Herself's Webtools

I ran across an article about blog pirates at Download squad that you might want to read.

. . . But while linking and references may be the lifeblood of blogging, there’s a submerged undercurrent of blogs and Web sites looking to get something for nothing, sailing the high seas of the Blogosphere with a view to plundering hard working Blogs for what they can in order to build up page views and Google page rankings.

We at the Download Squad noticed this recently when one of our readers not only decided to cut and paste one of our posts into their blog but, also linked to his blog from the comments section original Download Squad post. While we’re flattered at the attention, and impressed at the initiative it was still a little rude. All of a sudden we realized that it had all the hallmarks of a Blog Pirate, a fly by night operation that swoops in, cutlasses blazing, to lift off a treasure trove of stolen blog posts to their Google adsense infested pirate lair Web site. . . .

Blog pirates on the horizon!

See also:
Introducing a Shoddy Blogger

How do you find out if your blog is being pirated? The best method is to grab a phrase or sentence from one of your articles and plug it into Google Search and see what pops up. Use an article a month older or so to be sure the search engines have picked it up.

What to do when you catch someone? Well obviously you must burn down the barbarian’s website. Just kidding of course. You must recycle your bits and I don’t think they are flammable anyhow. See the following two links for detailed instructions on how to handle blog swiping.

What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content
What to do when someone steals your original content

See also:
Pirates raiding garden blogs

** update: I wrote a WP plugin to block most bots WP Security Plugin if you are having trouble with bot registrations try WP plugin bot blocker