Stolen articles. I feel like giving up.

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   poppyrposted 19 months ago

   Hi everyone. I've been writing for HubPages for several years now and enjoyed some success. But the copied articles are getting out of hand. Pretty much all my top earners have that little copyright claim red circle beside them. Recently one of my top earners was pasted into a forum and has cut my traffic by 70%. I tried reporting it, but the admins haven't taken it down.
   
   It takes a long time to get even one article removed. A few months ago I had to contact a website directly about a hamster care article that had been stolen. It took so much back and forth and me having to prove I wrote it first before they finally took it down. But my articles are on fifty or more websites now and I simply don't have time to commit hours and hours to getting them removed.
   
   It really makes me want to cry. I want to give up. Now I've taken another dip in earnings because lazy a**holes want to plagiarize my hard work. It's so lazy and petty.

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      Miebakagh57posted 19 months agoin reply to this

      Poppyr, I'm so sorry that one of your top earning articles are again stolen.                                                 It's an online world. Good and bad things happen. Google, I've noted is perfecting a solution for this plagiarise challenge.                                        In the meantime, it could strick a chord if you report to Google, all your predicaments. Once again, sorry.

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      chef-de-jourposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      I know, it's frustrating and annoying but it's part of the writing life online. There'll always be cheats and ignoramuses. I sometimes use Google's DMCA form. If you've used it in the past you'll know all about it. You can list multiple offending URLs.   
      
      https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools … B&rd=1

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         chef-de-jourposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         There's some good advice from Eugene and others in reply. Best of luck.

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         poppyrposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you so much, this is great!

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      TessSchlesingerposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      I doubt your dip in earnings comes from your writing being pinched. My writing gets pinched all the time. It has never affected my earnings. I think that's because when Google indexes, it gives the earliest article highest rank.

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         poppyrposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Good for you. The guy posted the guide on Steam, a gaming platform for PC gamers, so people would likely find it first before Googling the quest.

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            Kain 360posted 19 months agoin reply to this

            Same thing has happened to me.

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      Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

      I am really sorry, poppyr. Sadly, It is something we, as online writers, must deal with. Never give up. It's your work, and you own it. Every struggle you did in getting your content removed from other websites was worthwhile. Like Kenna, I also hope HP or Google can find a solution to this problem.
      
      Best wishes and Blessings!

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      Matt Wellsposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      You can file DMCA complaints with Google search. It won't get the article unpublished, but it will be removed from their search engine. It's easier and quicker. Please visit the FAQ for instructions.

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      SportBettingBTCposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         theraggededgeposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         You should read the Terms of Use of this site.

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      Arensshiposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      Mine too and I dunno what to do

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   Ryan Corneliusposted 19 months ago

   It comes with online. Happens frequently online. If they copy your articles consider them watching you. You maybe offered a paying position

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   Kenna McHughposted 19 months ago

   I am so sorry for your struggles with others stealing your articles. I hope HP or Google can come up with a solution to this problem.

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4. 96

   eugbugposted 19 months ago

   I know the feeling, most of mine have red circles too. If you at least file a DMCA report with Google, it'll take articles out of search results, even if they can still be accessed using Bing or other search engines or directly using the URL. Usually Google approve reports quickly, but occasionally their dim wit agents or AI can't find the copied text, so it's important to give them a string of text from the start of the copied content, in the description.

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5. 95

   alexadryposted 19 months ago

   It's getting worse. It looks like there's some software now that steals a couple of sentences from a variety of websites and puts them all together. I know of a guy that has created a whole website on dogs this way.
   
   His website shows up very often in Google search queries, and I took a look at his profile and then a look at his sitemaps to discover that this guy has like over 10,000 articles written in a relatively short time. I was thinking how can this guy churn all this content like this, it's impossible, unless he has 10 clones out there! 
   
   This obviously raised my suspicion, so I Googled several sentences and it turns out they are stolen from a variety of websites including Quora.
   
   Funny thing is that there is a page on his website where it says that if you find your content on his website to contact him.
   
   The scary thing is that Google thinks his content is awesome and is ranking him well. Doesn't seem to be penalizing him at all. Maybe it's not picking it because it's just a few sentences here and there? A serious update one day will likely find things out, but so far he's for sure enjoying the ride.
   
   I am also in the process of closing down a website and transferring some content here and the process is a pain because there are like 4-5 websites that have stolen two-three sentences of every my article and strategically spread them across several articles.
   
   Even though I clearly pasted the copied sections, the DMCA guys sometimes have still trouble finding it. 
   
   I have been questioning  myself if it was worth the effort, as I could have just changed the sentences myself, but it just irks me that I have to change stuff when they are the wrongdoers in the first place.
   
   The rest of the articles have sentences stolen from somewhere else, but overall, the reading experience isn't great because there's no flow and some sentences are incomplete.

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      Miebakagh57posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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         Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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            Miebakagh57posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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               Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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               AliciaCposted 19 months agoin reply to this

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                  Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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                  Miebakagh57posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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                     DrMark1961posted 19 months agoin reply to this

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      TessSchlesingerposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      I also came across that with my work. I guess I've just given up. I'm in the process of creating my own webssite (or rather some nice man on Medium is making me a websitte), and I will be able to blog on it.
      
      As I will be totally insignificant, I truly doubt someone will come and steal my work, and the work will only go out to my subscription list. The other option is to write on a site like Substack where the work is only emailed.
      
      I don't know what other options there are.

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6. 94

   Rupert Taylorposted 19 months ago

   It's a huge problem Poppy and I pretty much gave up trying to track down and disable the scum that do this. Sorry, that's not very helpful, but you are not alone in your frustration.

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   bhattucposted 19 months ago

   This has really become a big problem for the genuine writers. How to get the copied content removed from so many places?

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   satomkoposted 19 months ago

   I'm sorry you're having this problem, but I hope you don't stay so discouraged as to quit writing.  Using Google's DMCA form that someone else linked to is probably your best bet.  I wish Maven Media was a it more helpful if not more proactive on this front too.

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   Gregory DeVictorposted 19 months ago

   Poppy, I too am sorry that you are having this frustrating issue. As you already know, many of us here at HP have suffered the same fate. In my case, a jerk copied and pasted over 20 of my articles from Hobbylark and ToughNickel all over his website. It took me over two months to get everything removed. Yes, everything has been removed now, but I did have a plethora of problems with Google in the process of getting this mess taken care of.

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    Pamela99posted 19 months ago

    You did the work writing the article Poppy, I am so sorry you are having this happen. It is not right, but it seems so many have this same battle. I wish HP would help a little more to protect their authors.

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11. 93

    vocalcoachposted 19 months ago

    It's frustrating to find so many articles stolen.  My biggest money makers have been copied word for word including my personal photos. I've begged, pleaded, and threatened these writers and websites but nothing seems to work.I feel like I'm being robbed...

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       Madeleine Claysposted 19 months agoin reply to this

       Yes, I feel the same because you are right, we are being robbed. My efforts in contacting the websites who steal my work have been ineffective so now I file a DMCA with Google for each stolen article.  This has worked for me, as Google will remove the stolen work out of search results within a few days. (You may still see the article online but it won't come up when people do searches related to your topic.)
       
       I have decided to dedicate a set amount of time each week to filing DMCAs with Google. Sadly, I see no other way around this at present. The only alternative, as I see it, is to let the thieves keep stealing my work and that is not going to happen.

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    quicksandposted 19 months ago

    Hi!
    
    Why not add an image to every article of yours containing text, warning the reader about the de-merits of plagiarism ...
    
    I had done that right here many years ago and if you are interested I would be glad to send you that image and you could use it wherever you want!
    
    Cheers!

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       Miebakagh57posted 19 months agoin reply to this

       Okay, I'm interested. In box me a copy. Thanks.

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    Genna Eastposted 19 months ago

    It is disgusting to see how these soulless thieves profit from the talent and work of others.  There must be something we can do!  :-(

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       Madeleine Claysposted 19 months agoin reply to this

       There is. File a DMCA with Google every single time. It works.

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    Ben716posted 19 months ago

    For more than 4 years, a certain number of my articles have been for stolen each year.
    I have learned contacting the owners of the sites who have stolen my articles to remove them is fruitless. They will either reply they'll remove the content (which most often is a lie) or not reply at all.
    I found a breakthrough by contacting the hosting websites that are hosting the thieving sites. One thing about hosting sites is that they don't want their reputation tarnished as hosting thieving sites, and are usually against the practice.
    In a few days, following my filing DMCA, I witness either the stolen articles removed, or in most cases, the sites are shut down.

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       TessSchlesingerposted 19 months agoin reply to this

       That's interesting. How do you find out who is hosting them? I have so many of my articles out there?

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          Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

          Go here and find out who's hosting the website: https://hostingchecker.com/
          Then report abuse - email at: abuse@hostinger.com
          or fill the form here: https://www.hostinger.com/report-abuse

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             eugbugposted 19 months agoin reply to this

             Hostinger was one of the webhosters I had trouble dealing with, They wouldn't remove content because it wasn't 100% copied.

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                Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

                It was beneficial to many of us in the past, but they may not hear you the first time; you must keep reminding them. When we were having problems with the website named Acpeo, they removed the whole site...I am not sure if you are aware of the chaos the website created once. The site was stealing every single article posted on HubPages.

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                Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

                Lol! In the case of the Acpeo site, the website was even copying our author's bio

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    Rupert Taylorposted 19 months ago

    Aha Tess! You have drawn the curtain back on my reluctance to go after the rascals. They tell us to find out the host by going to whois.com and all shall be revealed. Well it isn't.
    
    What comes up is a page of incomprehensible gobbledygook. Here's an example of the report on a lowlife outfit that stole one of my articles:
    
    Domain Name: PUPLOOKUP.COM
    Registry Domain ID: 1458732431_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namesilo.com
    Registrar URL: http://www.namesilo.com
    Updated Date: 2021-12-02T21:04:34Z
    Creation Date: 2008-04-26T19:24:54Z
    Registry Expiry Date: 2024-04-26T19:24:54Z
    Registrar: NameSilo, LLC
    Registrar IANA ID: 1479
    Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namesilo.com
    Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4805240066
    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
    Name Server: NS1.LINODE.COM
    Name Server: NS2.LINODE.COM
    Name Server: NS3.LINODE.COM
    Name Server: NS4.LINODE.COM
    Name Server: NS5.LINODE.COM
    
    Can you figure from this who hosts the scoundrels and who I need to file a DMCA with? Because I can't.
    
    I've left questions about these reports before and nobody has told me who to pick out of that mess to contact.

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       Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

       Hosted by: Linode, LLC
       
       
       
       Report Abuse- email at: abuse@hostinger.com
       or fill the form here: https://www.hostinger.com/report-abuse

       replyreport
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    eugbugposted 19 months ago

    Recommended music therapy:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEq-r2agqc

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    Rupert Taylorposted 19 months ago

    Thank you for your help Misbah. I'll give it a try.

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    Rupert Taylorposted 19 months ago

    A fruitless hour later. Neither the website nor its host have any contact information to which I can file a DMCA complaint. At least, none that I can find. Harrumph.

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       Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

       Try to fill out the form on their website. I did it yesterday.  And received a response in the morning today.
       Please see the attached screenshot:
       
       
       
       They'll ask you for further information.

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       Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

       Hello Rupert, I found this:
       
       
       
       Maybe you can contact the hosting site (Linode, LLC) directly.
       
       Luckily, the company encourages reports of any abuse or suspected abuse originating from their network.
       
       Here’s the link: https://www.linode.com/support/
       
       Hope that helps!

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19. 94

    Rupert Taylorposted 19 months ago

    Misbah you have gone over and above to help me, but I'm afraid I am a hopeless case. I filled out the Linode complaint form but it bounces back to me as invalid.
    
    One line in the form has me completely baffled.
    
    "If the IP address is obfuscated behind a service (e.g. Cloudflare), please reference the obfuscated IP address."
    
    I haven't the foggiest idea what that means. I've tried filling in various obvious IP addresses and none work.
    
    This why I gave up trying to file DMCA complaints. Every single time I try this sort of thing happens.
    
    But, thanks for your valiant assistance.

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       Misbah786posted 19 months agoin reply to this

       No problem, Rupert.
       
       I googled obfuscated IP address. Here's what I found:
       
       Obfuscated servers are special VPN servers that hide the fact that you’re using a VPN. It means the IP it is showing is not correct or complete.  VPN obfuscation makes VPN traffic look like regular internet traffic by hiding traces of information about a VPN protocol in the data packets. The raw data will stay encrypted, but the DPI won’t be able detect VPN usage, unless the data packet is inspected manually.
       In turn, the VPN encrypted traffic will be able to bypass VPN blocks and firewalls. This means only a portion of the IP address is stored for statistics-tracking purposes.
       
       I'm not sure if it's possible to track an obfuscated IP address

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