Monday, October 25, 2010

Just Call Me Nancy Drew.


It was brought to my attention last week that one of my posts had turned up on another blog. I followed the link to discover that someone had stolen 109 of my posts. Pictures of my children and my words were spread out before me. Not only that, but my content had been butchered and abused by someone who spoke horrible English or had a really bad drinking problem. I mean, how can you turn "I am proud to be a part of the movement in support of Dove Self-Esteem Weekend" into "I am haughty to be a prejudiced of a mutation in await of Dove Self-Esteem Weekend"? To add insult to injury, I was in the hospital with K and really did not have the brain power to deal with such a disturbing development.

I imagined a woman named Lola, sitting in the dark, gazing at photos of my kids, wishing for my life, and eating my favorite tube of lipstick (which is Trucco Stained, if you're feeling hungry). I turned into a girl sleuth and did as much research as I could on safe guarding my content. I disabled the right click, posted a Creative Commons License, and even posted a fancy Copyscape button demanding that my content not be stolen. I felt so smug and so smart. I would stop the thief dead in their tracks.

Wrong, not only did the next post show up but they even re posted the Copyscape sign. It became clear that I was not dealing with Lola at all but a Splogger. Clearly, a content scraper is using my blog for free content and traffic. With no contact information and no Whois report to speak of, I had to really pull out my magnifying glass. After a bit of research, I have sent out a cease and desist letter and notified Google Adsense of the violation as well as the host of the guilty blog. Hopefully, they will take action and shut down the thief.

So, it's back to business here at Leigh vs Laundry. I love this blog too much to let some trashy Splogger take it away from me. I have enabled the right click so that people can download The Happiness Project button again. To keep myself sane, I will now refer to my oldest son as "G" and my youngest son as "K", you know, to protect them or something. Even though there are several photos of them already posted on the blog in question, I will no longer show my children's faces in the photos on here. I will get creative, get ready to see their cute feet and backs a whole bunch. I feel too violated to post their sweet faces on here for some scum to make a buck off of them.

I've decided not to add a link to the blog that is stealing my content in this post, that would only drum up free traffic for them. Besides, they don't care if my loyal readers go over and leave nasty comments. It would not change anything, I believe that they are using software to lift my content. I'm sure that some computer is sending my text through a filter and simply spitting out synonyms. It's real James Bond type of stuff. This is nothing personal, to them, I am just a whole bunch of dollar signs.

Unless of course, Lola is drunk and laughing maniacally as she reads this. If so, I say to you Lola...you are an idiot. I suggest that you quit hitting the sauce and stealing my posts. If a Splogger is behind this theft, I'd like to tell you that you are a bottom feeder. You can take your stupid worthless blog and stick it where the sun don't shine. Now, I dare you to repost that!

20 comments:

Dee at Pedestrian Palate said...

Wow, people suck. I can't understand the desperation that would drive someone to steal someone elses life. Good for you for trying to be proactive. Now, how do you disable the right click?

Anonymous said...

Yikes. You've had quite a bit of stress lately. Here's to a calm week. *cheer* (That was me toasting you with coffee.)

Rochelle@AFamilyofLooneys said...

What a rotten thing to do!!!

Unknown said...

Oh Leigh,

Sweetie, you did NOT need this on top of the hospital/sickness stress from last week. I am so sorry. You know this has happened to me (and lots of others) before. It really sucks and I just wish Blogger was more proactive about getting rid of these cyber bullies.
HUGS,
erin

R Montalban said...

Oh my goodness, I am stunned. Big hug and kiss to you the one and only L vs L!

Vanessa said...

This makes me so angry to read. Especially you, because you *are* so original and creative and brilliant and I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but stealing is just plain dirty.

Hope this gets squared away quickly and you have a much better week! <3 *HUGS*

Caroline said...

This is exactly why I've never posted my children's names on my blog and why most of my pics hide their faces. This makes me even more careful of this in the future! It's a good thing you discovered it.
Wow, what a low thing for someone to do. I'm with everyone else--you didn't need this stress on top of everything else.
You put it perfectly, someone who steal from a person's blog is a bottom feeder.
p.s. how did you disable the right click on photos?

The Blogging Goddess said...

Wow...sorry about that, but good for you for not putting up her URL! You are an example of how we should all act!

rachel... said...

That sucks! I would never have imagined that something like that could happen. Good idea not linking here, you'd be rewarding the perp with more traffic.

I'm wondering how to disable the right click, too.

R Montalban said...

Nancy Drew, you have really spooked me with what has happened to you. Any advice on what we should do to avoid this happening too?

BananaSaurusRex said...

Rock it, Nancy!
xoxo, Rebecca

alternately

Stone throw Fancy!
xxx, Jessica

Jen said...

That's just wrong! People are so shameless.

Susan Anderson said...

I hate that this happened to you.

I hate that this happens at all.

To anyone.

"/

Mindy said...

So sorry this happened to you! I'm glad you are not letting them get to you and continuing with your blog.

Tracie Nall said...

So awful!! I hope that blogger and google will do something about it.

How did you find out?

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

People do suck. Scary what people are willing to do. Hope Lola gets what she deserves.

Anonymous said...

That's horrible ! I hope they/he/she stops. I would feel violated too, it feels like Lola is sick, dark, twisted. Bleurk.

I'm happy you decided to keep your blog and not deactivate it.

Kristy @Loveandblasphemy said...

That is horrible! HORRIBLE! UGH. I would be so incensed if that was happening to me.

The Only Girl said...

OMG - that's terrible! Sorry this has happened to you. But don't they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery?

Katherine said...

That's terrible. I noticed that you had changed things up, so I thought that something like that had happened. I use nicknames for my kids, but I still show their faces, mostly because I just can't help myself. But I've thought a lot about it. It's hard to feel same on the internet.