Need help? Check out our Support site, then


WordPress.com Forums » Support

Splog?

  1. secondchancetolive
    Member

    Hi Friends,
    I have been noticing that the below wordpress blog is expousing that Michael Phelan is the author of several of my posts. My most recent post, Traumatic Brain Injury and the Bully is the most recent article to be stolen. I have included a link to their blog. The blog states that Michael Phelan wrote the post and then they have the audacity to point their readers to my site and suggest that Michael Phelan is the the author of Second Chance to Live. How can I best deal with this situation?

    Please check into the below.

    Thank you for your time and kindness.

    Michael Phelan wrote an interesting post today!.
    Here’s a quick excerpt
    As a traumatic brain injury survivor I struggle with a sense of inadequacy at times. At times I listen to messages that seem to challenge me for not being more than I am today. I am encouraged to be more but for some reason I simply do …

    Read the rest of this great post here

    NBAVids - Basketball Rocks » Traumatic Brain Injury and the Bully

    http://www.nbavids.info/?p=24243#

  2. timethief
    Member

    @craig
    You frequently bring forward blog scraper issues to this forum. Well, these are not wordpress.com issues unless the scraper blogs in question are hosted on this platform. And that is not the case.

    You know the steps to go through to contact the blog scraper's web host and if required to file a DMCA complaint are found at copyscape. And you have also received enough support and advice to be well aware that we cannot help you. I wish you the best of luck to you when it comes to sorting out your business with this person but this is not a wordpress.com support issue. :)

  3. secondchancetolive
    Member

    There is no contact information on the site for me to follow up on. I contacted support and they told me that I am dealing with a splog and that I should bring it up in the forum. Please forgive my inability to generalize on such matters, but I can not due to my disability. Please be patient with me as I learn. Thank you. Please help me deal with this splog. Copyscrape does not tell me how to deal with a site that I can not make contact with and I am simply in the lurch with how to proceed.

  4. timethief
    Member

    Staff sent you to the forum because they can do diddly squat about this non-wordpress.com issue. Surely you know that search box is full of dialog on this because you have been a part of that dialog. Here's the forum searchbox results

    http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/

    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=bitacle
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=dmca+complaint
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=splogs
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=blog+scrapers
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=copyright
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=copyscape
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/search.php?q=wordprexy

  5. thesacredpath
    Member

    @secondchance
    What you need to do is do a trace on the domain name and then do a lookup on the host IP address that is returned by the trace. You need to email abuse [at] dreamhost [dot] com and explain the situation. It may be that they will require a complete DMCA notification before they will do anything, but most web hosts take it very seriously and will, once they are satisfied abuse has taken place, take immediate action. At the very least you will need to provide links to the scraped material (on the offenders site) as well as links to the same material on your blog.

    Here is what I got:

    208.113.214.161
    Record Type: IP Address

    OrgName: New Dream Network, LLC
    OrgID: NDN
    Address: 417 Associated Rd
    Address: PMB #257
    City: Brea
    StateProv: CA
    PostalCode: 92821
    Country: US

    NetRange: 208.113.128.0 - 208.113.223.255
    CIDR: 208.113.128.0/18, 208.113.192.0/19
    NetName: DREAMHOST-BLK6
    NetHandle: NET-208-113-128-0-1
    Parent: NET-208-0-0-0-0
    NetType: Direct Allocation
    NameServer: NS1.DREAMHOST.COM
    NameServer: NS2.DREAMHOST.COM
    NameServer: NS3.DREAMHOST.COM
    Comment:
    RegDate: 2006-04-12
    Updated: 2007-01-05

    OrgAbuseHandle: DAT5-ARIN
    OrgAbuseName: DreamHost Abuse Team
    OrgAbusePhone: +1-714-706-4182
    OrgAbuseEmail: abuse [@] dreamhost [.] com

    OrgNOCHandle: ZD69-ARIN
    OrgNOCName: Network Operations
    OrgNOCPhone: +1-714-706-4182
    OrgNOCEmail: netops [@] dreamhost [.] com

    OrgTechHandle: ZD69-ARIN
    OrgTechName: Network Operations
    OrgTechPhone: +1-714-706-4182
    OrgTechEmail: netops [@] dreamhost [.] com

  6. secondchancetolive
    Member

    You are so very kind sacredpath. I would have spent the entire day trying to figure and sort through the information on what to send or not send. Thank you for providing the above information. Is that the information I need to provide to [email redacted] at this time ? What else should I send to dreamhost?

  7. thesacredpath
    Member

    I would start with just the basics and see how they react. State that someone is using your copyrighted material on a blog they are hosting and that no information was available to you on their domain name. Then list the URL's of the material on the sploggers site and then the URL's to the same material on your site.

  8. timethief
    Member

    @thesacredpath
    Will you please share in step by step fashion how you determined who the web host of this splog was? I believe this information would benefit the OP and other bloggers as well. :)

  9. thesacredpath
    Member

    I'll do that shortly as soon as I get a chance. Perhaps it would be a good thing to include on TT's territory as well. I cheated a little and used the trace tool in the CPanel at my web host.

  10. timethief
    Member

    @thesacredpath
    Thanks I will be glad to publish what you write as a guest author in "timethief's tips and links", after we complete the post on "back-up" alternatives.

    useful links:
    Domain Look-up
    Domain Whois
    IP checker

  11. thesacredpath
    Member

    OK, this is the quick and dirty version of finding out who a domain is registered to and finding out who their webhost is.

    When I am looking to find out about a particular website or host, I typically start with Network Solutions since they seem to consistently provide the most information ( http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp ).

    Enter the "base" domain name you are looking to find out about into the "whois" search box (example: if the domain address is http://www.splogger.com then enter only splogger.com).

    This will bring up all registration information for that domain unless the owner has chosen to keep it private. If they list an email address for abuse, start there otherwise look under registrant, admin or billing, and use one of those to lodge your complaint (sometimes they are all the same email). Print out this information in case you need to go further.

    If it is private or in case the email addresses listed do not produce results, then there will still be an IP address listed (look further down on the page - something like: 123.456.789.0) Enter that numeric IP address into the whois field and search. This is going to return the information on the site's webhost. (Note: Some websites do not use a hosting company and actually have their own servers and hardware, in which case the same information may be returned and things get more complicated than I can explain here.) Many hosts will list an "abuse" contact. If not, there will be a registrant or administrative contact email. If there is an abuse contact email listed, start with that, otherwise use one of the others.

  12. timethief
    Member

    Thanks so much for posting these instructions. Hopefully they will be put to good use by others who read this thread. :)

  13. thesacredpath
    Member

    Welcome as always. I saved it in a text file as well.

  14. secondchancetolive
    Member

    Hey timethief...I thought you knew everything the way you barked at me earlier. Case in point give the benefit of the doubt and do not assume you know everything.

  15. timethief
    Member

    @secondchancetolive
    As it so happens on this subject, I do have the same base of knowledge and access to resources that thesacredpath has and both of us know that. But he also knew that I was too busy multi-tasking at work today to do the writing required so he did it. We frequently work cooperatively together like this.

    I'm so glad his instructions are posted here now. This means that the next time you have one of these "splogger" situations you will have this forum thread bookmarked and, then you will be able to take care of your own business with ease in a step by step manner.

    Happy blogging :)

  16. secondchancetolive
    Member

    Do me a favor...next time I post something in the forums that you consider to be moot to you...do not leave me a lecture of how I should know something. Share something that will help me or don't leave anything in response. We are all learning.

  17. markljackson
    Member

    Secondchance, you claim he is stealing your blog material, however when I read it, it's clear that it's an excerpt and then links back to you. Nothing he is doing is illegal (USA). You may think he is being immoral or unethical, I disagree. If you are upset that he is monetizing his blog, not much you can do about it; it's his blog, and he has a good case for "fair use". [assuming it's a he, might be a they].

  18. timethief
    Member

    @markljackson
    Indeed when secondchancetolive posts to these "splog" threads we observe exactly what you do. There is no illegality as only an excerpt has been used. However, he has a brain injury so we must be long suffering and hold his hand throughout the entire process of making his mind up for him, which inevitably ends up to be a useless effort and waste of time.

    P.S. I firmly believe that a review of all the splog threads will demonstrate that I have supplied relevant information in all of them.

  19. thesacredpath
    Member

    @secondchancetolive
    And you caught me on a day when I was not multi-tasking and was able to take the time. Some days I can't. We are all volunteers here in the forum (with the exception of staff who drop in from time to time), and most of us do this in and around our normal work load. When the forum is as busy as it is today, it takes a lot to keep up. If you look at all the topics and down through the replies you will see that timethief carried a lot of the burden today.

  20. jamesewelch
    Member

    @secondchancetolive

    If nothing else, you can get authority points via technorati for his posts referencing your posts. You might also get a few new readers/subscribers. At least, he isn't copying your entire post like other sites do.

  21. thesacredpath
    Member

    @jameswelch
    That's a good point, and I've let some go that were pressing "fair use" really close to the edge and have gotten hits from them, and like you said, it improved my technorati rating (tiny though it is) and every little bit helps.

  22. raincoaster
    Member

    That is why I rarely follow up on splogging issues. Sploggers never seem to outrank WP blogs on search engines, so they aren't really stealing hits that you'd otherwise get, and they do add techorati and google juice, if inadvertently.

    Sacredpath, thanks for posting steps to the forum. I've often wanted to do that, but I, too, was swamped yesterday and didn't have time to search for how to do the lookup.

  23. thesacredpath
    Member

    @rain
    My pleasure. I had just gone through it so it was all still fresh in my mind – what little I have left. :)

  24. secondchancetolive
    Member

    I have decided that you are not a very nice person timethief. Please do not comment on my posts in the forum in the future. Thank you!

    I want to thank all the rest of the folks that have helped me along the way. I originally believed that because I was told at the blog itself that NBAVids - Basketball Rocks was just another WordPress Weblog that it was a WordPress weblog.

    NBAVids - Basketball Rocks
    Just another WordPress weblog

    And when I read that Michael Phelan wrote an interesting post today, that meant he expoused himself to be the author of Traumatic Brain Injury and the Bully, and then provided a link to Second Chance to Live --as though he was the creator and author of Second Chance to Live I was very concerned.

    Michael Phelan wrote an interesting post today!.
    Here’s a quick excerpt
    As a traumatic brain injury survivor I struggle with a sense of inadequacy at times. At times I listen to messages that seem to challenge me for not being more than I am today. I am encouraged to be more but for some reason I simply do …

    Read the rest of this great post here

    These are the 2 concrete literal reasons why I started the post here in the forums. I was led to believe that the web log was "Just another WordPress weblog" and that Michael Phelan stated that he wrote my post. I am not happy with either deception and I am not overreacting.

    I have legitmate concerns. Thank you for the above dialog and I believe the interaction has enhanced the content presented in the forums on splogging.

    Have a simply amazing day.

    Craig

  25. niyse
    Member

    @ secondchancetolive:

    First off, those splogs are randomly generated by a computer, based on a string of search keywords, and that is why your post has the name "Michael Phelan" as the author. This is happening all the time and since it's only a couple of lines from your post that they're copying/quoting it will almost certainly fall under "fair use". In other words - forget about it. You'll be filing DMCAs everyday if you don't.

    Second: absolutely no need to be rude - personal insults and slighting remarks are probably the dumbest thing to use in these forums. It's unacceptable to call people stupid or evil because you didn't do your research properly before posting. And asking someone to stop answering your threads in the forum seems kinda weird too - if you don't want help then don't post your question. You can actually get far with a bit of gratitude and some common courtesy.

    Have a nice day!

    - Biyang

  26. wolfieb
    Member

    Deleted 'cos it was a flame. Sorry.

  27. timethief
    Member

    "There have been a lot of questions recently about how to deal with blog scrapers, and i thought it might be useful to put up a step-by-step guide for sending a DMCA notice (or not)."

    Please refer to this excellent instructional forum post by judyb12 ...
    DMCA or Not? http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=17307

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

About this Topic

Tags