Why Are Some Affiliates So Lazy or am I Stupid?

40 replies
Before going to bed tonight I decided to check google and see where some of my articles are ranking. It's always nice when I see articles that I have written and submitted to directories that are picked up by other blogs and sites BUT nothing pi$$es me off more than when some lazy affiliate snags my article, throws a bunch of his or her own links into my articles and then makes my resource box so friggin' small that it is unreadable!!!

I found three of my articles from one niche on some jacka$$e$ site all with 8-10 of his or her affiliate links peppered throughout it and my resource box so small that it just looks like a line. It doesn't even look like text!

I have given him or her 24 hours to either fix the articles or remove them or I will be contacting their host, CB and the vendor.

This type of garbage happens to me every week. Every week I go through and find 4 or 5 sites with my articles *******ized or even worse. Some without the resource box, some with a paragraph or two "spun". Some take the stuff down and apologize and some get taken down by the host.

What is it with people? If you don't know how to write then take a course or read a book. Practice writing every day. If you're just too lazy to write your own content the pay someone to write it for you.

Or is it just me? Am I the only one that tries to write anymore? Am I the jackass for writing my own original content and hand submitting it to a handful of article directories..plodding along every night and every weekend...not wanting to blast 10-20 spun articles a day to 100+ article directories and blogs and then bookmark the crap out of them.

Maybe I should just hang it up and set up 100 autoblogs with a plugin that will throw my cloaked affiliate link into each and every paragraph and spend my nights veggin in front of the tv? Is that what article marketing and affiliate marketing is all about these days? If it is and if that is the way to building an online business I wish that someone would clue me in because I'm tired....
#affiliates #lazy #stupid
  • Profile picture of the author Mokai
    I know how frustrating it is my friend, but unfortunalty we work in the wild wild west perse where most people can do what every they want and get away with it, you can try pursuing those actions but it might just waste more time then do any real good. Its just the nature of this industry imagine working on creative, never before done landers that take you hours of brain storming and copy writing then you see the same thing ripped within a few hours :/

    i have considered using nicky cakes LP protecting script but i have read it doesnt really do that much good
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  • Profile picture of the author ArticlePrince
    I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
    Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author George Wright
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      OK ArticlePrince,

      You win,

      Now I've heard it all.

      George Wright
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      • Profile picture of the author Naimath
        Damn, that's frustrating.

        It happened with me as well, for a couple of times. The irritating part is that, you can't really fix that issue permanently. All you have to do is keep writing more and more; and increase your marketing efforts to drive more traffic to your articles.
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    • Profile picture of the author dave147
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      Now that's funny Did you get a DMCA notice yet?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      Bretski,

      I understand how frustrated you feel, but in a way you're lucky. A lot schmucks would have just removed your bio altogether.

      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      Oh man, I don't like that word: ethics-free.

      It makes it sound like something desirable. Smoke-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, sugar-free, etc. Can we use ethics-challenged from here on?
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      • Profile picture of the author dave147
        Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

        Bretski,

        Oh man, I don't like that word: ethics-free.

        It makes it sound like something desirable. Smoke-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, sugar-free, etc. Can we use ethics-challenged from here on?
        or...ethics-ignorant
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        • Profile picture of the author CianMcCarthy
          Banned
          Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

          or...ethics-ignorant
          scumbags anyone?
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      • Profile picture of the author jdenc
        Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

        Bretski,

        I understand how frustrated you feel, but in a way you're lucky. A lot schmucks would have just removed your bio altogether.



        Oh man, I don't like that word: ethics-free.

        It makes it sound like something desirable. Smoke-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, sugar-free, etc. Can we use ethics-challenged from here on?
        How about we drop the PC stuff and call them what they are? In this case thieves. In general lying, cheating scum.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      lol ... now that is priceless.
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    • Profile picture of the author ebizman87
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      Maybe that person might have outsourced the article writing stuff to another writer..and probably that article writer might have just COPY pasted your articles and submitted it to the boss stating that he or she has written the articles

      Well there're a lot of possibilities you know...
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        bretski, I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a minute...

        There are two issues in your original post:

        1. Peppering an article republished on their website with their links.
        2. Reformatting the resource box to make it unreadable.

        Let's start with the first one. My guess would be that the people adding links to your articles are using a keyword plugin of some sort. They think that, because they have not changed any of the words or removed your links, they are free to add their own.

        Article directories position themselves as places people can go to find articles and other content for their sites, as long as they follow the published rules. To the letter.

        They don't perceive that they are doing anything wrong. You posted an article for the purpose of having it republished, and they republished your article. They believe they've lived up to their end of the bargain, and deserve to profit from that bargain just as you hoped to do.

        Let's look at number 2. It sounds like some of the forum lawyers who look for loopholes in the TOS of every website they use. If you read the TOS of most article sites, they stipulate that the author box must be included, live links and all. Most also allow the article to be formatted to fit with the site. They can make the argument that their site theme takes all author boxes and re-formats them, while leaving words and links intact. Thus they are complying (barely) with the TOS of the syndicating site.

        I'm not saying they are right or wrong. I'm saying many of them are not lazy or "ethics-free" - they simply think they've found a way to work smarter rather than harder.

        Notice that I didn't apply any of the above to the people that strip out links or entire author boxes. Nor did I mention those who simply spin a few paragraphs. Those rejects know exactly what they are doing, and deserve the scorn heaped on them by earlier posters.

        The rest are simply too clever for their own good. And, as you've mentioned, some are willing to make adjustments when things are explained to them properly...
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    • Profile picture of the author BryansFitWorld
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      I had someone take 650 of my articles, put them on their site, then send me an order to take mine down... Apparently they didn't get how timestamps work. Very, very annoying. No matter what the industry is, there will be lazy, ethics-free people that are happy to piggyback off of the work of others.
      Every time it starts to bother me, I just write more :-)
      now that really made me giggle, its like saying, Hey JK rowling! I took your harry potter book and retitled it "harri poffer" and Im selling it online so if you don't mind can you take your your book off the shelves before I call the police?

      It makes no logical sense!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Arun Pal Singh
    Whatever may be case, it is also right that if you start going after these people, it creates a huge burden on your already constrained time.

    I would rather ignore them.

    It does put you off but I think ignoring is the best policy.
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    • Profile picture of the author numba8
      Originally Posted by Arun Pal Singh View Post

      Whatever may be case, it is also right that if you start going after these people, it creates a huge burden on your already constrained time.

      I would rather ignore them.

      It does put you off but I think ignoring is the best policy.
      If it happens to you every week like you said, is it still worth your time to go after them?
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Benjamin
    Originally Posted by bretski View Post

    Before going to bed tonight I decided to check google and see where some of my articles are ranking. It's always nice when I see articles that I have written and submitted to directories that are picked up by other blogs and sites BUT nothing pi$ me off more than when some lazy affiliate snags my article, throws a bunch of his or her own links into my articles and then makes my resource box so friggin' small that it is unreadable!!!

    I found three of my articles from one niche on some jacka$$ site all with 8-10 of his or her affiliate links peppered throughout it and my resource box so small that it just looks like a line. It doesn't even look like text!

    I have given him or her 24 hours to either fix the articles or remove them or I will be contacting their host, CB and the vendor.

    This type of garbage happens to me every week. Every week I go through and find 4 or 5 sites with my articles *******ized or even worse. Some without the resource box, some with a paragraph or two "spun". Some take the stuff down and apologize and some get taken down by the host.

    What is it with people? If you don't know how to write then take a course or read a book. Practice writing every day. If you're just too lazy to write your own content the pay someone to write it for you.

    Or is it just me? Am I the only one that tries to write anymore? Am I the jackass for writing my own original content and hand submitting it to a handful of article directories..plodding along every night and every weekend...not wanting to blast 10-20 spun articles a day to 100+ article directories and blogs and then bookmark the crap out of them.

    Maybe I should just hang it up and set up 100 autoblogs with a plugin that will throw my cloaked affiliate link into each and every paragraph and spend my nights veggin in front of the tv? Is that what article marketing and affiliate marketing is all about these days? If it is and if that is the way to building an online business I wish that someone would clue me in because I'm tired....
    Sounds like your having a bad day. (laughing)

    Your wasting your time. You will always run
    across situations like this. Consider it flatery
    of your work. Clearly, your doing something
    they aren't. But...why waste your energy when
    you could be busy getting rich?

    But that's just me
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  • Profile picture of the author eaglechick
    Or ethics-vultures - only vultures rips off other peoples work!

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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
      only vultures rips off other peoples work - Bill Gates
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      • Profile picture of the author theverysmartguy
        Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post

        only vultures rips off other peoples work - Bill Gates
        Bill Gates said that? I guess that makes him a Vulture eh?
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        • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
          Originally Posted by theverysmartguy View Post

          Bill Gates said that? I guess that makes him a Vulture eh?
          lol.. Touche...

          That is so true.
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  • Profile picture of the author abbie kye
    Very interesting thread. Got on to google to see if anyone was using any of ssmy articles - found one where there was no resource box but a link back to the original ezine article!
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  • Profile picture of the author andr3w84
    Yep this tends to happen sort of frequently, and well I'd say some affiliates are lazy AND stupid.
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  • Profile picture of the author redfoxseo
    Some are, However I would also look at it as flattery myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenwrites
    Flattery? Well, ok I can see the flattery part for about a second.

    It's theft. Plagiarism. Plain and simple.

    I would go after them if the theft starts to damage your credibility within the niche community you are writing for. That's just my two cents worth.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Rufus
    Bretski,

    What they've done is wrong but you hit on a good point.

    This is not across the board but when people become affiliates, even when they are product creators themselves, it becomes an instant change in mindset.

    They do become lazy. Not everyone but some.

    In your case it's content writing and ripping that off if just stupid.

    But when you think about it, an affiliate program is normally filled with things like emails that you can rip and put straight into your autoresponder, or blog post that you can rip and post straight on your blog.

    Product owners know this change in mindset happens and just try to make it as easy as possible for the affiliates so they have to do as little work as possible.

    Sometimes, they can't even be bothered to sign up for their own affiliate link and so you have to create that for them as well and then send it to them, WITH the emails and blog posts!

    I'm not knocking it too much though because it makes good business sense as a product creator to make it as easy for your affiliates to promote your product as possible.

    All you can hope is that they do it in the MOST ETHICAL WAY POSSIBLE and not just steal articles and rip them off completely, not even keeping the resource box in tact.

    Reach new heights my friend.

    Nathan
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    • Profile picture of the author Fenshon
      Since this is the case and it is unethical, is there any software that can help one to find his/her articles, then track how it is being used? It can also automatically report back to the appropriate authorities. This shd not be left to continue.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    This happens ALL the time.

    I can fully appreciate why some people would chase after these ethically-challenged affiliates, but personally... I prefer to focus on my own work and spend my time increasing my business.

    Time spent on chasing lazy, cheap ass people like this is time wasted, imho.

    I'm not saying mine is the "best" way, but it works for me.

    I value my insanity very much, I drive myself insane, no need to let somebody else do it too!
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    • Profile picture of the author OLOORE
      Originally Posted by redfoxseo View Post

      Some are, However I would also look at it as flattery myself.

      Calling what is been perpetuated flattery I believe is been extremely humorous. If it is not tagged evil, it's evidently madness and heart rendering. There must be a way to curb this horrifying incidences.

      As for today, Articleprince has consoled us, giving us great suggestion of how to keep a step ahead of this evil
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  • Profile picture of the author schu31
    It is very annoying and pathetic when people come and take your articles. All I recommened is to still look towards creative ideas. These people who take articles quiet obviously don't possess your talent and are not honorable enough to pay for articles. In the long run they will fall flat! because people are not as stupid as some like to think. Just keep at your articles and know you will remain in the industry. Do what you feel you have to do, deal with this problem then plug right back in there and show them (your a hard one to knock down).

    P.S I hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author samuraiwriting
    That's happened to me before too but at least the person credited me and linked to my site. That totally sucks though. I wonder if there is a way to report them or create some kind of legal letter to send to them saying they violated the copyright law and they owe you $15,000 unless they take the letters off of their site. Even if you don't go through with it, you can create an impressive letter to send to those jerks and scare the pee out of them. That's worth it at least.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Harvey
    I would still see it as theft...especially if I wrote the article or paid someone to do it. If it is on ezinearticles, then people can sort of do with it as they please... but they must include the resource box somewhere that points out that you wrote the article.

    I think the best bet in the long run is to point out that you are the rightful owner since EzineArticles do not accept duplicates from other sites unless it's your own if I am not mistaken.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    I disagree with everyone that tells you to ignore it. That may make the most business sense and be the best use of your time but there is more to it than that. I post a copyright symbol and the CopyScape logo on every single page on my website. I take every single article I write seriously - maybe not as much as a poet or a songwriter but pretty close. I have put a lot of time, energy, research and creativity into the writing. If someone steals something from your house they can be tried and convicted. I wish there was more a person could do to stop these thieves and that there were stronger laws that actually worked.
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  • Profile picture of the author eaglechick
    This is what happened to one of my best performing articles in the "most viewed" section - Ok - he used my pen name from EZA and left the resource box intact, but obviously used a spinner to produce this complete mess. If he had just left the QUOTES intact! It was put on a one page blog with no privacy/contact details.

    WEDDING SPEECHES

    THIS IS WHAT I FOUND ON HIS/HER BLOG

    "It is usually best to alpha your accent with a funny and befuddled one-liner. This will act as a abundant ice-breaker and set the affection for the blow of your speech. One liners are perfect, because they are abbreviate and to the point. Accomplish abiding the one-liners you use breeze calmly and by itself into your speech. Tie your one-liners to the benedict or brace and put your claimed blow to it. Here is a few examples of one liners you can use in your speech:

    “Before alliance a man will lie alive all night cerebration about something you said; afterwards alliance he’ll abatement comatose afore you accomplishment adage it.” – Helen Roland

    “In adjustment to be blessed with a man, you have to accept him a lot and adulation him a little; To be blessed with a woman, you have to adulation her a lot and not try to accept her at all.”

    English isn't my mother tongue - but I really struggle to understand this!

    THIS IS THE SAME PARAGRAPH FROM MY ORIGINAL ARTICLE

    It is usually best to start your speech with a funny and punchy one-liner. This will act as a great ice-breaker and set the mood for the rest of your speech. One liners are perfect, because they are short and to the point. Make sure the one-liners you use flow easily and naturally into your speech. Tie your one-liners to the groom or couple and put your personal touch to it. Here is a few examples of one liners you can use in your speech:

    • "Before marriage a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you said; after marriage he'll fall asleep before you finish saying it." - Helen Roland
    • "In order to be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little; To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all."
    Now - I've spent considerable time and effort to build up a reputation amongst blog owners as someone who delivers good quality guest blog posts. What will they think if they see this. Not that I'm a "Pullitzer Prize winning" writer but at least turn out readable, decent articles!

    There is not really anything you can do, no use in crying over spilled milk and like Jay said rather move on - But this make me sooooo angry!!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by eaglechick View Post

      "In adjustment to be blessed with a man, you have to accept him a lot and adulation him a little; To be blessed with a woman, you have to adulation her a lot and not try to accept her at all."
      Well, you know, lack of adulation is a primary cause of adulatery.

      (I apologise for that.)
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  • Profile picture of the author dndoseller
    Oh man I wouldnt spend thought and effort on this. It will never stop and complaining about and seeking justice wont make you money so who cares.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      It's laziness, greed and a few other traits that I'll keep out of this thread.

      In short...it's human nature in some of our species.

      Thank goodness for the decent people in the world or I would have checked
      out of this nut farm a long time ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author Biggy Fat
    *******ized - now THAT's a funny word there.

    But hey, money makes this world go round, and in this recession, people will do literally ANYTHING to get their hands on the Benjamins, Grants, Jacksons, Hamiltons, Lincolns, and Washingtons.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by Biggy Fat View Post

      *******ized - now THAT's a funny word there.

      But hey, money makes this world go round, and in this recession, people will do literally ANYTHING to get their hands on the Benjamins, Grants, Jacksons, Hamiltons, Lincolns, and Washingtons.
      People were doing these kinds of things before the recession too.
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  • Profile picture of the author eaglechick
    Hi CD

    No need for apologies - now at least I "understand" what he was trying to say (only joking)! Always appreciate your sharp wit.
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  • If we don't take this seriously then more of our work go into good hands. There must be some kind of protection or solution to this problem.
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