7 years, 10 months ago-
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Hello all!
I was wondering how do you tackle websites that re-write your blog articles without giving credit for using your ideas? I am a dog trainer and sometimes have clients with specific problems with their dogs. When I get a dog as such, I sit down and do lots of trouble shooting. Then, I may come up with specific ideas and write them down and then decide to make an article out of it. Why not help others with the same problem on the web, in the meanwhile? Win win!
Well, today I noticed a blogger has re-written my article and added the same list of causes and tips. I would sometimes let it go when the tips are general and give the benefit of doubt that they may have gotten the same ideas, but when the ideas and the list of causes are exactly the same and even written in the same order, sorry, that to me is a deceitful form of plagiarism that’s just trying to evade search engines. Isn’t it stil plagiarism if it’s just re-written in your own words?
Now, usually when an article is copied word by word, I just file a DMCA, the process is a no-brainer. But when things are astutely re-written, things get more complicated. So wondering what is the proper way to address this? At least, as a courtesy, I would appreciate a link back to my article under a reference section. When I write my articles, I either have a reference section if the ideas don’t come from me, or when I quote, I will give a direct in-text hyperlink when I say “according to”. This is what I was taught when writing for the bigger corporations. I don’t know if this was ever covered in some blog here but it sure is helpful to provide guidelines on how to cite sources etc when writing blogs and how to address violations.
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I would contact the blog and ask them to kindly add a link to your site from the article as you have noticed it is pretty much the same as you wrote. If they don’t, at least they will know you have sussed them out and they may not do it again. If they do… well it’s time to set the dogs on them 🙂
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I agree this is a tough one. I also agree with Jason… but handling it is touchy… which, I am sure, is why you are asking.
First, I assume this is a blogger you do not know. Second, I would assume they do not know that what they did is plagiarism. If it were me, I might contact them and thank them for sharing part of my article. I would link back to my article that lists the same bullets, in the same order. I might say something explaining how I (you) take pride in your work (the above tidbit about working hard to come up with original solutions to your client’s problems) and appreciate that he/she thought it was helpful enough to share. I would then say something like, “I appreciate if people contact me first to ask for permission but understand deadlines can sometimes make that difficult. However, I always require that someone cite back to my source when they share excerpts from my articles.”
Like Jason said, they may or may not comply, and then you have to decide what to do from there, but at least they know that you know they borrowed information from you (plagiarized).
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