A hubber has copied one of my articles. What do I do?

1. 72

   Savio Dawsonposted 12 years ago

   A hubber has copied one of my articles. What do I do?
   
   This is a bit embarrassing for me. I am in a situation where I saw one of my articles cleverly restructured with few new additions by another hubber. I do not know what to do. Should I confront the person through a private mail? or should I just let it pass and take it up if it happens again?

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2. 37

   ChristinSposted 12 years ago

   If you're sure it's definitely plagiarism email HP staff.  Is it possible it was someone just writing on the same topic? Are you positive it was copied - like is it all in the same order etc? or is it just kind of similar.  If it's definitely been copied you can report the offending hub to HP staff and they'll take care of it.

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Christin, I do not want to report the person without being 100% sure, but if the articles are checked anyone can see the similarity... I also wanted to know, if this is something other hubbers have also experienced? If so, what did they do?

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      GoldenThreadPressposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I would report any concerns and then see what HP has to say. You can take it a step further if you disagree with their opinion.

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      ChristinSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, don't let people walk all over you who are plagiarizing there is a means to stop that.  Was is it def. plaigarism or just someone with similar ideas? You can tell the difference.  If it's just rewording and publishing it's theft, act on that

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3. 98

   Susana Sposted 12 years ago

   I had this happen a while back. The hubber took about 10 of my hubs and rewrote them enough to pass the duplicate filter - he made the mistake of leaving some sentences in tact though. (From memory only 6 consecutive words need to be directly copied for plagiarism to hold up.)
   
   First off I flagged the copied hubs and added an explanation for the moderator. This didn't work,  I guess because someone just looking at them quickly might not see the similarities which were obvious to me. So I sent an email to Hubpages detailing the similarities in a couple of the hubs with a list of all the other ones that I felt were copies of my own. The user was banned after that.
   
   So my advice would be to email HubPages directly. Use actual quotes from both hubs to demonstrate how it has been copied.

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      pagesvoiceposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad you were able to get this person banned. Plagiarism is inexcusable and intolerable.

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   Maggie Bennettposted 12 years ago

   That is not a fun feeling I'm sure.  Sometimes a subject matter has only so much information and people that do write about it almost all write the same material, but in different verbiage or order.  It doesn't mean they copied it, what it does mean is there is not much information on the subject sometimes.

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Maggie,
      
      The thing is that even with less information you can add your own words or views but here even my format was copied.... I myself can write ten different versions of the topic I am speaking about.. If I wish that is!

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5. 77

   chef-de-jourposted 12 years ago

   If you are 100% certain then you must send the evidence and an explanatory email to HP staff and take it from there. I wish you well. If there's anything that makes me feel sick in the stomach it's the thought of a plagiarist out there just copying out stuff and twisting it a little to produce their 'own work.'
   
   These sorts of people need to be banned.
   
   Can I ask how you got to know about this other hubber? Did you submit part of your own original hub and google it?

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Chef-de-jour,
      
      Thanks for your response... I actually happened to casually see it on the feed section..... http://hubpages.com/feed/ ... it was absolutely by chance.... But there is a way to find copied material too. You can use copyscape..

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   Neinahpetsposted 12 years ago

   Definitely email the HP staff.  This is just unacceptable.  As an artist I have had my work stolen and passed off as another person just using color filters and I know how horrible it can feel to have something you put your hard work and effort into ripped away.  I hope it gets resolved!

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Neinahpets,
      
      Thanks for the suggestion... And it is further distrubing since the person has been here for nearly a year, while I am not even two months old... You cannot assume that you can steal from a newbie and get away with that...

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      Neinahpetsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They probably had the thought that you would be the one accused since they are well established.  Silly thieves.

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   wqaindiaposted 12 years ago

   You should not have reacted at all.  Had you Just copied his/her best hub and publish it on your blog with slight amendments and watched his/her reactions.

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This is the funniest suggestion I have ever heard!!! LOL!!! wqaindia you rock!

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8. 0

   Vickiwposted 12 years ago

   I think you should do just what Susana S did, if you are sure of your facts. That gives everyone a very uneasy feeling, just knowing people are out there that would do that. It is such blatant disrespect.

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree Vickiw,
      
      But here is the latest update... The person has taken down the article... ,Must have seen this question and answers from all members... What better proof than this for a guilty conscience?....

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      Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad the person took the article down Savio. The downside of not reporting it though, is that this person is still here on HP to do the same to another unsuspecting hubber.

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      Savio Dawsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Susana,
      
      Thank you so much for the suggestion earlier and I now understand how bad it could be to not report the person in... I guess I have to take it as a lesson learnt...

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      Vickiwposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So glad to hear the article was taken down, Savio. I think it is still important to notify HP staff of this incident though.

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