How A Site Got shut down After We Took Some Actions
On the top screenshot, the fake Big E.
Hubbers United succeed in shutting down Bigezine (May 2012)
---The BigE story until now---
It is not the first time that any hubber's content is stolen, nor would it be the last time. As the old saying goes, if you are good there would be people who would want to copy you. Wait a minute they never copied me..? Do I really suck? I was ready to fill my DMCA complain... oh my!
A week and a half ago, many Hubbers (HubPages writers) got the shock of their lives when they found that their content was scraped by a crappy content directory. Most of the affected Hubbers were those who participated in a Challenge to write 30 hubs in 30 days ( like ourselves).
There were some Hubbers who wrote the hubs while they were sick and 2 Hubbers with their hand injuries made sure they didn't fail in the challenge. When the news spread through the HubPages Community; even hubbers who were not affected by the site came forward to support the affected hubbers. Many of them wrote hubs on the content theft to spread awareness on the situation. We were in schock!! We couldn't sleep. We had to go to the bathroom four times a day..huh? You could understand the FRUSTRATION.
The Mockery that top the cake
The BigE site also made a mockery of some Hubbers by publishing their personal hubs with photographs. One of the hubs which made it to the first page of that website, was a hub written on the mass content theft by BigE.
Contrary to the popular belief that one has to write good content to get their work stolen, almost every newly published hub was getting stolen by the site which confirmed the fact that the site used some scraping html. The site was stealing our articles without looking into the gender of the hubber or the topic of hub.
A close look at the authors displayed in the site also revealed that none of the authors actually exist and the culprit was the webmaster of the site.
The affected hubbers used the contact form and pulled out details from who is and other sources available on the Internet to get the contact details of the site owner to mail him. Some people even called on the phone numbers and found that they were wrong numbers. When the mails yielded no results the hubbers took the next step of contacting the hosting company. But that did not yield any results. It looked as though the hosting company had some vested interests in the stolen content website. Check our other hubs about this mess and you will see that we pointed out greediness and ravaging hatred.
Following the numerous comments and mails to the BigE site, the webmaster disabled the contact form. A we expected, because we do Sites, they also masked the website details using Protected Domain Services. The site continued displaying the hubs as if challenging the hubbers, ‘you are all fools… you cannot do anything to us’. With all ways of contact blocked the Hubbers took the next step to get their hubs de-indexed by search engines. Some hubber fellows even approached their lawyers to take action against the site and their press release partners.
Many also send notifications to this name.com and started digging further for information. The Hubbers found many mentions of a Guy with initials TM in association with the site (he said he was framed!). Further digging only proved the involvement of this guy with the BigE site. It is then when this author decided to play dirty by writing a Hub on this Guy so that he will be compelled to shut down the Site. And as expected, the site is down now.
The united efforts of Hubbers have yielded results. The next time when someone thinks of stealing the works of people belonging to HubPages community they would think twice. One hub or multiple hubs, the HubPages community stands united against content theft. There is no way we will tolerate content stealing.
The New Twist in the tale
After the publication of the Hub, TM made a comment on the hub telling that his email inbox got flooded with mails from hubbers relating to some site he has no connection with. According to him, he was framed by the content thief who has some enmity towards him by putting his details in the who-is information of the site. He demanded to remove the hub with his picture as it is affecting his business. He even demanded an apology. However, I refused to do so as I have proofs about his association with the Big E site. He then tried to prove his point that anyone can put his details of contact by putting my name on the site details of his domain. Just check the screenshot of our name... involved with his shutdown site. We were in rage and we let him know..!!
I have some Questions for TM - He hates publicity.
• Are you saying that the BigE site was made with the intention of framing you? Are you telling us that the site deliberately stole the content from others to put you in big time trouble? If so, why don’t you take action against the site? An enemy who has done this is definitely capable of doing more damage to your business and reputation which I am sure you do not want.
• If you have no association with the BigE site, how come there are using the name servers PPANDA.NET owned by you?
Here is a deal. If you are innocent, prove to us by helping to nab the culprit who ‘really’ stole our content. We would want to see his face and also take action against him. We will malign him by all means that he will think twice before stealing anyone’s content. If you expose him, you will get an apology from us and you will be our hero. We will give you loads of positive publicity. Are you in the game... to find the Thieves??.
- Bigezine.com - Bigezine
Bigezine.com - Bigezine detailed information - http://whois.domaintools.com/bigezine.com
- bigezine.com - bigezine : DomainColeta
In-depth analysis for bigezine.com, including Server Location, Reverse IP, Reverse Ownership and whois report. BigEzine is a free content articles directory where experts can submit their original content and delivers to millions of worldwide readers
Related links
- TM, The Mastemind from BigEzine Is Deleting His Traces -- Maybe, Perhaps Is Too Late For Him.
Cyber Criminals often try to cover their tracks like they did from the beginning. But majority of times unknowingly they leave their footsteps to be tracked. Same is the case of the brain behind Big E. - Hubbers, Do Not Click on The Big-E Site's Relevant Ads -- Here Is Why.
The Cyber thieves behind the 'BIG E' are trying to fool us by putting the site "on Park," or idle. We studied the HTML web page coding, and the big guy from above was with us... we mean, out of nowhere we found out something really interesting - Behind The Scenes At Bigezine
Since we found about this group on April the 2nd, we have been researching and with no rest we went for a cyber-manhunt and did find our 'friends' from Bigezine.
Comments
AUTHORAll is good MartieCoetser! Take care!
Hi Lord De Cross, Facebook just told me that this happened 4 years ago. Time is surely flying. I hope you are still up and about :)
- AUTHOR
WannaB Writer,
We are an almost 24/7 watchdogs, and we are keeping an eye on that site. We hope this malignant individual moves on and away from us!
LORD
I just want to thank everyone who had a part in helping to shut down this site. This was the first time I'd seen my own work stolen and posted elsewhere and I was still trying to figure out what to do when I noticed the site was down.
- AUTHOR
@Thanks Tammy! You are such a good friend! Has been an honor to be here...!
@You are right JoeLipo, they are out there to cause harm.
@AudreyHowitt, We are checking out 'things' around and we will keep us posted!
@Suzettenapples, We wrote it to tackle this monster away from our content. Psychology, Techno grammar and the facts, keep this TM at bay.
Bravo! You've done a great job and you have done great research on this matter. Thank you for what you have done on this matter as I don't have the knowledge to do something like this. I appreciate you writing these hubs and exposing this person and his website.
Thank you Lord for helping us all. I am just hoping that this is the end of this particular issue--
Thanks for looking out for everyone and keeping us informed. It's so sad to see people steal our personal writings that we put effort into.
You are a great watchdog and cyber detective. Great work here! Hubpages should hire you.
- AUTHOR
Keith Matyi,
Thanks for backing us up. We hope this BS is over. We don't want to be looked like we are reaping from these articles. The true will set us free.
@ MattewLeo1701,
We appreciate your kind words. Why we are making headlines? There are hidden interests behind the servers. The industry is already getting strong, and they'd rather overlook our cyber ranting.
That being said Lord, I think everybody has sent a clear message to anyone who dares think to try to do anything similar. I am surprised that this hasn't reached national media exposure. This needs to be an article on Yahoo! AP! and wherever else so that this message is sent to everyone loud and clear!
Great story and great job! Keep up the good work!
- AUTHOR
Thanks Stuart! We still do not hear from our friend. He should...does he owe us an apology?
LOL.....well lord, as John Wayne stated "You Cna't Fix Stupid!"
- AUTHOR
Daughter of Maat,
We are waiting for our friend to help us find the real culprit. This mess was not funny for any of us. Thanks for commenting friend
MatthewLeo1701,
Thanks for stopping by and you are right! Behind us there are lots of talented writers and charismatic human beings. This shouldn't have happened if the mass content thief at least knew, how we were going to react.
LORD
Great job not letting this one go. If we keep asking the why's, eventually the truth and the culprit will be dug up. His head will be on the proverbial pike on the home page of Hubpages, a sign that as a group, we are not going to allow this to happen anymore.
- AUTHOR
Daughter of Maat,
We are waiting for our friend to help us find the real culprit.This meass was not funny for any of us. Thanks for commenting friend.
hahahhaha.. really? The guy who stole all our content, and edited my hub to say "father of daughter of maat" had the cahones (?spelling) to come here, register and place comments stating that he was framed. LMFAO!!!! You know, it's better to remain thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. That's just fantastic.... I'm still laughing...
- AUTHOR
AA Zavala,
Thanks for your support! They are very smart indeed! But we take the upperhand. Ouch!
LORD
@MickeyDcaroll67, Thanks so much for the support! Your words are very important for us...this rpoves that our time is not spent in vain.
LORD
@Gypsy Rose Lee, This thieves have 47 other sites to run; they just wanted to make that extra cash messing with us. Actually you just need a cheap hackering software to pick up mass content... right TM?
LORD
Trying to understand all of this. One question remains at least to me. Who were those writers on the darn site and what happens to them now???? Or am I not understanding something. Anyway thank you so much Lord for the investigation and for shutting them down.
I support the cause even though that I haven't had content stolen (yet). You got my vote for the cause.
OUTSTANDING. Unfortunately, I'm afraid this kid may find another way to retaliate. We'll get him again. A resounding thank you is in order!
- AUTHOR
Thanks so much BarberGirl28,Tillsontitan, and Victoria Lynn. He is regretting himself right now. And we know...what he is doing. Can you sleep well now TM?
LORD
I know I read about alot of this over on Facebook but because I have been sick I didn't really get involved. I am glad that you guys got this thing taken care of. I just don't understand how anybody can steal content and not feel even a bit guilty about it. Wow - great hub explaining all the details! United We Stand as Hubbers!
And that's the story...! I came back to see your update. Great job to you and all of us!
You are our champion and savior! I was one who was in the midst of my 30/30 when at least two of my hubs were stolen, with pictures that said "Property of Tillsontitan". Someone out there isn't too bright. I also tried to contact through email but received the message no longer accepting emails. I emailed the DMCA.
I have to say in spite of it all, I am proud to publish here but prouder still to be a hubber with you and all the other wonderful hubbers. Our community will not perish!
- AUTHOR
mLJdguyey354,
We did the research and have done our best to deliver. Thanks for stopping by!
- AUTHOR
Hi Eddie,
This Job is like another hub, but there is a heart on it. There is no price for friendship and camaraderie. We hubbers stand up against these crooks. There should be a way from paypal to stop paying the masterminder behid the BIG-E.
LORD
Thank you for taking this time to investigate this issue. One of my hubs stolen had to do with being on hubpages for 6 month and mentioned hubber who have been of tremendous support. Had this hubber read that hub and the many other hubs thanking hubbers for making this a wonderful site he would have known he was in over his head.
Thank for this one again. I have been away for most of the Easter weekend and have so much catching up to do.
The time and effort you have put into this is to be applauded.
Take care and enjoy your day.
Eddy.
- AUTHOR
Hi Flora and AEvans, Joshua is absolutely right. The site is on idle mode... meaning it was never shut down. We did another hub explaining why.
@Thomas, you are the best for that double tapping, if that zombie ever comes back. Smack!!
@ The frog Prince, We do it for our friends; we don;t care about the money. Just love to be in here.
@ Good tip JON, you enlightened us a little better today. Makes so much sense. Thanks!
@RoseMay 50, United we are awesome. We all are unique from this Elite of hubbers. We are proud of our job...and it shows. Thanks for stopping by!
LORD
You have done a wonderful job to help everyone out here LORD. We all owe you a great big thank you. What would we have done without you. Thank you
For future reference when something happens like this you can also use a site like spyonweb.com to enter their pub- adsense id (if they use adsense on the site) to crosscheck with other sites they have and see if they put their actual whois information on those other sites.
All I can say is thank you for your diligence. That's coming from someone who had their work copied verbatim, pictures, videos and all.
The Frog Prince
Apparently...Like zombies...you have to go for the double tap to kill them. That said, I only show ads and not the site.
@ Flora: It is down. What people are finding on Firefox is a cached image. They have to delete cookies and clean adware. All of us who are using Google, IE and Safari are not having that issue. Just like Joshua said in the groups, the site is down.
Apparenrtly the website is not down! It has restarted!
- AUTHOR
Ardie and Thomas,
We are defending our rights in here. Now, how does it feel being framed? How does it feel to be robbed in front of the whole world? Shame when we read somewhere else, that we poor hubbers had to deal with content stealing of our well earned pennies. Wtf!
LORD
Lord...
Excellent Job my friend! Henceforth I shall be running to you whenever we are invaded by thieves and what not.
tanuj...You say that you were framed. I don't believe you. Go away.
Thomas
- AUTHOR
You coudn't have said it write Kalmiya. We waited and waited for this site to stop stealing, but mockery and thinking we are just a bunch of fools? There might be a class action if things don't get resolved.
tanuj, did you really sign up for this site JUST to come in here and slam the very people you stole from to begin with?! You have some nerve to claim you were framed when there is proof to back up the accusations. If you were indeed framed, and you can prove this, then we welcome you into the community to help us prevent this from happening again (to you and to the Hubbers who had work copied).
Otherwise, go away and this will too. Leave Hubbers alone and they will have no reason to go after you. Move along and use your education for something better. Improve the world in which we all live - not just your own little world where "tanuj" makes the rules.
A big thank you to all Hubbers working to get this site closed down! I'm grateful for all your work on this matter as I can continue to put up new hubs without worry (tho I will be checking constantly now for duplicate content on the web).
@tanuj91 - I agree that if you feel you've been framed, it is up to you to go out and find out who framed you and deal with them rather than complaining to HubPages. Grow up.
- AUTHOR
Thanks AEvans! There is not much we can say... looking for the Kleenex with not avail...maybe got stolen too.
LORD
@tanuj91: All of us understanding your pain. But if you are not involved please help us expose the culprits who stole our work. It does not feel good when your content has been copied verbatim and you put your heart and soul into your words.
Many of us gave whomever an opportunity to remove all of our work before we began to file DMCA complaints and with the company who hosted the site. To no avail our work was sitting there for the world to see. No backlinks just stolen work with false profiles!
We as a group will not ever tolerate someone stealing our work and took the steps necessary to shut the site down. Should it happen again, we will repeat the process all over again.
If you are innocent instead of being upset about being signaled out help us catch the part/parties who had the audacity to steal our work.
@Lord: Thank you for a well written article. I am so relieved they were shut down. It was so disheartening to see your work posted on a site that were thieves. Sadly when I would comment and ask for them to take it down they ignored me. I had to escalate everything to another level. Yes many contacted Lawyers and I even suggested a class action, sometimes you have to say, " Enough is Enough!"
- AUTHOR
Thanks Hubbers for getting ourselves United. The time spent in digging this info was worth! We hubbers are an elite class of writers. There will be more attacks and as MUST65GT said, all the evidence point to one masterminder. Actually, we got framed by losing our content to a Cyber thief, that never thought twice before inflicting us a collosal damage. Thanks to all!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your time and efforts in exposing all of this!!! Keep on fighting the good fight and bringing it all out into the light. Bless you. Faith Reaper
Tanuj, I researched the information you posted at the website and found nothing. Everything on the internet is time stamped to prevent internet predators from slipping around and doing the things Bigezine.com did. Plagiarising and copyright infringement are taken seriously and that is why the DMCA was created. If you are innocent as you stated then provide real documented proof of your innocence. Otherwise the rants you post are only serving to establish what many believe as fact. GoDaddy, and Name.com both verified your address as legitimate and factual. IP addresses cannot be hidden; it’s what makes the internet a somewhat safer environment from people just like you.
Yes he is the man--and the only one who took charge and helped us----Thank You Lord---we are forever grateful.
Bobbi
Creepy people...uh whoever *tanuj91" ....you were FRAMED? Uh huh....and can you tell me why someone would go through the trouble to frame you? Do you watch soap operas? Hmmm? Do you know the difference between fantasy and reality?? Here:
Reality - you tried to make a quick buck ripping people off with zero regard to their feelings and you got busted.
Fantasy - you were framed.
Any questions? Ok then go clear out that email box and don't domsuch a stupid thing again. If you want something from life - work for it honestly and then you can be proud of your accomplishments!
Great work my man.. !!! thank you so much.. Your the man!!! Debbie
uh uh, Kudos mighty lord, for bringing this out in the open...
Shame on people who steal the works of others...
Excuse me Tanuj91, whomever you are. So someone framed you, who's to blame? We have the evidence. You should contact the person who framed you to clear your name not the people who have been infringed upon. Have you done anything to figure out who registered your name with the domain?
Don't you dare come in here all mighty and self-righteous because you know the truth. You know in your heart what is from what isn't. So go clear your name somewhere else. What are you going to do? Sue us. Until your name comes off that domain you have absolutely no case.
This is the very reason HP should do something about how people sign up and what the do after. How can someone register with the site just to harass someone?
When is a Tanuj not a Tanuj?
The world might never know!
Geez, Lord, you've done some serious homework, hey? Thanks a lot. With guys like you in one's corner... well, I feel save and secure.
Thank you for being my/our friend.
And I wish you and yours all of the best in all your endeavors.
Hugs from South Africa... :)
Sticking together over this little thief is a good thing for Hubbers. I am glad you wrote this hub which expresses the anger of us all. Now that the site is shut down, I must say job well done!
@lord de cross - I can't believe how you're just making a fool out of yourself here. The proof you're showing that this website belongs to me is that Google indexed a page of a website called Justdropped.com. FYI that is a whois lookup tool. Someone else has entered my information on the domain name. That information doesn't have to be verified. You can enter anything in there. On what basis, are you bad publicizing me? On the basis of WHOIS?
I can put your name on any of my domains right away in a matter of seconds. Want to have a look? Here you go - http://www.justdropped.com/backorderdetails.php?do...
I have entered your name as the registrant of my domain name tanuj.in. If you want I can change the number to yours as well. Likewise, someone has entered my information on their domain name bigezine.com. I HAVE NO CONNECTIONS TO THIS WEBSITE. I have no time to waste on these things as I have a lot of other things to do in life and honestly these things don't even matter to me but I just want you to see that you're making a fool out of yourself and making a fool of others as well who trust you on this popular website. Now I think you should remove my pictures and you owe me an Apology!
..at this moment I am so very proud of the entire hubpages community of writers for sticking together and looking after each other - let's all take an opportunity to give each other a hug and a high five - and Joseph I will see you with this most essential bit of good news at our music/cinema group at FB with a post of your hub
lake erie time 12:54pm
He could have been a wonder boy had he utilized his skill and knowledge in good things.
I'm glad you found so much 'Shirt' in this 'Asset'!! Thanks for posting this.
I lub you long time lord. xo
Hey Victoria, apparently he isn't a guest after all. See the comment written by Tanuj91 up above. The user joined HP specifically to leave the comment.
Very interesting. Enjoyed reading this hub. Glad to know who he is.
Great hub, Lord! And great to hear that the site is down. Yeah, Cardisa, who is this guest user? Interesting stuff. :-)
Lord...
You have indeed overturned the rocks that were hiding this slimy bastard. In your research...did you find out if it was OK for us to kill him? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Thomas
Oh LORD... you ROCK...Thanks, Baby!
Hugs and stuff, mar.
What a shame... so much potential that could make legitimate money, yet he chooses to steal. Takes him from genius to idiot. Thanks for letting us know about it!
....so young and smart but so stupid! Well I have some good new Lord, I think the site is down. No browser will load it and I have three. Other reports are the same in the forums so we might have done it. There is a notice coming up when we search that the site was reported and pages were remove...blah..blah..blah.
I suppose you haven't seen the comment from the "guest user" as yet. Hilarious...he said he was FRAMED!
Lord,
You are so wonderful to help us, and I was just writing on my FB a thank you to you.
We are so very lucky to have you on HP, and that you are always there for us. What ever have we done to deserve someone like you. What ever I did ---Lord--I am thankful for doing it.
You are the very best of a friend to us all. Thank you again and again.
Your Hub Friend,
Bobbi
You did great things here Lord!!! He is so BUSTED!!! Awesome!!! Thank you!!!
@Ardie the site is down?!!
Wow Lord such an investigator! Awesome.
Lord, you are the master of all things good and right :) You're so amazing with getting all this info and putting it together for us. What a stupid punk! He could have so much going and yet chooses to have his fun illegally. Im glad you have since told me that the site is DOWN!
Hahaha! Lord! You so make me laugh! Good work - you are such a smart asset! Hahaha!
I, as usual, love your writings!
What the heck is going on? My e-mail box is flooded with e-mails. @author - You have taken all my information from sources like LinkedIN and Facebook and you have linked me to a website I have no association with. You have no right to personal attack me. I have no association with BigEzine.com. I have been receiving calls on my number regarding this issue and I am not Rahul Solanki. Someone else has used my number in WHOIS of this website. I request the hub author to remove this article from the website immediately. I run a legitimate business and i have no connections to these scammers.
Thanks
bigezine has already been deindexed by Google, so it's dead in the water.
- AUTHOR
We are keeping more things hidden, so we will let you know later Phyllis. Thanks!
Very interesting. Has he been sued yet for copyright violations?
Interesting!!
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