Judith writes:

I’ve been very frustrated with Blogger as of late as they cause me to have to spend much time policing their users who misuse my articles.

Having Google Alerts for all my key phrases I want to keep tabs on, many times these alerts lead me to Blogspot/Blogger “Blogs” that use my articles where they have every other word be a link to some affiliate or revenue sharing site. Or my article doesn’t have the resource box. I doubt anyone is reading my articles on these “Blogs” — they are so hard to read when every other word is a link anyway but that’s not the point. I don’t want my articles used as keyword revenue fodder or posted without the required resource box.

I report and not much happens, I continue to report — nada. On a good note however, for DMCA complaints on Blogger/Blogspot Google has been VERY responsive in addressing my formal complaints within 24-48 hours. But I’m really tired of all the time I have to spend on this!

The amount of misuse of my articles has made me wonder if it is worth the hassle. One could spend hours each day tracking down and filing complaints about misuse of one’s collateral. Just because a service is free, doesn’t mean anything goes. Google should put their foot down and be more concerned with policing how their applications are used. It would save authors and their legal team allot of time!

What Google and many other sites and search engines are hesitating to do, is exactly what you at EzineArticles have successfully accomplished and continue to do. You’ve added the human factor back into your processes instead of leaving it to a bunch of algorithms that simply cannot get the job done as effectively and efficiently.

A Happy Holidays to everyone at EzineArticles and keep up the good work!

Judith
TheIStudio.com
NetManners.com

[Reply]

Lance Winslow writes:

Chris, I take Google News and Blog Alert email service for the 3 variations of my name that I post under here. I only post articles here, no where esle. Each and every single day, at least 5-8 of my articles show up on blogs that must be by the same person, same formatting, similar names of the blogs, all meaningless jibberish, They modify my by-line, change the article around, and have some computer re-write it using some software. They leave my name, but, botch the articles so bad, it is embarassing. It makes me feel, like I just want to stop posting articles. They are ruining the Internet, trashing my work and making money on AdSense while destroying everything I am trying to do. I propose death to these people, instead of reporting them, but, who and where are they?

Since they create brand new blogs everyday, what good is reporting them, that’s my question. If they are “eliminated” then they can’t do it anymore. 13-weeks, no wonder the Internet search engines are so filled with trash?

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Christina Sponias writes:

Perhaps the solution is an Internet law that would immediately block texts with bad grammar and synthesis, since the content thieves always modify the texts with several (visible) mistakes. But then it has to be forbidden also to modify 20% of certain text so that it won’t be considered duplicated content. It must be considered duplicated content unless it is 100% different!

One of my articles about writing was stolen by a blogger that is over me in Google with MY article!! My article appears under his horrible copy!!
Another article I wrote about depression was found in a site that sells Viagra pills, totally distorted, but with my name in it!

This is more than ridiculous! It should be forbidden to present texts with bad grammar in the Internet for many reasons, but especially because usually these texts are stolen!

However there are many foreigners that don’t use a reviser like me… I receive messages from a marketer with horrible English, but he makes money and nobody cares. Everything he writes is full of mistakes… even at his site.

Another solution would be a verification if there are many grammar mistakes in a text: the author would have to prove that the content is original and a research in the web would be made. All sites using the same text would have to prove that they have the right to use it.

Why do we honest content producers have to fight for our rights when someone steals our work? We shall let the thieves suffer trying to prove that they have the right to present our work in their sites.

The law should work like that: “Why do you have content full of mistakes at your site, Mr Lance? Why didn’t you use your word automatic grammar corrector? Let me see if somebody else has the same text in the web, or similar… Please, show me your word document. When did you write it? Where to did you submit your article? Prove us that you are really this article’s author Mr Lance, otherwise you’ll have to forget your Internet games for a while…”

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Darlene Norris writes:

[URL REMOVED]
Sean [LAST NAME REMOVED]
Washington DC, US

This guy has been stealing my articles verbatim. He removes my name and resource box. It’s a made for Adsense site, obviously. I’ve written to him and told him to either remove my articles or put my name on them and all he does is make hash out of them with some computer program. They’re still up.

I’ve reported him to Google, and nothing happens. I just checked a few minutes ago, and he’s still got my articles up. He’s not just picking on me, as he’s stolen articles from others, too. An equal opportunity crook. Why isn’t Google stopping him?

It annoys me that I have to waste my time with this, while he’s making money off adsense with MY articles.

[Reply]

Rajkumar Kanagasingam writes:

Hi Friends,

I also frustrated for a while by these content thieves.

As the Ezine has a better ranking, I didn’t take the issue so serious.

But a recent search on Google Blog Search surprised me how many of my articles are being picked up by various bloggers. Most of them haven’t attributed the links to my desired websites where I am promoting my book – “German Memories in Asia”.

So the solution? Now I am also a blogger!

To compete with my articles which are blogged by others, I am submitting my blogged articles to Digg and Technorati to position them above in the google search.

But still there are a lot of things to be resolved on internet content management.

If you are curious about, how my Blog looks alike, just click my name above.

[Reply]

Judith writes:

Hey, Everyone!

When it comes to copyright issues, and DMCA complaints, be sure to review the specific process and verbiage you have to use.

If done as instructed Google contacts the Blogger and pulls the site promptly if you claim is accurate. With DMCA complaints you have to follow the instructions and send a fax that follows them to a “T” — and you’ll get results.

Here’s the URL:
http://www.google.com/blogger_dmca.html#notification

HTH!

Judith
TheIStudio.com
NetManners.com

[Reply]

Darlene Norris writes:

I checked on the dmca stuff when I first discovered my friend Sean stealing my articles. There are an awful lot of hoops to jump through. I’m supposed to spend my time dealing with this garbage when the other guy is the crook making money off MY content?

Google does not make it easy for you to make a complaint about dmca issues. There should be a quick easy online method to make a complaint that doesn’t involve snail mail or faxes.

Why can’t I just email them with my url and the date my article was posted? Why do I have to go through all this when I’m not the thief? Google should be putting a stop to this, not making it difficult for people to report it.

I’ve flagged his blog, and filled out some kind of online form to Goggle complaining about him, and nothing has been done. All they have to do is pull his blog down. although I suspect he’d had another one up right away.

[Reply]

Judith writes:

Howdy!

Google’s DMCA process is no different than anybody else’s. This is a legal issue — your word against another parties. If you want to make a claim of copyright infringement, which is a serious claim, you have to be willing to prove your accusation.

How would you feel is someone just sent an e-mail to your hosting company making a copyright infringement claim against you (to be a troll, PIA or for some vengeance) and your site was shut down based on their word alone?

This process is in place for a reason and it legally binds you to your claim. Only those serious about their copyright will make this effort and it definitely separates the wheat from the chaff and it works when followed.

Yes, it isn’t fair that the bad guys do this and we have to file a formal complaint. But life isn’t fair. The first time you file a DMCA, save it as a template and then just change the details as the situation calls for next time.

At least there is a legal formal process to follow that will get you resolution if you are willing to make the effort to send a simple fax.

HTH!

Judith
TheIStudio.com
NetManners.com

[Reply]

Christopher M. Knight writes:

Lance,

I’m not sure the SE’s are filled with trash… Just their blogging platforms are filled to the brim with spam/porn content.

The dichotomy is that they are experts at fighting spammers of the worst kind; and they win the fight in their search and revenue platforms, yet are losing the fight in their blogging platform.

[Reply]

Nick writes:

Why is it that I am seeing all the frustrated users here. I mean why is almost everybody crying like a child. Take inspiration from Chistopher, he has just taken an action and got the result. Simple as that!

I don’t think google is anymore the same old good group of techies. They are now just a hungry monopoly giant whose only eyes are on advertising dollars. That is why you see blogspot blogs so filled of spam because google promotes blogspot. Just make a random search on google search and count the number of blogspot blogs that come up vs the number of wordpress blogs that show up. Do they mean to say that wordpress blogs are not good or don’t have any search engine content. The reason is simple, google owns blogspot and makes money of it so they promote it and hence spammers use it.

Anyway this was tangent of the topic. Someone made a suggestion regarding bad grammar. I don’t think that is a good one, think of what if you had to write in chinese, can you keep up with their grammar?. The Internet is not just English based. Similarly someone suggested to ask for original copies. Are you submitting your rough drafts to EzineArticles as a proof?

We need to go and think above these small things. Google has thousands of people employed to fight spam. Though they won’t do much about it for a lot of reasons like having their own index reduced and moreover they have bigger things to deal with, but for sure if they don’t have a solution to it then you can be sure that there is no technical solution to it right now.

One of the things that you people can do is to either ignore it. Since you don’t have your name or anything out there so it makes no sense to really bother about those badly rewritten articles. The most common reason why those articles are rewritten is that if those people publish your article intact then google will PENALIZE them for DUPLICATE CONTENT. I am not the authority on this but that is what I have read and probably you can research around for it. So, in a sense its search engines that are responsible for giving rise to those content rewriting softwares.

Having said that I have a suggestion, focus your energies on positive things and stop cringing about spammers. Google promotes ezinearticle quite well and if you have same article at any other place, you can still be sure that ezinearticle will be shown before that. So forget those stupid blogs because no one is reading on them.

I have a suggestion for EzineArticles too. You are people who have some authority on Internet and I am sure if you make a case (just like you have submitted those splogs and got them removed), then it will definitely have more weightage.

Start a splog submission tool of yourself. Where authors like us can report bad posts, splogs or unattributed articles. This submission tool should submit those blogs automatically to Google on behalf of EzineArticles. I am really sure this would be in favor of all people out here. It will give those splog complaints some weightage. If you can start a process of making DMCA complaint easier, it would be helpful.

If we have to fight such spam and splog we will have to bring in the “human effort” and join in hands to become a force. One single complaint to a Google about a blog won’t matter, but if hundred people object to a blog, they will surely listen. The challenge is to somehow make this effort collective and effortless.

Nick Clipton

“There are two ways to live in this world, either you bear with the circumstances, or rise up to the challenge and take steps to change them.”
- Anonymous.

[Reply]

Richard writes:

The good news is when many bloggers leave Google’s solution and start using wordpress or someone else, the spammers will leave and blogspot becomes viable again.

:-)

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