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Re-posted content, is it an issue?

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Copy-pasteOm Malik asks a simple question over at his Daily.GigaOm blog:

What does one do when someone simply copies and pastes an entire post or two or more? Any suggestions?

A few of the copy-pasted posts include one about Bell, and another on The Venice Project. There are links back at the moment, I’m uncertain if they where there when Om posted about it since the blogger in question, claiming to only use the blog for internal purposes by the way, appeared in the comments.

The comment section over at Daily.GigaOm is pretty interesting, with views from link blogging bigshots like Robert Scoble. He basically wants you to ask nicely to remove and/or credit the original post if it was him, spammers should get the cold hard hand though, which is fair, although not so easy to pursue. I’ve been down that road myself, with re-postings of Bloggertalks interviews, which is really annoying since they not only take time to do but only can be done in a wider perspective if people visit the site. You know, ad dollars and other earnings through the site are what keep it rolling.

And that’s the thing, of course: Money, and perhaps a little bit of ego. I’m not greedy, and I’m not saying Om is, but ads are sold per impression, if you’re big like Om, or per click, for people like me. If I can’t get a click, I can’t get paid for my work.

I hate it when RSS scrapers steal my content, and I would be annoyed, disappointed and perhaps a bit angry if I where in Om Malik’s shoes right now. While the re-posting blogger in question perhaps don’t want to monetize or in any other way harm Om, or any of the other stories he has copy-pased, it looks a bit weird since a simple link would do the trick. Why re-post, when you can link?

We should protect our content. It’s what we do, and what we usually share for free. The least we deserve is control of where it ends up.

Originally posted on January 15, 2007 @ 1:31 pm

Comments

  1. Just a comment on the graphic…you’re a man close to my heart, this is *EXACTLY* how I copy and paste, but you’d be surprised how few people actually know that. In my case it’s a carry over from the days of Microsoft Word for DOS, when the XT I had at the time didn’t have a mouse and everything was keyboard related. Most people (99%?) use the mouse to copy and paste alone, the art of using the keyboard long since gone into the history books, even if the shortcuts are still there.

  3. I use CTRL-X alot while I’m blogging. And actually, ALT-Tab for browsing the menus too. But, it’s odd that few people actually know that – as it’s on every EDIT menu on your browser and most programs.

    As for RSS Scrapers, if it weren’t for them my PetLvr site wouldn’t be current in Technorati. At least I get a link back from them.

  4. Actually, I have no idea how many that actually knows how to use the keyboard commands these days. You’re probably right, Duncan. The shortcuts aren’t going anywhere though, since it saves me and a bunch of professionals a whole lot of time.

    But do you get any traffic, Hart?

  5. I see a few hits now and then directly from these scrape sites in my http://PetLvr.com/blog/refer logs .. but I see the source links in Technorati and my site is current. On sites that are not scraped, my sites are not current. Coincidence? Maybe. But, I have to think that YES I do get a little traffic in that sense, as I’m more available in technorati for people who are searching.

    What I don’t know, is whether these scraper backlinks are affecting my page rank but I don’t have time to investigate or care, really. I’m aware, rather than affected.

  6. (my answer was lost in moderation) But that got me thinking .. templates should inform the commentor if the comment was held in moderation or not. I had an issue on the WordPress.org forum .. it didn’t tell me either, so I reposted the same question 3 times and ended up getting locked up by their Akismet. Just 2cents, or rather 1.7cents (I’m from Canada)