It All Started Quite Innocently The other day I accidentally came across a blog that has two of my most recent articles, but my byline was not given.
While clicking around the site, I determined that at least two other articles are from authors at EzineArticles.
com.
These articles were also not given their bylines.
In other words, an unsuspecting reader would probably think that the site owner wrote these articles himself.
In all probability, ommission of the byline was an innocent mistake.
However, if it does not get rectified, it is stealing.
I tried leaving comments at the blog, asking the blogger to either include the byline with active links, or to remove my articles.
Even though the comment boxes appeared functional, they were not, because after trying to leave comments three times, they never showed up.
There was no indication that the comments were moderated.
I determined the site owner's name, and searched for him to see where else he might be posting.
This is how I came across the concept of "blog carnivals.
" What is a Blog Carnival? In case you are new to "blog carnivals," they are where bloggers promote blog entries from other sites.
Here's an example: http://organicleadership.
wordpress.
com/tag/blog-carnival If you clicked the link, you noticed that there were lots of blogs being promoted, along with active links to specific articles and blogs.
The format is, "So-and-So presents ABCArticle posted at XYZBlog.
" This format gives the distinct impression that the person is the author of the article.
When you click the link to the article, it takes you to the blog where it appears.
If that author did not write the article, and did not give credit to the real author, then the content was stolen.
How to Search for Stolen Content Go to Google and type in a distinct phrase of any article you want to locate.
You can search webpages, blogs, news sources, and other sources.
Put quotation marks around the phrase.
Google will produce results that match your phrase.
Be Careful About Content on Your Site Be careful about what you promote on your site or blog.
If you promote other bloggers via a blog carnival, be sure they actually wrote the content that appears on your site.
Otherwise, you may be promoting stolen content yourself.
While clicking around the site, I determined that at least two other articles are from authors at EzineArticles.
com.
These articles were also not given their bylines.
In other words, an unsuspecting reader would probably think that the site owner wrote these articles himself.
In all probability, ommission of the byline was an innocent mistake.
However, if it does not get rectified, it is stealing.
I tried leaving comments at the blog, asking the blogger to either include the byline with active links, or to remove my articles.
Even though the comment boxes appeared functional, they were not, because after trying to leave comments three times, they never showed up.
There was no indication that the comments were moderated.
I determined the site owner's name, and searched for him to see where else he might be posting.
This is how I came across the concept of "blog carnivals.
" What is a Blog Carnival? In case you are new to "blog carnivals," they are where bloggers promote blog entries from other sites.
Here's an example: http://organicleadership.
wordpress.
com/tag/blog-carnival If you clicked the link, you noticed that there were lots of blogs being promoted, along with active links to specific articles and blogs.
The format is, "So-and-So presents ABCArticle posted at XYZBlog.
" This format gives the distinct impression that the person is the author of the article.
When you click the link to the article, it takes you to the blog where it appears.
If that author did not write the article, and did not give credit to the real author, then the content was stolen.
How to Search for Stolen Content Go to Google and type in a distinct phrase of any article you want to locate.
You can search webpages, blogs, news sources, and other sources.
Put quotation marks around the phrase.
Google will produce results that match your phrase.
Be Careful About Content on Your Site Be careful about what you promote on your site or blog.
If you promote other bloggers via a blog carnival, be sure they actually wrote the content that appears on your site.
Otherwise, you may be promoting stolen content yourself.
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