I've been plagiarized.
Recent events here at Rant and Rave have got me thinking about spammy sites and I was seriously wondering if I was a culprit. I have never copied an article. I have written about things that interest me. And yes a lot of the research I do is online. But a lot of my writing is based on my conjecture and extrapolation of the facts.
When I can find the actual source of information that I intend to use, I site it when possible. This isn't as easy as it sounds because I will read 12 articles to get the scope of the subject before I ever set pen to paper. Unfortunately a lot of the info online has been hashed and rehashed to the point where finding the actual source isn't always possible.
So I dug into it a little deeper and came up with Copyscape, which checks to see if your articles appear anywhere else and well.. A lot of them do. But it's not me plagiarizing them - it's them plagiarizing me. Now a part of me is brimming with pride that someone stole my words. It puts a distinct value on them don't you think. But another part of me wants to send someone a bill for services.
In the last few days I've read a lot concerning how different people regard what I do as less then honest. They act as though the use of information found elsewhere is off limits when in fact reporters, (reporters not journalists,) have done this since the times of the town crier. I deliver excellent and I hope thought provoking articles on mobile computing devices and related items. And I like what I do.
Again I have never taken an article and called it my own. I have never scrapped a website. I did post a series of articles I found interesting on a blog I am working on but I gave the author full credit and just posted links to the original work. Is that wrong?
Plagiarism is wrong. And I have found several instances of my stuff on other sites there is an example below. But what should I do about it?
So here's the original.And
Here's Copyscape You can paste the original URL in to see the results.