My stuff has been plagiarized. Again. I need a better strategy

Pony · #21 08/21/10, 03:26 PM

BTW - when a publisher has paid someone for your work, how do you deal with that?

seedspreader · #22 08/21/10, 03:43 PM

Can you link us to the plagiarized material? This might be one of those instances where a little public shame goes a long way.

Paul Wheaton · #23 08/21/10, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pony

Then, when you contact them, you can start by saying how flattered you are that they like your work so much that they'd put it on their site. Remind them of how you give permission on your site to use the info IF they cite and link.

Close with repeating how much you appreciate their admiration, and that you look forward to seeing your name cited on their page.

I think this is a good start. I have tried to do something like this in the past, but whatever words I used back then must not have worked well.

One small note: I don't want them to copy the whole thing. I think a paragraph or two is okay as long as they make a link to me.

Paul Wheaton · #24 08/21/10, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pony

BTW - when a publisher has paid someone for your work, how do you deal with that?

So far I haven't done anything. It's happened about six times.

Paul Wheaton · #25 08/21/10, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seedspreader

Can you link us to the plagiarized material? This might be one of those instances where a little public shame goes a long way.

I guess I don't understand. Are you asking for something that is different from the first post?

seedspreader · #26 08/21/10, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

I guess I don't understand. Are you asking for something that is different from the first post?

I am sorry, I thought there were more instances.

seedspreader · #27 08/21/10, 03:57 PM

How long ago did you write this?

Our Little Farm · #28 08/21/10, 04:02 PM

When was your article on soil ph written? Do you have proof?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton
I guess I don't understand. Are you asking for something that is different from the first post?

Well you did write the words 'again'. so what other examples do you have?

I must admit, I have read some blog posts after similar threads have been written here and then seen them written as new information.

Kari · #29 08/21/10, 04:18 PM

I run a few websites and encounter the same plagiarism on a regular basis. In almost very instance, I have to resort to sending a DMAC take down notice to the web host provider.

These providers do not wish to get involved with legalities of their clients and will remove the plagiarized material and or shutdown the website altogether.

A good example DMCA take down notice can be found here.

Paul Wheaton · #30 08/21/10, 04:25 PM

A lot of this was first part of my lawn care article which I wrote in 94. The wayback machine will show it back to 96. I think I pushed it out to its own article about four years ago - I remember having a lot more to say on the topic and that it would be too dominating if I left it in the original article.

I have articles on a bunch of stuff. The lawn care article gets plagiarized the most.

Minelson · #31 08/21/10, 04:26 PM

Paul, I think you are already using the right approach. It's just that "some" people get defensive easily and no matter how you phrased it, they would get all icky about it. You're calling them out on a no-no and some will say...OMgosh! I'm sorry and fix it. And others will go brain dead and somehow make you the bad guy. Focus on the friendly, honest people and forgive the brain dead

Kari · #32 08/21/10, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrek

If your published pieces have monitary value and you are publishing them to the www, these are the steps you must take to preserve your copyright.

1. Compose the text in Wordpad

2. Before publishing the text to the web, hard copy print out the article and address an envelope to yourself. Then take the hard copy and unsealed envelope to your local post office clerk counter and ask them to hand cancel all pages of the hard copy and watch you seal the copy in the envelope to yourself and have them hand cancel and mail the hard copy to you. The date and time round hand cancel on each page of the hard copy and envelope and the formality of it being delivered to you via the USPS establishes the origination date in event of copyright litigation for the cost of a few minutes and applicable postage.

3. As disagreement of ownership of web published content continues to be unclear even as it iscontinually being redefined and clarified, creating two email accounts for yourself with two separate services and emailing the text to yourself between gmail and yahoo mail or whatever services you use establish a cyber version of the postal roundstamping.

4. Know a good contracts attorney or how to contact a reality arbitration court show or small claims court if you get plageurized after publishing the text to the web. If you get plageurized contact them with your evidence and see them in court.

If you submit an article to a magazine or website that attempts to claim ownership of content and you want to preserve your copyright get them to sign a one time use agreement meeting your terms before sending them a CD, flash drive or transmission of the piece and a xerox of your post office cancelled copyright document through registered delivery and if you see them violating the terms, see them in court also.

These methods are mythical in nature and have been circulating around for more years then the modern day internet.

See here

and here

and here

seedspreader · #33 08/21/10, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

A lot of this was first part of my lawn care article which I wrote in 94. The wayback machine will show it back to 96. I think I pushed it out to its own article about four years ago - I remember having a lot more to say on the topic and that it would be too dominating if I left it in the original article.

I have articles on a bunch of stuff. The lawn care article gets plagiarized the most.

Yeah, the site that plagiarized it looks like that is about ALL it does. There are a lot of sites that steal stuff... and have google ads on them, and they have a ton of sites that do that just to pull in revenue. Most of those probably won't even respond to you. It will take a letter to the provider.

Paul Wheaton · #34 08/21/10, 04:42 PM

So I've done this about 50 times in the past. My thinking is that if I had some smart/smooth way of doing this, I would have converted about 50 bad things into maybe 40 links to my stuff. And, hopefully, these same folks that thought my stuff was so good that they wanted it to be their own words, might make another 100 links to some of my other stuff.

So I'm thinking that somebody smarter than me would now have 150 more links to their stuff than I have now.

So I'm now trying to get my brain to come up with the words so that in the future I can turn this problem into something good. The whole lemons to lemonade thing.

Our Little Farm · #35 08/21/10, 04:45 PM

It's a shame when someone writes things as their own, when in reality they visit forums and other people's blogs, some even from other countries, and copy the material and research and claim it as their own.

I hope this person gets exposed for the thief they really are.

Wish there was a simple answer to this.

Alice In TX/MO · #36 08/21/10, 04:52 PM

You want magic words to either 1) make people stop, or 2) make them not get mad when they are caught.

There is no solution for either desire.

People are human. There are no magic words to make them behave in the way you desire. People will behave in a way that 1) benefits them, and/or 2) makes them feel good.

The anger expressed toward you is the way they 'feel good' after getting caught.

You can't change people.

wogglebug · #37 08/21/10, 04:52 PM

Combine an obvious up-front notice and copyright notices in each article along with a DMCA take-down notice for those thieves who don't honour your original notice, and don't have honour in general.

The up-front notice could be something, maybe in a side-bar visible at the beginning along with a declaration at the end of every article, along the lines of:

"The works displayed here are my personal creations. They are copyright Paul Wheaton 1995 and other copyright dates as listed in the articles. I make my living from publishing them, and from consultancy work which that brings in. Please don't steal them, or I'll get very upset, as I DO need to earn my living. I'd be happy to have you publish up to a hundred words from any one article, along with a link back to the original article on my site here. For anything further, please contact me at the email address currently listed on my site, and we can discuss it. Non-commercial use is often okay; paid use is how I earn my living.

Please don't steal. I WILL take action if you do, and the consequences can be unpleasant for all involved."

Joshie · #38 08/21/10, 05:00 PM

Can you add your name within the body of your articles? That may not stop theft but it'd make them work harder to steal it.

Pelenaka · #39 08/21/10, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kari

A good example DMCA take down notice can be found here.

Couldn't get the link to work for me.
I find this very interesting on several levels. One, I had no idea that an author could without involving lawyers ect. stop plagiarism. Second is that now I feel less of a better person because truthfully I really wouldn't care that they disliked me.

~~ pelenaka ~~

sgl42 · #40 08/21/10, 05:15 PM

i don't think it's just you that this is happening to. hussman is a mutual fund manager that writes a free weekly commentary on his web site. at the top of each commentary, he states:

Quote:

apparently he still finds people borrowing his stuff without attribution. one paragraph in a recent weekly comment tried to shame them into being responsible:

Quote:

http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc100802.htm

One final note to our colleagues in finance - we read a lot of research here - articles, blogs, news clips, subscription services, academic papers, and so forth. You'll see comments and links all over our research referencing various sources. We're happy to see our own work picked up, and are particularly pleased when professors use it in their classes. But come on, guys - when you use someone's content, or agree with someone's point, acknowledge the person and then add your own work. Don't just lift models or material. Bill and I do our best to always include attribution when we use other people's work (send us a note if we miss one!) - except that when we criticize someone's approach, we may omit names unless the person appears to be damaging or misleading investors. I know this is the age of the internet, but common courtesy still applies. None of us is 13 anymore.

no idea whether it did any good or not.

--sgl