If you are a subscriber to my blog in Google Reader (or another reader) or an email subscriber, you will have noticed that a few days ago, I changed my feed to truncated, meaning that I’m showing part of my blog post, but not the entire post in my feed reader.
And you may have noticed all the hubbub in blogland the last week, as many bloggers that I personally know are also truncating their feeds for the same reasons.
I’ll tell you why I’ve decided to do it. It seems that the blogging landscape has changed a LOT in the last couple of years and now there are sites, called scraper sites, that go around blogland stealing feeds from blogs and publishing them as their own content and they are making money off of this stolen content.
Many of my blog friends and I have decided to take action against this practice and at least to slow it down, by not offering our full feed out there so that these scraper sites can just set up software to steal our content as soon as it is published.
My friend, Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch, has written a great article about blog scrapers and how it all works, so if you want more info, please read it there.
Susan also has found that if you read in Google Chrome, there is a feature you can download, Google Reader Inline, that once you load it on Chrome, you can click on the magnifying glass when reading a feed and it will bring up the entire feed, so this may be one way for you to still read in your reader and see the whole post. Susan explains that in this post.
I do realize that this may be a hardship for some of you reading. It will take a few extra seconds to click over to read the post. I do know that and I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. It’s not my intention to make things hard for my readers, but to protect ourselves from thievery, this seems to be the best thing to do at this time. Some bloggers have had more content stolen than others. This has been going on a long time and I’ve seen my posts stolen before, but now it seems to be a whole feed that is stolen and used. And that’s really not fair to all of us who take a lot of time with our blogs and work hard on our content, only to have it stolen word for word and posted on a scraper feature site. These sites are garnering lots of traffic even, but their practices are not ethical at all.
I’m going to monitor the feed situation and I am hoping that most of you will not unsubscribe, but will continue to follow my blog. I hate to lose any of you, but I know it will probably happen! I really do hate to do this, but we don’t want our content stolen either and this will at least help deter that. I’ve also added a note at the end of my posts as to where my content originates. Hopefully, these 2 measures will help keep my content from being used elsewhere.
If I find that this truncated feed is not working all that well, I may consider switching it back later. I’m going to give it a try for now and see how it works, so thanks for hanging with me!
I’m still trying to get it all figured out, so it may go back and forth for a few days until I can get the correct excerpts working on the feed and my blog. I want to show a paragraph and a picture on my feed, so then you can decide if you want to click over and read the whole post. I’m still tweaking that part and am working with plugins to make this happen and so far, I haven’t gotten it all worked out yet . You may see the whole feed up there right now, but just know that I plan to truncate very soon, but want to at least make it look good with a picture for all my readers!
Thank you ALL so much for following along on my journey all this time. I truly do appreciate each and every one of you out there who take the time to read and stop by and leave comments. It means the world to me.
I do hope you understand all of this and will stick with me! Thanks for the positive comments I’ve seen already and for the ones of you who aren’t happy about it, I’m sincerely sorry, but feel this is a business decision for all of us to make who do this blogging for a business.
Pinky says
Rhoda, I am sorry you are going through this. How do you know if your posts are being stolen???? I woukld not have a clue….not that I think anyone would be interested in stealing my content!!!I have to ask though: I have gotten MANY e-mails that say “Anonymous” has commented on a post and it is all just gibberish???? Do you know what that means??? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will follow you no matter what. XO, Pinky
Rhoda says
Hi, Pinky, there are a few sites that can tell you if your posts are out there, but I haven’t tried going to look for mine all that much. Several of my friends have had entire party posts stolen word for word, that is when it gets ridiculous. They seem to pop up and run awhile and then some of them get shut down and another one will pop up.
As far as the Anon comments, I’m not sure what that is, but it’s probably just spam.
Jane H. says
I subscribe by email and almost always click over to the real posting on the blog anyway. You all need to do what you need to do to protect your property. I don’t blame you a bit. What a shame that you have to deal with this. Love your ideas and seeing the progress on your new home!
Scribbler says
Add me to this list of not minding a couple of extra clicks. I have never used the reader, preferring to have my favorites emailed to me. Some of them I always double clicked anyway if I want to go directly to the site. That way you see larger photos and bigger print!
I am curious about BlogLovin — that seems to be an aggregating site, too?
Ellen
Rhoda says
HI, Ellen, we’ve talked about Bloglovin before and it at least links back to the post that it is featuring and it’s not the entire post, but a picture and snippet of a post, so that is not as bad as the sites that steal entire posts. They don’t ask though, they just take stuff, which is still questionable. There are worse sites though than BlogLovin.
Rosalind says
I have been following your blog for awhile now and just started getting it sent to my email. I don’t see the problem with having to click once to see a blog, it is not that time consuming. I have been doing it for quite sometime with many other blogs I follow. I totally understand the need for this change and I will continue following your journey. You are truly an inspiration. Keep up the good work!
lou Ann Bremers says
It seemed like the blogs I follow all had notices this week so I’m glad to see that you talented folks are trying to prevent this. I’m realatively new to reading these blogs having found them as a result of Pinterest. I googled the “content scraper” phrase and I was shocked to find dozens, if not hundreds, of ads for software that does exactly this crime. As a person who enjoys and appreciates the entertainment and information I receive from these blogs, how can I be sure I’m not contributing to the criminals profits?
Rhoda says
Lou Ann, you can usually tell you are at a large aggregate site that does this, just by the sheer volume of information and posts they have on there. If you start seeing posts from blogs that you recognize and it’s posts that are clearly written by an individual & the site doesn’t seem to be a personal site, you just might be on an aggregate site that collects blog feeds. Just be aware, you may never click on one, but this information needs to get out there.
Linda says
No problem Rhoda. Fully understand why you need to do this. Love your blog and will enjoy it with an extra “click”.
dianne says
Hi Rhoda
I subscribe by email. I have always had to click on the post, as the pictures do not show up on my email. I have gotten used to doing this, so it will be no change for me. And even if it was, good sites like yours with interesting decor and ideas, I have no problem to make that extra “click”.
Keep on posting great stuff!!
Carla says
Why those little thief’s…..
I completely understand and any effort you can take to stop it is appreciated. Thanks for let us know what is taking place and what steps you and others are doing to prevent it. I love your blog and will continue to follow your journey, extra clicks and all!
Paula J says
Not a problem for me: I don’t mind the extra click (you’re saved in my favorites… so I click there anyway when I need to search for something that I might want to refer back to…)!
Even though I don’t blog… I can appreciate how much effort it must take to write one: I can’t even imagine how much work goes into one like yours that is full of great info & photos! You deserve every opportunity that comes your way ~ & I don’t blame you one bit for doing whatever is necessary to make it harder for the ones that aren’t playing fair!! What a shame for them!!
I’ve been following your reno: LOVE all that you have done so far – blessings to you!
Linda says
I recently found your blog, and I luv it! It’s a little more cumbersome, but still worth the extra few clicks. This is time consuming work and you deserve the credit. I’ll be staying with ya. Good luck!
Carol Adams says
I’m here with you forever, dear. Do what you need to, to protect yourself!!
Always love your blog!! Hugs!!
Lee says
Hi Rhoda,
I agree that you have to find a way of dealing with these people but as a blogger myself, I have purposely not gone with the times and turned to truncated posts because of the “clicks” one has to do, I much prefer to read a post uninterrupted in between. However I can at the same time understand your situation but wonder if there is an alternative such as building into your post the fact that the content belongs to you and there is a link back to your own website at that point of statement. I might look into doing something like this myself as I recently had a complete post stolen. However, my post was not taken by a “scraper” but by a blogger who did not have the courtesy to ask me if they could have 20 of my photos. I am more than happy for people to share my content as long as there is a link back and they are not taking credit for the hard work I have put in.
I have a weekly post where I share inspiration from around the blog world such as recipes, diy ideas etc, 99% of the time I have asked prior permission. If not I will only post one image and link back and encourage my readers to go to that persons page. I am not quite understanding how a complete post can be stolen and published without any reference to the original source as usually we have links built into our posts and often they are links to other posts on our sites.
I also subscribe to you through a reader but am happy to also read your posts through email. I will not be deterred by the truncation but sadly some will Rhoda.
Lee
Kathy says
I’m not sure what all this is about, but as long as I can figure out how to get to your blog I will read it. I love your blog and look forward to the updates on your house.
Mary in Idaho says
Love your blog, Rhoda, and will be happy to click one more time to read all of your postings. I was especially interested to learn that you would make more $$ if we click open your actual blog instead of just reading it in email form. I would have gone right to your blog all the time if I had known that earlier. I am not a blogger, so, if I stated this incorrectly, forgive; but I think I have the correct idea.
Marie in Va says
Love your blog- totally worth the extra click 🙂
I hope someone figures out a way to stop these thieves!!
Rosemary says
I live reading your blog and believe me, it’s well worth an extra click! Thanks.
Rosenary says
Meant to say “love” reading your blog 🙂
Sylvia says
I would never unsubscribe from your blog. I love it way too much.
Clicking over to your site is no problem. I do it often anyway to look at previous posts. I look forward to your posts every day and can’t wait to see the final results of your wonderful house redo.
Keep up the great work. You inspire me.
Kitty says
Doesn’t bother me in the least to click over to read the post. Take whatever steps you deem necessary. We’re with you on this! Dealing with scraped content takes up so much precious time. and unfortunately scraping software is rather quickly modified to get around actions taken to prevent it. During times when software is unable to effectively scrape, there are the actual human scrapers who can be hired for next to nothing through freelance sites. It’s infuriating, frustrating, time consuming and sometimes futile to keep track of scraped content and request a take down. Bloggers just have to do the best they can until the laws catch up with the technology and since we’re dealing with laws of many nations, it’s going to be a long wait.
beth says
A little late to the party and commenting on this one…but you have my 100% support to do whatever you feel is necessary to protect your content and your business! Back before blogs….we all spent tons of money buying magazines to read for the same type of ideas, pictures and “how-to’s” and we now get for free! Remember those days? I’m a “glass is full” person….so whatever it takes…it is still plenty worth it….and for your followers and those who love what you bring us….I’m hoping and praying they still think it is worth whatever the effort. I’m amazed that folks steal content. Shame on them! Yes – I’d like to know so I could comment on their blog and tell them what I think…or avoid their blogs totally. Keep up the great work Rhoda! We all love you and your journeys!
Marge says
I remember a time when bloggers didn’t care about page clicks, advertisers, moderate comments which didn’t boost their blogs, or care what the blogger trends were. Seems now every week people now write blog posts only about products they’ve been paid to review or promoting their other blogger friends. And now, because they want more page views I have to not only go to google reader but then click on the link to the blog, which always loads slower. Thumbs down. Your a blogger, not Hemingway.