Forum Moderators: phranque
I just stumbled upon a site "mirroring" my site, I am not exactly sure what is going on so was wondering if one of you great people could explain. It is in the format:
[randomsite.com...]
A bit miffed as to whether this is a good or bad thing, none of my adverts are showing up...
A few specific questions:
Is it my bandwidth being used?
What exactly is happening here?
Is there anyway I can redirect the people looking at the mirror to the real site?
Please tell me anything else I need to know!
Thank you kindly,
W.
I've seen some unscrupulous websites copying many other sites under the guise that they are a "cache service."
From the URL you gave as an example:
[randomsite.com...]
.. I would guess that the perp has copied your pages onto his website. I see nothing about frames.
IF this is true, it is not costing you bandwidth, that's on his dime. IF he put your site up in his frame (and again I don't see that at all) you could break out of the frame easily. See separate discussions for that.
IF he were deep linking you could play lots of games, but I don't see that either.
Since the pages are simply mirrored (copied) on his host, there is no way you can legally get into them to redirect visitors to your proper site.
I would get in touch with the other webmaster if possible, and ask for an explanation. Sometimes you can embarrass him into putting up direct links back to your site, turning a liability into an asset. That has worked for me in the past.
Hope this helps - Larry
He is just somehow getting my site to appear without adverts, so he is effectively just using my bandwidth. Each page that comes up generates a security alert which concerns me.
Example URL: Any www. you replace the **** with will come up without any ads.
[www1.mirrorsite.com...]
It is a popular chinese site that is actually linking to it, so my bandwidth is taking a hammering I think.
I am using PHP so am wondering if there was a little bit of code I can place in my header that will check where it is being called from, and if it is the wrong location redirect to the correct site.
Thanks for your help.
W.
Now I'm getting confused. Is this outfit in fact mirroring your pages from copies on their host, or deep linking into your pages on your site host?
Have a look at your most recent ACCESS.log from your site host. IF they are using your bandwidth, then THEIR URL should show repeatedly in the Referrer columns.
Another idea. Make a small but noticeable change on one of the pages they rip off. Call up THEIR corresponding page. IF the change appears immediately, then they are deep linking your stuff, IF NOT, then they just copied your material. Bandwidth is costing them, not you in that case.
- Larry
All I think it is now is one of these sites that just removes any externally loading files (like adverts).
If you add the URL you want to see without ads to the end of [examplewebsite.com...] it works for any site, so is essentially deep linking.
Any ideas on how to stop people doing this?
Hope you understand me now!
W.
Did you try my experiment by making a small change on one of your pages and verifying that it changes on the corresponding mirrored-or-deep-linked page, or not?
I would want proof which it is, _before_ deciding on a course of action, but that's just me. - LH
The guy has a program on his server that will make this happen for any site you type in after his URL...
Hope you understand now. Not much I can do.
W.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} [their.url.com...] [NC]
RewriteRule ^/.* /You_are_stealing_my_pages.html [NC,PT,L]
Dave
I understand better now thanks. Your content changes immediately on THEIR site, so he is just 'borrowing'
your bandwidth instead of simply copying your files.
I don't personally know how to do a mod-rewrite or the like. Can you sticky me the URL for your page, and also the URL for their (ads removed) version?
Maybe they are putting you up in a frame that doesn't look like a frame. IF so, I have a way to break out of frames without even resorting to (gasp) Javascript.
I don't understand how they strip the ads either.
If NOT, then maybe you should bone up on mod_rewrite as suggested.
Best - Larry
Got it sorted, thanks guys,
Please tell us more. Inquiring minds want to know.:)
