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how to disable 'reblogging'?

  1. zooey
    Member

    After one of my posts (just a photo) was 'reblogged' I removed the 'press this' button from my blog. Yet, today, it happens again. One of my blogposts (again one photo) appears on another blog and I get a comment telling me so. Both these blogs have been entirely insignificant -- dedicated solely to reblogging other people's contents -- and they're not places where I want to see my material. I frankly don't understand why this 'reblogging' function is construed the way it is. I know people can take stuff and post it elsewhere without my permission anyway -- it's just that this 'reblogging' makes it so much easier for those who only to reproduce the work of others and create nothing new.

    So how to stop people from reblogging my posts/photos? If I've already removed the 'press this' button -- what more do I need to do?

    The blog I need help with is zooey.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    I'm sorry but if you gad searched you would have found that we cannot disable the reblogging feature. If your whole posts and not excerpts are being reblogged then please contact Staff and report this to them directly.

  3. timethief
    Member

    edit: "gad" was meant to be "had" - sorry

  4. zooey
    Member

    I spent an hour searching yesterday and found nothing of value, except that one can remove the 'press this' button and that reblogging didn't work properly at the moment (apparently it works too well, but that was some days ago).

    May I just say that this pretty much sucks -- and wordpress should remove this 'reblogging' thing.

    My whole posts often consist of just one or several photos. I don't want to see that one photo (or several photos, whatever) on someone else's blog without my permission. Especially not spam blogs. I know that it can happen anyway, but I don't see why wordpress would want to encourage such behaviour -- because this is what 'reblogging' is: encouraging ripping other people off of their work.

  5. timethief
    Member

    I think you ought to report your experience to Staff.

    announcement > http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/we-all-like-to-reblog/

  6. zooey
    Member

    Thanks for the answer, by the way, timethief.

    I'm just really pissed off by this -- it's the worst thing that has happened on wordpress, I think. So that's the reason I'm barking. It really should go.

  7. zooey
    Member

    Thank you again! Yes I will definitely report my concerns. I did write them because of the copyright issue but at that point in time I mistakenly thought I'd managed to disable reblogging in the future by removing the 'press it' button.

  8. timethief
    Member

    Do you have a copyright notice posted. I do. This is what I post in a text widget in my sidebar and it's linked to my copyright notice.

    Any content reblogged from this site must adhere to the terms of © Copyright
    That page states in part:
    "A brief excerpt of content that does not exceed 75 words may be quoted as long as a link is provided back to the source page on this blog and authorship is properly attributed."

    I also have a copyscape notice in the same text widget.

  9. zooey
    Member

    No I don't. But it is redundant -- copyright applies whether there's a notice or not. So it would be just for show.

    The problem is, though, these 'reblogging' blogs are some kind of spam blogs, or some equivalent, but it's very similar to spam. They reblog other people's pictures (in this case) almost automatically -- they spout out new posts all the time. And all the posts are reblogged -- all the photos are from other people. Much like other spammers don't care, I doubt these 'bloggers' care what notices I post. They don't look.

    I would actually not be quite as mad about this if I felt it were genuine bloggers who liked what I did and who had their own blogs with their own material on them too. I might actually be happy about that, depending on circumstances.

    But this seems to be something different.

  10. timethief
    Member

    No I don't. But it is redundant -- copyright applies whether there's a notice or not. So it would be just for show.

    As I'm a paralegal I'm aware of that but I choose to post a copyright notice as a warning anyway. We Volunteers cannot assist you. As I said above I believe you ought to report this to Staff. If all the blog in question contains is reblogged posts and no original content then it's a slpog and you can report it as one.

  11. zooey
    Member

    Thank you once again! I have contacted staff via that web form and have explained my concerns about this, basically what I've written here in the thread.

    I also read that blog post you posted a link to earlier ('we all like reblogging'...) and noticed you had asked this question (about disabling reblogging) there and got an answer.... that, well, is rather disappointing. (Turning the blog private is a lousy option -- truly lousy!)

    If all the blog in question contains is reblogged posts and no original content then it's a slpog and you can report it as one.

    Thank you -- that's great! I didn't this applied to blogs that contain no original content. But given their spam-like nature, this makes sense now that I think of it.

  12. timethief
    Member

    I report all blogs I find that contain nothing but reblogged posts to Staff. I consider them to be splogs.

  13. zooey
    Member

    Great to hear -- I will do the same thing! (I'm kind of relieved there's something to do about it, even if it doesn't solve the basic issue of reblogging.)

  14. timethief
    Member

    Please see here noting that Markel is a Terms of Service Staff member: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/not-sure-if-this-is-a-legit-blog?replies=8#post-762391
    also read http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/not-sure-if-this-is-a-legit-blog?replies=8#post-762411

  15. zooey
    Member

    Yeah, I saw that thread yesterday when I tried to search for clues about this. I was confused by Markel's reply -- it seemed to indicate that reblogging was always legitimate (in wordpress's appreciation) because it was... reblogging.

    The blog the person who started that thread refers to in the initial post must be created by the same blogger/spammer who reblogged me today -- that one also had the name 'hello100blog', but another (though similar) address on wordpress. (I won't link to it since it's apparently used for spam purposes.)

  16. timethief
    Member

    Markel just posted today ie. December 5th, 2011. :(

  17. zooey
    Member

    No, sorry, read address wrong -- it's the exact same blog.

  18. thesacredpath
    Staff

    In your case, the reblogging feature is a problem, but for normal posts, it actually has an advantage as it keeps what people grab from your site within the copyright fair use laws and automatically properly attributes and links back to the source. Without that, some are likely to copy the entire post and perhaps not attribute it back to the source, or perhaps not properly.

    The thing is, tossing out the reblogging feature would not stop content theft. Granted it make it easier for people to grab bits of your stuff, but at least what they end up with is within copyright fair use.

    I'm not against the reblogging feature as strongly as I was originally.

  19. timethief
    Member

    Well here is what we find on the About page of that blog:

    This is Hello100blog is a global network with a social attivites and a search engine . Share your photo and video to your family and friends,we have best approach to our friends,parterns and users.Hello100blog offers you the the best in advert and our parent company is Hello.com.Creat your own web or blog with us to day it is easy to creat.

  20. markel
    Staff

    Some blogs that have a lot of reblogged posts are spam, as they are trying to push readers to another URL or to an affiliate link. We do deal with those as needed.

    However, there are some blogs that have a large number of reblogged posts as they are run by users who do a lot of reading of other WordPress.com sites and want to share the good stuff they have found on WordPress.com with others. Those blogs are considered to be legitimate and in the vast majority of cases are going to prove to be beneficial to the originating content as they send readers and traffic back to the original.

    Whether the blog in question is spam or not is currently inconclusive; I did see the About page that is discussed here, but as far as I can tell there is nothing at hello.com (there isn't even an actual link in the first place) and so it just comes across as weird and not spammy.

    Reblogging as a feature is here to stay on WordPress.com and at this time we don't have any plans to allow blogs to specifically block the reblogging of their content.

  21. zooey
    Member

    timethief -- oh dear, I'm confused. I must have read it today then obviously. It somehow felt a long time ago. I searched the forums yesterday, but I've been reading things on here today as well.

  22. zooey
    Member

    Thesacredpath:

    The thing is, tossing out the reblogging feature would not stop content theft. Granted it make it easier for people to grab bits of your stuff,

    Well, exactly. I'm not naîve to think it stops it. I just don't see why wordpress would want to enable it -- make it easier. I get your point about sharing -- but then this sharing ought to consist of only title, possibly a few lines of text, but never photos, and then the link to the original source.

    Timethief: That does seem quite spammy to me. I have reported the blog as spam but I hadn't seen that description or I would have included it.

    markel: The blogs I have seen don't have 'a lot' of reblogged posts, they have practically only reblogged posts. The blogs I have had this issue with were clearly interested in me sending them more traffic rather than the other way around.

    Reblogging as a feature is here to stay on WordPress.com and at this time we don't have any plans to allow blogs to specifically block the reblogging of their content.

    Makes me very sad to hear. I think it's highly unfortunate, but I guess it pleases spammers and those who don't have any original contributions to make.

  23. wank
    Member

    as far as I can tell there is nothing at hello.com (there isn't even an actual link in the first place) and so it just comes across as weird and not spammy.

    Weird stuff usually is spammy, even if it doesn't immediately appear so. Anyone who's ever looked at a comment moderation queue knows that. And your standard tumblr-style reblogger who's just sharing stuff they find interesting is not going to claim to be a 'global network' or mention 'adverts' on their about page. I'm just saying.

  24. zooey
    Member

    wank -- that is so right, and although I'm no stranger to weird stuff that isn't spam, after seeing thousands of spam messages, one gets a feeling for their kind of weird style. Hello100blog's choice of words and the language (computer generated translation?) in general simply stink spam. That's not a regular blogger who just happens to read lots of blogs out of genuine interest. This has some other purpose -- spam, commercial -- even though it's not immediately apparent what it is. The talk about 'adverts' and stuff gives an indication. So does this: 'Creat your own web or blog with us to day' -- they're offering some kind of service that they want to market, I assume, to owners or (perhaps even more to) readers of 'genuine' blogs.

  25. missedee
    Member

    So what about a blog that is part "original", part reblogged material? I posted a blog today and within a very short period of time it was reblogged by someone with a site completely unrelated to anything I do. It was shocking to see my own material on someone else's website. Granted, only part of it is there, although I don't know if that's because of a word limit on reblogging or because I use the "more" code (likely the former). It would have been nice had she asked permission. Had she done so, she probably wouldn't get so many angry responders to her blog. I asked her (as has someone else) to remove my post from her blog. The biggest issue I have is that she views it as Word Press's fault that she can reblog for allowing it and, therefore, it is not her responsibility to not do it.

    I'm not sure what to do here. Should I put a disclaimer at the top of every post that says, "My work may not be reprinted, reposted, or reblogged without my express permission"? That's not a sarcastic question, by the way. If I put that on every post and someone reblogs, do I then have a stronger argument for why it should be removed?

  26. auxclass
    Member

    @missedee - set your feed to summery (see below) then if someone is using your RSS feed to grab your stuff they will only get some of the Post - see @timethief's site for her copyright notice - adding a start line like you indicate would make your Posts look real bad - I have seen sites that did something like that for pictures - they put up a new picture with big "image stolen from mysite.com and is used without permission" so that would show up on the slime web site - but that is a bit extreme -

    The reality is that anyone can copy and paste on the internet - just make someone work a bit harder to steal things.

    Dashboard >> Settings >> Read >> For each article in a feed, show summery

  27. missedee
    Member

    Thanks. I'm already reaping the "rewards". I now have a new follower who has a gravatar but no link to a real website, except for digging around his gravatar profile. This individual goes by "writer jobs" and has a blogspot "splog". I did edit his comment, though. I left the "I like this post" but removed his ad for new writers and his web address. These are the people clicking through to the person's site who reblogged me. Ironically, I can't for the life of me figure out how to reblog. I read somewhere that you have to click the "like" button first and then you get another option. But I don't get any other options. Grrr.

    I write for a specific purpose and audience. I post links on twitter and Facebook, and I don't need new traffic because of people reposting my stuff.

    Thanks again for the info, auxclass. I also saw in an earlier comment here how to report abusive reblogging. I'll keep an eye on this particular site.

  28. auxclass
    Member

    I would have whacked his whole comment, I have a very low tolerance for many things. Another site does feature my Posts - they take the lead picture and the first paragraph or a bit less and it goes on their front page - gets me looked at by 15,000 people or so and generates a nice little bump for a couple of days, they did ask permission and I did meet with them before they picked up my stuff - works fine for me, I am not much for marketing so the arrangement does help.

    Good luck

  29. greylocks
    Member

    One of my posts was reblogged by Hello100blog. I posted a complaint comment (on December 6) on their website, but it is still sitting in moderation.

    I was of the impression that the 'Like' button on the admin bar was used to initiate the Reblog feature. But when I look at the people who liked the post that got reblogged, none of them are from Hello100blog.

    I contacted WordPress Staff who responded: "I see that on of our Terms of Service team members answered your question in the Forums:
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/not-sure-if-this-is-a-legit-blog?replies=18".

    I responded to the WordPress staff member with a few observations about what I think of blogs that are composed entirely of reblogged material. I asked the staff member to figure out how to remove my post from that site. No answer to that yet.

  30. gunnyg
    Member

    So, can I assume there is nothing immoral about reblogging your own stuff to your own blog as a means of updating, as well ass adding content, etc?????

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