Owlcation Articles

1. 83

   SerenityHaloposted 5 weeks ago

   Hello everyone,
   
   I was wondering if anyone has reached out to the writers of Owlcation directly, who appear to have forged articles from Discover.HubPages. If not, I encourage people to do so. I think there is still a lack of clarity as to why these articles exist. Maybe if we try to communicate with the handful of writers, they'll explain.
   
   They don't have HP contact buttons but a slew of different messaging methods: Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, X, and Substack I don't think most people have an account with all of these. So it might help if many of us write to them, especially for articles that look like carbon copies of people's work.

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   1. 87

      PegCole17posted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      From what I saw, at least one of the original authors is deceased. That makes me wonder what happens to our work if we pass away.

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      1. 83

         Kenna McHughposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

         Well, if you don't have a living trust, I guess it's up for grabs.

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   2. 88

      Genna Eastposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      Thank you for posting this thread, Andrea.  I have reached out to them as well about this issue and heard nothing in response.  I agee with Kyler in that they might have been given direction to remain silent which is disconcerting.

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2. 68

   PaulGoodman67posted 4 weeks ago

   I presume that the articles exist because TAG paid the authors to copy the work, reword it using AI, then edit/humanize it.
   
   I’m not sure what there is to talk about.
   
   Why not try contacting them and then report back to the forums?
   
   Anybody, including us, can now do somethings similar to what they (apparently) did.

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   1. 78

      Kyler J Falkposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      There have been some others around who are testing with alt accounts for the very purpose of using TAG's methods here on HubPages. The bans are swift and unrelenting on the site itself, but nothing stopping anyone from doing it on other sites.
      
      I find the hypocrisy there to be interesting.
      
      As for contacting TAG/HubPages, several of us have reached out across many different mediums, and they're all quiet on the western front. My guess is they have orders to remain silent on the matter.

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3. 68

   PaulGoodman67posted 4 weeks ago

   It's difficult for me to understand what people's expectations are?
   
   What sort of answer were you wanting?
   
   They are just people paid (likely not much) to create and publish articles.

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   1. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      Paul,
      
      Most writers' associations strongly disapprove of plagiarism and the unauthorized use of other people's articles. Is it hard for you to understand the integrity of the situation?

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      1. 68

         PaulGoodman67posted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

         Legally, it’s not considered plagiarism. The politicians have effectively given AI and tech companies free rein to access what they want.
         
         The political leaders listen to the tech companies and individuals like Musk. The writers’ associations hold little sway.
         
         Of course I believe it’s unfair that we created content for Google and the AI companies and now they’re not compensating us.
         
         It’s difficult to see anything changing, though. Most people either don’t care or don’t understand the issues.
         
         There are similar issues in other media, such as music, art, video, etc.
         
         The Hollywood writer’s strike is the only case I can think of where pushback has worked. But whether they can hold their position long term, I don’t know.
         
         With HP writing, Google has screwed our traffic and AI has devalued our work.
         
         TAG couldn’t do anything about those things whether it wanted to or not. So they’re jumping on the AI wagon.
         
         People severely underestimate the scale of what’s happening.

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      2. 88

         Genna Eastposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

         Kenna, you are correct.  Plagiarism is covered by copyright law.  And AI is not exempt from this.  An author cannot plagiarize another, nor can an author plagiarize AI. The same holds true for AI in that it cannot plagiarize an author.  For example, paraphrasing an author requires, at minimum, citing the appropriate, original source.  A recent court ruling has also determined that AI companies cannot use "pirated works."  It did favor AI companies in certain ways but did not exempt organizations for content that has been copied/reproduced "verbatim."  This is just the beginning of various court involvements regarding on-going lawsuits -- the "tip of the iceberg."

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         1. 83

            Kenna McHughposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

            Thanks, Genna. Looking in my crystal ball, I can see getting a notice about a class action suit against TAG. There is no grey area when it comes to stealing a writer's work.

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            1. 88

               Genna Eastposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

               Yes, and the unfortunate mistake TAG made regarding their recent "derivatives."  I won't be commenting on this thread any further.  Enjoy your week, everyone. :-)

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               1. 84

                  Miebakagh57posted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

                  Okay, and thanks.

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4. 84

   Miebakagh57posted 4 weeks ago

   I'm not on Olwcation. But the situation looks very bad.

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