Article theft

1. 98

   Rupert Taylorposted 8 weeks ago

   There is a toad in Vietnam (I think) who has lifted several articles from Owlcation. You can find them here: https://citrineapartment.com/author/namhuynh/
   
   They have then been turned into a gibberish version of English; is this what's called spun?
   
   I would file a DMCA but it appears I am uniquely unskilled in this maneuver. I have tried many times to have articles stolen from me taken down and I have yet to achieve success. So, relying on me to take on this chore is doomed to failure. I put it out there for those skilled in the black arts.

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   1. 97

      Kierstin Gunsbergposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

      Tell me more about this "spun." I just had an article stolen and turned into gibberish as well and can't see the point in doing that.

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   2. 96

      OldRosesposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

      You can file a takedown notice with Google.  That has worked for me when a DMCA hasn't seemed to catch the attention of neither a thief nor their host.

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2. 98

   Rupert Taylorposted 8 weeks ago

   Kierstein, I am the wrong person to ask for anything to do with internet jargon, but here is an example from the offending website; it's really quite hilarious.
   
   Here's what my bio says in part:
   
   "I've spent half a century (yikes) as an ink-stained wretch writing for radio and print - mostly print. I hope to be still tapping the keys as I take my last breath."
   
   Here's what it looks like when some loopy software processes it as per the website:
   
   "I’ve washed-out one-half a c (yikes) penning for wireless and print—mostly publish. I trust to be distillery tapping the keys as I takings my close hint."
   
   I don't know if "spun" is the correct word for this. I can think of a few other four-letter words that would be more appropriate.

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   1. 94

      Marketing Meritposted 8 weeks agoin reply to this

      Yes Rupert, spun is the correct term. I'm guessing you already know the process, but for those who may not, I'll explain briefly below.
      
      You copy and paste an original article into spinning software. This then replaces certain words with synonyms, with the aim of generating a unique(ish) article.
      
      The reason you see gibberish is because these programs are often used by individuals whose first language is not English. Hence, they often don't appreciate that a like-for-like word replacement does not replicate the quality of the original article.
      
      I have had a spun article removed from Blogger. However, it was a little bit more time consuming as I had to make a line-by-line comparison, to demonstrate that the article was spun.
      
      I tend now to only focus on getting copied articles deindexed from Google and Bing, and follow up with DMCA later.

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3. 87

   paradigmsearchposted 8 weeks ago

   My guess is Google will automatically relegate the spun versions to page 100.

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4. 98

   Rupert Taylorposted 8 weeks ago

   What? The big G does something that might benefit writers? My gast is flabbered.

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