Advice Please About a Copied Hub

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   Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

   After me saying this afternoon that no one has stolen my work for online purposes, it happened.  I noticed this evening that a copy of one of my hubs is in a forum called Spot25.  Some guy by the name of Eric posted it in its entirety and put a line at the bottom saying the article came from my link and the link is posted.
   
   I signed up to the site - no easy feat as it was in Chinese or something - started to PM him and then calmed down a little and wondered if it was better for me to leave it since the link is there.  I imagine that this guy thought HP is a free content site.
   
   So, is it a good thing or bad thing for me to leave it?  Thought I would check with those who know more about this stuff than I do before I send him a note.
   
   Any advice welcome.

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      rockinjoeposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      That's similar to my story. Maddie found a hub of mine on an Asian site.I don't recall the name of it, but I let it lie once Maddie cleared it up as far as HP was concerned.

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      rockinjoeposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      His name was Eric? Could it be......him??????

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      Musesageposted 15 years agoin reply to this

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      Princessaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I had my Sexy Male Underwear hub copied by a blogger from start to end, word by word including photos and videos. He had only changed the title and there was no any link back, he had taken all the credit for it and actually had quite a lot of comments which I couldn’t understand as they were in some kind of Indian language, I believe.
      
      I left a message on the blog asking the person to delete the article as I had proof that I had wrote it a couple of months before him.  I told him that if he didn’t remove it in the next 24 hours I was going to report him to the DMCA. 
      
      I think this worked as the link to his article does not exist anymore.

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         gbrgnposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Find who hosts his site and email the hosting service. They should be more sensitive to any DMCA take downs. If he's using blogger or any free blogging site, the company providing the service usually has a website to contact them in regards to copied content.
         
         Good chance he's using Adsense, so report the theft to google!
         
         https://www.google.com/adsense/support/ … +violation
         
         if not using adsense but another ad service, contact that ad service and notify them.
         
         i had to do this in regards to some pictures of mine a site stole. contacted the ad service he was using and his hosting provider and a few days later, the site disappeared for some reason.

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2. 72

   Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

   I'm not worried about my hubscore but I wondered if it was advantageous to have my link there (backlinks).  I am able to contact the guy and ask him to remove it if having it on a site with no ranking affects me with the search engines, generally speaking.  If not, then I guess the guy is doing me a favour.
   
   Funny, someone else picked up a blog entry that I did for a site owner and posted it on his blog linked back to the entry, too.
   
   Okay, the longer I'm talking about it, the more these seem like good things.

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3. 82

   Whitney05posted 15 years ago

   I actually just wrote a hub about copied content and what to do...
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Copied-Content
   
   The link is good in a way. But at the same time, search engines may push your hub down in the search results and leave the copied content at the top of the results. This can be good if people click the link on the copied page to go to your hub, but if they get all of the info that they're looking for on that page, they have no reason to click the link.

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   Mishaposted 15 years ago

   It is as good as it can get from the SEO standpoint
   
   As long as you have a dofollow backlink from there, no worries.

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5. 72

   Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

   Thanks a lot, guys!  I really appreciate your help. 
   
   I just had another one pop up with no links.  Two hubs in one evening.  The gal that copied it even left the line in that I put about Mark.  It's on a page with lots of AdSense, so I'm going to be doing something about that one.

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      Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I saw a few of mine copied on Yahoo Answers, where the person included my personal experiences and picture captions, and no link. It's ridiculous... I'm still waiting to hear from Yahoo... I'm not sure how much they will do, though... :-/
      
      I don't mind the ones with just a paragraph or two of copied content, and a link as the source, but there's no need to copy the entire hub, with personal experience, opinions, and picture captions, and especially no link...

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6. 79

   dineaneposted 15 years ago

   I'm very new to all of this, but as good as it might be for your SEO, I hate to think we are now appreciating someone violating our copyrights. I'd ask him to remove the article on principle, but ask politely and maybe he will leave the link.
   
   It's obvious many in the online world do not understand copyright, but I prefer to educate rather than given in to my work being stolen.

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      Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I really don't think that the guy who left the link 'stole' it or he wouldn't have taken pains to add my page link.  I really think that he thought it was a free content thing.  I'm going to let him know that it isn't free content but I'm not too worried about that one anymore.
      
      The other one does not have my link, it appears that the gal that took it wrote it.  I've left her a note that I will give her an opportunity to remove it.  If she doesn't take it off by tomorrow, I'm going to go the DMCA complaint route and I've let her know that.  I was not at all nasty but I was to the point.
      
      You're right that it's sad that we're appreciating it now.

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   SirDentposted 15 years ago

   I would try and get him to take most of the text out of it and leave the link. Of course that's up to you. I would also make sure it is a do follow link.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I agree.  After all, no one's going to bother following the link if the information is all there already.  Of course, you do get the benefit of the link in Google's eyes so that's some consolation!

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8. 0

   pgrundyposted 15 years ago

   I just found out that one of my best earning hubs is posted at Squidoo by some Indian guy as his original work. I have several others that are marked as copied elsewhere on the web but I'm so sick about that one I haven't had the heart to look at them.
   
   Is it worth it to make an issue of it every time? That could easily take up LOTS of my time as much as I publish here, and it's not really the kind of time I want to spend on the internet. I'd rather write.
   
   It's really got me thinking twice about publishing anything I care about here. Someone else can just take it and if they are more web savvy than me, that's it, that's the end of it. I lose. I'm a writer not an internet marketer. It just doesn't come naturally to me, the marketing end of it.
   
   It's got me thinking I'm not directing my efforts in the right way. I love Hub Pages, just love it, but maybe I'd be better off writing for print media---even though they are going under, half of them. But at least you get a copyright that way and a legal department at your publisher.

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   1. 72

      Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I've dealt with being plagerised in print.  It was a lot easier to get action that having to file DMCA complaints.  I just emailed the editor and they were very good and dealt with the problem and author immediately.  I also received profuse apologies from all involved.  They invited me to keep a close eye on them thereafter if it would make me feel better.  I haven't, judging by the reaction I got, I don't think it's likely to happen again.

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9. 0

   pgrundyposted 15 years ago

   It's not so much about ego (although that hurts too) as about money. I've been here almost a year plugging away at building up my Adsense money, and now I see I'm kind of spinning my wheels. I'm never going to be as web-clever as some techie who can't write for crap, never. I'll never win that contest--I don't even want to win it, it's not what I love to do or care about.
   
   Seriously, I feel like a total sucker now.

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10. 64

    Mishaposted 15 years ago

    Pam,
    
    Look at it this way - people copy only good content. The more you get copied, the better is your content
    
    And no, in my experience it is not worth it fighting the thieves.
    
    Here is what I do when I'm in the mood to do something about my copied content:
    
    
    
    And here is the response:
    
    
    
    
    

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       pgrundyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Misha,
       
       That is good sensible advice, thank you! And it validates my gut reaction which is, I don't want  to deal with this---I just want to write. I like the letter too because it's how I feel--I don't mind if they copy it and spread it around, but at least give me the link!

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       VioletSunposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for sharing this Misha, as I wouldn't have a clue as to what to do if I found myself in the predictament several of our talented hubpages writers have found themselves in.  It's really distressing to think someone would take credit for another writers' efforts. As a matter of fact I was going to write a hub a few days ago where I was going to share a creative writing project I am doing, and which I will be selling at Amazon.com, but  I changed my mind because of this problem with stolen content, and here I found this thread tonight!

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11. 77

    Uninvited Writerposted 15 years ago

    I'd fight it every time. The only way to get rid of people like that is to constantly go after them. I know it takes time but they have to learn that it is your intellectual property and not free for the taking. Report them to the site, report them to Google...

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12. 60

    LaceyUnderallposted 15 years ago

    In my experience, IT IS definitely worth it to fight a thief.  We have just undergone the same painful experience.  However, what does work?  We posted a blog post to achieve rankings for the offenders URL and guess what?  2 hours after the blog post we ranked above them for their own URL on google.  Within 48 hours of that, they have taken down our content!  We are thrilled... but obviously keeping an eye on them from now on. 
    
    After 5 months of asking nicely, we finally got seriously pro-active and it worked.  Never sit back and let someone steal from you.  If someone stole from your home, you would do something about it.  Why would it be any different from the Internet?

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13. 71

    Em Writesposted 15 years ago

    I've been seeing so many of you posting about having your content stolen recently, that it has got me worried. How are you finding these? When you look at your "My Account" page, does it flag the hub somehow, or do you have to actually police each hub to find the flag?
    
    I'm very curious...

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       Christoph Reillyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Hi, Em: On two of my stolen articles, I got a little red copyright symbol next to the article title on my Accounts page, and then a big red WARNING at the top of each article individually, which I am not crazy about because it's not clear that it's saying the content was stolen FROM me, not BY me. Anyway, I wasn't penalized by Hubpages and was so informed.
       
       Misha's way works too. It's also very effective to Google the title of your hub (in quotes). This turns up all sorts of links and things. On one of mine, I not only found a stolen copy, but also several other sites that had linked to the stolen one, not mine the original. I contacted the thief and asked them to remove it, or only use the lead paragraph with a link to me, and then contacted the people linking to the wrong one and asked them to change their links to me.  As Pam Grundy laments, this stuff takes a lot of time. It was only a couple of days ago so I don't know who has complied or not. Now I'll have to spend another few hours going back to check.    [sigh]

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          Rochelle Frankposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          I don't think the big red warning is something to be not crazy about-- I'll bet this only appears when YOU view your own hub. I don't think others will see it.  Post a link to the hub in question and someone can confirm or deny this.
          
          The copyright symbol-- from what I was told, is still in the testing stage. I don't think all of us have them yet.

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             Christoph Reillyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Here is the link to mine.
             http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Evil-Cat-is- … To-Kill-Me
             
             I'm pretty sure you will see the warning because the warning showed up on the stolen one too (it was actually a hijacking, I think they call it. You could actually leave a comment on his, and it would show up on mine--but this is getting complicated. Basically, it was his ads instead of mine.)
             
             Anyway, something has worked. Now the link to the stolen one has been redirected back to the original, which also takes care of all the sites linking to the wrong one. It even shows the hubpages URL, even though you type in a completely different one.  Weird.  Maybe the WARNING works in a way I hadn't thought of.

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                Rochelle Frankposted 15 years agoin reply to this

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14. 64

    Mishaposted 15 years ago

    Google is your friend
    
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en& … gle+Search

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    1. 71

       Em Writesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Ahhhh, I see! Thanks, Misha!

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15. 65

    Julie-Ann Amosposted 15 years ago

    For what it's worth I am one of the few people's I've seen with a copyright capsule on their hubs - I put one on ALL of mine.
    
    And I've never been copied so maybe it works (either that or they're all too useless for anyone to want to copy them but the viewing stats don't show that...)

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       Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Nice article here about pursuing copyright issues. I have used the advice myself.
       
       http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10 … /#identify

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          Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          This is great, thanks.
          
          By the way....what is a splog?

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             dineaneposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             I agree - well written! And I think he makes a very good suggestion - if you don't mind people taking your content - say so with a notice on your work. This helps educate so that indifference to copyright doesn't become the standard.

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             Sufidreamerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             It is where a 'scraper' bot steals part of your content and keywords, using them as a false 'spam' blog to attract traffic for link farming and Adsense. I have had some articles stolen, usually by gambling sites, although how they benefit from articles about Ancient Greek history is a mystery. I have stopped using article directories now, and stick with Hubpages!

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                Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                Thx for explaining, Sufi.

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       Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Definitely not useless, Julie-Ann!  So, thieves do read those, then?

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          Julie-Ann Amosposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          I don't know but as I say, NONE of mine have been copied which MIGHT say the copyright capsule I've devised works.  Do feel free to copy that capsule people... although PaulDeeds says he doesn't like such things on aesthetic grounds I don't have that same issue...

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             Sally's Troveposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             Julie-Ann, thank you for the use of your capsule.  It's professional, it means business.  Down the road, I think your good works will be pirated as well, it's just a matter of time.
             
             I haven't seen any infringements on my Hubs yet.  But when I do, this forum thread's goldmine of advice will help a great deal.  Hats off to you all.

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       Uninvited Writerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       I put them on articles I feel are more original or important, the rest I don't bother with.

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    dineaneposted 15 years ago

    I spend several hours yesterday adding copyright and an url for the article to mine yesterday.
    
    
    I had never been copied either, without the notice, so I'm wondering if mine are "too useless," too :-)

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17. 72

    Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

    Kinda takes some of the fun out of things, doesn't it?

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18. STAFF

    pauldeedsposted 15 years ago

    The likelihood of having your content copied is generally proportional to traffic and search engine rankings.  If your hubs are generating significant traffic, it's a only a matter of time before someone copies your work.
    
    The top search engines are pretty good at identifying the original source of material, but your search position can be at risk if your content is copied somewhere with significantly more authority than where you've originally published it.
    
    It's really a personal matter how you want to deal with being copied.   I'd be most likely to act if someone tried to pass my work off as their own or if my material was copied completely without a link or credit, with special attention paid to potentially high authority sites.  I'd be less worried about people pasting my article into a obscure forum, or theft by obvious garbage sites.
    
    You hold copyright to your work whether you've posted a notice or not.  I suspect that technical protections (which are easy to circumvent), and copyright notices will only deter the most benign forms of copying.  For that reason, I don't favor labeling material with prominent copyright notices on purely aesthetic grounds.  You are, of course,still free to do so on HubPages if you choose.
    
    Most reputable sites will respond quite quickly to copyright complaints, and especially to DMCA notifications.  If they don't, the next step would be going to their advertisers.  After that, it's a bit more work but if you really want satisfaction, you can track down their web hosting company or internet service provider.

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       pgrundyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Paul, thank you. That's really helpful in terms of deciding whether and when to take action on it. I thinkI will file a complaint on the Squidoo lens passing off my article as original content. If someone just posts part of a hub in a forum I don't mind at all, but to just steal it outright and then steal my web traffic, that's nasty. I think I'll take a day off anyway though. Ugh.
       
       Thanks again.

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    2. 82

       Whitney05posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Wouldn't it be better to deter any copying even if it is in its benign form? I think that some copyright would be beneficial to probably stop the innocent people, who don't realize that everyone doesn't like their content stolen and pasted on other sites, from copying the content. And, I think that those people are the majority of the people who take content... Granted, it's not always the case, but I've seen that it's the case a lot. I mean those people who copied my hubs and pasted parts or the hub in full on Yahoo answers, didn't do so maliciously, but at the same time I don't want my hubs in full or in partial copied on Yahoo Answers without my knowledge or consent, and especially not without my link posted as the source (especially in cases where it was just partial hubs copied).

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19. 72

    Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

    Thanks for all of that, Paul.  I understand a lot of this stuff and don't understand a lot more.
    
    Christoph, I don't see any red warning on your hub page.

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       Christoph Reillyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks, Shirley.  I guess the guy had stolen the feed, so it showed up on his. That's good to know. Thank you!

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          Shirley Andersonposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          You're welcome. 
          
          If you want real revenge, send him the cat.

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20. 69

    Christoph Reillyposted 15 years ago

    Thank you, Rochelle Frank, for the compliment! Coming from you I consider that high praise indeed. I have never used a smiley face before, but...

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21. 72

    Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

    The site that had my copied content had it removed in a matter of hours from the time that I notified them.
    
    I had given the thief 24 hours to remove it herself but she didn't.
    
    Doesn't matter, I'm happy that it's dealt with.  It was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.  Just an email note with both links and *poof* - taken care of.
    
    Thanks everybody, for all your great help.  Very much appreciated!

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    Sally's Troveposted 15 years ago

    That was cute, rockinjoe.

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23. 74

    ripplemakerposted 15 years ago

    Thanks for this thread Shirley. I've learned a lot just reading through it.  One of my hubs was copied too (the new feature to detect if someone copied your content is pretty cool).  It was a Mother's Guide website. But it had a do follow link so I didn't file any complaints anymore 

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24. 69

    Research Analystposted 15 years ago

    I have seen several copied hubpage hubs on this site:
    
    http://besthubpages.com/ (warning adult content)
    
    It looks like they link back to hubpages!

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