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Surprised? Hell No, I Was Shocked!
As one of my promotion strategies for my blog, I’ve been submitting articles to one of the most recognized and arguably the most effective article distributor on the Web, EzineArticles.com. I was delighted with the fact that every single one of my articles was accepted on the first submission. I rapidly achieved ‘Expert Author’ status which I proudly display on my blog.
Then it happened…
Your article does not adhere to the following Editorial Guidelines.
Issue 1 (Section 1.b)
http://EzineArticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html#1-b
———
Your article contains content which is an exact match or substantially similar to material attributed to another author/source here: http://www.fruitsage.com/article.asp?articleid=64596&Like-Eating-Purple-GrapesWe have placed your account in suspended status and all your pending articles are on hold until this issue is resolved.
For those of you who didn’t click through to the EzineArticles.com Editorial Guide reference link to section 1.b, here is what it says:
MUST NOT BE AN ARTICLE YOU RIPPED-OFF FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN OR BOUGHT (PLR). If you did hire a ghost writer to write your articles, you MUST have an EXCLUSIVE LICENSE that *only* allows your name to be associated with the articles produced for you. Do not waste your time or ours by buying article packs that have non-exclusive licenses as we reject those articles. Why do we do this? #1) It makes you look like a fraud because you’re putting your name on someone else’s works that already may have hundreds or thousands of other authors who already put their name on the exact same works and #2) we do not want more than one copy of any article in our directory.
So now my EzineArticles.com account has been suspended -
SUSPENDED!
- and I am suspected, if not accused of being a fraud!
Check BEFORE You Accuse!
Call me over-reactive, but I certainly didn’t take too kindly to being accused of ripping off other people’s writing, let alone being called a fraud. When I first told Maggie about the eMail I received from EzineArticles.com, she thought I was joking. Yes, I’m a prankster, but I told her even I couldn’t make up shit like this. I showed her the message.
And I thought I was over-reactive!
I’ve written about this many times before in this blog. At a diminutive 5′, 100 lbs. Maggie gives you the impression of being an easy-going, friendly and very charming woman… which she most certainly is! However, BEWARE! There’s compressed dynamite in that tiny package! I had to calm her down as she was itching to go out to find and hang the bastards who stole my stuff.
I’m glad she’s fighting in my corner! That little gal can be FIERCE!
Here is the email I shot off to EzineArticles.com in response to their decision to shut down my account:
Who is ‘ripping’ who? You’ll notice the date of the following article is published October 6, 2009.
http://www.fruitsage.com/article.asp?articleid=64596&Like-Eating-Purple-GrapesMY ARTICLE comes from a color series I ORIGINALLY blogged on April 2, 2009
http://lovethatfeeling.com/blog/violet-or-is-it-purple-or-is-it/
Clearly, MY ARTICLE came first. Seems to me, a simple search would have shown you these facts BEFORE you accuse ME of plagiarism. WOW! The link in my resource box would have been a good place to start as it points directly to my ‘COLOR’ series.
Disappointed in your service,
Russ Hamel
Apparently, first date of publication isn’t the only criteria search engines like Google look at. Site popularity can – and usually DOES – over-ride the original author. In plain English, this means that someone can lift your material and place it on their higher traffic site. While they are still not credited with being the author, unless they falsely make the claim, they are indeed deemed to be the AUTHORITY! And on the Net, that’s a HUGE advantage.
But WAIT; It Gets Crazier!
It was like living in the Twilight Zone. On the very same day, I received two ‘comments’ on my blog articles. Since I monitor my comments before allowing them to go live, I had a chance to check the referring links. To my horror, each comment led to a website that had also lifted my content – this time VERBATIM!
The first site that I was accused of plagiarizing was only ‘substantially’ the same. At least the owner had sense enough to change the order of the paragraphs and rewrite SOME of the content to make it look like his own. However, these two were pure unabashed rip-offs:
http://kristenlinkous.co.cc/wake-up-and-smell-the-orange-juice/comment-page-1/#comment-12
http://robertaeverett.co.cc/its-not-easy-bein-green/
Again, these were lifted from blog posts I wrote over a year ago. Absolutely NO effort was made to change a thing. Clearly, they were lifted entirely intact. Unfortunately, I was neither given credit nor given an all-important link back to my site in order to boost my site’s popularity.
For my fellow bloggers and website owners who may be interested, here are the links to ‘Who-Is’ on these scamster websites. Be aware and vigilant that YOUR site may be a target. Make it a point to check your comments and follow the links. You may be in for a surprise!
http://www.who.is/whois/fruitsage.com/
http://www.who.is/whois/kristenlinkous.co.cc/
http://www.who.is/whois/robertaeverett.co.cc/
I would be most appreciative of any advice you might have regarding how to effectively deal with this issue.
Something Is Happening
As of this writing – May 11, just one day after receiving the ‘infamous accusation’, the article posted on Fruitsage.com is currently unavailable. I can’t tell you if it’s the result of an investigation by EzineArticles.com or some other policing agency.
I did leave a comment on Fruitsage.com advising them to either give me proper credit for the article or remove it from their site. I’m doubtful that this action alone had such a rapid effect as my research suggests that many of these ‘pirate’ websites are either totally automated or run by off-shore companies who really could care less who they are ripping off.
In any case, it’s part-and-parcel of being a blogger. Maybe I should be honored or even flattered that someone thought my material was worthy enough to claim as their own. hhhmmm… you gotta Love That Feeling…
I guess.
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Welcome to the world of commerce. There are business people, and then there are pirates. The pirates have little or no idea how to produce value, and nor are they interested. They’d rather take endless shortcuts, skimming “easy” profits off of others’ efforts.
They do this because they know deep down inside that they’re losers and that unless they take all the shortcuts they can, they don’t stand a chance of competing on a level playing field.
If it’s any consolation, your content was probably scraped by software, either automatically or semi-so, and posted to the site with virtually no human intervention. Which also pretty well describes the site owners themselves.
Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles
Thanks Charles
You aren’t the first person to welcome me to the ‘reality’ of working online. Like jumping into a pool of icy water, the first time is a shock. Not that you ever get used to this sort of thing or want to. However, it is what it is. Being aware of it and learning how to deal with my own reactions is key.
I strongly suspect you are right. Two of the sites are ‘off-shore’. According to ‘Who-Is’, the sites are not even active. Well, they aren’t being run by what you and I would consider ‘human’ anyway.
While neither site gives what I consider to be full PROPER credit, the consolation is that both of them DO have a working link back to my site.
The other good news is that EzineArticles.com reinstated my account this morning and accepted more of my articles this morning, so I’m back on track with my submissions.
All’s well that ends well! (well, at least for now)
Russ
That is celebrated news Russ! I am glad to hear that everything worked out with Ezine.