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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

On Blog Stalking and Plagiarism

The past week has been a noisy week in the Pinoy blogosphere and Abe made a post on helping out in writing a Blogger's Code of Conduct. I have been target of some nasty comments and I've just managed to shrug it off (well after some friends rallied to bring the sunshine back in my life).

I've come to realize it's part of my work and I cannot make everybody happy. I'm a happy person and I know what I am doing. People are entitled to their own opinion, PROVIDED it's something that's not hurtful. We are not showbiz celebrities here who are trained to handle these things. My Mom and Dad always told me, if it ain't good, don't say it. And I say, I'm just going to raise a brow and give you a smile. The art of diplomacy. Amen.

I think aside from a code of conduct there should be something that would help bloggers respond to these:

Stalking
- I have a friend who ranted to me this afternoon that she has an online stalker! Whenever she changes her way of writing in her blog, the stalker follows suit. And whenever she adds a new friend in her Friendster account, the stalker adds that same friend as well. This is creepy! I know the feeling of getting stalked, both online and offline, but like my friend I wouldn't want my concepts and content to be copied/shadowed!

Plagiarism
- I have another prolific blogger friend whose posts have been copied again and again despite repeated emails to the person copying her posts. I remember back in college as part of the Council for Editors we had to decide on dismissing from school (a.k.a. kick-out) one of the writers because he was caught submitting a plagiarized entry in the DLSU Literary Awards. Yes, he got kicked out. That's how serious we took plagiarism. Fortunately, the person who plagiarized my friend's blog took his site down. (That's why it's important to do some ego surfing - to countercheck as well if someone's copying your blog.)

If the blog has Google Adsense in it then you may report it to the Google Adsense Support Team. Plagiarism clearly "infringes on the legal rights of others" (check the Google Adsense policies on site content here).

Oh BTW, you can get a free copy of Blog This: How Blogs Empower Every Internet User.

*Photo by Sasha Manuel.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:24 AM

    some people can be so judgemental based on one entry or so, ano? People are entitled to their opinions but if it keeps repeating, it's boring and you wonder on the purpose of such comments.

    I will keep that google adsense policy in mind. I remember reading that a few weeks back.

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  2. You are right Noemi and these things aren't helpful at all. :)

    Let me know if you need any help.

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  3. Anonymous1:27 PM

    tama, just shrug these things off. can't please everyone.

    tagged you! visit my blog.

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  4. Anonymous6:05 PM

    I tend to not hold back sometimes when I blog. Now after the PBA, I learned that I should practice a little restraint.

    As for plagiarism: My posts have been posted everywhere without my permission with Adsense ads splashed all over the place. But I don't mind because they link/credit back to me. :)

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  5. Anonymous9:55 PM

    nakalimutan ko sabihin - ganda ng pic mo dito.

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  6. @andrew: You're correct, I think with proper link back/credit it's okay, but if they're using your content for self-profit that's entirely another matter.

    @cess: Thanks girl! :)

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  7. Ma'am Aileen, meron po tool (Tynt) para ma-detect nyo kung may nag-c-copy ng content ng website nyo.

    maybe it would be helpful in enforcing proper link-bank and/or credit.

    i wouldn't know kasi wla pa nmn kumokopya ng mga pinagsusulat ko.

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