enrii.blog

Few days ago, I found one of my blog posts being copied and translated by an unknown guy to another language (which I understand) without stating his reference. I'm not sure how well would a blogger tolerate that, but I really want to write a whole long blog post to criticize on what he did. However, in the end, I didn't do it simply because I find that his blog is not worth a mention. What will you do if you were me?

I also came across some of them who make exact copies of blog posts and link it back to original author. My best guess tells me that the blog must have been generated thru parsing RSS to generate some revenue from advertising program, especially from Google AdSense. In this case, with the link back to the original author, would you tolerate that?

So, here I urge (or remind) all bloggers to write your own content, or at least on your on words. There is no point to create blog when you don't like to write on your own. Even if you are doing a re-blogging, do it the correct way. For instance, if the first person wrote about software, you (the re-blogger) still have to try the software on your own and review it on your own opinion before blogging. If you really want to copy some content from the original post, put it in quote and make sure you link back (or send trackback) to the original post.

As for myself, normally I will mention the original blogger whose post I've referred or has gave me the inspiration to write my blog.

Copying is just unethical.

If my article helped you solved your problem, consider buy me a beer!

Share this article: del.icio.us | digg it

Related posts:

• Website Structure of My Blog
• Upgraded to WordPress 2.8.1
• Somebody Reviewed My Blog
• Now My Blog Got Hacked!
• Chitika Blog Gets Hacked?

---

Boss Stewie says:

Plagiarism is a little like… dvd piracy… it will happen whether we like it or not. And the only way to enforce against plagiarism is if it really is in your interest to hunt down the person at fault and sue his a$$. If not… we’ll just have to live with it.

Besides, if anyone copies anything (even copyrighted pictures) and puts it on his/her blog… I don’t think he/she would get in any trouble for it.. because as one could argue.. a blog is a personal thing… not meant to be published for the whole world would see.. its not the bloggers fault if it so happens that the whole world visits his blog (if his blog is popular enough).

---

Jonathan says:

The problem isn’t so much copying. Blogging is built upon copying, sharing information and swapping stories, that’s old news. The problem is the intent for which one copies. If they copy to share a story with the public and help it reach a broader audience, that’s one thing, but if you copy with the intent to benefit yourself, either through plagiarism, RSS scraping or splogging, that creates another issue.

Intent is hard to measure though. Just ask any lawyer about that.

Still, it would be nice to see some better morality in blogging, at least from some bloggers in particular.

That’s just my opinion though.

---

Felix Leong says:

Shortly put:
By any means, if (s)he didn’t get any permission from you, it’s basically infringement of copyright.

This doesn’t take into account of the degree of law enforcement, especially in the international scale. (Summary: It’s not that easy to curb it)

---

EngLee says:

I’m quite agree with the idea: blogging is all about sharing. When we read about an interesting news, we quickly blog it to our own blog to share it among our own blog ring. I can accept that. But that person should at least state where he read about the information. (That’s the point!)

I understand that it’s really a tough job to stop plagarism totally. So, I hope what I wrote will at least remind bloggers to stop doing it and hence, we’ll have a (slightly) better blogging enviroment. 😉

---

Francisco says:

Just let it go,
if he wants to be a low life and copy other peoples blogs like that, then let him do it. He wont get too far, believe me, justice will weigh down on him. Nice blog by the way, my name is Frank and am new to the whole site thing, I do have experience but ive never had my own site, and am now starting to do just that. For now its underconstruction but you can check out my blog, and maybe leave a comment whenver you want.
Later

---

toydi says:

I think as indie publishers like bloggers, we should start to be aware of the license issue. It is our responsible as publishers to state it clearly in our art pieces.

I have been thinking of doing a study on current available open licenses (eg. GNU, BSD, Apache, CC, etc) to better understand each of their differences and requirements. Anyone have interest or wish to share your experience?