What is MCentre? And why are so many of our hubs there?

1. 75

   theraggededgeposted 7 years ago

   They've replaced the name 'HubPages' with 'Storyteller' on every page.
   
   Edit, I've emailed the team, but I would suggest that you post again in the Technical Questions forum as staff are unlikely to see this under Help for New Hubbers.

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2. 62

   FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

   Friggin' Russian copy cats...I hope they choke (sigh)

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3. 74

   tritrainposted 7 years ago

   Yep.  They scraped HubPages and made their own site.  Hopefully the content there is penalized, instead of the original on HubPages.

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   1. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hello tritrain,
      
      Search engines know your content was published on HubPages first. The scraped content on StoryTeller is considered duplicate content and is penalized. If your content has been copied I suggest filing a DMCA complaint with Google to get the scraped content removed from search results. If you have any questions please email team@hubpages.com.

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      1. 0

         TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         GDPR Deleted
         1. 75

            wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            You own the material; you must take the action.  HP cannot as they don't own the hub.

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            1. 75

               theraggededgeposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               They are using HP material as well. It's the whole site, the structure, the links (some of them anyway), everything. So they've probably copied the source code.
               
               I agree that when individual hubs are stolen, the writer needs to act, but when it is the whole site, then the site owners should do something about it. It's a threat to their livelihoods.

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         2. 88

            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            HubPages does not take any action on plagiarism.   They have stated many times that removing plagiarized work is the responsibility of the content owner.
            
            The reason is that legally, only the copyright owner has a legal right to file a complaint, and HubPages is not the copyright owner.

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            1. 0

               TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

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               1. 86

                  snakeslaneposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  It is disturbing to see Hub Pages scooped [edit: scraped] in its entirety.

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      2. 61

         Julie Nouposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         @Matt Wells, the website is not penalized and is well-indexed in Google search engines. No matter how much you file DMCA, if that website is hosted from a company that ignores DMCA, nothing you can do. And, no matter how you shout out loud about "copyrights infringement", the truth of the matter is, this is internet. Anything you publish in the open is at risk of it. And Copyrights law is nothing if you file against a country who doesn't have a law for that, so much more if the hosting company is a ghost.

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         1. STAFF

            Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Hello Julie Nou,
            
            Yes, there is nothing much we can do for a scraper site based in Russia that ignores DMCA complaints. However, you can file a DMCA complaint with Google to have your stolen content removed from search results. Also, keep in mind that your content was published first so anything StoryTeller copies is considered duplicate content by search engines.

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            1. STAFF

               Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               It appears StoryTeller is using Cloudflare. When you file a DMCA complaint with Google I suggest you also file one with Cloudflare here: https://www.cloudflare.com/abuse/form

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               1. STAFF

                  Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I've tracked down the web hosting company for StoryTeller. You can try filing a DMCA complaint with contabo.de here: https://contabo.de/?show=kundenservice

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4. 59

   Ice cold princessposted 7 years ago

   This one even has the Hubpages logo in it, too!!! https://mcenter.spb[dot]ru/

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5. 97

   LongTimeMotherposted 7 years ago

   I question the 'legal' aspect of HP filing DMCAs on our behalf, which is why I created this new thread ...
   https://hubpages.com/community/forum/14 … -our-dmcas
   
   Seems to me, if they can change the rules to 'edit' our articles, they can figure out a way to legally help 'protect' our articles. Anyway, have a look and see if you agree with me or not.

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6. 67

   Glenn Stokposted 7 years ago

   Everyone should stop posting links to those sites. You're just giving them more inbound links which increases their ranking.
   
   To show us the URL's without helping the scrapers, leave spaces in the URL.

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   1. 0

      TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

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      1. 88

         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Tess, you did post several links to that site, in your first post.  Glenn is pointing out that posting hyperlinks to a site enhances its reputation with Google (Google's monitoring system does not understand context, so it assumes that every link is a recommendation).  Therefore it is never a good idea to do it.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

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            1. 88

               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               No, Google does not ignore a single link. 
               
               You can post the link with spaces so it doesn't create a live hyperlink.

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                  TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

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                  1. 88

                     Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     I think you'd know by now that the decisions Google makes are not always logical in our eyes.   It has nothing to do with whether people click on it.
                     
                     At its most basic level, Google judges the reputation of a site by the number of other sites which display links to it.  That was the method Google originally used to rank sites and although they have added a huge number of other refinements since then, that measure is still part of the algorithm.  As Marketing Merit says, links lend credibility.

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                  2. 67

                     Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Tess, why do you insist on continuing to remain in denial. You are hurting yourself and you are hurting all of us by posting links to these sites.
                     
                     Management edited your first post, and the other Hubber's post as well, to make the links inoperative. Marisa and I suggested adding spaces to show us the URL, but you can also format it using [dot] in place of the “.” as you can see now in your edited first post.

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                     1. 0

                        TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

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                        1. 67

                           Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                           You’re missing the point. Or you’re not reading Marisa's explanations. Google does not rank much based on the click itself. It ranks on the fact that the link exists. A link from a high ranking site like HubPages has much more merit than a link from Facebook. That’s why your links from Facebook don’t do much to push you up in the SERPs. I'm ending this discussion. I don’t have time for this either. We both told you everything you need to know. Your refusal to accept it is your business.

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                        2. 88

                           Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                           Tess, I explained to you why it matters.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with you posting links on Facebook (which is a social network and counted differently anyway).   Google doesn't even care whether anyone clicks on the links - it's the location and number of links that counts.  The more links from reputable sites, the higher a site will rank.
                           
                           You may think posting just one link hardly matters - but remember, you are one of millions of people on the internet and you don't know how many other people are linking to it as well.  Why would you risk adding to their reputation?  It's so easy to avoid.
                           
                           This article explains in detail exactly how it works.
                           
                           https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-link-building
                           
                           It may sound illogical to you, but the fact is, it's how Google works and you thinking it's illogical won't change that.

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      2. 64

         Marketing Meritposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Glenn is referring to the links you included in your opening post, I believe Tess. Backlinks from a relatively high page ranking site, such as HP, only serves to lend credibility to the scraped content. That is why links should always be cloaked in some way.

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7. 61

   CYong74posted 7 years ago

   I think Google/Yahoo can do its part by having some system to quickly remove these copycats from their listing. Criminals do this for quick profit. When there's little to gain, the scums would move on to other things.

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8. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 7 years ago

   Speaking of "ru", I bet every website owner here gets visits from them daily; I've gotten over a 100 hits in less than a minute from them on occasion. Scary actually. Bot hack attempts? Thefts? Who knows? Extremely depressing, but not a thing we can do about it.

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   1. 64

      Marketing Meritposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Do you use Wordpress as your cms? If so, install the free Wordfence plugin. It acts as a firewall and you can block suspicious IPs from accessing your site.

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9. 76

   TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

   So, I just found this thread by Google search.  And because we are not talking about individual stolen hubs, but the entirety of Hubpages itself, I just do not buy the concept that HP cannot do anything about it.  This Russian site has stolen branding and images that belong to Hubpages.  That in itself is worth a fight, regardless of the country.  A good international law legal team can look into this .... has that happened?

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10. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    And I have filed a complaint with Google, but my experience with Google is ... they don't give a rat's ass.  IF they respond at all.  Ah, well.  I love the part in the stolen Storyteller's TOS about how they respect copyright and intellectual property.  Yup.

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    1. 88

       Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Teri, do you understand what Google does when you report stolen content?   Google doesn't have the power to actually remove the article.   All Google can do is hide it from its search algorithm, so it won't rank when people search for that topic.   You can still see the article if you go to the site.   The only people who can physically remove the article are either the website owner or the host.
       
       You also have to be sure to use the right form to report stolen content to Google.  They don't make the process obvious, I must say.

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11. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    Yes, I know Google cannot remove the article, I have had some luck in the past with contacting offending sites to remove scraped contact. In this case, I was (am) dismayed that when I did a search, the fake site popped up on the first page, with my title.  So ... I'm trying an experiment, The article is called Life After Ringling, When the Circus Closes Down.  I have asked my circus friends and "audience" in my circus social media groups to search for and share the article over the next few days to get it active on the HubPages/Hobbylark site-- to overpower anything that the thief site is doing. I don't know if it will help, of course, but I want to see our site come up first in Google, at least.

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    1. 88

       Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       When I search for "Life After Ringling", your Hub comes up first in search for me.  The .ru copy is nowhere to be seen.  It doesn't even come up if I type in your entire title as a search term.  What are you typing in to get it to show up?

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12. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    "lille fete du cirque alexander lacey." 
    
    Alex is an animal trainer -- he was with Ringling, this was the show in France he's been with for a few weeks (although he'll be somewhere else, soon).  Alex is included in this piece that features a number of Ringing circus players.  The Russian link comes up fourth from the top. It was a surprise to see it under this fake site and I am guessing more searches may turn this, or any other article, up like this.  I have two published articles here, written about Alexander Lacey (I work with him on a number of other things, too). It's one thing to have my stuff stolen; that's happened before.  But this is a HP fight and I hope they are taking it seriously.

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13. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    It also comes up with Weinachts Circus Alexander Lacey (he'll be there for the holidays).

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    1. 88

       Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       For both those searches, and for "Life After Ringling", your Hub is high on the front page and the Russian site is nowhere to be seen.
       
       Have you asked your friends to see what they see?
       
       As you know, searches are individual and I'm wondering if, since you probably went and checked out the Russian site, Google is now including it for you (since Google knows you already consulted it).

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14. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    I suppose that is possible that Google thinks I want to access it.  How ironic!  I know it will take a lot of time for Google to review the complaint-- I am scheduled for back surgery next week so I probably won't delve into all of this much more for now.

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15. 74

    NessMovieReviewsposted 7 years ago

    FYI, none of those links work anymore

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16. 73

    stephenteacherposted 7 years ago

    There is no DMCA for a .de DMCA for for The United States. Germany might have ways for you to complain, but it could be ignored. Many countries from china to pakistan, from russia to india..... don't really care about ripping the US off via the internet.

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    1. 88

       Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       I've found most European hosting companies are very reasonable and will do the right thing.  While it's not called DMCA in those countries, they still have strict copyright laws and if you use the same format as a DMCA, you'll likely fulfil the requirements of those laws. 
       
       The best thing is always to look and see if they have their own form for you to fill in.

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17. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    Oh, and I sent an email to the ripoff site's "team" address listed on their page.  Email is undeliverable.  Gee, what a surprise!

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18. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    Matt from HP tells me to file a complaint with google (which i've already done).  But I have asked if HP is fighting against this site that has stolen its branding and content.  I think it is important for us to know what is being done for our protection, because we all depend on HP's ability to keep its walls strong. I don't really expect anyone from Team HubPages to answer this (publicly) but I do hope we hear from Robin, or Paul, or Christy on this.

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    1. 0

       Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Teri,
       
       There are a few reasons we don't take action when scraper sites pop up. The first is that they are usually located in countries like Russia where copyright law is not respected or enforced, so taking the time to file a bunch of documents that will not do any good anyway would not be a good use of our company's resources and wouldn't benefit us or authors.
       
       The second is that scraper sites often don't exist very long before they are either dropped from Google's index completely or banned by the hosting company, or both. (Filing complaints with Google as Matt recommends can help speed up this process.)
       
       The third is that  the existence these sites does not significantly harm us or authors. Articles that are scraped show up with a duplicate content penalty and almost never rank higher in search results than the original articles. Spending money and resources to remove sites that don't represent any significant loss of earnings to us wouldn't be a good way for us to best serve the needs of authors.
       
       Stealing is still morally abhorrent, of course, and we do understand it's very frustrating. But there's just not really anything we could realistically do that would make any kind of significant dent in online content theft in a meaningful or lasting way.

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19. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    Thanks, Christy, I think this is info we all need to know about.  I appreciate your keeping us in the loop.

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20. 76

    TeriSilverposted 7 years ago

    Just to follow up, I get notification that the URL link of the offending site is not bringing up the story; and when I checked it, it brought me to some other site selling McDonalds, and then Pizza or something.  Also, my email to the "team" has bounced back as undeliverable.  Yet, when you Google it, it still comes up with their info on it.  Sigh, what can ya do.
    
    Thanks for the info, Christy.

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    1. 0

       Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Hopefully it means they've taken down the article and some of the info just hasn't been dropped from Google's index yet. Fingers crossed!

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