A Possible Article Thieves Website

1. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

   I may have found an articles thieves website. Two of my articles in their entirety were there.
   
   The website’s “About”, “FAQ”, and “sitemap” are all blank pages.
   
   If you want to do a Google search for your own hubs, here’s a template:
   
   "text string from your article here" site:howtodia.com
   
   I would like to know if other Hubbers have found their articles on this site.
   
   I am not soliciting advice on how to deal with stolen articles; I’ll read the previous info on that first. I’m just trying to find out how many other Hubber’s articles have been stolen by this site.
   
   If I am somehow wrong about all this, tell me. I will self-report this post and request this thread be deleted.

   replyreport
2. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

   A follow up:
   
   Well, well…. Things may be looking up.
   
   Yesterday, I put the following quote in the comments of one of my stolen articles: “This article was stolen from hubPages.com”.
   
   That article has now either been removed or de-indexed.
   
   I have now put the same quote in the comments of the second stolen article.
   
   If that article also disappears from their site, I will be one happy camper. I really dreaded having to go through all the hoops, paperwork, etc that I presume would normally be required to deal with this kind of thing.

   replyreport
3. 90

   wildernessposted 14 years ago

   Interesting.  Most of my hubs are "how to" type of information, and many have the words in the title.  Bet I bookmark this post for future reference!
   
   Thanks, Paradigm

   replyreport
4. 68

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   HowToDia? Hmmm... "How To" from eHow and "Dia" from Demand Media? Most of the articles I just saw on there are stolen from eHow, but I'm sure they're hitting up all of the content sites.

   replyreport
   1. 59

      paradigmsearchposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I found your posting VERY interesting. Both of my stolen articles were originally on ehow before I dumped them.

      replyreport
5. 76

   surf travelerposted 14 years ago

   I just went through sending out notices of intent to file a DMCA complaint to sites that were copying my ezine articles content without giving credit. It was incredible the number of sites I found ripping off my content word for word.
   I went surfing with a good friend two days ago who said "just forget about it". They aren't going to outrank me on the article with Google and in the end, Google will likely catch it and slap them.

   replyreport
   1. 74

      Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm going to check some of mine.
      
      I like the idea that Google will catch them and we may not need to worry about it.  But what if HubPages flags us for duplicate content before that happens?  Could that occur; and if yes, what would happen then?

      replyreport
      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Aficionada, Google doesn't catch them - it's just that the copying site is usually trash and the article is date-stamped as being newer than the original. So in theory, Google's algorithm should give the original article precedence.  It doesn't mean the copy will go away.

         replyreport
         1. 74

            Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the clarification, Marisa.  In using surf traveler's expression, I actually hoped to lay open his/her statement to discussion.  It seemed to me that, even if Google did "catch it and slap" the copier, there could still be a problem with material showing up as duplicate content. 
            
            But you know enough about my ignorance to know that I'm really fishing here - trying to puzzle this out with only the merest glimmer of understanding.

            replyreport
6. 93

   habeeposted 14 years ago

   Thanks for the heads up!

   replyreport
7. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

   Just a general update:
   
   In addition to their other aforementioned blank pages, their Contact Page is also blank.
   
   Some of their whois info is hidden.
   
   It appears they falsify the date/time stamps on their articles.
   
   They definitely falsify their date/time stamps on the comments entered.
   
   My second stolen article still hasn’t gone away.
   
   I’ll check back again on Tuesday before I decide whether to turn this whole thing into a major project or not.

   replyreport
8. 35

   Dale Nelsonposted 14 years ago

   Thanks for this paradigm search. It usually wouldnt occur to me that someone would steal content.
   Lazy,lazy,lazy...

   replyreport
   1. 80

      Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      (not intended as anything other than my own thoughts....just don't know how else to say it)
      
      I find it interesting that you would call a person stealing content lazy.  I would call them a thief. 

      replyreport
      1. 74

         Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Or maybe they are both - ? 

         replyreport
         1. 80

            Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I would think a lazy thief would be an unsuccessful thief.   I think that's probably why I found his comment interesting.

            replyreport
            1. 74

               Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                 !    ! 
               
               True, but I would assume that some people might resort to thieving behavior because of a type of laziness in acquiring the kind of skills needed to succeed at "whatever" - in this case, writing articles.  Some people may turn to thievery out of desperation in their lives, but others (the ones mentioned here) just want to get the rewards as quickly as possible without doing the necessary work - hence the label of laziness.

               replyreport
               1. 80

                  Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh, makes sense.

                  replyreport
9. 78

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   You can always get in touch with Adsense and report a DMCA notice, they often remove publishers who break copyright rules.

   replyreport
10. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 14 years ago

    An update:
    
    I’m starting to wonder if this is another backdoor way that ehow is ripping off its own former/current writers. Writers in the ehow forums reported they did this once before with a website in Europe (ehow eventually had to stop).
    
    If no other hubbers (except fellow former ehow writers) reports thefts by the howtodia website, I think this might be a pretty good theory.

    replyreport