I just got an email from a guy through my contact form who said he saw two versions of one of my articles – one on another site, and one on this one. He gave me the URL. The other site isn’t mine, it’s a scraper site (not unusual). I guess the thing that made me maddest was the fact that he stole the entire article, stripped out my affiliate links and replaced them with a banner and his link, and he’s even linking to the images in my original blog post sucking down my bandwidth for his spam activities!
The post in question is my Artisteer review How to Create YourOwn WordPress Theme in Minutes. This was a post that took many hours to write. So, the first thing I did was find out where he was hosted (theplanet.com). First I should tell you what you have to do if you’re in this situation. Go to a site like Network Tools. Do an nslookup on the spammer’s site, as well as a traceroute, and last a “whois” query. Two out of the 3 didn’t tell me anything. The nslookup came back blank – because he’s a spammer and he turned it off. The whois query came back that he was regsitered through an anonymous web service, also no help. But the every trustworth “traceroute” can’t be turned off! And guess what – his site traces back to theplanet.com hosting on American soil! That little bastard is now worthy of a DMCA takedown to get his site offline ASAP! If you ever need to do this read my post: How to Submit a DMCA Takedown Notice
So, I realize that it may take a short bit of time for theplanet.com to respond to my request through their legal department – so since this little stupid spammer is sucking off of MY bandwidth using MY original images – I decided to fix his little red wagon once and for all. I could have just renamed all the images in the article and deleted the original ones. But I went one better than that. I renamed the images, and then I uploaded a nice version of the original for his viewers to read as soon as my article loads on his site:
Sorry spammers – this round you lose!
I love the message you put in the image. Nice job 🙂
.-= Chris´s last blog ..MySQL: Using BETWEEN in a SQL query =-.
Hi,
Great post. This is a subject that has come up time to time and I never knew what I could do about it.
I had one of my ezine articles stolen by this site:
here it is on Ezinearticles:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Revitalize-Your-Bedroom-With-a-Matching-Comforter-Set&id=1376910
And here is the stolen article:
http://www.jiancai365.cn/decorating/Revitalize-Your-Bedroom-With-a-Matching-Comforter-Set.htm
This guys whole website is made around articles stolen from ezinearticles and he strips off the links.
.-= Randy´s last blog ..Hamilton Beach BrewStation 47686 12 Cup Coffee Maker Review =-.
Thanks for the tips, I just had an article stolen and this is great information to keep on hand. Reporting them to Google often takes care of them as well.
.-= Ms. Liz´s last blog ..Article Stealers are The Worst! =-.
OMGosh! This is awesome! Not awesome that this creep stole your content … of course there are always going to be idiots out there that do this crap while the rest of us work our butts off … but that you’re going to take him down. I’ve always love you and your blog but this has really reinforced that! Way to go! And thanks for the great info on how to research (and combat) this. *huGs* Suzanne
P.S. How do you suggest staying on top of whether or not someone is stealing your content? It’s very time consuming *sigh*
.-= Suzanne Franco´s last blog ..Homepage Excerpts Plugin (Video Tutorial) =-.
@Suzanne Franco – I try not to spend time researching stolen content to tell you the truth, you can be much more productive building up your brand and writing more content. This guy, however – had the audacity of using my own images in the stolen post and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to let him have it.
WOW! I am going to bookmark this article in case it ever happens to me or someone I know. Love the message on the image. Unfortunately, there will always be cheaters and scammers in our online world. But sooner or later they get found out. Like today!
.-= Ivette Muller´s last blog ..Part 3: Work at Home Moms Really Exist! =-.
Good for you! Something needs to be done about these scraper sites. My content is always showing up on other sites, it’s rather annoying.
Hi JT,
This is a solid post about this subject. Many think they can just steal other peoples’ hard work.
Thanks for the info on how to track them down and how to expose them. I’ll be sure to link my readers to this.
You are becoming my hero.
Jerry
.-= Jerry´s last blog ..Is Making Money Online For Real? =-.
Excellent reference material. Just got “partially” scraped on my first personal blog http://meaningtolife.wordpress.com so thanks for the heads up.
I am at least placated by the “partial” nature of the scrape but now well advised in case it gets more intense.
However, my curiousity is stung as to whether they really gain anything out of it and what is the mechanism by which they pick a site at the beginning.
That’s pretty funny! I’ve heard of people putting up crazy obscene pictures for the scraper to show, but I think you got the message across while staying on the high road. Nicely done!
.-= Scott´s last blog ..Brewing Beer at Home With the Coopers Homebrew Kit =-.
How can I find out if my article has been stolen?
.-= liz @ Christmas Outdoor Decorations´s last blog ..Lighted Christmas Outdoor Reindeer =-.
Thanks, great information.
When you submit to DMCA how do you prove you are the legit owner of the content? You can submit even if the content is hosted outside US soil?
Thanks again,
Gui
.-= Gui@ Student Loans´s last blog ..Simple Guide To Best Student Loans =-.
Nice work JT! I love the new image you uploaded to display on the Bastard’s site. 😀
I don’t mind people “taking” my content but at least leave the links intact. It’s people like that who’ll never succeed online.
Don’t some hosts have a feature known as hotlink protection you can utilize so people don’t link to the images on your site and leeching off your bandwidth?
.-= Cheap Web Site Host´s last blog ..Cheap Web Hosting in UK =-.
It’s all part of the form you fill out and the process. I believe you can submit a DMCA is you’re outside US soil as long as the content is hosted within (someone correct me if I’m wrong!)
google it. There are a few online services that track this sort of thing too – I think Copyscape is one?
What a cheek! Nice response though – let’s hope the sorry SOB repents and takes down the article (I doubt it though, unfortunately).
.-= Childrens’ ballet shoes´s last blog ..Ballet for children =-.
That’s AWESOME! As I read this post I could almost hear “Eye of the Tiger” playing in the background… 🙂
I’m adding this post to my favorites, just in case I ever need to fight back. Thanks for the ammo!
.-= Boardwalk @ Compare Air Purifiers´s last blog ..Before You Buy Compare Air Purifiers & Know the Dangers! =-.