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ActiveRain New Hire - Welcome Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'

Reblogger Maureen McCabe
Real Estate Agent with HER Realtors

 

Harlen was hired in 2008. 

Bob Stewart wrote" Our network is being plagued by cut and paste content! So today we hired a new team member. Let me introduce you to Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'."

Harlen is still a member from what I see.  There may not be a flag right now but you still can't use other people's content as if it is yours.

Bob shared Lenn Harley's copyright advice at the end of his post introducing Harlen.  I know some members are tired of hearing the same thing over and over.  And we really are usually preaching to the choir. 

Yesterday's post about giving credit was very sad. You need permission.  Don't be a USER.   

 

Original content by Bob Stewart

Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'

Our network is being plagued by cut and paste content! So today we hired a new team member. Let me introduce you to Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'.

We are a community of PROFESSIONALS! 99% of you understand that. Harlen has been brought on to ensure that  the 1% who are bringing the rest of us down are dealt with. He has assured us that his relentless pursuit of justice for the holders of copyright protection will be unmatched. He has guaranteed to crush copyright infringement in 30 days or we don't have to pay him (can't beat that). How you might ask? well............

Every time you submit a post on Activerain you see this:

 

Some of you choose to ignore it. Some of you think that since you have gotten away with it before, you will continue to get away with it. You will not. Today, on his first day on the job, Harlen suspended the accounts of four members who had previously been warned about this type of behavior. One member had over 150,000 points. That's a lot of time wasted copying content and trying to pass it off as your own. Please, Harlen implores you, do not be the next person this happens to. He will be hunting content to the far and wide reaches of the network and running that content in Google to find the original author.

If you see someone copying content, leave a link to this post in their comment section. Warn them about Harlen and his 'Copyright Crusade'. Because if Harlen sees it before it's pulled down, the first offense will be a two week suspension. No questions asked. (Harlen thinks this is really lenient. Read that image above again.......it says "Posting copyrighted material without permission WILL result in being removed from ActiveRain")

The second time will be a ban from the network. Harlen has guaranteed this garbage will STOP!!! Plagiarism is polluting a network that thousands of people have poured their heart and soul in to making stellar. Harlen promises you that plagiarizers will no longer leave their mark on ActiveRain.

We have something very special here at ActiveRain. Your participation here is not a right, it is a privilege. By abusing that priviledge you are making yourself, and more importantly, the rest of ActiveRain look very unprofessional. Our community guidelines say: ActiveRain is a place where real estate professionals can network with their peers and discuss industry insider topics. It is also a public forum where consumers can pull back the curtain and see what the real estate industry is really about.

Do we really want consumers pulling back that curtain and seeing plagiarism, stealing and dishonest gaming? Harlen does not!!! Harlen believes that we all learned about plagiarism in elementary school. He remembers his fifth grade teacher Mrs. Robinson sending him to the principals office when he copied a passage from Marcus Valerius Martial without citing it:

"Why, simpleton, do you mix your verses with mine? What have you to do, foolish man, with writings that convict you of theft? Why do you attempt to associate foxes with lions, and make owls pass for eagles? Though you had one of Ladas's legs, you would not be able, blockhead, to run with the other leg of wood." - Marcus Valerius Martial

Here is a great resource for what you can and can't do: The wise advice of Lenn Harley

(This is not a joke, even though it is kind of funny)

 

 

 

 

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This post provided by Maureen McCabe HER Realtors*

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Information is deemed to be accurate but should be verified to your satisfaction.  Information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice.  Opinions expressed are solely those of Maureen McCabe.

 


 

'The Diamond Group' 'A Cut Above The Rest'
The Diamond Group @ Keller Williams - Lubbock, TX
Lubbock Texas Real Estate

Well, it's a good thing. Even though my posts aren't professionally written, they are from the heart and my opinion.............so I think everyone's should be the same..........remember the old saying the pleasure of opinion without the pain of thought!

Sep 30, 2010 07:28 AM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

"..remember the old saying the pleasure of opinion without the pain of thought!"

Thanks, I have NEVER heard that!  New to me....

Sep 30, 2010 07:30 AM
David M. Childress
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services - Akron, OH
I would love to be your Realtor® in Akron Ohio!

Nice job ActiveRain and thanks for spreading the word Maureen.

Sep 30, 2010 09:03 AM
Barbara Chatterton
The Stark Company Realtors, Madison WI - Madison, WI
Greater Madison Wisconsin Area Realtor

That is a great quote and so appropriate.  Good job ActiveRain and thanks for posting this, Maureen.  Linkbacks certainly work and are easy to do and just introducing and giving credit to the source is pretty darn easy. 

Sep 30, 2010 04:55 PM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

David and Barbara  ActiveRain is for original content, has been since the beginning.  Linking to the original content is good, if you want people to read the original.   Use a snippet from the original and give credit, tell a little bit of what it means to you, share a few original paragraphs and Voila! you have a blog post.

It is not just a matter of giving credit, as Bob Haywoods featured post seemed to suggest the other day.   You would have to have permission from the source and then click that it is not original to satisfy the requirements on ActiveRain to use content copied from another source. 

Not sure if you saw Bob's post but on photos he was incorrect too.  In attributing photos found on Flickr, you do not attribute the photos to Flickr, you attribute them to the owner and follow their requests for how they want it attributed.  That is changing too.  It is going to bite anyone being a USER.  The photos are someone property licensed for use subject to how they want it attributed. It is not just a matter of linking to the photo like Bob did.

I think the weekly posts about plagiarism are important even if mostly it is preaching to the choir because newbies occasionally think blogging is like scrap booking and cut and paste lots of AP articles.  Some get pretty beligerant when you try to point out what they are doing is against guidelines and more importantly copyright law.

Oct 01, 2010 12:39 AM
Steve Shatsky
Dallas, TX

"I think the weekly posts about plagiarism are important even if mostly it is preaching to the choir because newbies occasionally think blogging is like scrap booking and cut and paste lots of AP articles."

Hi Maureen... I could not agree with you more!

Oct 02, 2010 02:14 PM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

How did I miss Steve's comment? 

Thanks Steve.... 

I want the flag back....

Oct 15, 2010 02:52 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Maureen - wow, this is a 2010 post and the gourp is brand new... Ah-ha, you added it to the group. Never thought of that.

Isn't it funny that AR is not going to be a part (or connected) to Realestate.com because of the dubious value of its content? ML seas it as a suicide, and this is a clear admission of the problem with AR as highly diluted community, which can only hurt a commercial real estate site designed to make money.

I am curious whether ML regrets buying AR

Feb 13, 2012 11:16 AM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

The group is brand new?  Mike J's group?  It's about a year old isn't it? 

I considered buying a community on RealEstate.com but did not.  Is AR valuable?  Valueless?

I have suddenly lost interest big time in ActiveRain, or I guess it was not sudden.  Problems since December with content for consumers has made it not something I want to spend time on. 

 

 

Feb 13, 2012 05:16 PM