Comments on: Scraper Websites Remain An Internet Scourge

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Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:08:28 +0000

[...] Musings Scraper Websites Remain An Internet Scourge – Last Saturday morning I logged onto my main email account and discovered a highly unusual [...]

By: Gordano

Gordano — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:44:11 +0000

I am agreed with the Hobo & he has given very right solution about the problem that we should get the links & then scarp away!:)

By: Hobo

Hobo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:41:10 +0000

Good advice from Vlad – I was about to suggest a similar thing after looking at your feed. Get those links in and let them scrape away

By: keegan.matt's Friends on Faves

keegan.matt's Friends on Faves — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:20:53 +0000

[...] Friends' Faves vote1new VoteWidget('142223.152036427829',showRegistrationBoxForVoteAttempt);Scraper Websites Remain An Internet Scourgekeegan.matt | Shared With: Everyone – 21 seconds ago | Berne Convention, copyright, Karachi, [...]

By: Matthew C. Keegan

Matthew C. Keegan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:18:29 +0000

Good tips, Matt! I believe hot linking is illegal in the US too, but no telling what the rules are in Greece (EU) and Pakistan (Taliban, lol) when it comes to upholding international law.

I did think about visiting his site and clicking on his ads hundreds of times, at a library computer of course. Get Google’s attention and you’ll get action. Hmmm….

By: Lord Matt

Lord Matt — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:16:13 +0000

I should also mention that a reverse DNS look up will give you the hosting company 9 times out of 10. More often than not they are most sensitive to a firm but polite email.

By: Lord Matt

Lord Matt — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:14:24 +0000

I have no problem with sites that take the first paragaph or a summary especially if they are not storing it but simply displaying the current availability. My fact-o-page project gets the latest and greatest from technorati for this purpose but the listing of recent articles changes and the older content is not saved.

When it comes to hot linking (a crime under the computer misuse act in the UK and generally considered theft) there is a good trick you can pull with a .htaccess file. In your case I would test the referer and if it was the spammy site that was illegally hot linking then you silently have your server return an alternative image. This could be an offensive but low rez image (to breach the ad networks TOS that is making the money for the lazy boy) or an image that says “the page has stolen content”. Alternatively you could 302 them to the biggest image you can find on flickR.com …

One time my content was stolen and the guy used wordpress with no anti-spam features. I noticed that if I commented and then hit refresh just so… it posted lots of copies. I was very tempted to do something mean.

By: Vlad Zablotskyy

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:59:29 +0000

I think it is very unwise and a shortsighted “money making” scheme. They would be so much better of by simply translating your posts with proper credits. It will not offend you, I am sure you are not trying to rank for a Pakistani or Greek equivalent to “car”. I think Ford and other’s have plenty of resources to run Pakistani or Greek ad campaigns, and these guys would not have to compete with American marketers. Oh well…

I also forgot to mention that even those spologs/scrapers that offer a SEO friendly links seam to disappear with time- leaving you with bunch of links to websites that no longer exists.

By: Matthew C. Keegan

Matthew C. Keegan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:19:32 +0000

Now that is funny, Vlad! But, my two most recent scrapers are a Paki and a Greek, so English isn’t standard with them. I think my site being based in the US has something to do with it too, figuring that they can harness American traffic in order to get the AdSense ad income.

By: Vlad Zablotskyy

Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:17:14 +0000

Thanks Matt… I also think scrapers stay away from my blogs due to my spelling and grammar – a technique I would never recommend to employ if you don’t have to