Migraines, Blogs, Blogspoot, and Google!

People who blog about Migraine disease and headaches are some of my favorite people. There are some superlative blogs out there that offer readers information, support, and hope.

Sadly, there are also others out there that irritate the daylights out of me. Why? Because they're put up by (I can't and won't say "written by.") people who can't be bothered to write their own content. Instead, they steal content from other blogs or Web sites. I've come across yet another of those who's owner is ripping off articles Nancy and I have written on MyMigraineConnection. Mind you, these articles all have copyright notices on them. This person just seems not to care. This blog is called "Migraine Mastery." It's published on Blogspot, which is owned by Google.

I'd love to give this person the benefit of the doubt and email them about this issue, but I can't. Nobody can email them because they've not put a profile on their blog, or an email address, or even their name. They also don't allow comments to their entries. So, there's just now way to contact them.

Google owns Blogspot, and I could contact them. I could fill out all their forms and snail mail or fax them, but their copyright infringement complaint system is complicated and time-consuming. I suspect they do that deliberately to discourage people from filing reports.

What I'm going to do about this is something I haven't yet decided. For now, I'm sad. Sad, frustrated, and yes, ticked off. Here are the URLs for the articles Nancy and I wrote and they ripped off:

• Migraines Often Tirggered By Chane In the Weather
• Famous Migraineurs - Terrell Davis (written by Nancy Bonk)
• Trileptal Fails Test for Migraine Prevention
• Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires
• Cluster Headaches - The Basics
• Chronic Daily Headaches - The Basics
• Acephalgic or Silent Migraine - The Basics
• Abdominal Migraine - The Basics
• Ice Pick Headaches - The Basics
• more...

Some of these articles have been republished on "Migraine Mastery," without permission, in their entirety. Others have been excerpted. They do say "For more information visit healthcentral.com, but that doesn't excuse using the content without permission. If a blogger likes an article they read elsewhere, there is a legal and respectful way to share it with their readers. They can excerpt a paragraph or two of the article and provide a link to the full article for people who want to read the rest.

You know, in one way, maybe I shouldn't be bothered by this. After all, it may be getting information to more people. Still, Nancy and I spend a great deal of time researching and writing our articles. The HealthCentral Network helps many people, but they have a business to run. When people republish our articles elsewhere, it may be taking traffic away from the THCN, and we must have traffic there to stay in business.

The bottom line is that his is wrong and disrespectful. It's stealing our work. I wonder how bloggers who do this would feel if someone were using their work this way.

Comments

[Diana Lee]

I noticed that a bunch of those seemed familiar, but since I hadn't taken the time to read the entries I honestly thought the blog was simply recycling topics from your work. How naive am I?!

That kind of behavior is completely unacceptable, and I'm sorry you're being faced with this situation. Plagiarism is such a bad feeling. :(

[Linda - Practically at Home]

How unfortunate that this has happened to you too!

I have had to take considerable action in a few cases (recently), after discovering some of my own published articles on websites (without permission). I probably would have granted reprint rights (for a reasonable fee), but they never asked.

Ugh! Now THAT'S a headache....