Poor Pseudo-Travel Blogger

Call me boastful but I feel that I’m swimming in an open water surrounded by sharks nowadays. And I’m not alone, as we travel bloggers and writers slowly find a significant place in our respective niches, we are also prone to content scraping. This whining is nothing new. As my daily working routine is being online, my answer to “What keeps you busy?” is this…..tracking down plagiarists and copycats.

Like an artist, we writers, bloggers and authors are very protective of our work. A post may be simple for some but it is our work and touching it, stealing it, is simply disrespectful. From sites who scraped contents to publications who used my photos without any permission even claiming them as theirs and now this case… travel bloggers, stealing my contents and photos. Bloggers who have collected readers, followers and fans. OMG!

Okay, tracking them is hyperbolic but it is also nice when my readers and friends tap me that they read my posts published in another site. One was one paragraph of my post about  Museo Iloilo copied and then pasted in another travel blog. Worse part? He used his own photos, even watermarked them. Watermarking your photos means, you want to avoid someone stealing them right?! So ironic.

Now this case. I run a test in Copyscape for my post “Iloilo Old Houses and Mansions“. My site tops the result ( try Goggle it) and viola! Another plagiarist. The highlighted words are the exact words from my post. The rest is just the same as mind. He was like a surgeon. He cut one part of my post and then connected it to the others..trying to elude my friend, Copyscape.

He had the same blog, like a duplicate. Same content. Ironic that he had this copyright disclaimer. I almost puked in disbelief

And the reason why I gave him an “award” is that he used some of my photos, edited it and then placed his own watermarks. The nerve! He can’t fool me, I am very keen when it comes to details and if the dead can talk so can photos! Even after you edit them, the cloud formations and small details like a ladder in the balcony will “speak”.

So I emailed him and even posted on his Facebook page ( yes, he is a serious “travel blogger”) demanding to remove all contents within 48 hours and my lawyer will get in touch with him after 48 hours. Yes, I do have a lawyer now. I’m so fed up with these renomas.

The “blogger” who copy-pasted my Museo Iloilo paragraphed changed it while this Byaherong Jelo blog is already down.

To those who want to blog but do not have the talent or too lazy to come up with their own words, leave my site and its contents alone!

More than plagiarism, have the face. You owe something to people who allot time reading your damned stolen contents. So much for the ranting. Till the next plagiarist…I’m hunting you down!

More about Plagiarism

Not Just One: The Central Echo Plagiarism