighted Hubs.
       
       ~thranax~

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       1. 82

          Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

          True, but if you're filing the reports with the company, they may not work on the weekends. Not every company works and checks emails on weekends. You can't guarantee they noticed them all immediately.
          
          If you filed a report using the companies email and methods, they would be the ones to remove it from the site. Not google.
          
          I've contacted Yahoo Answers DMCA numerous times, and they remove the content, not Google.
          
          This does not give anyone the excuse to harass another company.

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          1. 71

             thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             At 2pm eastern today, they would have had a 24-hour notice from Google and from the DMCA on there site. If a company can't fix itself in a day then I dont' see why single users of adsense can be banned for reporting it an hour to late.
             
             ~thranax~

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    2. 76

       sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Cancelling a couple of user accounts and blocking an IP, can be done with one phone call to their engineers.
       
       Your wasting my time. You do you...you would be amazed at the speed I have gotten my copyrighted content removed from other sites - its amazing what a phone call can do, while you fill out forms ..bye

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11. 0

    Nelle Hoxieposted 15 years ago

    I am also waiting for a few days for this to play out. I'll fill out 200 DMCA forms if I have to, but for now I've just filled out a few.

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12. 82

    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    Remember weekend! The company probably doesn't work on the weekend.
    
    Just wait at least a minute.
    
    I'm not happy with it either, but Lord...
    
    Plus remember thousands of articles stolen and republished, there's no easy button. They'll have to go through all the complaints. And what about those who didn't report stolen content. I myself don't have time to search for over 600 hubs on their site and then report every last one.
    
    
    They had 7 views off one of my hubs. That's minimal compared to what I've gotten on the same hub. My traffic hasn't changed one bit, and over time I'm sure it would, but no one has given the site any chance to correct one thing.

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13. 0

    girly_girl09posted 15 years ago

    I don't see anything illegally wrong with what is happening on DocStoc's end. A user chose to abuse their TOS and steal our hubs. They didn't tell this punk to do so. They probably still don't know about it.
    
    If somebody came on here and posted copyrighted material, it would only be HP's responsibility to delete it after receiving a valid DMCA notice. Site owners are typically protected from these situations.
    
    It is rare for a website to be held liable for other users (that agreed to their TOS upon registering) posting copyrighted material if they promptly respond to DMCA notices. If they ignore the DMCA notices, that's another story. Since DocStoc is a multi-million dollar company, I am certain they'll respond promptly.
    
    Let's remember - it has only been 20 hours. It's a holiday weekend. No court would rule negligence or anything like that because a general guideline of receiving a DMCA notice is that you have a reasonable amount of time to respond. A holiday weekend is not reasonable. People are on vacation - they might not even know about it yet.
    
    Like I said in another thread, I really hope that DocStoc simply deletes this guy's accounts, bans his IPS and deletes ALL his documents. HOWEVER, if a DMCA notice isn't received for each, individual document, they are not necessarily responsible for removing the content. (Although they should for Google Adsense purposes).

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    1. 82

       Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       THANK YOU!

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14. 0

    lynnechandlerposted 15 years ago

    I sent a letter to them requesting my hubs be taken down and the user banned. Not sure it will help but I sent it.

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15. 71

    thranaxposted 15 years ago

    What I am getting at is Weekend or not, if we are responsible as individuals, why isn't the company responsible at the same time too? You know, that guy will probably get a digital transfer of $1,000+ before his accounts is banned. And if the site never was, they made money off of your articles, and everyone else.
    
    ~thranax~

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    1. 0

       SirDentposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Google does not pay out until after the end of the month the person makes 100 dollars. Even if the person received 10,000 dollars in clicks, the money will not be paid until after the end of the month. If their account is banned, then they will receive nothing.
       
       I agree with Whitney that everyone should just breathe and play by the rules. Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off does no good at all.

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       1. 71

          thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Sigh..thats dense. They started this in August. For all you know the 1st day they uploaded was 1 day before Payday, aka, allowing them to receive it before google notices. Hopefully, if they get our DMCA's quickly, they will ban his account before that date. Sitting around lets him get that Digital transfer.
          
          ~thranax~

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       2. 82

          Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          The problem is that they are putting the documents into the public domain - that could create problems further down the line.

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16. 71

    thranaxposted 15 years ago

    Also, if DocStoc doesn't remove the accounts within a week, they side with the person automatically and can face charges. So in a way, we help them by getting them to fix it swiftly.
    
    ~thranax~

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17. 82

    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    Yes, but why not follow the rules versus harass and bully them? If they do not comply, then go to higher measures. All I'm saying is why harass them if we haven't given them time to correct anything?
    
    
    Anyway it will take Google more than 24 hours to research and correct the situation. I forget the time that their DMCA says, but once you fax or mail the copied content report, they don't just automatically delete the other people's stuff. They do research to see if what you are saying is accurate.
    
    Yes if more people are faxing in the reports, they'll notice it faster and they'll get on it faster, but they still have to verify if they're all accurate.

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    1. 71

       thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       We verified it using there search engine. It shouldn't take them more then 10 seconds to know one is copied. Then come here and find 2..3...10...500...it only takes 1 to break there TOS.
       
       ~thranax~

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    2. 82

       Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Their reputation and even existence are at stake - they will want to know about it and fix this quickly. It is not just a user stealing a few articles - if I was the site's owner, I would be on my way into work to pull down the accounts. In fact, I have a feeling that they will want to sort this long before Google gets involved.

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    3. 59

       jossecarrposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I believe that faxing is indeed one of the best options since it sends a copy or image of the original document.

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18. 78

    Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

    Because we all know that Google are just sitting there waiting for information about copied hubs... No like there are hundreds of thousands of other articles on the web that are probably stolen... oh...wait...

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19. 0

    lynnechandlerposted 15 years ago

    I also sent a message to the user to remove the content as I knew it had been stolen. Again, not sure it will help but I am hopeful.

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20. 82

    Whitney05posted 15 years ago

    10 seconds times how many stolen articles? thousands. It's not going to be 5 minutes and it's done.
    
    Plus again, not everyone will sit and search though several thousand pages to find theirs that have been copied.
    
    
    
    
    Exactly... We're not the only ones making complaints and they still have to research them all. No matter how long or short of a time frame it may take them, they still have other things to do.
    
    
    Whatever this is childish. I'm waiting to see what HP says to their complaint they posted before I do anything.

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21. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    Message sent via Facebook
    
    "Thousands of stolen and copyrighted articles have been showing up on your site docstoc. These articles have been stolen from HubPages writers - these articles look like they have been scraped and are being automatically uploaded to your site by user(s) with multiple usernames all starting with shift (shiftA-shiftZ)
    
    this might interest you as hubpage writers are filling out DMCA complaints by the hundreds with adsense, speedy resolution is suggested
    
    http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/24060?p … post431960
    "
    profile
    http://www.facebook.com/alon.shwartz?_fb_noscript=1

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22. 78

    Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

    They just started copying hubs last week, according to other people in the other thread.

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    1. 82

       Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       And I highly doubt they are making 1000s in just one week. It takes time to get in searches, and depending on what the terms are, they may or may not show up. 
       
       And, again, they're getting few views per hub. 5-10 views in the past week, isn't that substantial.

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    2. 65

       emievilposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       One of my hubs was copied last August. But it seems that the bulk of the copying was done just this October.

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23. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    please RT thousands of articles stolen from Hubpages writers hosted on docstoc @alonsh

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24. 0

    cosetteposted 15 years ago

    "give them time?"
    
    um   we don't live in the age of telegraphs and horses and buggies....what, this site owner doesn't have email, twitter or a cell phone?
    
    last night i registered there and flagged my stolen article as stolen, then i posted a link back to my HP profile ... i went to log in this morning and find myself locked out...with this message:
    
    The provided e-mail is not in the system. Please verify the e-mail.
    
    they locked me out so i created a new one with the same email address.
    
    
    i don't think sunforged is being "childish". i would't twitter this because the site owner may need time to investigate this, but i can certainly understand sunforged's outrage.
    
    i took Mark Knowles' advice and am posting my link in my docstoc profile. good idea! (i'm RORSHACH over there). i am going to do everything in my power to expose and embarrass that little thief siftin. (well, as much as i have time for this morning).

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    1. 78

       Uninvited Writerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I added you, I'm Sukee

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       1. 0

          cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          oh thank you!
          
          Rorshach: Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon. That's always been the difference between us, Dan.

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          1. 61

             Daniel Carterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             I'm going to try to figure out what you guys are talking about and join you. I do believe that being calm is the answer, but having been pirated before, I am usually one aggressive SOB about this stuff. Sound good. I'll figure it out and join. Thanks.

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             1. 0

                cosetteposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                i'm calm.
                
                quite.
                
                methodical, but calm.
                
                alas i am too busy today to deal with this further but i will.
                
                oh yes.
                
                (said in ominous Rorschach-sounding voice

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                1. 61

                   Daniel Carterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                   Well, cosette, your invitation was too good to pass up.
                   My username there is Bloodletting.
                   
                   Doesn't that have a nice ring?
                   
                   I backlinked to HP, etc.
                   
                   I've got to get to other deadlines too.
                   
                   Thanks everyone for providing such good info on this. The way to slay the dragon is to get the whole town out and dismember him all at one time. I think this will pay work mighty fast.

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25. 61

    readytoescapeposted 15 years ago

    I just found most of my hubs have been copied there.

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26. 61

    readytoescapeposted 15 years ago

    They also appear to have been "stolen" by more than one "user"

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27. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    You must understand that my twitter is automated and has a 5.5k user reach - making a few tweets and setting it to post hourly isnt difficult, takes much less time than those DMCA's!
    
    of which I have filled out many

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28. 61

    readytoescapeposted 15 years ago

    The site hosting this junk should have an easy time finding it all. During the copying process of all my hubs, they took not only the written material, but also all of the advertising, which on the ones i saw of mine the ads were embedded in the text. Are all of yours that way too?

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    1. 95

       Susana Sposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, they are - which is why i believe the copying was done by software rather than by hand.

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29. 68

    Pearldiverposted 15 years ago

    Thanks for his details J....... This personal message arrived on his personal site @ 8.03am this morning.
    
    Be Advised that you have 48 hours to Remove all 22 Articles owned and identified as copyrighted by the above named author, stolen from Hubpages.com and posted within your site Docstore.
    
    I am author of same and advise you that my documents are not of Pubic Domain status contrary to your site declaration that such content has been legally sourced.
    
    I am aware that your company has also illegally obtained thousands of further documents from other writers within Hubpages and that collectively those articles have received in excess of 250,000 page views up to this time.
    
    Should you neglect to action this request within the aforementioned timeframe; the writer will advance legal proceedings against your interests without further notice.
    
    Pearldiver nzpol.
    
    So.......... Let's Rock n Roll

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30. 61

    Daniel Carterposted 15 years ago

    Filing the form, and giving notice in a professional manner is all that's needed to start. After that, if there's no response, (and I'm pretty sure these site owners are probably scared to bits by now) then the legal process can handle it all pretty well.
    
    The sky is not falling in. It's just another day in cyberspace. This, unfortunately, is what happens.

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    1. 76

       sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       What you might? be missing is that every single one of these articles that has been posted at doctocs gets a little "Public Domain" attribution and one click download.
       
       Its not the same as some blogger lifting your article and reposting, people come to docstocs specifically to download content for reposting.
       
       Those hubbers with frequently views articles on doctocs can expect to see their content everywhere - those views are probably downloads.
       
       Yes, its just another day in the net and im sure it will work out in the end, Im just a sooner rather than later type of guy - instant gratification generation and all.
       
       i want to see at least an email that says "we are investigating the matter" ya know?

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       1. 61

          Daniel Carterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          It's not that I'm not willing to do all I can. I've been through this before, along with pirated music copyrights, and even bad divorces. I'm familiar with it, and I know what the outcome can be and it's not good when so much potential damage can be done so quickly (and likely has been.) I agree in contacting. I agree in you're proposing, but really, at the end of the day, I've found that after having done all I can, I shouldn't have fretted the night away in lost sleep.  And I've made a few mistakes in calling out people who weren't supposed to be involved, and I don't want to do that again, either. So that's why I take the approach I do.
          
          I'm on your side. I've been pirated too, and so obviously it's crap for all of us. Just trying to keep a sense of perspective.

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31. 68

    Pearldiverposted 15 years ago

    Won't it be FUN..... Read their vulnerability Daniel... I Don't Bluff!

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32. 0

    lynnechandlerposted 15 years ago

    I also went into my hubs and added a line of text about it being copyright to me at hubpages in '09. Not going to delete my work but going to start putting that in all my hubs.

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    1. 83

       Lily Roseposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       That's a great ideas - I think I'll do the same.  Can't hurt, right?

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33. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    heres the company phone numbers and legal counsel
    
    --(Business Wire)--
    Docstoc is the premier online community to find and share professional
    documents. Docstoc provides the platform for users and businesses to upload and
    share their documents with all the world, and serves as a vast repository of
    documents in a variety of categories including legal, business, financial,
    technology, educational, and creative. All documents on Docstoc can be easily
    searched, previewed and downloaded for free.
    
    Docstoc also provides technology through various APIs and Widgets to help
    facilitate the sharing and promotion of documents across the web. The site has
    popularized the use of embedding documents throughout the blogosphere and
    mainstream media. You can learn more about embedding documents here:
    http://www.docstoc.com/embed-documents/
    
    Docstoc, Inc. was founded by Jason Nazar and Alon Shwartz. The company was
    selected in September of 2007 to debut its product at the prestigious
    TechCrunch40 Conference. The product was subsequently launched to the public in
    November 2007.
    
    Docstoc is a venture backed company (Rustic Canyon) and received funding from
    the co-founders/investors in MySpace, LowerMyBills, Mp3.com, PriceGrabber and
    Baidu. Their legal counsel is DLA Piper.
    
               Company:                         Docstoc                 
                                                                             
               Headquarters Address:           
    
    1317 5th Street       
    Suite 300               
      Santa Monica, CA 90401 
                                                                              Main Telephone:                  310-255-1172           
                                                                             
               Type of Organization:            Private                 
                                                                             
               Industry:                        Publishing             
                                                                             
               Key Executives:          CEO: Jason Nazar       
                                        CTO: Alon Shwartz       
                                                                             
               Vice President of Business Development                         
               Contact:                         Robyn Ward             
               Phone:                           310-255-1172           
               Email:                           bizdev@docstoc.com     
                                                                             
               Director of Marketing                                   
               Contact:                         Serena Ehrlich         
               Phone:                           310-255-1172           
               Email:                           bizdev@docstoc.com     
    
    
    Copyright Business Wire 2009

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34. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    I just got off the phone with them - couldnt get passed the receptionist but she claimed she would pass my message along
    
    Perhaps a couple of hundred more would help

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35. 79

    SweetiePieposted 15 years ago

    Find this forum, and then discovered one of my articles was also copied there.  I reported it to the site and Google, so I have a feeling that the plagiarist site will be taken down soon.

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36. 76

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    Spoke with site CEO, he specifically called me back to say that he did know about the issue, he does care and it will be resolved within 48 hours.

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    1. 68

       Pearldiverposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Oh OK Are You Sure that's Not in Response to my 48 hour notice?

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       1. 82

          Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          He is probably aware of the fierce reputation enjoyed by Bumbletown's lawyers.

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       2. 76

          sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          I spoke to the other owner
          
          He said that it would be done quicker but due to the huge amount of content, it cant be all removed at once without damaging the site..so it is being taken down in chunks.
          
          he is completely aware of the user shift(a-q) and is all over it!

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          1. 58

             Pandemic Pressposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Great work! Sunforged gets things done!

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          2. 61

             Daniel Carterposted 15 years agoin reply to this

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37. 78

    Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

    Also put a link back to the original in the text for those who copy links and all.

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