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What do you do when someone Blatently copies your Blog on Activerain?

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX EXECUTIVE 224284

Does anyone know what you do when someone copies and plaguerizes a blog on active rain? I have a colleague in my mooresville office that takes tons of time out of her day to report real estate and write fantastic articles and she is getting her stuff stolen by another agent on active rain. I don't know whether she has reported it or not. What are your thoughts?

It just bothers me to the 10th degree to see someone work so hard and for another person to go on here and copy the format or the basis of the content of the articles. I have a hard enough time myself thinking about what I might write that people in my area would enjoy reading! it should come from the heart.

THIS BLOG IS COPYWRITED 2008 by sandy. LOL!!!

Comments (10)

Lisa Heindel
Crescent City Living LLC - New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Real Estate Broker

report it to the active rain staff.  You can flag an article for plagarism.

Apr 01, 2008 02:08 AM
Ken Tracy
Coldwell Banker Residential - Naperville, IL
Helping clients buy and sell since 2005

Hi Sandy.  Good thing you copywrited.  My first instinct was to copy and paste.  Great widget.  It looks like you:).

Ken

p.s.  as with most things in life, I try not to "Sweat the small stuff"

Apr 01, 2008 02:09 AM
Dorene Shirley
The Mortgage & Property Connection - Campbell, CA
Silicon Valley Real Estate
Sandy - I'd love it if my stuff was good enough to Plagiarize LOL!
Apr 01, 2008 02:10 AM
Stephanie Ballou
Keller Williams Coastal Realty - Dover, NH
It is a very frustrating topic. I would flag it. At some point it is sure to come out in the open and that person will only have made a fool of them self.
Apr 01, 2008 02:19 AM
Ron Tarvin
Residential, Investment properties, rehab projects, property management, luxury homes, new construction! - Katy, TX
Broker, Katy, Houston, Cypress 77450,77494,77095

The mere act of creation of an original work is copyright, at least according to the US copyright laws.  I generally look for copies, especially on my website since that is so damaging to search engine optimization, with copyscape.  Give them a try for FINDING your original material.  www.copyscape.com

You can also GOOGLE key phrases and see if anything you wrote show up where you didn't put it!

After that,  I usually handle copyright infringement, especially by other agents with a friendly email to let them know that theft of intellectual property is still THEFT.  I ask them to please remove it within 48 hours and most comply.  If they do not, then you have to elevate things...I generally write is more stern letter giving them 24 hours to comply or my attorney will have to contact their broker and state board for ethics violations.  If they are a REALTOR®, they DO have to abide by the code of ethics...

You can also contact the host (in this case, Active Rain) but if it is somewhere else, like in my case a lot of my website stuff seems to show up on my website host, Point2Agent, then I contact them.  Whoever is hosting the stolen material is still responsible to remove it!  Why do you think NAPSTER changed their format so fast after the courts got involved!!  They had to!

Apr 01, 2008 02:25 AM
Matthew Zgonc
Aksland Real Estate - Modesto, CA
Realtor, CFS, CVS
I have always alerted the staff here at Active Rain.  They are pretty good about picking up stuff that has been blatantly plaguerized.
Apr 01, 2008 02:31 AM
Karen Rice Keller Williams Real Est
Keller Williams Real Estate - Hawley, PA
Northeast PA & Lake Wallenpaupack Home Sales

Ken, plagiarism is not SMALL STUFF.  As someone who puts a lot of thought, time, and effort into my blogs, it is no small thing to have some pea brain copy and paste and wha-laa...they've got my stuff.  SMALL STUFF? No way!

I suggest that the author of this blog and the author of the stolen materials consult Lenn Harley's blogs on plagiarism.  she's got good stuff and I don't know anyone stupid enough to copy Lenn's material!

Read Lenn's Stuff on Copyright: 

Apr 01, 2008 03:03 AM
Don Draughn - Mortgage Professional
High Point, NC
Plagiarism will get you removed from Active Rain.  Your colleague should definitely report this person to AR.  It will put a stop to it one way or another.
Apr 01, 2008 04:06 AM
Freddy Delgadillo
Judah Realty Group - Bellevue, WA
Real Estate Broker specializing Greater Eastside
your right when it comes to plagiarism... no one likes that. here that person puts so much time and energy into the articles and then for that to be used somewhere else is not COOL. I like your disclaimer at the bottom. Im going to use that from now on.
Apr 01, 2008 04:45 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired
Red flag it when you see it! That's the only way we get the stuff to stop. It infuriates me to no end when I hear others in my office say "just right click it - she'll never know". Loosers.
Apr 01, 2008 06:58 AM