What To Do If Your Blog Post Is Copied By A Blogger Blog

Recently my blog posts were copied again. In the past my blog post had been taken by another blogger as her own. That was the most creepy because the person took my personal posts and pretended they were her own. It is one thing for someone to copy another person's blog post for financial gain but to copy personal posts and pretend you are that blogger is downright creepy.

Anyway, in the past my blog has been copied lock, stock and barrel before too. This means that my entire blog was duplicated. I found out because someone wrote to me to ask if I had a mirror blog. At that time, I didn't know what to do. Someone thought me to change my blog images to show that you are aware that your blog posts are being copied. For example the blog is copying yours is called Parenting ABC. So all you have to do is include an image that says "Parenting ABC is copying the blog posts of ......" or "What you see on Parenting ABC blog has been copied from..." and that image will be picked up by Parenting ABC blog and displayed on that blog. If you're lucky they may take down the blog but usually that is not the case.

Anyway, these days, the plagiarizers are doing it differently. They will not make a duplicate copy of another blog. On the other hand, they will copy the blog posts from several bloggers and display it as their own. You can usually spot these kinds of blogs easily. There will be no email or contact information on the blog. However, there will be lots of ads. In fact, the blog will be filled with ads because the purpose of copying your blog post is to make financial gain from ads.

Well, recently I found my blog posts copied along with those from several other bloggers. This time I decided to take more proactive action. You can do the same too.

This is what to do when your blog post is being copied (if the copied posts are hosted on Blogger)

1. Report the abuse to Google Adsense using this form.
2. Make a complaint to Blogger using this form.

The first report of abuse is useful because you can cut off the financial gain from adsense which is what the plagiarizer is trying to do. 

The second complaint is useful because Blogger takes a serious view and do take a look at the complaints sent in using the form. I know because I submitted a complaint and it was acted upon within 24 hours. Within 24 hours I received a reply from Blogger and the blog posts were removed within 24 hours too. 

You can use the same form for multiple abuse showing your blog posts that had been copied one url at a time. That is what I did for all the 65 posts of mine that were copied from here.

In addition, I did a simple check (by doing a google search) to find out which other Bloggers posts had been copied on that blog. That is very simple. I know that the posts published there were not original. All I had to do was take a few sentences and do a google search and I found the original Bloggers. I contacted them and urged them to make a report too. Blogger will remove the offending page that had been copied if you make a complain but they will not take down the blog immediately. However, if they receive multiple complaints, that blog will be classified as a repeated offender and eventually the blog will be taken down which was what happened after the other Bloggers sent in their complaints too. The more complaints received, the "bigger" your voice and the more seriously your report will be looked into. 

It took me many hours to write to those other Bloggers as well as to submit my complain for the 65 pages of content that had been plagiarized from this blog. However, it was necessary to do it. I can't allow someone else to gain illegally from my hard work. Besides, your blog will also suffer if duplicated content is found through no fault of your own. 

To find out whether your blog posts have been copied you can use Copyscape the plagiarism checker or you can do what I did. Just take a few sentences from your blog post and do a google search and it will turn up any duplicate pages. 

Image Credit: The above No Copying Sign was generated from here.

Kids First World Atlas

Recently I spotted this Kids First World Atlas at the Kids Reference Section in the bookshop. I love it. Besides showing the World Map, the terrains and boundaries of the Countries of the World and their flags, the kids atlas also shows the animals, foods, sports and more on the separate world maps on each page plus some interesting facts.

It is an excellent Atlas that can be read to or with the kids and to answer their questions about the world. I love it. Besides the Collins My First World Atlas, we also got the kids the Collins My First Book of The Human Body and the Collins My First Book Of The Solar System.

We have only just started reading the Kids First Atlas. I wonder when we will have time to read the rest of the books in between homework. Fortunately the school holidays are just around the corner.

Tip: Did you know that an Atlas can be read to the kids just like a story book while you talk about the world, its people, famous buildings, foods, sports and more to the kids. An Atlas can be read to the kids like a bedtime story and before naps.

Google Reader Alternative For Reading Blogs And News

I'm sure by now that everyone who has been using Google Reader will know that Google Reader is being retired on July 1, 2013. That is sad news indeed for me. iGoogle is also being retired and that's sad too. I love both platforms and use them daily. Now, I can't use my Google Reader to read my favorite blogs and catch up with news anymore.

Google Reader used to make reading blog updates so easy. I had it on my personalized iGoogle page. I don't even open up my Google Reader as I look at it from my iGoogle which is also being retired later this year. I receive new updates on quick clickable links to blog post titles or news headings.

Google Reader Links To Blog Posts

Clicking on the link brings up a pop-up to read the blog content. If I want to leave a comment, then I click on the content to go to the Blogger's page.

Google Reader Pop-Up Content of Blog Post

Now, that Google Reader is being retired, I have to search for an alternative fast. I've decided to try Feedly. I've downloaded Feedly on my Chrome, iPad and Android phone. It was easy to download and it uses data from my Google Reader seamlessly. I don't have to sign up or do anything else further .... accept to authorize it to get my data. Yup! I'm leaving more and more trails on the net.

Anyway, transition is easy and for a time strapped person, that is a joy. I hope they don't start charging later on. Here is where you can get all the links to transition from Google Reader to Feedly alternative including Feedly for your iPhones and iPads, Feedly for your Android phones and Feedly for your various browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari. You can use Feedly as an alternative to Google Reader for all your devices including iOS and Android devices plus your desktop computers.

Here is a peek at the Feedly from my Chrome. You have a choice of reading your feeds in Magazine or Card Format, just the titles or full articles etc.  It is a good enough substitute or replacement for my Google Reader for the time being as I don't have time to search for other alternatives.

  Feedly Links To Blog Posts

Pardon the quality of the images. I didn't have time to do a Screenshot, so I just took photos of the pages using my phone and then I BUMPed them to my computer using the BUMP file and photo transfer app. You can read up how to do that here on my post on How To Quickly And Easily Transfer Your Photos From Your Phone To Your Computer.

Can you spot your own blog post in my Reader? If you see my own post in my Reader, it is because I subscribe to it too. I read somewhere that it will help the search engines to crawl your site faster. I'm not sure how much it helps or if it really helps but it only takes seconds to subscribe to your own site. So why not?

Doing Homework

The other day when I was cleaning my son's desk, I found a strange creature.

It had saucer like eyes with an antenna or a nose that looked like springs. It had only one leg. Its body was rectangular and its one leg was cylinder shaped. It rattled when you shook it. It was translucent but it also had tinges of yellow and blue on its body and one leg.

Here, let me show you what it looks like.




That was what my boy was doing when he was supposed to be doing his homework. He had glued his torchlight toy tops onto two of his mechanical pencil lead box. Glued a mechanical pencil spring onto the lead box, stuck his pencil into a glue stick, then used tape to tape them all together.

That is what it always does when he is supposed to be doing his homework ie... play with his stationery. All the guilty party can say is "I'm very creative, mum"

Toilet Paper Roll Animal Cat or Tiger

Making Toilet Paper Roll Animals is super easy, fun and quick.

Here's a quick and easy toilet paper roll cat you can make as a fast craft with bored kids.

What you will need for your toilet paper roll cat or tiger:

1. Toilet paper roll
2. Googly Eyes
3. Marker Pen
4. Construction Paper
5. Pipe Cleaners
6. Glue Stick
7. Tape or Staples

Here are the instructions on how to make your toilet paper roll animal cat or tiger:

1. Wrap the toilet paper roll with construction paper and glue (Tip: Push the access paper into the insides of the tube)
2. Glue in the googly eyes or stick them on if you have the sticker type. Alternatively, you can use black paper on white if you don't have googly eyes)
3. Draw in the face.
4. Bend the pipe cleaners to shape to make ears, paws and a tail then staple them in position. (My picture is minus the paws because I forgot to put them on!)

Taddaa! Enjoy. I think our toilet paper roll cat looks rather like a cross between a cat, a tiger and a lion. Maybe you can do better.

We also did a toilet paper roll peacock but I forgot to take a picture of that. What a pity.