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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Imitation is supposed to be flattery, but...

Every now & then, I go on Google Blog Search & do a search for "childless infertility," "childfree infertility," etc. I've found a few interesting new blogs that way.

Recently, I found something VERY interesting. I stumbled onto a blog (or something resembling a blog) that was reviewing Melissa Ford's wonderful book, Navigating the Land of IF.

But as I read, I realized that there was something awfully familiar about this post.

As in -- a good chunk of it was MY post -- or pretty damned close, anyway. (!!!)

Have a look & see if you agree:

  • My original review of Melissa's book, from June 2009: "It's a book I would definitely recommend to anyone going through infertility. It would also be a fabulous book to read if you're a fertile person hoping to gain some insight into what a friend or family member is going through and how you can best support them.... I'll confess -- I went straight for the chapter on childfree living. So very few books on infertility say much about the childless/free option beyond a few paragraphs -- so I'm always interested to see how the subject is covered in any new IF book that I come across."
  • Plagiarized review, from January 8, 2012: "It’s a book – Navigating The Land Of If Understanding Infertility And Exploring Your Options By Melissa Ford – I would definitely recommend to anyone going through infertility. It would also be fabulous to read if you’re a fertile person hoping to gain some insight into what a friend or family member is going through and how you can best support them... Because my husband & I wound up living without children, I was particularly interested in what Melissa would have to say on the subject, and went straight for the chapter on childfree living first. Very few books on infertility say much about the childless/free option beyond a few paragraphs — so I’m always interested to see how the subject is covered in any new IF book that I come across."

Anyone else ever been plagiarized, by this or any other blog? (I use the term "blog" very loosely.) What, if anything did you do about it?

I scanned the site, but there doesn't seem to be any way of contacting the writer/owner or leaving a comment (gee, I wonder why...). I did notice that, at the very bottom of the page, the copyright line misspelled the word pregnant as "pergnant." Which gives you an idea of what we're dealing with here.

People get expelled from university for stuff like this.

If you ARE the so-called writer, hello, I'm onto you. And I don't appreciate it.

9 comments:

  1. I don't know if it helps but you can "copy right" the content of your blog. There is a link on the bottom right hand corner of mine...again I don't know if it does any good, but it's worth a try...

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  2. Ya...that definitely is plagarized. Hope you can track down the person who did it and at least get an apology...

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  3. Wow, that's ridiculous! Sorry they stole your review :(

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  4. I read something recently that said "if you write a blog, your work WILL have been stolen." But you're the first person I know it's happened to. I want to yell in frustration on your behalf!

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  5. I've had both posts wholly lifted and there's a blogger who often seems to talk about very similar things, the day after I talk about them. She seems to reach the same conclusions too.

    I suppose we often talk about the same sorts of things, but I do try, when I realize that a post has inspired me to write something, to give credit to the original post.

    I'm sorry.

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  6. I've seen it happen before. A friend of mine wrote a post on 10 reasons having a toddler is like being at a frat party. Hilarious post. Went kind of viral and someone stole it and tried to pass it off as hers. Really obnoxious!
    I went to the site that plagiarized you. It looks like some kind of book review site. My guess - they might plagiarize a lot. Search out the book title on other blogs and then just cut and paste, change a word or two here and there and they have their review. Not terribly honest.

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  7. Oh wow. It looks like they kind of half-assedly tried to put it in their own words (by changing one or two of them). I'm sorry!

    www.brandysheaif.blogspot.com

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  8. Wow. Yeah, maybe a little bit flattering but I would be angry! That is definitely plagarized with a half-a$$ed attempt and changing a word here and there

    I would be upset, too.

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  9. I'm guessing this is a scraper site, with the only intention to generate ad revenue. I would raise your concerns to their ISP - www.whois.net/whois/pregnantiseasy.com

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