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02 September 2011

A Message from the Admin: Plagiarism

Hi everyone!

This is Mei, your local cosplay fanatic. :)

Recently, I found out that viewership of Cosplay Holic has gone down significantly. I decided to do a little checking and lo and behold; I found 5 blogs copy-pasting Cosplay Holic’s content, article and photo as well as links!

I don’t know if that has anything to do with why viewership is down, but because of this discovery, I’ve disabled right-clicking for the site. I’m really sorry about that! I know some people use right-clicking to open new posts on new tabs, but I don’t know what else to do!

I’ve reported them to DMCA, but each article has to be posted link-by-link! Worse, once I take down 1 article, they’ll just copy and post 10 more!

I could just post the URLs here, but if I do that, they will get a ton of new visitors, which will in turn, get them a ton of money from AdSense and other ads posted on their blog. (And their sites are riddled with a ridiculous amount of ads! I probably accidentally clicked some of them because I was reporting them!)

Unfair isn’t it? I can’t take legal action because the photos aren’t mine, only the articles are! If you are wondering how I know a lot about the characters, I search about them on Wikipedia, read about them, then write an article with my own words.

The reason why I made a site like this is so that I can properly link back the photos to the cosplayers or the photographers since I was getting sick of all the cosplay photos that I find on the net that aren’t linked back to the cosplayers’ or photographers’ sites, giving them proper credit! But I guess my plan has backfired.

I’m not sure what to do at this point. Reporting them to DMCA one by one is more trouble that it’s worth, and it’s not as if they are stopping either.

So, if you were able to read through all that, and have an idea as to how I can make these people stop, feel free to comment! I would appreciate any help right now because… it’s really unfair, annoying, and disheartening.

Lots of Love,
Mei~

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18 comments:

  1. NaruedyohSeptember 2, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    I'll Give you a hint: Creative Commons.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kurohikoSeptember 2, 2011 at 10:52 AM

    Easy enough to get, but I'm not sure I know how to impose that!

    I will read up on it, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Taika MarisSeptember 2, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    Sorry to hear that. It always a sad thing to see other people stealing. I hope you can get it resolved soon. Keep up the good work. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    I'm sorry to hear about that! You do a lot of work to pull really high quality posts together. I hope you are able to take into account readers who are viewing via google reader, like myself.

    All the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AlSeptember 2, 2011 at 9:29 PM

    Noncommercial and non derivative licenses allow copying without your consent. It may seem unfair but it is legal. Though I betcha these copycats probably don't have the license to do so. Well whatever happens, Cosplay Holic by Mei will always be number 1. Nothing beats the original.

    ReplyDelete
  6. vza004September 2, 2011 at 11:02 PM

    Shame on them!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. 愛子 藤原September 3, 2011 at 3:07 AM

    Mei-chan ganbaru!
    i'm sorry to hear that people are so stupid to copy youre blog.. i wish there was something more i can do but i geuss i can only give my support to the original cosplay holic by mei-chan !
    keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  8. PrincessAnnASeptember 3, 2011 at 7:14 PM

    OMG! i've been tricked!!!!
    i've been reading those site duplicating ur site!!!! T^T

    i am a loyal reader of ur blog, even though i rarely post comments or anything, but i always enjoy every post, coz its informative and the cosplay pics is amazing...

    i wanna ask sumthin.. how do i send a cosplay pic (of my friend) to u? email?

    ReplyDelete
  9. kurohikoSeptember 4, 2011 at 1:03 AM

    Thanks guys! Doing my best to report them... In case you know of a site copying mine (aside from Nanao's Research in Sanriotown, ok?) Please do report them!

    They usually put a lot of google ads on their site. You can click the "AdChoices" link and then report abuse. :)

    You can also report each blog post to DMCA but it is too much hassle. ;_;

    @Princess Anna: ;o; W-well, welcome to the original? And yes please, you can send them to me via email. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2011 at 9:03 PM

    I am sorry to hear that! I always enjoy your blog because you are one of the few people who actually give credits to the cosplayers. I respect you for that.

    But you disable right clicking is not effective, because to be honest, i can still copy the content of your blog by pressing ctrl+c... uh, i just want to let you know that. I never copy the content of your blog, btw.

    ReplyDelete
  11. SyazaSeptember 5, 2011 at 4:41 AM

    Gee, that...sucks! I can't think of any other word to describe what you're going through, but that word pretty much sums up how I would feel if I were in your position. Copy-paste? Talk about lacking in creativity >:(

    If I had any powers I would certainly like to bring divine punishment onto them. Ok, that's probably a bit harsh, but if I had the power to bring those articles down I so would!

    ReplyDelete
  12. kurohikoSeptember 5, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    Anon: Yeah, I know, that's why I think disabling right-click is more of a hassle than anything... I'll probably leave the codes there for a week then decide whether I'll take it down or not. :)

    Syaza: Haha, you're adorable, thank you! That makes me feel a lot better~ :3

    You can report them if you happen to stumble upon any of them. :D But really, I think everything will be alright... not right away, but some day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 8:40 AM

    I do not understand, you hate replicas, but add the bar LinkWithin google+ facebook even other blogs? whats the point here? share but dont share???

    ReplyDelete
  14. kurohikoSeptember 9, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Anon: There is no problem in sharing content on other blogs... ONLY IF it's credited.

    Example: Source: Cosplay Holic

    Is that really so hard to add? Pretending it's your own article won't give you anything, but crediting will. Even top gossip blogs and news blogs do this, and I do this too, so why can't everyone else?

    This is why I link all the photos I know of back to the cosplayer's or the photographer's websites. Credit must be given where credit is due.

    ReplyDelete
  15. toriSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    rei-neeeeeeeeeeeeeee *hugs* ganbatte~ :)

    Anon: Dude the share bar feature links BACK to this site. something like, when you tell your friends "hey check out this site!" she's complaining that there are blogs directly copying her content and not linking her blog. Big difference from what you're pointing out.

    ReplyDelete
  16. kurohikoSeptember 10, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    ;u; Tori-kins to the rescue! Thanks for explaining~

    ReplyDelete
  17. TiffyOctober 1, 2011 at 11:51 AM

    Netiquette = giving your source. Aww Rei. I know how hard you work on your posts :( I still visit your site though! You won't lose this one!

    And I know that some cosplayers even thank you/send their pics to you because of what you do! Don't stop!

    ReplyDelete
  18. kurohikoOctober 5, 2011 at 2:17 PM

    Thanks Tiffy! ;u;

    Yeah... there's too much cosplay in my email's inbox that it's hard to keep up! ;u; But I will still continue to do my best!

    I think it's about time I take my own photos again... ;3

    ReplyDelete