So I'm browsing around and find a blog called On a Quest To Be Debt Free. (They're a fellow Entrecard member.)

On that site I discover some articles that look oddly familiar. So familiar that it seems almost as if I had written them. Why? Because in fact, I did write them!

Several articles on Kristen's Guide were directly copied (all of the articles I've found so far were about household notebooks), some of the URLs were changed to point to whatever the copier wanted them to, some were left intact. They removed my information as the author, removed any reference to my Kristen's Guide where my original article is hosted, replaced my name with the copier's name ("Anna" if that is her real name), and re-posted it as an entry on their blog. Then they submitted it to blog carnivals and such.

I'm so angry. I know that there are people out there who copy and paste stuff, but at least most of them don't take credit for it. They usually just say, hey it's from this other site. That annoys me, but when I go through all the trouble of researching by experience then writing articles and somebody else comes along and decides to say they wrote it, I just want to scream.

So I contacted "Anna" and tried to politely but sternly explain that the illegally copied items need to be removed. If they're not, then I'm going to do my best to get the host to terminate the hosting account. I'm hoping to resolve this without having to get attorneys and litigation involved because such measures are always so time consuming and financially draining for everyone, but if I must then I must.

I also contacted some of the blog carnivals she entered them into and so far they seem willing to remove any references to the articles as well.

Argh!

Labels: Blogging and Websites