Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Posted by mdrisser on 2009/01/06 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

(Author’s Note: The following blog posting is not the sort of thing that I usually post about, but it is something that I feel strongly needs to be said.)

Its really quite sad when people steal from others. Its even worse when they not only steal from others, but try to pass it off as their own.

I follow several very talented people on Twitter, one of them had a Tweet concerning just this very thing. So I checked it out and felt prompted to write this post because of it.

So what happened?  “ItCanHappen4U2.com” posted a blog entry that is nothing more than a copy and paste from another blog.

At the end of Mr. Meyer’s blog ‘post’ is this:

Now, in fairness I have to say that Mr. Meyer did give credit to the original author, notice the red box. The link points to the original article. But the problem is two-fold.

1. While the actual link URL is correct, the original blog is not ‘internet marketing’ it is Kettlewell Enterprises, Inc.
2. Notice the blue box where the author is shown as being Mr. Meyer.

So while credit was given, the manner in which it was given makes me think that the whole thing is shady.

You can see all this for yourself by visiting: Target Your Online Customer to Target Your Dollar | ItCanHappen4U2.Com Small Business Ideas Blog.

So who was the original author? Jennifer Kettlewell of Kettlewell Enterprises, Inc. If you would like to see the original post, which by the way was posted on Dec. 26, 2008, you can do so by following this link: Target Your Online Customers – Internet Marketing – Professional SEO Services – Website Marketing.

Now there is nothing wrong with finding great articles, but don’t steal them, instead link to them. The authors will be greatful and your integrity will be intact. Its a win/win situation.

Update

This afternoon I received the following email from Mr. Meyer after posting a comment on the article on his site:

Hi, before you start crying plagiarism or making other accusations perhaps you should know what you are talking about. This post and a few others came directly from a site called shareapost.com. This is a place where authors allow their content to be posted on other blogs. For the publisher such as myself it is a simple matter of clicking a button titled “Post This Article”. I click the button and a couple seconds later it is automatically posted on my blog. Makes for getting content nice and easy. It is not much different than getting content from one of the article directories except it is much easier.

In order for this to work shareapost.com must have login information and a password for my blog. I simply submitted my name with a password as I cannot use the original authors name with each post.

This blog post is posted exactly as it uploaded to my blog and has not been altered. Posting of articles in this manner is a part of the member a agreement with shareapost.com. Not altering the post in any manner is also a part of the member agreement. I cannot help it if the article post on my blog without all the wanted information the original author wants included. Perhaps the author should include the information in post submitted to shareapost.com the same as they do with ezine articles.com and other directories?

No matter really, I have submitted two support tickets to shareapost.com asking why I would receive ridiculous comments such as this one if the post were legal to use on my blog. They are looking for the source of the post on their system because it is possible someone other than Kettlewell entered it. If it was entered by someone other than Kettlewell the source will be removed from their system. If Kettlewell entered it maybe it should be looked at a little closer. As for my blog my delete key works just fine as does my ability to type in a few words and a name.

Have A Great Day
Stephen Meyer

My response was as follows:

Before you start decrying me, perhaps you should be further enlightened. It began when the author of the post in question found the post on your site, and posted the following Tweet: “Love it when bloggers steal my articles and claim it as their own. http://tinyurl.com/a2gauc -  Just means I had something worthy  ”

Given that, the dating of the post and a conversation I had with the post’s author, plagiarism is exactly the right word to use. I admit that prior to your email, I had assumed, given the facts I had available to me at the time, that you yourself had plagiarized the post in question. I now see that it was another who had done so, and I apologize to you.

Sincerely,

Michael Risser