Is this an illegal or unethical way to reprint articles?

[LarryC]

I haven't done much reprinting of articles from directories, but right now I have a site where I'm really not qualified to write the content myself and don't feel like paying anyone. I know you are allowed to reprint articles from directories like Ezinearticles as long as you keep the resource box and links intact.

What I want to do, however, is use an article for a blog post but I want to write my own title -not the title from the article I want to use. Then I want to write maybe a few paragraphs of my own content followed by an Amazon widget or other affiliate links. Then I want to paste the article into the post. Or maybe the other way around; the order isn't important.

There may not be anything wrong with this at all; it might even by typical. It's just that as someone who writes many articles myself, it seems like I'd be taking someone's content and burying it in a way that they would not be gaining much benefit from it. The fact is, I want to target my own keywords in my posts, not their's. But if I used their article title as the title for my blog post, I feel like I wouldn't be gaining enough benefit to make it worthwhile.

I hope this question makes sense. I'd appreciate feedback from other writers or blog publishers.

[SmartEntrepreneur]

Plagarism is the biggest key to avoid...as you referenced.

What I would do, is use your new title...then the first sentence say:

Reprinted from: "Old Title" by _____.

Then make sure they still get credit at the bottom.

I think that is a fair and reasonable way to change title's on an article.

Alternatively, just rewrite the article, in your own words, but based on the information in the original article. Then add your own title, and submit to article directories yourself.

[LarryC]

Actually, I did not even plan to change the title of the article. I would use my own title for the blog post and then reprint the article intact, including the original title in the middle of my post.

This is one niche where rewriting is difficult, at least for me --cooking and recipes. I do a bit of cooking, but I'd have a hard time writing up a recipe for anything. I should probably get some PLR like Smart Entrepreneur is marketing, lol.

[Tsnyder]

I'm reluctant to respond here because I'm not at all close
to being an expert on this subject but common sense tells
me what you propose seems perfectly fine.

You're going to use their contact fully intact including their
contact/bio box so I really don't see where there would be a
problem.

Tsnyder

[SmartEntrepreneur]

LARRY C: "I should probably get some PLR like Smart Entrepreneur is marketing, lol."


You could certainly do that...I won't object <wink>...

If you are leaving their article completely intact, then you are fine to make the blog post title whatever you want. The title is YOUR "intellectual property".

It sounds like everything you are trying to do is legit, ethical, etc. It is cool though, that you paused to ask...many people wouldn't have. In a world where content is king...character is often forgotten...Kudos.

[adamv]

Originally Posted by LarryC

I haven't done much reprinting of articles from directories, but right now I have a site where I'm really not qualified to write the content myself and don't feel like paying anyone.

You may not be qualified to write the content yourself but I wouldn't put too much faith in some random person from EZA either.

[Frank Donovan]

Larry, not only is what you propose legitimate, but IMO, it's the preferred way to incorporate others' articles on your page.

Whenever I've included an outside article, I've "topped and tailed" it with a few of my own sentences. I feel that makes it a more natural part of my own site and it blends in better with the existing content.

As long as the resource box is kept intact, I believe this benefits both parties.


Frank

[All Night Cafe]

Yea, go ahead with your thinking, your not doing anything
wrong as long as you leave their bio box.

An added plus for you. You get Goole luv because their article is
got good keywords in it. The added content you are targeting
will have different keywords.

Double keyword juice. Powerful Double benefit.

[Sparhawke]

I do this all the time on my forum, the important thing to remember though is if you got the article from ANYWHERE on the internet then you link back to them.

Most authors of articles would be chuffed to bits that others are talking about them and quoting them but they would not be if you simply steal their traffic without giving something back.

It is also perfectly fine to state that you have reworded it for clarity as I also do this on occasion.

Giving a link back to the original source also negates the copyright issues as you are fully acknowledging their rights.

[LarryC]

Originally Posted by All Night Cafe

Yea, go ahead with your thinking, your not doing anything
wrong as long as you leave their bio box.

An added plus for you. You get Goole luv because their article is
got good keywords in it. The added content you are targeting
will have different keywords.

Double keyword juice. Powerful Double benefit.

I'm not sure about how good this is for SEO purposes. You do have keywords, but you are also using duplicate content with links pointing elsewhere. I've tried autoblogging where I got lots of free content, mostly in the form of articles, but if this is all I did my page rank and traffic went down in every case. That's actually another reason I prefer to add my own words to a post in addition to an article, though I don't know if this would make it appear to be original content or not.

All in all, my feeling is that it's best to use duplicate content sparingly. Even if there is "no penalty" as everyone keeps saying, there's no reward either, and this in a way is almost the same as a penalty when you consider that you are competing with other sites in your niche who will pass you by if they use original content. Of course, this is a whole other subject from my original inquiry.

[Hamish Jones]

Are you reading the terms of service for the article directories that you are taking the articles from?

People write articles for directories knowing (hoping!) that other sites might pick these articles up with their links, but you would need to see whether what you are doing breaches the site rules where you took the article from.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

I'm reluctant to respond here because I'm not at all close to being an expert on this subject but common sense tells me what you propose seems perfectly fine.

I completely agree.

You're going to quote someone's title, article and resource-box all together and all in that order, aren't you? It doesn't say anywhere that you can't do so in the middle of a blog post. I certainly wouldn't be complaining if I'd written the article.

[bretski]

If it were my article I would be fine with that also. I have also done this on a few of my sites... introduced the article like: "I found a very informative article that I felt you might be interested in..." or "...from our guest author". I always include the authors bio box with all links live too. I think it does help with SEO if you have outbound links to other relevant pages, although SEO isn't really my bag.

Just keep the links live and normal size and you'd be fine if it was my article. I found one of my articles last week on a site with the font so small you couldn't read it! GRRRR!

[LarryC]

Originally Posted by Hamish Jones

Are you reading the terms of service for the article directories that you are taking the articles from?

People write articles for directories knowing (hoping!) that other sites might pick these articles up with their links, but you would need to see whether what you are doing breaches the site rules where you took the article from.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

Yes, terms of service all simply say that you must reprint it in full and include the resource box. That's about it, except that Ezinearticles limits how many articles you can use.

[LarryC]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I completely agree.

You're going to quote someone's title, article and resource-box all together and all in that order, aren't you? It doesn't say anywhere that you can't do so in the middle of a blog post. I certainly wouldn't be complaining if I'd written the article.

Thanks, I wanted to know how writers felt about this.

[Dennis Gaskill]

Originally Posted by Sparhawke

I do this all the time on my forum, the important thing to remember though is if you got the article from ANYWHERE on the internet then you link back to them.

Most authors of articles would be chuffed to bits that others are talking about them and quoting them but they would not be if you simply steal their traffic without giving something back.

It is also perfectly fine to state that you have reworded it for clarity as I also do this on occasion.

Giving a link back to the original source also negates the copyright issues as you are fully acknowledging their rights.

I don't know where you got that information from but it's wrong.

You cannot legally take content from anywhere you want, whether you link back to the source or not. You must have permission to use someone else's intellectual property. The advice you offered could get you in serious trouble. Owning the copyright means you have the RIGHT to say where and when the copy is used!

[Glenn Leader]

Hi Larry,

Yes you can do this, it's called article wrapping, and something I
discuss with my clients.

Here's a link to an ebook I provide as part of a paid course that will
help. It's not written by me, but I do have give away rights to it.

HTTP://cloudzero.co.uk/slobs/article-wrapping.pdf

There's no signup

HTH

Glenn

[Glenn Leader]

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

I don't know where you got that information from but it's wrong.

You cannot legally take content from anywhere you want, whether you link back to the source or not. You must have permission to use someone else's intellectual property. The advice you offered could get you in serious trouble. Owning the copyright means you have the RIGHT to say where and when the copy is used!

Well said Dennis. With all the resources available today, there isn't even
a need to steal somebodies work, you can easily use legitimate content.

Glenn

[cashcow]

Personally I would love it if people did this with my articles.

What I usually do if I use an article from an article directory is I make my own post with a paragraph or whatever and then I say 'Here's a great article by Author Name on the subject" and paste the full article with the resource box.

Lee

[eibhlin]

Originally Posted by cashcow

Personally I would love it if people did this with my articles.
...
Lee

I agree 100%. I've been a Platinum writer at EZA for years, and I'm thrilled when people reprint my articles. As long as they're intact, that's what matters.

In fact, I don't even flinch when someone prefaces my articles with "Stupidest. Article. Ever." *LOL* (Okay, I've never seen that, and it might bother me a little... but I'd still be happy that they reprinted my article, intact.)

It's one of those situations where, as the cliche goes, I don't care what you say about me, as long as you spell my name right.

Keep my articles intact -- including my footer -- and I'm happy whenever it's used, online or off-.

[jaykay21089]

Hey LarryC,

Just go with your gut on this one. Do you think it would be right to do what you said? I'm not condemning you, it might just sound that way =p. But yeah, use common sense and think whether you'd like it done to you if you were that person who articles were being "reappropriated" .

Cheers,

-Johnson.

[lklein]

Write whatever content you want, but then you should post the auther's article exactly as the original including the headline.

You can have your own headline, then your comments or content, ads, etc.

After this just include the entire article with the headline. and byline.

Lambert

[LarryC]

Originally Posted by cashcow

Personally I would love it if people did this with my articles.

What I usually do if I use an article from an article directory is I make my own post with a paragraph or whatever and then I say 'Here's a great article by Author Name on the subject" and paste the full article with the resource box.

Lee

Lee, yes, that's exactly what I was talking about

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by cashcow

Personally I would love it if people did this with my articles.

What I usually do if I use an article from an article directory is I make my own post with a paragraph or whatever and then I say 'Here's a great article by Author Name on the subject" and paste the full article with the resource box.

Lee

This used to be considered the right way to do things, rather than relying purely on copy&paste to populate a site with content.

On a side note, recognizing and acknowledging the expertise of others is one good way of building your perception of expertise.

"Larry says it's good, and I think it's good, so Larry must know what he's talking about..." is the thought process you want. And doing things as you propose furthers that much better than just substituting a few words and calling it a 'rewrite'...

[willies]

Always endeavour to give credit to whom it is due. There is nothing wrong in letting people know you got an article from a source. You can still use your keywords in the article but also give credit to whom you used his/her article.

[Dave Hardin]

As a Platinum writer on EZA and one of the top 25 providers on oDesk, I want to thank you for being concerned about this!
During the past 30 years I have seen my words appear in some strange forms in some very strange places. The only time I take exception is when someone strips my name out and replaces it with their own.
I prefer to see my work republished on a blog, with or without a new title, preface, or critique, than to publish it on some low ranking article directory that turns every keyword into a hyperlink to one of their own products.
I have had bloggers contact me, asking for permission to edit one of my articles to fit into a small space. More often than not, I volunteer to do this for them.
Again - thanks for asking - and for caring. Your post makes you one of the "Good Guys"

[bretski]

Originally Posted by Sparhawke

I do this all the time on my forum, the important thing to remember though is if you got the article from ANYWHERE on the internet then you link back to them.

Most authors of articles would be chuffed to bits that others are talking about them and quoting them but they would not be if you simply steal their traffic without giving something back.

It is also perfectly fine to state that you have reworded it for clarity as I also do this on occasion.

Giving a link back to the original source also negates the copyright issues as you are fully acknowledging their rights.

Yikes! Yeah.... that is some advice that could get you in a lot of trouble. Nothing negates copyright

[Jamie Starr]

Here's A Tip For You...

You want content you can use for your blogs?

Start your own subscriber list, then post your
emails to your blog. This is original content.

What you proposed to do is copyright infringement.

[Kate C]

You can get private label rights to articles and you can legally do anything you want to do with them including rewriting and and putting your name as the author.This is what a lot of people do with their articles. You can also hire someone to write the articles for you very inexpensively.

[Glenn Leader]

Originally Posted by Jamie Starr

8< snipped

What you proposed to do is copyright infringement.

Where on Earth did you get this rubbish from? Have you been reading this thread?

[silvervixen]

So long as you leave the original article in tact, with all links included, you're fine. (With respect to articles from the article directories.)

When you're talking about content lifted from other people's blogs, you need to be sure that you give credit to the author and a link back to the source. Fair use allows you to quote others' content so long as you give them credit. It is not copyright infringement, any more than quoting a source with proper citation is when writing term papers or a news story.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by silvervixen

So long as you leave the original article in tact, with all links included, you're fine. (With respect to articles from the article directories.)

When you're talking about content lifted from other people's blogs, you need to be sure that you give credit to the author and a link back to the source. Fair use allows you to quote others' content so long as you give them credit. It is not copyright infringement, any more than quoting a source with proper citation is when writing term papers or a news story.

Fair Use does not mean copying the entire text.

For publishers this means you must be very careful of appropriating enough of another's copyrighted work for your own use, in the hope that your use will be protected by fair use, especially if the new work becomes a substitute for, or makes the purchase unnecessary of, the appropriated copyrighted work itself. This use would certainly not be sanctioned as fair use.

Courts have expressed this standard by finding that the unauthorized use is not fair use if the unauthorized use tends to lessen or negatively impact the potential sale of the original copyrighted work, interferes with the marketability of the work, or fulfills the demand for the original copyrighted work.

(Italics mine)

How Much of Someone Else's Work May I Use Without Asking Permission?: The Fair Use Doctrine, Part I

By this definition, one could argue that by reading an article on your site (linked or not) you are making it unnecessary to visit the original author's site. Diverting the traffic in this way lessens the value of whatever monetization may be in place on the original author's site, making your copying of the entire article copyright infringement.

In plain English, just linking to a source does not give you a license to copy whatever you want from anywhere you want.

Edit:

Here it is, straight from the horse's mouth...

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

[LeeMasterson]

Here's an excerpt from Ezine Articles Terms of Service for Publishers. I'd read it carefully before deciding what you want to do with any reprinted articles from there.


If you wish to publish/reprint any article from our site in your ezine, website, blog, forum, RSS feed or print publication, you must:

• Respect the copyrights of the authors by publishing the entire article as it is with no changes.
• Agree to include the FULL Resource box or SIG line at the end of the article.
• Agree not to change the title or content of the article in any way.
• Agree to make all links so that they are Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.
• Agree to include the article source credit below each article reprinted with the link active:
  
  Article Source: EzineArticles.com
• Agree to not put any of the articles found on this site to any web site that also contains warez, illegal mp3 or other files, instructions on how to make bombs or steal, or expressions that promote hatred or profanity or racism or bigotry, or contains pornography or exploits children or animals or any human, or any other unlawful activities.
• Agree to never reprint any article from this site via any unsolicited email, spamming, or pop up ads.
• Agree to never sell any article from the EzineArticles.com directory.
• Agree to never charge others to view any article you reprint from our directory.
• Agree to limit the number of articles reprinted to no greater than taking 25 articles from our site per calendar year per unique domain that you own. In addition, for domain owners of many domains, you may not reprint more than 250 articles per year (10 sites x 25 articles reprinted per domain).
• Agree to not include the rel=nofollow tag in your HREF statements.
• Agree to not use any content from our site in audio or video derivatives whatsoever.
• Agree to never translate any content from our site in any language. You may not create derivative works from any of our content.
• Agree to not add any active links to any article you reprint from our site. This unethical behavior would lead someone to believe falsely that the author of the article endorses the active link when in fact there is no truth to that.
• Agree to never reprint any author photo or images found on our site.

I hope this helps,
Lee

[sylviad]

Originally Posted by LarryC

...What I want to do, however, is use an article for a blog post but I want to write my own title -not the title from the article I want to use. Then I want to write maybe a few paragraphs of my own content followed by an Amazon widget or other affiliate links. Then I want to paste the article into the post. Or maybe the other way around; the order isn't important.

There may not be anything wrong with this at all; it might even by typical. It's just that as someone who writes many articles myself, it seems like I'd be taking someone's content and burying it in a way that they would not be gaining much benefit from it. The fact is, I want to target my own keywords in my posts, not their's. But if I used their article title as the title for my blog post, I feel like I wouldn't be gaining enough benefit to make it worthwhile...

LarryC... A couple of things jump out at me.

It sounds like you want to add something to the content portion of the article along with your own affiliate links.

If I were the writer of that article, I would strongly object to this as it detracts from the links I will include in the resource box, and you are changing what I said... yet you are putting MY name on it as required by EA terms. You CANNOT put someone else's name on something you have tampered with... unless you get the original author's permission to do so.


What you CAN do, however, is leave the entire article (title, content, resource box) intact and do whatever you wish before and after it. In other words, give your blog post title whatever works for your keyword optimization efforts.

1. Write an opening para again targeting your keyword.
2. Write a summation para after the article resource box and target your keyword again.
3. Add your own affiliate links after the article/resource box (or in your opening para if you want) so that everything you took from EA stays together and original.

That way, you get the best of both worlds:
1) an article on a topic you cannot write yourself
2) an article that meets the EA TOS reprint rights rules
3) a keyword targeted post that suits your needs
4) a legal way to add your own affiliate links - anchor text, even.

Then, you have absolutely no worries from the writer or EA (or whatever article directory you get it from).

And... as someone already said about getting articles ANYWHERE and using them freely as long as you acknowledge the source - is NOT true or acceptable. You MUST ask the writer or the site owner for permission to use the article UNLESS it is stated somewhere on the site that you have free use of the site's content. In most cases, they will allow you to use the article as long as you give them the backlink... BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK.

Whatever you do, DO NOT do what one user did with one of my articles. He tampered with the resource box by turning one of my keyword phrases into hypertext pointing to an affiliate program he was promoting which happened to be the same one I was promoting in the article. I reported him to EA and they took care of it for me.

Yes, he kept the rest of my article and resource box intact, but he redirected some portion of the resource box to his own affiliate link. You can't do that. For one thing, it's just not fair play.

Sylvia

[bretski]

I think this thread got a little off topic... but while we're here!

Using someone's copyrighted work for a term paper is a little different than a marketer lifting it for content for his site. There are laws and we're not pirates here. Try lifting an article off of one of the big boys sites like The Wall Street Journal or Money without requesting permission to use their copyrighted works in whole or in part and see how many lawyers can fit... you know where.

[sylviad]

Originally Posted by silvervixen

So long as you leave the original article in tact, with all links included, you're fine. (With respect to articles from the article directories.)

When you're talking about content lifted from other people's blogs, you need to be sure that you give credit to the author and a link back to the source. Fair use allows you to quote others' content so long as you give them credit. It is not copyright infringement, any more than quoting a source with proper citation is when writing term papers or a news story.

Not quite. In "Fair Use", you can quote "portions" of someone's work and give credit, but you cannot take an entire article and do that. Even the portion that you "borrow" can only be a very small per cent. It's been a long time since I dealt with this issue so I'm a bit sketchy on actual details, but that is either a per cent of the original or as a per cent of your entire work into which you are placing the "borrowed" bit. For instance, it cannot occupy 1/2 or 2/3 of your own work.

Either way, it's basically the same... snippets vs whole articles. There are other criteria involved, too, but I don't remember them. It has to do with "why" you are quoting - a) to backup your own statements, b) to use as an example - of a writing style or a person's work, for example.

Sylvia

[Carl Pruitt]

You might even want to consider contacting the original owner and asking if they would rewrite the article a little so that your article isn't exactly the same as the article directory version. Many would be happy to.

[LarryC]

Originally Posted by sylviad

LarryC... A couple of things jump out at me.

It sounds like you want to add something to the content portion of the article along with your own affiliate links.

If I were the writer of that article, I would strongly object to this as it detracts from the links I will include in the resource box, and you are changing what I said... yet you are putting MY name on it as required by EA terms. You CANNOT put someone else's name on something you have tampered with... unless you get the original author's permission to do so.


What you CAN do, however, is leave the entire article (title, content, resource box) intact and do whatever you wish before and after it. In other words, give your blog post title whatever works for your keyword optimization efforts.

1. Write an opening para again targeting your keyword.
2. Write a summation para after the article resource box and target your keyword again.
3. Add your own affiliate links after the article/resource box (or in your opening para if you want) so that everything you took from EA stays together and original.

That way, you get the best of both worlds:
1) an article on a topic you cannot write yourself
2) an article that meets the EA TOS reprint rights rules
3) a keyword targeted post that suits your needs
4) a legal way to add your own affiliate links - anchor text, even.

Then, you have absolutely no worries from the writer or EA (or whatever article directory you get it from).

And... as someone already said about getting articles ANYWHERE and using them freely as long as you acknowledge the source - is NOT true or acceptable. You MUST ask the writer or the site owner for permission to use the article UNLESS it is stated somewhere on the site that you have free use of the site's content. In most cases, they will allow you to use the article as long as you give them the backlink... BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK.

Whatever you do, DO NOT do what one user did with one of my articles. He tampered with the resource box by turning one of my keyword phrases into hypertext pointing to an affiliate program he was promoting which happened to be the same one I was promoting in the article. I reported him to EA and they took care of it for me.

Yes, he kept the rest of my article and resource box intact, but he redirected some portion of the resource box to his own affiliate link. You can't do that. For one thing, it's just not fair play.

Sylvia

Sylvia,

I wasn't going to change the article at all, only add text and links either before or after the intact article. And of course, changing the links in the resource box is completely hijacking the writer's article.

[enco22]

If you add their contact bio info shouldn't be any problem, or you always ask for their permission

[silvervixen]

Wow, I left this thread and got smacked down! If what you say is true, then there are a lot of blogs that are violating copyright. I think fair use is a matter open to interpretation, and like has been said, it depends on what type of content you are using and the reason you are using it.

As a writer myself, I can tell you this about my work: if you want to use anything from my blogs, you may use it so long as you give credit and a link back to me. I blog to sell things, so I want the exposure. If you want to use my articles from the article directories, then all you have to do is leave the resource box in tact. That's part of the terms of use we agree to when we submit to the article directories. Furthermore, we WANT our work used.

One other point jumps out at me: a lot of blogs are using content from article directories, which is not the exclusive property of that blogger. So copying and using that content is certainly allowed, per the terms of the article directory it came from. Just leave the links in tact and the article may used by anyone for any reason. In fact, it is the dream of most article marketers to have their work picked up over and over again. That's exposure, and it's a good thing.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by enco22

If you add their contact bio info shouldn't be any problem, or you always ask for their permission

Not "or" - AND. And wait until you get that permission - just asking isn't enough.

Originally Posted by silvervixen

Wow, I left this thread and got smacked down! If what you say is true, then there are a lot of blogs that are violating copyright. I think fair use is a matter open to interpretation, and like has been said, it depends on what type of content you are using and the reason you are using it.

Sounds like you are interpreting "fair use" to mean anything you choose to do with other people's content. And yes, there are a lot of blogs violating copyright. Just because it exists doesn't make it right.

As a writer myself, I can tell you this about my work: if you want to use anything from my blogs, you may use it so long as you give credit and a link back to me. I blog to sell things, so I want the exposure. If you want to use my articles from the article directories, then all you have to do is leave the resource box in tact. That's part of the terms of use we agree to when we submit to the article directories. Furthermore, we WANT our work used.

You are well within your rights to choose this level of copyright protection. No argument here. Others choose to be more stringent with their permission, which is their right. For example, if I do a tutorial article on how to hack a piece of code for a website, I don't want that tutorial showing up on a "how to pirate for fun and profit" site even if they do link back to me. And that's my choice.

One other point jumps out at me: a lot of blogs are using content from article directories, which is not the exclusive property of that blogger. So copying and using that content is certainly allowed, per the terms of the article directory it came from. Just leave the links in tact and the article may used by anyone for any reason. In fact, it is the dream of most article marketers to have their work picked up over and over again. That's exposure, and it's a good thing.

As you say, syndicating content from the article directories is a different animal. They are specifically set up to allow and facilitate syndication. That's not the same as lifting whole articles from blogs or other sites, adding a link and calling it fair use.

[silvervixen]

Sounds like you are interpreting "fair use" to mean anything you choose to do with other people's content. And yes, there are a lot of blogs violating copyright. Just because it exists doesn't make it right.

No, I am not. All I am saying is that copyright law, backed up by that link you provided, is not black and white. While not all usage constitutes "fair use," neither does it constitute copyright infringement.

This is just my opinion, but I think we've become over-sensitized by the concept of copyright. For example, someone uses a popular song to create his own video and uploads it on YouTube. Because of all the hoopla about copyright, it gets pulled. This is the kind of stuff that makes me scratch my head and wonder where we are going.

As you say, syndicating content from the article directories is a different animal. They are specifically set up to allow and facilitate syndication. That's not the same as lifting whole articles from blogs or other sites, adding a link and calling it fair use.

My point was that a lot of blogs get their content from the article directories. None of these blogs have any claim of copyright on that content at all. Sometimes, it can be hard to tell which it is, especially in the "make money" niche. Just food for thought.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by silvervixen

My point was that a lot of blogs get their content from the article directories. None of these blogs have any claim of copyright on that content at all. Sometimes, it can be hard to tell which it is, especially in the "make money" niche. Just food for thought.

Unless there is some indication that the article came from an article directory (like the "Article Source: EzineArticles.com" link you are supposed to use), you can't just guess. It's a convenient rationalization to say "that article might have come from a directory which allows syndication, so I'll copy it."

Even if the article originally came from an article directory, the author still holds the copyright to that work. If you get the article from the directory, you have a license to use it according to the directory's TOS. If you want to use syndicated articles, get them from the source - either the original author or the syndicating directory.

You are correct insofar as the blog owner using syndicated content not having any claim of copyright, but that doesn't make it public domain available to anyone who wants to copy it.

[deckman]

I started a thread <a href=http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/168101-someone-using-my-article-no-linking-back-eza-what-do.html>HERE</a> about having an article of mine that had been reused and my bio had been ripped out. I also found a couple of articles that had been reused with my bio intact.
To me it is dead wrong for someone to benefit from stealing from you but when it does happen you have to ask yourself is worth the time and effort to go after the low life's?
Even though my first thought is to pull a Rambo on them I think that at this point in my IM career its not worth my time.

[deckman]

Ooops! That works on craigslist but hey I am only a carpenter trying to learn here.

[BonganiS]

I think you can go ahead with what you are thinking. But ensure to keep the resource box intact especially if most of the information you have used is from the other Writer's work. In this case you both benefit.

Elphas

[Glenn Leader]

Originally Posted by deckman

Ooops! That works on craigslist but hey I am only a carpenter trying to learn here.

Hi Deckman,

If you paste the URL verbatim, by default, WF
will parse the link, make it clickable, and use
the pages' title where available.

HTH

Glenn

[deckman]

Hi Glenn, I really have done this before. It was a long day.

Here is the link Someone is using my Article and no Linking Back to EZA. What to do?