Constant Content

I don't mean this to alarm anyone, and I don't know for sure that copying is going on. I participate in the 30 day challenge, a free blog training thing that is now 7 weeks long, but anyway they highly recommend this SEO software called Market Samurai. I own a full copy of the software because I found it helpful for not just my blog site, but also writing here.

This software mainly just streamlines a bunch of free online tools into one place. You can look up keywords, analyze keywords, etc. There is a new tab that is Find Content. Here, owners of the software can just type in "libraries" for example, and all of the articles on Ezine, Article City, Sribd, Wikipedia, and Constant-Content will pop up.

Here's where there is an issue. The C-C articles come up in their interface as just the long summary, with no mention that it is for sale. Not only that, but with one click, the software owner can publish what is in the long summary to their site or blog!!!! I tested it and was completely able to plagiarize myself!

There is no contact us, but I did post the problem on the support forums and shocker, it was deleted. I also notified support here, but haven't heard back yet. There is a very large audience using Market Samurai because it comes with a free 30 day trial.

As someone who posts her full articles, this issue has given me pause. I'm sure there are other software programs out there with similar capabilities. I'm not sure if the answer is to only post 1/3 (do writers who do this still see good sales?), or maybe put a disclaimer at the top of my long summaries "This article is for sale on Constant-Content by author Elizabeth Ann West. It is NOT available for free content distribution." But, that disclaimer might frighten our customers too.

Yeah, I always figured the thieves were using software of some sort to grab content. It's a shame that the owners of the product didn't take your concerns seriously at all. Hopefully CC's legal team can shake some sense into the developers and get CC removed as a so-called library. Unfortunately, I'm guessing this is but one of many software programs that grab content that's not meant for syndication.

In one way, it's good to know the users of the software aren't intentionally trying to steal content, but they should know better nonetheless. I'd think the software developer could get into some major trouble if it doesn't have a disclaimer of some sort.

I wonder if the owners would take such a blinkered view if their own product was being offered for free without their consent? I doubt it. Pity for them that it is! Maybe I should send them an email offering a trade...I will inform them how hundreds of people are getting a perfect working copy of their product for free, if they agree to upgrade their software to protect our content. Wonder if they would take notice of that message, or just delete it?!

Honestly, the best option would be for the software to somehow interface with C-C. Then, we'd get more business. If I never knew about Constant-Content, I would think the articles were just free. There is a link to the Terms of Use, but all it goes to is a page that explains the types of licenses, still not 100% clear they need to be purchased. And I doubt many people would both to click a small button at the bottom that says Terms and Use, they are expecting it's okay to publish as long as they keep any links intact (how ironic, since C-C copy is link free!).

I found my posting on their forum, you can't see it unless you are logged into their system, but you can see all the others, so I don't know if mine got flagged as a negative one or not. No one has responded to it yet.

wow this is really scary! I was just wondering last night about the long summery. I put up two new articles and used the whole piece in the summery. I don't usually but thought it might be good for sales. Now I wish I hadn't!

So, when a client comes on CC to purchase an article they don't get to read the whole thing unless it's in the summery? That seems weird to me, which is why I put the whole thing in the summery this time.

What do you guys mostly do? I sure hope CC will listen to you and get in touch with these hobos.

Sue

I continue to believe that the risk is low and the potential rewards high for including all text in the long summary. In past discussions, the CC community has been split on this.

I agree Celeste, that why I thought putting a disclaimer at the top ****This article is for sale exclusively at Constant-Content.com for use, unique, or full rights. It is not available for free distribution as content, unless a full rights license is purchased**** Or something to that effect.

My only concern is this type of SEO "software" is becoming more and more popular, and if I didn't know about C-C, I probably would have assumed the articles were free to use too, from the way they are presented. People who intend to steal will always try to do just that, but this system is probably turning ordinarily good people into unwiiting content theives.

So, some guy is tweeting this particular thread to the twitterverse. Not sure what is purpose is? Is he spreading the word so that users will know better and NOT copy content from CC or so that hackers can exploit the system?

It looks like he just picks up everything with "SEO" in the forum title or something. His tweets are all over the place. He's selling some internetpreneur product, like he's some insider or something. He and I follow someone in common, so it's possible he's part of The Challenge.

It's really sad, I didn't write this to ENCOURAGE people to use it, but more so that we as a community are aware these things are out there. It might explain why we've seen an uptick in article thefts even though we all though you couldn't copy and paste from the site. And this isn't just a problem for authors, but the site owners. People taking articles for free en mass is not good for business.

Maybe they can work something out with Market Samurai developers. Maybe have a log in thing for access to older articles (it's free to sign up after all) so public can see the most recent articles to know we are a legit site, but to see more they need to register as a potential buyer.

I just know the popularity of blogs etc. is increasing exponentially it seems (good for us). Everyone is looking for content. It's like the Napster thing. In college, I used Napster all the time. Would I steal a CD from a store? Never! But at the time, there was no paying way to get online songs. Once things became available for purchase online, I quit using Napster. People are fairly ethical if given the chance to do so. But if they feel there is no other choice to get ahead, people will justify anything ("If they didn't want people to steal this content, why didn't they make it clear it was for sale? I didn't see a price on it anywhere!")