Plaigarism!!!!

Im not sure if I am in the right topic but the topic being copied all over the net is our Tweaking article above.

It is here: http://keznews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11633

and here: http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=587800

and here: http://forum.ultravnc.info/viewtopic.php?p=42197

They dont even have the nerve to give credit or properly link and, in one case, the tweak is cut right off at the bottom.

Is there anything that can be done?

Should we be complimented?

Any advise?

Can we bombard them with msgs stating its plaigerized (lol kidding or am I)?

Has anyone had this happen before? I am new and just want to know if there is any way to curb the sudden 'cut and paste' syndrome.

Thats it..We can spam them!!!

 

Contact Andrew, this crap does happen and they might be able to sick the legal team on them.

 

Well this is a public forum so all the information here is available to everyone. Anyone can come here to copy and paste information and I don't think there really isn't anything we can do to stop them (just imagine how much stuff from this website has been plagiarized)...

If you make a guide you should probably make a disclaimer somewhere in it saying something like: "Feel free to use this article on your own website or message board but please give me credit for writing it."

Does it say anything about this in NBR's Terms of Use? Maybe they do have some rules about this so they could take legal action but I'm not sure. You can Email the people who plagiarized and ask them to edit their post to give credit to the person.

 

Anything posted as a main article belongs to TechTarget (NBR's owners) and as such it is legally protected. We've taken down entire sites before for plagiarism, but it depends on the offense and whatnot.

 

I don't really care about legal action...or even the credit really (well maybe just a little for the site). I will consider the caveat and appreciate that.

Its just a bit disheartening to see how it is chewed up and just pasted. One of the articles is even cut right in the middle of a tweak.

And I have advised Andrew...maybe it was a good thing that he put it up front page afterall.

 

Ah I did not know that.
Well I don't think there will be much of an issue with the three links that flamenko posted. They're just posts on a few message boards by a couple of random people, I'm sure that if we contact the admins of those sites they'd quickly remove the posts.

Yeah I understand what you mean but plagiarism is everywhere... Gotto love the Internet for that.
I'm willing to bet that every single guide on NBR has been plagiarized a few times (on other message boards, people's personal websites or blogs).

Best thing to do is not look for it, that way you can just pretend that no one plagiarized anything and be all happy! Ignorance is a bliss!

 

Should I feel complimented? Lol...

This only happened after I cleaned up the format yesterday. Nobody would touch it before that because I had all kinds of personal thoughts thrown in to each tweak...Hmmm.

 

LOL @ the shameless Plaigarism on the net.

BTW ... Looks like the second link did credit you. Could have been an edit though.

They were even too lazy to remove the HTML code and the (Rep goes to) parts. SMH.

 

I know^^
I would be mad because it wasn't theres they could have even linked to it just not copy it exactly!

 

This is completely unacceptable IMO; in general on forums whenever I link someone to something be it a guide or other information I never copy it directly as it is wrong it is much better to just post a direct link and let them go to the original source. And livefrmnyc I agree they were even too laze to remove the rep goes to...

 

its just blatant behavior, but you have to be careful about them saying you copied it and they wrote it

 

One benefit of having things on the front page...NBR can prove we wrote it. We have a date it showed up, and they'll have a later date of publication. Kinda easy to figure out who wrote it first no?

 

One would hope.

 

One website has credit this website. the UltraNVC one says credit to this thread.

 

no you dont. dates work like a charm!

 

It is quite a compliment when another site posts a reference to your website and explicitly states the source and gives the credit, also when a link is posted, as that is obviously stating the source.

It is quite another thing altogether when another site steals your content and either explicitly or implicitly claims it is their material.

Sic 'em!

 

Totally behind you flame. Your guide was excellent and it sucks when someone takes your work and gives you no credit. Before I always wondered why plaigarism was such a big deal in universities (as in worthy of explusion, i know plaigarism is big but didn't thnk it was that big of a deal) but now I understand that when someone works their ass to write a book or essay and another person has the audacity to steal their work when all they have to do is quote it then I think expulsion is a just punishment.

 

Well said friend, well said.

 

I've seen the guide from neowin quite a while ago, and the poster already did give some credit

 

Hey flamenko
Check out keznews.com now. I gave you the credit and linked to your thread. I wonder if they will kill my reply in that thread.

 

NBR's reviews are often copied and reused without permission or credit...this happens quite a lot.

 

wow flamenko, if I were you, I'll be piss...they gave no credit whatsoever for all your hard work...man these people actually for the nerve to do it...

 

Actually, it doesnt bother me and I'm a bit complimented except... I don't like when they rip it apart and it looks like crap (ie the bottom tweak cut in half or the links don't work etc...)

Yes it would be better if they just linked it though.

 

But they arent necessarily NBR's vista tweaks, cant they just post vista tweaks? I dont see anything wrong if it were an articale exclusive to NBR or a review then maybe, but this is just a list of vista tweaks

 

Its plaigarism when they cut and paste anothers word and then post it as their own.

Of course they could take the tweak, put it into their own style and then post it..not a problem.

 

they should still give credit though. You know sources from.... NBR flamenko. its common niceness, to even quote from a book you HAVE to ask permission, otherwise, *smack* the guillotine comes down

 

Flame, I loved your tweaking guide. I will be honest, I do show other users how to accomplsih the same results. Not in other forums, no, but in my personal business dealings. I dont always have the time to tell the people where I learned my knowledge, but I will try to in the future.
I know we all spend our spare time here and other forums helping users, and ourselves, gain valuable insights to our computer lives. Without pay. Our only payment system is rep. Maybe your satifaction can come from the fact that you have helped so many, maybe more now, get the education they need.
Everyone, please dont let this bring you down or prevent you from posting here. Beleive it or not, we do make a difference.
GL

 

Hey Thomas, do you call this stealing, and are they thrives?

 

flamenko they all did not seem to try and hide much. They cut and pasted, they for the most part did not in any way try and conceal the source. One even linked. I think you are handling it well. You should maybe give yourself more credit in the part that can be cut and pasted for the future. I do not think and actually know this is not plagiarism as I see no attempt of any to try and take credit as their original work for what you have done, which I believe is what plagiarism is by definition. Does not mean it is not wrong? But not plagiarism per se. Put your name at the top of your writings in the future and if they cut that, different story! It is cool they know you know much and use your knowledge, good job!

 

Source credit and linking should be mandatory, anything less is just shaddy biz.

 

I agree, but different than OP question.

 

The ironic part about this is the fact that those plagiarizers are Supermods/moderaters of their forums with 100s-1000s of posts. >_> shame shame

 

And the fact that they are mods for their sites is prob the reason I have yet to get the 'activation' email for my registration lol.

Folks, this doesn't bring me down. IN a way, kinda flattered. Just dont like, as I said when they rip it apart unfairly and leave a half a tweak at the end or the hyperlinks that aren't.

From that side of it maybe its good I wasnt given credit...lol

Sure brings credit to this site when you compare the professionalism of the final product though. Go NBR~!

 

I have seen the same thing with my Clean Vista Install guide. It is a pain, but I try to go in the spirit of open source and let the information flow. I usually join the site or thread and post the I am the original author, and then also use that site as another outlet for my information. Once you do that, you basically take over the thread, and then everyone gives you props on that site too.

 

wth call the cops . they should credit the author for taking the time to put an excellent guide. I agree, it is just not right

 

I'm upset that my Thread has not been Plaigarised. What an insult

 

Lol.. Don't worry just give it time. But seriously, it is not hard at all to quote the author. They spend a lot of time on these guides and get no money from it and then someone steals it and doesn't even give them credit... Very wrong.

 

Teehee...your all welcome to credit the author, or rather authors, all you want!!! lol

 

happens all the time to me on eBay for reviews and guides. a few will get copy and pasted so the user can rack up a ton of postive "yes" votes to get a silly icon next to their name. some users who write really extensive guides have even reported being stalked like a "vulture", as their guide will immediately be copied and pasted by another user within minutes of being posted in the guides section. you can't really do much as dealing with eBay in these issues is like talking to a dead cow.

but it looks like a few of the sites have begun to credit your work so thats good.

 

That's why some people are starting to write guides, sales descriptions, etc: on Word or Textpad, then use a capture tool(like snipping tool) to make a .jpg pic of it and just post the .jpg pic on the thread, form or blog. This way they can't copy & paste words from a pic & you can also watermark it. And the pic memory size can be small and still be readable cause it's only text.

Sort of like my sig, but my sig is an actual real pic.