Forum Moderators: not2easy
So then I turn the pages of the magazine and the next two out of three articles are on the exact same topics as other articles on this same site of mine. The articles even refer people to the same products I sell on my site and even use the same references. In yet another article they have a very unusual quote I use on one of my other sites, so Its obvious someone is going through my sites looking for content ideas.
They were very careful to not copy any of the text exactly, but I think the amount of similarities are rather slimey, none the less, and doesn't show a tremendous amount of initiative on the magazine's part to come up with original content.
My husband calls them web scavengers - writers to lame and incompetent to find stories on their own. It is bad enough having spammers copying my articles, but to have a national magazine making up an interview for a story that in reality came from my site is pretty lazy.
So I have no point to this thread other than therapeutic venting. I'll actually probably make money from the articles because people will go to the web for more information and find my sites, but it still feels like I've been ripped off.
By the way this is the first time ive heard this sort thing happening.
Very strange, too, that they based three articles on your content....
On digg.com, someone posted his experience with a camera shop that treated him poorly, and the results for the business were devastating.
Don't know if this is allowed, but google 'Pricerite photo' and read the second result - it's the most-dugg piece on Digg.
I may just put something on my site outlining the similarities between my articles, which are several years old and have many wayback machine entries, and their recent magazine articles. At least that may give whoever is going through my sites something to think about and perhaps they'll move on to violating the copyrights on someone else's site. I've been wondering if I checked back copies of this magazine what else of mine I'd find. It's a bit creepy because they seem to be targeting my articles specifically since stuff was taken from more than one site of mine -- sites that aren't linked except for my ownership info.
Or maybe I'll put an open letter to certain magazine writers with a link to the story about Jason Blair, the New York Times reporter fired in part for plagiarizing a story from another newspaper. The good part about the Blair story is that not only did he get fired but he took a couple of the top editors with him, so it is a good warning story for both writers and editors.
This magazine is a very inexpensive one, so I do wonder if they aren't just keeping expenses low by getting all of their article ideas from the Internet.
