It’s funny what you can find on the Internet sometimes. Yesterday I found a blog called Harley Davidson Motorcycle which when I looked at it a little closer, I realised the person who created this blog had ripped off and copied nearly my entire USA Tour blog!!!
UPDATE - It has been suggested to me the copy blog might have been created with the intent of spreading a virus, so I have removed the link to the copy blog to prevent anyone from accessing it.
Virtually all the posts on this rip-off blog for September last year are direct copies (words and pictures) of my blog. The same applies for almost every posting I have ever made. What a scum-bag!
While it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, this is just plain copying!
I have formally complained to Blogger. I will let you, my true readers of this, my genuine blog, know what happens.
It would be really funny if this posting was copied into the rip-off blog!
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23 comments:
did blogger delete the fake? the link isnt working for more than a moment, it comes up and blip its gone. which may be a good thing. i dont like the idea of giving this copy/fake any web traffic. grrrrrrrrrrr shame on the copy!!! karma is a bitch
Gary:
Well, I re-read Day 100 again and it was like reading it for the first time. Oh those memories of a good trip across America.
I frequent lots of photography forums and you can only post up links of sites which are NOT of your own content, same for photos which are not yours. Another reason to investigate watermarking your images, something for which I have not yet done myself. I also found myself on other sites too, but mostly a paragraph and a link.
I wonder how fast Blogger will act . . .
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
and of course the thief has the comments turned off so we can't even call him on his behaviour.
dirtbag! He's using your trip and story telling abilities to make money....how rude!
Same thing happened to me. But Blogger caught it and fixed it.
Wow. All news to me. I'm impressed that you found it. However, like a few others it will show up for a moment, then I am redirected elsewhere...
Good luck getting it removed!
Good grief, that is disgusting. Someone else was actually locked out of their own blog by a highjacker. This really takes the fun out of blogging. Hope Blogger gets the mess straightened out.
That sucks... While I don't understand why anyone would go to all that trouble, I do hope Blogger shuits them down.
Bummer. I look forward to your update on what blogger does.
~Keith
You made it! You are worthy of being "ripped off!" Imitation is the best example of flattery so you can consider yourself a celebrity now officially. (Not like you were not before, but it's just legit now.)...that being said, let's trace the IP address to said dirtbag and form a posse.
UNBELIEVEABLE!
Well, I should say believeable cause there are so many A holes in the world.
Just crap stuff, some body who wants to live your life I think Gary, interesting to see if Blogger do anything about it. Roger
That is so crazy. I think it has been redirected or something because I can not go to it.
Sure would like to know who that was!
I'd say unbelievable, but I'm too jaded.
I was redirected too, but cut and paste the link and trimming to the homepage brought it up. What a dirtbag!
While flattering as it may be, that's just wrong. You put a lot of work into your blog like many of us blog authors do. Lots of time is spent on taking photos and writing about your experiences so you can share it with others. What a shame. I don't think the evil clone blog is up any longer.
I enjoyed reading your blog and looking at all the photos. My dream is to own a Road King someday and take it all around and capture as many memories (or more!) that you had. Keep up the great work and thank you for everything you've posted so far.
Thank you all for your comments and support. It seems that some of you can still see the offending blog, while others cannot. Whatever computer I try it from here in the UK, I can still see it. Blogger have not yet got back to me about what they will specifically do about this and indeed their automated response indicates any action might take some time, so they can make their checks and post legal notices etc. I am not sure therefore why some can still see the copy blog and others cannot.
I am certainly pleased that Blogger fixed the situation for Mr Motorcycle and I am sure they will do the same for me.
Personally I like Dave’s idea of forming a posse.
WyzWmn made a good point about not being able to leave comments on the blog to record our feelings, but I did do a little searching. The owner of the blog has a profile name called “Alfa” and he/she has 3 other blogs. On one of these, somewhat ironically in the ‘Privacy Policy’ section, they have included an e-mail address. This is nurmahmudiyah@gmail.com so I am going to make my comments known there. Of course, I could not suggest that others might want to do the same.... (Dave and Sonja, please don’t swear at them too much. LOL)
I was trying to figure out why someone would do such a thing so I clicked on your link above. It briefly flashed on the site, and then immediately directed me to a pay for play puzzle site. They must just do it as a lure to get clicks to that site. Yikes! I guess I had better get more involved in checking MY site, although I doubt I will ever get the traffic you do to make it worthy. :)
Gary,
Those of us that follow your blog know that there is only "one" you! Please don't give that "idiot" a second thought. I am sure it is very upsetting, but the world is full of "fools" like them. Just keep on riding and posting your amazing pictures and stories and we will continue to look forward to each and every one of them.
As always, stay safe, my friend!
The brazeness of this act is quite amazing.
I hope blogger shuts it down.
Gary, I don't think they are just copying it for fun or to pretend it's a real blog. The link points to "harleydavidson-motorcycleDOTcoDOTcc". ".cc" is the Internet country code top-level domain for Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory. There's lots of fake sites there with the intent of spreading malware/virus/trojans. Your users better have good protection if they are going to visit that site. It might have been setup to redirect traffic from people searching for you with the intent of infecting their computers. The bad guys create sites like these, then somehow manage to fill the search engines with the fake site ahead of the real one, in this case yours. Everyone, please make sure the site link you access is pointing only to "---.BLOGSPOT.COM", be safe out there :-)
Gary:
Yikes !! I was going to tell you that the site comes up no problem, Now I find out I may have a Virus. If that is the case, then I need GeorgeF to ride his Yamaha Super Tenere over here right now to get rid of it.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Rosemary – Thanks for the information about being redirected to another site. That didn’t happen to me, but I a few people have now mentioned it did to them, so I have passed that information on the Blogger.
Beck – I am not really too upset by it, more that it is just annoying. I am sure Blogger will take the copy site down soon. Thanks for your kind words.
Charlie6 – I agree.
George – You raise a very good point which I hadn’t thought of. In case you are right I have removed the link from my post. If true, then the bad guys need to be hung from the nearest tree in the Cocos Islands by their ‘gentlemen’s parts’!
Bob – You are right and George certainly sounds like he knows a lot about this subject. I think George should make a personal commitment to go visit everyone that follows my blog on his new bike.
Enjoyed your blog. Are you on Twitter?
Dave - Thanks. No I am not on Twitter, sorry.
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