I can't write my own content. I'm too ignorant to come up with my own ideas. Or maybe I'm just plain lazy. Instead of actually doing any work at all, I just set up a script that steals content from real writers.
I steal the author's content by pulling their RSS feed into my own blog so that I can sit back and drink beer while other people work hard to make my site look legitimate. Genuis, huh?
I dont know why you're even reading at my blog, since I dont ever write anything original here. You really should go find some other blog to read. I only set this up to try to make you click on my ads.
If you are reading this on any domain other than ClickNewz.com, the owner of that domain stole this content from me. This is my way of saying "thank you" 😀
Best,
p.s. A special thanks to RobsInternetMarketing.com and others like him for inspiring this piece of ORIGINAL content!
About Lynn Terry
Lynn! This is spot on and I couldn't agree more! I had this person ping me daily and even twice daily because that is how often I update my blog. At first I was so excited and one day I decided to read said post...oh my gosh it was everything I had laboured to craft verbatim. So I went through all the pings and wouldn't you know it! Arrgh! well then the war began. I consulted a WP whiz who told me about RSS footer plugin and other things I could do. One day I went and posted on their blog (ha ha ha that was funny) and ever since then they stopped scraping. You gotta claim what is rightfully yours for sure!
I work hard to come up with that stuff and do u know, why do people do that?
Classic! Well done.
LOL- you are waaaay too funny Lynn. Love your personality 😉
Lynn,
I'm glad you have finally come clean with yourself on your scum tactic ways.
Now guys like old Rob at RobsInternetMarketing can sleep in peace knowing that you will no longer be a threat to their online presence.
One day, Lynn, with alot of hard work and perseverance...you'll become a successful blogger that comes up with original content....one day.
HAHAHA...dang dude, they stole alot o'your stuff!
Lynn,
Love that, Just picked this up from Mike Filsaime's tweet and had to check it out.
I've had the same from my blog with an article turning up elsewhere. Frustrating and why do they do it? Cause they are too darn lazy and can't even write!
Good on you for writing this and in such a funny way!
Sean
Genius!
WOW! They say imitation is the finest form of flattery but that is just ridiculous.
Rob should get a life. I understand they have them on sale at Walmarts. Maybe he can pick up some fresh content while he's there too.
Great post...gave me a chuckle this morning.
Tina
@bestreflection
Very clever Lynn....
Let's hope he doesn't screen the posts he's ripping off
Hey Lynn,
This seems to be a popular topic nowdays. I just wrote a post a few days ago about the same basic scum bags.
I guess all those people that read the email saying you could get rich over night also got the email about how to write good articles in their sleep.
Yep, just go to someone elses blog and steal them.
Wish we could give these people a good beat down (so to speak). LOL!
Love it!!
Lynn,
Well done! Roast the guy on his own fake blog.
I'm wondering if you might consider sharing how you found out and what steps one needs to take to protect themselves from this sort of theft for all of us who are novices at this.
Someone else mentioned an RSS footer plug in. What is that, and does it help?
Anyway, I hate that this guy has been claiming your work. What a jerk. I imagine there are enough people who are your followers that they can quickly pass the word around to avoid his blog. After all, think how much more you learn from going to the source 🙂
LOL I love it!
Wonderful, Lynn! As one who suffers from this awfulness on on of my blogs, I'd also like to learn more about how to nail there butts to the wall.
Also, this is where video may be the ultimate answer, especially where your own face is the main subject. Or do these creeps have a way around that as well?
Good going!
Peace ....
Lynn,
Great post and way to go for calling the lech out!
Unfortunately, this kind of post is really the only way to catch them off guard. I know from experience that the RSS footer plugin can be beat. It's not easy but I've had it done to me.
Still, I would recommend anybody suspecting this is happening to install it because it will take care of most of that nonsense.
Jeff
LOL, way to go Lynn.
It's even funnier to listen to the blog.
There's not much going on there. I see that he only has 3 subscribers to his RSS feed. I see one of your recent posts about two thirds down on his homepage.
What a jerk!
You did great with this post Lynn!
Great Job here Lynn! This guys a real idiot!
Serve his host and Google with a DMCA notice.
That should get his site a taken down and b banned with Google.
Might make him think twice before doing it again.
Google have some advice on how to go about it here....
http://www.google.com/dmca.html
Well done and with great humor!
I love this!! Hahaha!! Great job, Lynn! 😀
Oh wow, Lynn - you are funny. nice job 🙂
I hope when he updates your feed on his site that it stays up for a while before he realizes it. That will be hilarious!
What an awesome idea! I have seen the same thing done with images - a script that would replace the image with something really gross when it did not originate from the domain. Very cool!
Wow !
That's awesome! lol Maybe we should all start doing something like that. 🙂
I love it! I was confused at first til I got to the end! Genius! Thanks for the laugh!
Hi everyone,
Once I was speaking with a good friend who is an import/export professional.
He told me that the more imitation there is - the original brand is worth more, so although this is not nike or adidas kind of firm,
Still you might say that the more imitators there are - the more of us - real bloggers and internet marketing professional, are now unique, branded and appreciated.
Jah Bless
Shalev Yanay
LOL!!
Funny with justice attached.
You just get better and better...
Susie
Wow. That's all I can say at this point. Wow. Never mind watching the next UFC match on TV, just watch Lynn's blog for a knock-down, drag-out round of retaliation for stealing content. Just amazing. Way to go, Lynn!
Love it, Lynn!
Another point for us to learn at the workshop in Atlanta.
I'm of two minds about this. I have heard interviews with Matt Cutts where he says every link to your website is a positive in Google's eyes. I've had others tell me a link from a spam site is a negative.
RSS does stand for "Really Simple Syndication" and syndication is often taken to mean the "sharing of content for publication". There are sites like Guy Kawasaki's Alltop.com and techmeme.com (two PR 7 sites) and others which basically disseminate articles from other sources. Others believe the RSS feed is only for the benefit of readers.
I have a mortgage related blog where I write all the content and I smile every time I get a pingback notifying me that my article that day has been republished somewhere else. That is why I send the full post out in my RSS feed. I know when I get the pingback that a link to the original has been left in the article. I regard it as just another way to disseminate articles.
When I get upset is when I find it republished with no acknowledgment where the article came from or in some cases even slightly changes but obviously taken from my content. As a result, I've started putting a resource box in my blog posts just as if I was submitting an article.
In the example of Rob's Internet Marketing, it looks like he has left all sorts of links inside which direct people back to you. Unfortunately, Rob also adds a section to the front page of his blog entitled "Who Is Writing This Blog" that leads people to believe he writes the content! Good grief!
I have several fairly successful blogs (not my bigger sources of income but consistent daily money) where I use syndicated articles as 95% plus of the content. But I get it from services which distribute articles which were purposely submitted for syndication.
Maybe the other people should be content with their own content.
@Carl Pruitt - The only thing this guy *didn't* do was replace links *inside* the content.
He didn't link back specifically to the original content.
He didn't give the original author credit for the content.
He is using fake accounts at his own site to make the stolen content look like it wasn't something he did himself.
He didn't have the decency to copy images to his own server, so his linking them directly from the website owners he stole the content from in the first place
@ Henrik Flensborg I don't want to give the impression that I was defending that guy. I didn't list everything he did wrong because I had written a book already, but I meant to make it clear I thought he did it the wrong way.
I just thought I would take the opportunity to discuss the general issue of syndicating content and how in some instances it can be beneficial. In particular, how I have benefited from it.
Wow, i Just can say Wow...
may be i'll try this trick next time.
@Carl Pruitt , thank you for your explanation. yours very helpfull
Carl makes a good point, of course. This "syndication" has been going on for a long time now actually - and I usually dont think a second thought about it. I just delete their trackbacks (mark them as "spam") and keep writing...
Yes, they keep my links intact so it simply gives me more backlinks. Of course they are low quality since their own domains dont really gain any traction, but they are links nonetheless.
There are some sites that are meant for syndication and are published as such - and those I dont really mind. There are others, such as RobsInternetMarketing.com that are meant to fool their readers - and that I DONT like.
I dont like it on principle, and I dont think its a good business model for anyone to consider. I wrote this post in humor, but also to set an example of what you can expect if you're not investing your own energy & creativity in your own business model.
Tricks and methods and strategies will only work so well and for so long. Its not a real way to start or run an online business...
@Carl Pruitt I know you weren't defending him.
I just reacted to one part of your great comment where you talked about him having left all sorts of links inside that link back to the content owner - but it's only if the original authors have included a bio and/or link back to their own site that they get credit for the content.
Which is the reason I hyperlinked "ClickNewz.com" in the post above 😉
Lynn,
Imagine my shock when I started reading! Then my smirk, chuckle and subsequent laugh as I realized what you had done.
High 5!
I love it. Better go change my script and remove your blog...heehee.
Wow... I knew were cool. You must have some Irish in you!
Nice piece of work.
wow that's just genius!
Lynn
You cover a lot of great topics and offer valuable insights. Maybe I am wrong about why you wrote this post so don't take this the wrong way. I understand why people scraping and stealing your content bothers but you freely provide your rss feed to the world so what do you expect?
I don't condone plagiarism and I hate lazy people but if you syndicate your content you should expect people to post or your feeds and take credit for your content. Many news sites do it and some internet marketers created entire businesses around showing people how to scrape rss feeds, spin articles, and create content sites. It is a major part of the internet world you are involved with. Even stomper net promotes and recommends article spinning and automated methods of content generation by scraping rss feeds.
Sure, most people are lazy and would rather cut and past blog posts and take credit for them but complaining about it is like buying a house next to a race track and complaining about the noise. Try copyscape if you want to crack down on the mindless idiots that steal you hard work but I think you would be better off if you just keep on providing great content and forget about the idiots they will always be lurking in the shadows.
Hello Truth,
The answer to your first question is:
Because I thought it was funny 😛
As for my RSS Feed, what do I expect? I expect my readers to be able to easily subscribe and get content through a variety of services - on mobile devices, in an RSS reader, via email, etc.
As for copyscape, that's too much work. This was much more fun 😀
If you follow along closely here, you'll see this as related to the topic thread that's been going on for the past week. I'm making a point.
-Lynn
This is innovative and should make copycats twiddle their thumbs at least.
It also brings me to a question most newbies would wish to ask. Does RSS feed really help your site or does it open a window for plagiarising content?
I have not been able to understand how RSS feed enhances a site since the person who gets the feed does not visit the site but enjoys the feed in his own inbox. So in effect he does not have to visit the site but can steal content.
Can anyone please specify the benefits of enabling RSS feed for your blog? Just how does it help your own blog in absolute terms?
Great initiative - wonder if they even notice..
@Goacom The benefit from offering an RSS feed is that you get your message out to your feedsubscribers without them having to check your site every day to see if you have new content available.
If you want to follow multiple blogs then having them centralised in your feedreader is convenient and timesaving
Related to this topic - I'm moderating a comment right now on my blog which simply says "[...] Original post by unknown [...]" and have a link back to a post on the site that scraped my original post - the link back to them use my site name and the name of the post so their page will get more relevance.
The post on their site is just a snippet of my post and with Author listed as "Unknown"
They are linking back to me, but not using my site name or the name of the post - they are using "Unknown" to link back to me, so all my post receives more relevance for is the word "Unknown"
Hardly a comment I want to approve since it doesn't add to the conversation on my site and is exclusively made so that someone else can benefit from what I wrote.
I only approve trackbacks that add to the topic or discussion - to keep relevenat content connected (as it should be). "Unknown" with duplicate content wouldnt qualify...
I had a similar problem earlier this year and I actually looked up the guy's WHOIS and called him on the phone. He was shocked to say the least!
He was using a content scraping program and he said that he was just trying to HELP me by having my content out there where more people could read it. Plus, the content always has a "read the whole post here" with a link to my site so he said he was also trying to give me more backlinks! 🙂 LOL!
This guy was complete scum, and who knows how many people he was able to convince with this story. Sad thing is that most people probably didn't know that he had even done anything to begin with.
The guy was shocked that I read him the riot act over the phone! It was priceless! 🙂
I have a copyright message added to end of most of my feeds now for this exact reason.
Nice "post" Lynn!
Hey -
Most offensive - as has been mentioned - is when links are not kept in tact...
What REALLY gripes me is when people pick up articles from article marketing services like ezinearticles and purposely delete your bio and / or links.
That's just plain stealing and a violation of terms of service.
Now, having said that - I'm a big copyright defender. I was in the newspaper and magazine business for a long time. And I have been a professional photographer - off and on - for more than 30 years (Good Lord!).
So, I've got a file of nearly 30,000 pictures that are pretty impressive from all over the world. Right now I'm making a decision: Do I use them online where they get ripped off immediately, or just let them sit on my hard drive.
Things are changing fundamentally. And we're always going to deal with scum-sucking content thieves...
I loved your sneaky way of tweaking them 🙂
David