Update – The blogger in question posted an apology post on her blog.
Today I’m letting a guest poster share on my site something that’s come out about another blogger – someone using their blog to drive traffic to their Etsy store. Certainly this is a common enough occurrence, and usually a smart business plan. But in this case it’s such a far-reaching and overblown example of content thievery that I can’t help but open up my blog for my fellow #homechat Host, Heather. There’s a grey area of blogger ethics, which is where this story started. And there’s a black-hole of copyright violations that really irks me and that’s where this story ended up. See for yourself – Angela
The Backstory
I have a Google alert set for the name of my site. This is pretty normal, and if you don’t have it, Melanie has a great tutorial that will show you how to set up a Google alert. Thursday evening I was working, when an alert from BlogHer showed up. Home Ec 101: Meal Planning, everything was fine until I wandered over and realized it had nothing whatsoever to do with my site.
While this isn’t illegal, it’s definitely ballsy and certainly a breech of blogger etiquette. I admit to taking it personally when I thought it was TheHappyHousewife, a blogger with whom I’d just done a joint project. I sent a terse email explaining why I was upset and I requested that she consider changing the title of the post.
You may wonder why I’d be so defensive. Normally I would just shrug it off, but I have a book, Home Ec 101 Skills for Everyday Living, coming out in just a few weeks. The last thing I need to deal with at the moment is an SEO nightmare. I took it as a personal affront, although you should never take business personally.
Now comes the embarrassing part -Toni (Owner of THEHappyHousewife) had no idea what I was talking about. I had accused the wrong person.
Mortified, I apologized profusely and went back to look more closely. It turns out there was a good reason I made the mistake. The author of the post linked to her site: ThisHappyHousewife. In my ire, I had read it incorrectly and it’s not a stretch to assume the intent of post author was to take advantage of the long-standing reputations of both of us.
I contacted the editors of BlogHer. Since it wasn’t an actual copyright violation, they chose to let the post title stand.
A Closer Look
I then vented, because really, what else do you do in that situation? Angela listened and then began digging. It quickly became clear that this blogger uses this as their standard operating procedure. They regularly supplement their work with work borrowed** from other sites.
Here are a few examples: (Update – I understand that the specific examples we linked to have been removed. At least two others are still up on the site Amish Bread and Once a Month Cooking. Several of the copied posts mentioned are also still displayed on her original blogspot.com site as well so it appears she only removed the examples I listed below. Here are four screen shots of the lifted content still currently visible on her old blog. Declutter Heirloom Cookbook WashCloth Heart of Roses)
Original:
http://busycooks.about.com/od/howtobake/a/bread101.htm
JG:
http://thishappyhousewife.com/2011/02/10/bread-baking-101/
It should be noted that the attribution was added after the content owner was notified but the copied content was not removed.
Original:
http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-spotlight/childproofing-your-home/home-safety-checklist-safety-by-room.html
JG
http://thishappyhousewife.com/2011/02/10/home-safety/
Original:
http://declutteryourhomeinfo.com/
JG
http://thishappyhousewife.com/2011/02/09/de-cluttering-your-home/
Original:
http://www.spells4free.com/Article/Favorite-Dishes-And-Family-Folklore/2087
JG -the writer in question
http://thishappyhousewife.com/2011/02/04/family-heirloom-cookbook/
Original:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/valentine/roses-heart.shtml
JG
http://thishappyhousewife.com/2011/01/26/how-to-make-a-heart-of-roses-wreath/
We all make mistakes when we first start blogging. Sometimes we admire a writer and copy their tone and voice. It happens. I know and admit that I used to be less sure of who I was when writing my content. In this case, I think it is more insidious than the usual newbie syndrome.
The icing on this particular cupcake of fun, ThisHappyHousewife has written to sell a $25 pdf download via Etsy. The cherry? It’s a ripoff of the FLYLady’s control journal, which she sells for significantly less.***
Write your own content. Don’t be scared of your own voice. The real opportunities to monetize come later.
Angela’s Notes:
** Some people define “borrow without permission” as theft. I tend to agree with them.
***The icing about the whole thing for me was the copyright statement THISHappyHousewife added to her binder’s description page, “These downloads are protected by copyright law. You are purchasing the downloads for your own personal use. Please do not duplicate (unless for yourself) or use them for resale.”
I’ve added a post about how to protect your posts from theft using Google Alerts and later will publich a post about how to deal with stolen content, ways to get it taken down, paid for, or to fight for your copyright. If you’re not already subscribed to this blog, you may do so using the sidebar to the right, or just check back tomorrow to see more information.
I would like to also note that when I attempted to contact this individual at the contact listed on their site, it bounced after 3 attempts.
I also want to clarify further. BlogHer was simply the platform on which the post that triggered the scrutiny was posted. The title of the post was simply a breach of etiquette, not a copyright violation. The Google alert was simply the catalyst that alerted me to the whole situation.
I was concerned about contacting the author to see if we could work out an agreement to lesson the SEO impact for my book’s release. That’s when the mistaken identity and other practices by the blogger in question became apparent.
Geez Heather – what a mess!! What is with people who think the best way to make money is to screw someone else over.
:\
Big mess… Maybe you should send them email with request to take it down…
Just set up Google Alerts. One of those this-was-so-easy-why-have-I-not-already-done-it kind of things.
Thanks for the very informative post!
Excellent! I’ll post later about how to set up google alerts for your actual content as well as a free copyright blocker. Every blogger and freelance writer should have Google alerts set up for themselves.
Wow. Do they have any original content?
I don’t think it’s any surprise that all of her “borrowed” posts are now gone. While I want to be charitable and hope that she simply didn’t know any better, the more jaded side of me knows this probably isn’t true. The one nice thing about blogging is that you have a chance to call people out for this kind of behavior after other paths to resolution haven’t worked and use the power of public pressure to get them to correct their behavior. Still, it’s sad it has to be done at all.
I just replied to Kelli below about the removal of the posts. I am glad. I know Heather tried multiple times to contact her and couldn’t.
Those posts have been removed 🙂
The posts I linked to yes, there are at least two additional lifted posts up still that I know of – Amish Bread and Once a Month Cooking. Additionally the lifted posts from prior to her move to WordPress are still up at her old blogspot.com site as duplicated copied content. (Say THAT three times fast)
Yikes! It looks like she pulled down all the posts in question. I don’t get how people think they can get away with it. Do you realize this is the internet? You are not on an island?
It looks like all the duplicated posts have been removed from the site.
Anyhow, you can find a crapload of blogs on writing and SEO that are, quite obviously, mimicking the popular and successful ones like problogger and bloggingtips.com. They don’t just try to copycat the content, but also domain names, templates and site navigation. Sometimes it takes a second look to realize it’s another site, just like in this case. I’m not surprised the same practices spread on other subject areas.
This was one of those instances where you really want to believe it was an honest mistake, but after watching it unfold, there’s just no way she can plead ignorance. You don’t make repeated mistakes and have a disabled contact option if you don’t know what you’re doing. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for her. Her brazen disregard for ethics and copyright is unconscionable.
Ugh. That is shameful. Writers who put so much thought, effort, and heart into what they write, and then to have someone just steal it. Grrr. That makes me super mad for everyone involved. And I look forward to more info on this. I’ve done the best I can to protect my work but really am unsure if I’ve done enough.
Blessings,
Mel
What are your thoughts on sites such as JustMummies.com?? Is that an OK use of copyrighted material (links back to the original source for the full article) or is that still wrong??
It totally depends on whether or not the content owners agreed to the syndication. There’s a big difference between both curation & syndication, and content theft. The first follows fair use and the second is with permission.
I realize you asked Ang this, but I was going to comment in regards to this kind of thing anyway:
There is a difference in content theivery/reposting someone’s entire blog post and content curation.
With curation you share a couple sentences, add your own thoughts, and provide credit and a link back to the original content. There is nothing wrong with this as long as it’s ok with the content owner. Generally, people have no problem with this because you’re adding value, and linking back to them. You’re not copying/sharing enough to make the Google gods upset either.
Content Curation can be a grand thing that benefits everyone! Copy and pasting full posts, even with credit, is never a good idea as it creates double content which Google will penalize both sites for.
I’m not sure how JustMummies.com handles this, but I think as long as they aren’t sharing full articles they should be ok. 🙂
Assuming the links aren’t nofollow links. Then they are just pushing the line of legal and not legal and slipping into that black-hole of content scraping. Skim-scammy if their just scraping content and pushing ads instead of pushing QUALITY.
I thought people had to sign up to get their content on JustMummies.com and they paid a fee?
They are different from a content aggregator because they make money from their site. I’ll have to look into that. I really thought people signed up for JustMummies. Goes to show you how little I really do know! I’ll have to spend some more time on this blog 🙂
xoxo
Nikki
Wow. Bawlz. I looked at her binder on ETSY, and wouldn’t be surprised if that was all lifted, too. Of course, I can’t prove anything, so I’m not for sure. But each page is SO different in style, doesn’t it seem like if you were designing your own Home Management kit, you would brand the pages, and make the design similar?
I just want to add that when Heather initially emailed me (when she thought it was me who was stealing content) her email, though terse, was extremely professional! She even offered a solution to the problem in a very non-judgmental way.
Bloggers like Heather are rare these days, many bloggers would have been rude in their response if this happened to them, but Heather is truly a classy blogger!
Toni
THE Happy Housewife 🙂
I wish that there were a like/love button for this comment.
I agree.
I noticed all the posts were pulled too. Argh, this is disappointing that fellow bloggers do this! I learned an important lesson though – Google Alerts. Have it all set up to keep an eye out on stuff like this. We work too hard to put up original stuff to have some low life come along and lift this for their own!
Thanks for the informative post!
Lisa
Heather I remember you mentioning on Facebook how upset you were… I am glad you got to the bottom of who! It’s sad that people cannot come up with their own things to write or sell! What is worse is the person has an email that doesn’t work for contact. She knew what she was doing!
Ang, I have been using Google Alerts for a long time… my problem is that I keep getting two other blogs that are titled similar to mine. Can’t figure out how to fix that! Can’t wait to read your post about it!
Wow, what she did initially was the epitome of tacky… so she tried to maximize the success/hard work both you have built with Home-Ec 101 and THE Happy Housewife has built (I think that will just have to be capitalized THE from now on… LOL), but to also be stealing content?? Um, wow. I hope BlogHer removed the post… I know running a site with hundreds of contributors myself, you can’t be too careful. I would immediately remove all content as suspect if someone informed me that a contributor was a known content stealer. In fact, I believe my site’s policy says that will happen if someone is discovered to have stolen content.
*like*
“double like”
Last time I checked her posts were all still up on BlogHer. I do know Heather contacted them about the repetitive title (not plagiarism necessarily) and they declined the opportunity to edit at that point. Not sure what, if any, further actions have been taken now that the extent of the problem has come to light.
Kelby,
I totally agree! Once Heather emailed BlogHer with all the links to the stolen content that should have been enough for them to remove the posts….
Toni
Triple Like
EXCELLENT! POST!!!!!
Melanie is right this wasn’t a matter of not knowing, this was intentional, and insane. How hard is it to write your own content? Infuriating.
Wow.
I wish I could have seen the actual post comparisons.
The most damning thing about all of this in my opinion? Although she removed the posts, she has not printed (as far as I could see on her site) any kind of apology. If it were an honest mistake, most people would post something saying that they were sorry, no harm had been meant etc etc. . . the fact that there is nada?
Jenn,
We did add four screenshots of the copied posts – the Valentine’s Day Heart, the Family Heirloom Cookbook, the Declutter post and one other one that escapes me at the moment.
I’m just glad she finally removed the lifted content although I haven’t searched her site to see whether ALL the lifted content is removed or just the posts I specifically highlighted and pointed out. No telling. I know Heather tried multiple ways and attempts to email her and I had searched for a Twitter ID but kept coming up with Toni’s THE Happy Housewife.
Screen shots are a good thing. And as difficult as a situation like this is to deal with, emotions are always running on high.
“The” Happy Housewife.. cute. Toni you have been made a “The” through all this. 😉
I would like to hear how you big girls in the blogosphere handle things like this behind in private before it has to come out public. How do you know when it’s time? How do you know who to go to for help?.
Hi there.
if any posts on BlogHer contain plagiarized content, that is a serious violation of our community guidelines. I am forwarding this post to our community manager to investigate.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. This makes me so sad. It is extremely difficult to prove that something is stolen when it is an *idea* or a *concept*. People change the name of the title pages or they move a line here and there. They put their own Acronym on it, etc. Unfortunately, we have this issue at FlyLady before. Almost everything we have on our website is free. We want people to FLY even if they don’t have money! I just hope no one falls for this particular scheme when they can get what they need from us for free. (or much less for sure)
I honestly don’t know what I would do without Google Alerts. We get so many alerts everyday but I look at each one. Most of the time people are incredibly nice if I have to contact them and it’s usually about a link back or a credit. We love when our content is shared and credit is given! We even love when people post their journey (even if it is not a success or they don’t like us LOL!) Stealing though, or outright copyright violation, that is where it becomes an ethics and moral issue to me.
This whole issue makes me incredibly sad because of how hard we all work to keep content fresh, our own idea, or give credit where credit is due. I can only hope people who are in this situation, where their ideas are being stolen or used without proper credit, never let it slip through the cracks. I’m sure it happens more than we would like to know. In my opinion, if this blogger were innocent (and she is new and didn’t realize this was a breach of ethics, etc.) then she would have written an apology blog right away. She would not have a bogus email posted for contact information, and she would make every effort to remedy the miscommunication.
I’m going to hope BlogHer does the right thing and removes her content. I am also so very grateful you didn’t keep this pushed down and a secret.
Thank you so much!
“Like” I love the FlyLady system. It ‘saved’ me after I was in the hospital half dead with memory loss.. Your system helped me get back to routine. I am eternally grateful that you put it out there for free.
Good that she took the above posts off, but sad that she even did it in the first place. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to hold those in the blogging world to a higher standard than in the real world. In a perfect world we wouldn’t have to worry about this. Hope she takes the hint and it’s unfortunate that she’s even getting traffic from this!
I’m…a little confused. The original issue was the title, “Home Ec 101: Meal Planning”? But not the content of that post on BlogHer? That doesn’t seem unethical to me. If the title if the post were something very original, then using it is still not illegal but it seems more likely it was a rip off. None of the words in the title, nor the combination of them, seem like something a person wouldn’t independently come up within her own.
Stealing content, though? With or without attribution, that’s wrong…and illegal.
And my guess is BlogHer doesn’t want to feature a writer who regularly steals content, regardless of the post in question!
Good sleuthing!
Candace, the original issue was one of etiquette. In order to find a solution that could work for myself and the author, I discovered everything else.
I can see why you were upset when you thought it was someone you worked with…but even from an etiquette perspective, I wouldn’t find it all that shocking that someone (who didn’t know you) would come up with that post title independently.
If you had coined a new word or phrase, then I could definitely see protecting that.
Of course, the content theft is awful.
Candace it was simply a matter of timing – by the time we found out it wasn’t the blogger Heather originally thought it was, we’d found the copied post (which was on the front page of the blog at the time). It really was just a matter of timing – I think Heather only mentioned it because she was telling the backstory of WHY we went to the blog to begin with. I don’t normally troll random websites looking for copied content.
Angela <><
As Ang said, it was merely the timing. My book is coming out in the next few weeks. When someone uses the term on a regular site, it’s not an issue. The only reason it was an issue at all is because it’s on BlogHer which is a high ranking site AND I thought it was done by someone I know. That was why I was upset and felt it was an issue of etiquette. If it was someone else, I would have simply reached out without the “hurt feelings.”
Unfortunately, content theft is rampant in the blogging world. One can’t imagine how it feels unless it happens to you. Adding insult to injury is the fact that someone was looking to turn a profit. It recently happened to me, and I countered with a post to try to assist other bloggers on how to protect their interests.
(I wish you had CommentLuv on your blog!)
Caught! What To Do About Content Stealers
I will try to put comment luv back in. I had tried it previously with my old theme and it conflicted with the theme but I hadn’t thought to try it again since changing up the theme and moving to a better server. Thanks for the idea!
Angela <><
First of all – I love, Love, LOVE your website. I too am in Genesis and can tell (even before I scroll to the bottom of the page) who else is in it too.
Secondly, though- unfortunately what happened to your friend is pretty common. I loathe people who are stingy and slimy.
The sad thing is she is selling through etsy- all things original and handmade. Not really the place for stealing and reproducing. It is too bad. But when ppl like that wonder why they are not successful, or why there is no longevity in their success, you just want to look at them, tip your head to the side – and say, “Really?”
I looked at her site. She is still in a free wordpress site. That shows a lot. And I know I am not telling you anything you don’t already know. But I just thought I’d mention it.
I love the look of this site. And I am thrilled I stopped by. I am going to register my site through google as you mentioned above. I never even knew that existed. I have had extensive marketing and copywriting training, yet it never came up. Just goes to show that you can never stop learning your field 🙂
Thanks Again – Awesome article.
Just went to read her apology. wow. She calls people the ‘mob mentality’. Claiming she is innocent. but you have screenshots. This is what makes keeping relationships so hard. Ang, I appreciate the courage it took for you to come out with all your research about this matter.
If I am not mistaken I had some run ins with the same person a few years ago, I would kindly but firmly confront and they would go into hiding for a time then resurface and harvest my followers lists. God sees all 🙂