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I have long given up on sending emails to the Italian site. They won't give it up and I don't want to sue them, it's not worth it.
What distresses me is that if Y! thinks these pages (which are essentially my work) are good enough for so many number one positions, they might conceivably think that the real pages on my site, which have been continually updated for the last nine months, might be even better.
I sent this letter to Yahoo! through their search feedback form, but I don't think they send out individual replies.
snipped
What to do next?
[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 5:14 pm (utc) on Aug. 28, 2004]
[edit reason] No personal correspondence please! [/edit]
I wouldn't go in threatening a lawsuit against the ISP. However, make clear that you wanted the ISP to be aware of the potential legal liability it might be incurring by hosting a site violating your copyright. It is probably doing the same with others, in which case you can say that they are violating the copyrights of hundreds of other sites, or whatever it is.
But my issue here is not so much with the theft...
The issue is with Yahoo! which - it appears - thinks my work is good enough and relevant enough to be listed in lots of number one spots (and many more threes, fours and fives). And yet, the work of mine they are listing - quite apart from the fact that it's a stolen copy - is on a site where the text can barely be distinguished from the background colour (due to the missing CSS file) and where the (time-sensitive) information is horribly out of date.
Instead, they could have the same pages from my site, which are cleanly presented, pass usability standards (which I've been working very hard on over the last eight months) and are up to date.
Even if Yahoo! doesn't want to start indexing my site, why is it featuring such shockingly out-of-date and badly presented pages in number one positions?
I'm certain that Yahoo! would want to do something about this, not so much because there has been a theft - that's my problem, not Yahoo's - but more because the version of the information it is happy to list at number one is hugely inaccurate and the updated version is available on my site.
My problem is, having used the feedback form, how can I really get in touch with Yahoo! to talk to them?
[edited by: ronin at 9:20 pm (utc) on Aug. 28, 2004]
they actually like the content of sites they have banned
Yes, apparently they do, but moreso it seems if the content is pilfered by another site, horribly displayed and out of date.
How can I get in touch with Yahoo! about this?
Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may be infringing the intellectual property rights of others.
How can I have an offensive site/URL removed from your database? [help.yahoo.com]
To report a site appearing in search results that is in violation of our guidelines, please complete the Report Search Spam form.
[edited by: pageoneresults at 12:49 pm (utc) on Aug. 31, 2004]
It might be difficult to know if the webmaster is a Yahoo! member.
My fault. I originally posted the wrong link. The links above have been updated to show the areas ronin should be focusing on.
** My page showed up when you clicked the geocities link, clicking the page source showed page after page of links to porn sites in the html.
I just want to see some consistency here.
[After several months of trying...]
Me: Oh look, if your visitors aren't interested and you really don't want my niche content, that's up to you.
Yahoo: Right.
Me: Do you want my niche content?
Yahoo: Nope.
Me: Right then.
Yahoo: Dumdumdumdumdeedeedum.
Me: Right, I've improved my content even more. Do you want it?
Yahoo: Nope.
Me: Okay... go your own way then.
Yahoo: Okay, bye. Oh... before you go, alright if we have this?
Me: What's that?
Yahoo: Well... it's... heh... you would probably call it "your content", but you know, it looks like someone else stole it and put it on their site. It's out of date too. It's barely your content at all really. Alright if we stick this up in a couple of number one positions? We think it might be something our visitors are looking for.
