Odd website with pet talk threads

[Danegirl2208]

On another forum i'm on someone posted about a website that was copying their treads and putting them onto their website...i clicked the link and immediatly saw quite a few pet talk threads. I just think this is strange, and I thought you all would like to know.. The other forums mod contacted the websites owner and asked to remove their threads, but they haven't heard back...I know this is a pubic forum, but the whole thing is just a tad big strange to me...

heres the Main site (http://www.carelittle.com/index.html)

and this section has a ton of pet talk threads from dog general... you can browse through the pages and you'll see even more..just on the first page alone, you see picture treads that were posted here about Nebo, Keva, the Muttlies, Tango, Tehya and others... :confused:
More threads (http://www.carelittle.com/talk-about-dog2.html)

wouldn't be surprised if there were even more PT threads in the cat and pet sections as well..

At the very bottom they have a copyright...which is even stranger to me seeing how all the info on the site was copied from pet forums.

:confused:

[Freedom]

I just let Karen know about what you are seeing on that other site. Maybe she and/ or Paul will have some thoughts!

[sumbirdy]

That's odd...

[shais_mom]

that is so weird!
thanks for your detective work -
I found Keegan and Chipper and many others on there - weirrrrd...

[Karen]

We are working on getting them taken down.

[dukedogsmom]

They all appear to be PT threads. At least the dog ones I looked at. Looks like this is a good case for a lawsuit. Also, I was going to find out who had that website and they've got it blocked. This is what came up:
Registrant Contact:
WhoisGuard
WhoisGuard Protected (781ab6863c4f4082bfe761befafa1535.protect@whoisgua rd.com)
+1.6613102107
Fax: +1.6613102107
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #110 - 732
Westchester, CA 90045
US
They've had the site since July 2005 and it doesn't expire until July 2009. I hope Paul and Karen do something about this soon. This is just plain theft!

[krazyaboutkatz]

This is very strange. I clicked on some of the threads and I recognized them immediately. Karen and Paul should be notified about this.

[Karen]

We are! I have just written to the company that hosts that site, demanding removal.

[dukedogsmom]

Here's something even more odd! I clicked on the contact link and it gave their website name @21cn.com I clicked on that and it's all in Chinese. Had the page translated. It appears to be like Yahoo. So, someone overseas is ripping off PT? This is totally bizzare! I wonder if they've been getting income from the web pages?

[Karen]

If anyone wants to write and complain, the company that hosts the site is bluehost.com - email [email protected]. That link you clicked on, Val, is a statistics counter, not the host of the site, but something they are also using to try to generate income.

[dukedogsmom]

No, I clicked on the "contact us" button and that's the email address it gave. Strange. I'm going to send them a letter right now. Technically, you could probably sue Bluehost and the other people involved, as well.

[Jessika]

No, I clicked on the "contact us" button and that's the email address it gave. Strange. I'm going to send them a letter right now. Technically, you could probably sue Bluehost and the other people involved, as well.
Naw, I doubt you could sue the host, they probably have a TOS stating they have nothing to do with the sites they host, or that the parties are responsible for their own content, or something.

It's almost like that website gets an RSS feed of PetTalk and it posts on there... which I know isn't what's happening. Or maybe it is... lol.

[Randi]

Yes, it definately seems that someone is stealing threads right off of PT. :mad: Quite a few Ptalkers names appear. Here's another example: http://www.carelittle.com/cat-care/t-0525.html

Not sure if it's one person or what, but did you all notice about a month ago, we had a period with about 1400 guests every day!!

Karen and Paul, I hope you get this sorted out. :)

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Yes, it definately seems that someone is stealing threads right off of PT. :mad: Quite a few Ptalkers names appear. Here's another example: http://www.carelittle.com/cat-care/t-0525.html

Not sure if it's one person or what, but did you all notice about a month ago, we had a period with about 1400 guests every day!!

Karen and Paul, I hope you get this sorted out. :)

WHAT ???? My name appears at least 10 times, and all my posts about ringworm are copied..... :mad: :mad: :mad:

I hope it isn't "a" person who was a member in the past, and who hates PT....

[kittycats_delight]

Definately going to be sending out a complaint.This is my thread about Artica.

carelittle.com/talk-about-dog2/t-0149.html

[Freedom]

I sent in a complaint! Although, I have to admit, I wasn't sure how to word it. It is just so weird. I just said that I had never even heard of ths ite which they are hosting, that I never posted to it, and my posts are "stolen." Then I 'demanded' that they remove it.

HEY! Here is the reply I received back:
Hello,

I'm sorry that you're having trouble with one of our clients. Certainly, if
you've been libeled or slandered you may have some legal recourse for that
having happened. This legal recourse would be between yourself and our client exclusively, and would be a matter for civil court to decide on. We do not take down websites without an official court order to do so prior to removing a site from our servers. If your attorney is able to obtain an injunction, or other form of court order, please share a notarized copy of that letter with us. If we're able to verify the authenticity of the document, we'll honor the request therein to remove the website from our servers.

Any violation of any person's intellectual property rights, rights of privacy,
rights of publicity or other personal rights is prohibited. We are required by
law to remove or block access to content appearing on or through the Services upon receipt of proper notice of copyright infringement see "Copyright Infringement Notice Information" as stated in our terms of services:

http://www.bluehost.com/terms_of_service.html

In regards to requests for information on the person who set up the sites, our policy is that we can only give out the information on our customers when it is requested through a subpoena or a court order. Because of our policy we cannot give out this information without a judge's consent.

We will willingly assist by forwarding any and all correspondence received
regarding our customer and complaints in reference to sites we are hosting to
our customer unless legally ordered otherwise.

We apologize for this inconvenience these policies may cause you. We will be
happy to promptly comply when presented with one of the above documents.

BH/HM/FD Abuse Department
1215 N. Research Way
Suite Q-3500| Orem, UT 84097
V: (888) 401-HOST | F: 801-765-1992

Most questions can be answered by articles in our knowledgebase or our NEW
forum!
Forum: http://www.bluehostforum.com
Knowledgebase: http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/kb/

[KittyGurl]

That is not right! I found like three threads that I made on PT that was on there! I am so mad :mad: I remember reading half of the stuff on that site. Who gave them the right to copy down all that stuff?

[petslover]

oh my goodness. That is a little scary. I hope they get in trouble for that.

[finn's mom]

What an odd site. I don't even see the point, really. It says "chat" but I see nowhere that you can add a post or anything. It is really bizarre that so many of the threads were copied from Pet Talk. Anyone reading them has to wonder what "PT" is when it's mentioned...doesn't appear to be a site to be terribly concerned about, but it is curious!

[cassiesmom]

I clicked on "Contact Us" and this is what I got ...
Contact Us
Contact Us Email to carelittle at 21cn.com,Please!

[Blue_Frog]

It looks like we're not the only ones ...

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58471&page=4

:(

[jazzcat]

The majority of posts on the "Cat A&Q" (like that, they got Q&A wrong) are from PT. One is even titled PT I really need your help. Seems like most of them were copied around the same time a couple of months ago, I think.

[KittyGurl]

I hope they get in trouble. A lot of pet site are getting their threads copied. What gaves them the right to do that? Also how can they put a copyright on the bottom of the page!? :mad:
Right now I feel so mad and scared. You don't know who is reading this. Hope they get caught. I writing them a complaint!

[dukedogsmom]

I clicked on "Contact Us" and this is what I got ...
Contact Us
Contact Us Email to carelittle at 21cn.com,Please!
From the first page:

Here's something even more odd! I clicked on the contact link and it gave their website name @21cn.com I clicked on that and it's all in Chinese. Had the page translated. It appears to be like Yahoo. So, someone overseas is ripping off PT? This is totally bizzare! I wonder if they've been getting income from the web pages?
Looks like Karen is going to have to get an attorney to take down the site. I don't see how that company can get away with this.

[Logan]

I guess I don't post things that I would be worried about, but one of the first things I saw was "Lovely Lilly", starting with the beautiful poem that Karen wrote when my Lilly died. What in the world are these people doing??

[Hellow]

Hey, you know, lets go join argue to the people that posts our stuff. Seriousely. I might go and cuss out thoes people.

[Miss Z]

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/traurig/sad-smiley-023.gif

WEIRD!!!

[Flatcoatluver]

I didn't see any threads I wrote. Maybe my computer isn't working but they have picture threads of for example of Tango, but I don't see any pictures. :confused:

[Blue_Frog]

OK, I had a chat with a buddy of mine whos up with what Online Marketing and such is up to these days, and he gave me the low down on what this is -

What is it? Its a site designed to generate Google Adsense revenue. And yes, it happens all the time. Its basically that they steal a lot of information that people would generally search for, in hopes that they will click through the ads. Instead of actually making their own content, they steal it.

How to try to stop it? 2 ways:
- Threatening to bring in lawyers often works.
- As does threatening to report it as an MFA site (MFA = Made for Adsense).
And complaining to Google is the only way to report an MFA site since it's their problem.

This might help them to lose the 'adsense' revenue if nothing else -- http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_afd.html

[Paul]

   Karen and I will pursue this with BlueHost.com.

   Blue Frog is right. This site is designed to generate advertising revenue. I imagine that even a small amount of money could be very valuable to someone in China. Google's advertising program, Adsense, may remove them. However, there are other advertising programs carelittle could join.

   Carelittle could leave BlueHost.com and find another web host. However, Carelittle is depending upon the search engines to bring in people to click on their ads. Carelittle's content should not be listed in the big three search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN (at least for US English).

   There is one thing we could do right now. We should not post any links to Carelittle.com. They should only be mentioned in plain text. Every ("good") link increases a website's value in the eyes of a search engine. So we should convert the Pet Talk links into plain text.

   Picking a phrase at random from carelittle's website, I searched for "his summer job cuz he's leaving in two days" (with quotes) on Google. Google only lists one result at carelittle.com! There is no result for Glacier's thread, "Another big day for Tehya...lots of pics" on Pet Talk!

   In may cases Google devalues duplicated content. However, without viewing Pet Talk as the original source for this thread, carelittle could be considered the original.

   carelittle needs to be removed from the search engines. Perhaps, Google's link, "Dissatisfied? Help us improve" at the bottom of the page will work. I just filled it out for this link. Hopefully if a lot of Pet Talkers complain to Google they will do something about it. I should look for other ways to contact Google.

   Pet Talk needs to be promoted. Please link to your threads on Pet Talk from other places whenever it is appropriate.

   MSN did not list this thread but I did not try other threads. Yahoo did list Pet Talk.

      Paul

[Danegirl2208]

It looks like we're not the only ones ...

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58471&page=4

:(

yes this is the other forum i was talking about above...theres are a ton of their threads aswell.


OK, I had a chat with a buddy of mine whos up with what Online Marketing and such is up to these days, and he gave me the low down on what this is -

What is it? Its a site designed to generate Google Adsense revenue. And yes, it happens all the time. Its basically that they steal a lot of information that people would generally search for, in hopes that they will click through the ads. Instead of actually making their own content, they steal it.

How to try to stop it? 2 ways:
- Threatening to bring in lawyers often works.
- As does threatening to report it as an MFA site (MFA = Made for Adsense).
And complaining to Google is the only way to report an MFA site since it's their problem.

This might help them to lose the 'adsense' revenue if nothing else -- http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_afd.html

Thank you for finding that out! Do you mind if I share this info with the other forum?

[Blue_Frog]

No problem, defintely go right ahead -- and maybe recommend that they do what Paul is doing (contacting Google etc.)

[wombat2u2004]

Hey....I just looked, there is a bunch of my posts on that site to.
Who is doing this ??????
Wom

[Karen]

Hey....I just looked, there is a bunch of my posts on that site to.
Who is doing this ??????
Wom

See Paul's post two above yours, Wombat.

[cassiesmom]

***Karen and I will pursue this with BlueHost.com.

***Blue Frog is right. This site is designed to generate advertising revenue. I imagine that even a small amount of money could be very valuable to someone in China. Google's advertising program, Adsense, may remove them. However, there are other advertising programs carelittle could join.

***Carelittle could leave BlueHost.com and find another web host. However, Carelittle is depending upon the search engines to bring in people to click on their ads. Carelittle's content should not be listed in the big three search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN (at least for US English).

***There is one thing we could do right now. We should not post any links to Carelittle.com. They should only be mentioned in plain text. Every ("good") link increases a website's value in the eyes of a search engine. So we should convert the Pet Talk links into plain text.

***Picking a phrase at random from carelittle's website, I searched for "his summer job cuz he's leaving in two days" (with quotes) on Google. Google only lists one result at carelittle.com! There is no result for Glacier's thread, "Another big day for Tehya...lots of pics" on Pet Talk!

***In may cases Google devalues duplicated content. However, without viewing Pet Talk as the original source for this thread, carelittle could be considered the original.

***carelittle needs to be removed from the search engines. Perhaps, Google's link, "Dissatisfied? Help us improve" at the bottom of the page will work. I just filled it out for this link. Hopefully if a lot of Pet Talkers complain to Google they will do something about it. I should look for other ways to contact Google.

***Pet Talk needs to be promoted. Please link to your threads on Pet Talk from other places whenever it is appropriate.

***MSN did not list this thread but I did not try other threads. Yahoo did list Pet Talk.

******Paul

Paul, I changed mine in post #20 from e-mail address to plain text. In #24 dukedogsmom quoted mine, though and it stayed e-mail address. Can you or Karen please go in dukedogsmom's post, since you have administrative access to posts, and change it to plain text? You wouldn't have to change anything dukedogsmom wrote, just what I wrote - plus, you already explained the reason for the change, so please have at it.

Promote Pet Talk? Okay. Pet Talk, you are hereby promoted from a cool pet forum that I enjoy a lot -to- an EXTREMELY cool pet forum that I enjoy a TON EVERY DAY!!! Consider yourself duly promoted! :D

[Paul]

      Who is doing this ??????

   Since the statistics program is in Chinese and the contact email a domain name registered in China, it is probably someone in China. However, there is no way to be certain. It could easily be one teenager in China.

      Paul

[zippy-kat]

Does PT have copyright to any of our posts? (I keep thinking the answer is "no" but can't remember where I saw that...) It seems like that copyright would supercede the carelittle site.

Yes, I agree it's "weird" that the site is copying posts but I find it surprising that so many people are shocked. PT is a public forum, anyone can view it (and thus copy, alter, do-what-ever with the posts, poems, and pictures). I'm not saying it's right, don't get me wrong, I disagree with it whole heartedly, but it is public information so to speak.

[wombat2u2004]

Does PT have copyright to any of our posts? (I keep thinking the answer is "no" but can't remember where I saw that...) It seems like that copyright would supercede the carelittle site.

Yes, I agree it's "weird" that the site is copying posts but I find it surprising that so many people are shocked. PT is a public forum, anyone can view it (and thus copy, alter, do-what-ever with the posts, poems, and pictures). I'm not saying it's right, don't get me wrong, I disagree with it whole heartedly, but it is public information so to speak.

But are names for use by others ?????
I noticed that the replies to all of my posts were unchanged on that site, such as Karens, Catty1's etc etc......all there plainly for anyone to read.
Just a thought......
Wom

[JuniorxMyxLove]

wow that really stinks! haha I'm putting your link on my other two forums I'm joined in :]

I love pettalk. :]
I don't like the cheating one. :[
They stink.
Pettalk doesn't.

haha yeah.

;[

[zippy-kat]

But are names for use by others ?????
Wom

Uhhh... *smacks gum, twirls hair* I'll play my blonde card here ;) , I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. lol

I understand that anyone would feel violated. And again, I'm not saying it's right, but once it's out on the internet, it's more or less up for the taking... a bit of a russian roulette, if you will.

This isn't the first time we've run into this; there was someone (or someones)stealing pictures of a pet talk cat and posting on another board as if that cat belonged to them. Heck, there've been people stealing other peoples' pictures and posting on here as if that animal belonged to them. (Some people have WAY too much time on their hands!)

In some ways, it's a great testiment to the comradery of this site and the "secure" feeling we sometimes slip into. And, in some ways, it's a great wake up call/reminder that "they" are out there... *insert theme from The Twilight Zone*

Have fun but becareful everyone! :cool:

[Karen]

Does PT have copyright to any of our posts? (I keep thinking the answer is "no" but can't remember where I saw that...) It seems like that copyright would supercede the carelittle site.

Yes, I agree it's "weird" that the site is copying posts but I find it surprising that so many people are shocked. PT is a public forum, anyone can view it (and thus copy, alter, do-what-ever with the posts, poems, and pictures). I'm not saying it's right, don't get me wrong, I disagree with it whole heartedly, but it is public information so to speak.

I don't think they care one bit about copyright, especially as it is probably someone in China, not exactly known for international copyright enforcement. You'll notice that we have a copyright notice at the bottom of every single page, that apparently didn't bother them in the least!

[zippy-kat]

Agreed, Karen.

Just curious as to why Blue Host would not consider this Copyright Infringement as this process listed in the Terms of Service seems less complicated than what they told Freedom.

Thanks for pointing out where the copyright on PT was located... I saw the vBulletin copyright and how I managed to see THAT and completely miss the nice, black text directly above it, is beyond me. :rolleyes: :D

[Crayons09]

I think that I may have found another one of these sites.
http://www.tendlife.com/other/pet-talk-0726.html

[Karen]

I found a couple of stolen threads there, too. Aarghhh! Another one to have to pursue!

[dukedogsmom]

That is just ridiculous! I still don't understand how it all could be legal. I'm afraid this will be an unending battle. Wonder if you could sue them since they used your web site name in the link?

[Karen]

It ISN'T legal.

[gini]

Lordy, and you and Paul have nothing else to do right?

Maybe we need to start a little (big) legal fund!

We are a large community that won't stand for this!

Paul and Karen, let us all know exactly what we can do to help you here - and I know everyone will jump in to fight the fight!

[KittyGurl]

I bet there are more sites with PT threads on them. How many sites are stealing the threads of other pet sites!?

[wombat2u2004]

I found a couple of stolen threads there, too. Aarghhh! Another one to have to pursue!

Most of the threads are ours......even from doghouse.
Wom

[Miss Z]

I think that I may have found another one of these sites.
http://www.tendlife.com/other/pet-talk-0726.html

Argh! My posts are on that website!!! There could be dozens of sites like this out there, stealing threads from forums everywhere. :eek:

[sumbirdy]

This is all just too weird. Why not just make your own original web site instead of stealing from someone else? I will never get why some people think they can get away with stuff like this. :mad:

[Kalei]

I can't believe it! My thread is on there too, and it says my name. It's the one in cat Q & A about Bobo called PT I Really Need Your Help!

I hope that something can be done about this site.

[Catlady711]

Stuff like this is why I never use personal information online, you never know who is going to see it or what they are going to do with it, legal or not. Sad state of our modern times that's for sure.

[Craftlady]

The ones I looked at in Cat q&a all had responses without names of poster.

[Zippy]

OMG.Why would they want are threads?
They sold Pumpkin's birthday thread and I see other peoples too. :mad:

[Karen]

Okay, here is how you can help:

Locate one of our threads elsewhere, and find a good, unique phrase. I used "Pet Talk Gift Swap 2007"

Search for that on Google. When the results page comes up, below the listed results there is a link called "Dissatisfied? Help us improve"

Click that link, then you'll get a box where you can complain that the original thread is on Pet Talk, not tenxlife.com* or carezittle.com* - whichever it pops up on - and give them the link back to Pet Talk, to the REAL thread.

(*intentionally misspelled)

The more who do this, the better.

[lizbud]

What we need is a lawyer experienced in Internationl/Copyright Law.. They are listed in any phone book I would think. I would be more than happy to contribute $$$ to hire one.

[Catty1]

Hey - we have PTrs who are lawyers....they might have a connection! :)

[wombat2u2004]

Damn.....our names are plastered all over those sites.
Wom

[Randi]

It's amazing what you find, isn't it, Karen!! :eek: - and Fister is into things I had no idea about! Just see these titles!

St. Fister cured of Itanic wickedness!

Maps, Weather, and Airports for Fister

Fister Real Estate

[cassiesmom]

Here is a similarly odd Web site with some familiar threads...
www.tendlife.com
More of the same, Paul?

Edited to add -- Yes, I'm dumb. I searched for this thread when I ran across tendlife, but I posted without reading the previous posts in the thread. So, no, I didn't see the post in which Crayons09 already identified this site. Sorry! :o

[Karen]

Yes, we knew about that one as well. They are hosted by a different provider. We're still working on the first one.

[mrspunkysmom]

If anyone wants to write and complain, the company that hosts the site is bluehost.com - email [email protected]. That link you clicked on, Val, is a statistics counter, not the host of the site, but something they are also using to try to generate income.

Sorry I am late to this thread.

I wrote the company and got back a bunch of legalese.

Wow, what you have to go through these days to protect what is yours.

Interesting reading on titles versus trademarks.