Another scumbag copying my site.

[Bob Eager]

Someone with vision problems can't read the site, or use a text reader to read it so easily. I have enough problems with badly contrasting text!

[Ed Sirett]

... you then have to decide if the loss to you is worth the candle.

You might not be losing much if any trade depending on where they are located. Your 'honour' may well be smarting but only you can put a price on that.

This happened to me about 10 years ago. I wrote some of (what is now) the main FAQ on Central Heating, Valves and Heating.

The a local (to me) plumbing agency lifted it word for word onto their site, along with the contributions from several other people who frequently posted to uk.d-i-y.

The upshot was that whilst most of us felt ripped off to take matters further was going to cost. Better to get on and do something useful...

[nightjar]

You share an interesting idea about the use of commas before 'and'. Otherwise, the grammar on their site is consistent and different from yours and very little of the text is identical. That strongly suggests that it was written from scratch, although that is not to say the writer might not have been influenced by having read the sites of competitors like yourself.

It would be difficult not to create a site for a handyman business without using virtually the same words every time. If you want to be different, you need to be the one to undertake that task and come up with innovate text that won't be the first thing that comes to mind when writing such a site. If you don't want to do that, you will have to put up with the competition saying much the same things as you do.

Colin Bignell

[nightjar]

That is what the alt tag is for. I would be more concerned about it being unreadable by search engines.

Colin Bignell

[Owain]

Paying a copywriter to write copy for a website is likely to cost rather more than that - and that's what THM is entitled to ask for, a commercial rate for his work which has been copied.

Owain

[The Medway Handyman]

Thanks to Grunf & John Rumm - help which I really appreciate.

[The Medway Handyman]

I don't feel threatened, I wouldn't care if another half a dozen handymen started up in the area, there is sucha market out there. I just feel pissed off that the scumbag has stolen my ideas & wording.

[The Medway Handyman]

Two examples Colin;

My site; "Ever wanted a PC workstation, but couldn't find one to fit that alcove? Ever wanted a pergola for the garden but couldn't get the size you wanted? Or shelving that was either too big or too small?"

The scumbags site; "Ever wanted a PC workstation, but couldn't find one to fit that alcove? Ever wanted a pergola for the garden but couldn't get the size you wanted? Or shelving that was either too big or too small?"

And;

My site; Flat Pack Assembly is charged at our normal hourly rates, which makes us extremely competitive. You can keep the time & therefore cost down by making sure the boxes are in the room where they are to be assembled, and that we have a clear area to work in. Flat pack furniture varies in quality enormously. If you want advice before you purchase, please give us a call, we are not involved with any retailers and can be unbiased.

The scumbags site; Flat Pack Assembly is charged at our normal hourly rates, which makes us extremely competitive. You can save time & so Save Money by putting the boxes in the room where they are to be built, and make sure that we have a clear area to work. Flat pack furniture varies in quality enormously. If you want FREE ADVICE before you purchase, please give us a call. (we?re not on a commission!)

The first one is identical and the second has aroud 6 words changed.

[Cicero]

---------------------------------

=================================== Since you don't feel threatened by this competitor it's hardly worth spending time and effort to get some kind of injunction against him for copying your script. I doubt if many people seeking handyman services make their choice on the basis of a textual analysis of the content of a web page.

Cic.

[The Medway Handyman]

I know - but I'm still pissed off!

[Cicero]

=================================== Remember the dictum, "The best revenge is to live well."

It's easy to ignore somebody who can't harm you or your business.

Cic.

[John Rumm]

You did say you were thinking of a franchise deal ;-)

Realistically you best bet would be a message to the owner pointing out that they have copied your site and you would appreciate that they stop ASAP.

If that does not work, then you need to decide how much of a problem it is. It would be difficult to claim compensation unless you can attribute a cost to your "loss".

The domain was registered via GoDaddy, and points at a server run by these folks by the look of it:

them a note of infringing content may get them to pull the site.

[Matty F]

I can still find the site by Googling for "Save Money by putting the boxes in the room".

I note that the owner says: "When you contact us for the first time; Please help us by telling us how you found out about us, Thanks."

An email address is provided.

[Andy Dingley]

Google has an online form. Good technique, as de-googling someone's site is nearly as effective as pulling the hosting.

However I'm not sure that this is sufficiently close for a DMCA action. I'd laugh at such an action myself, but OTOH, if one was happy enough arguing the case, one would probably have written fresh copy in the first place.

Still, worth the try though.

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't suppose you have a URL for that? I looked but couldn't find one.

Indeed. I reckon word for word is close enough.

[Mike Barnes]

But you'll presumably have to demonstrate that he copied you rather than the other way round. That might not be easy.

[The Medway Handyman]

Agreed, but very annoying all the same. I've found your FAQ extreemly useful and I wouldn't dream of reproducing it anywhere without your express permission.

As you may know I'm also a working magician. This has started to affect the magic business. It can take months of work to create a new magic effect - a real effort in some cases. These new effects are starting to be ripped off & copied.

I won't buy a rip off copy. In many instances I can work out how the effect is done, but I still buy it from the creator because he deserves recompense for his efforts.

Its just wrong to steal someone elses work. Just wrong.

[The Medway Handyman]

Dead simple. My site was registered in Feb 06, the scumbag registered his in Sept 07.

Thanks for the link though.

[bof]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

Not quite the same, but I've had a number of photos taken from my websites and used commercially, without permission, communication or payment, every one of the dozen or so I've emailed with an invoice have removed the image. In a number of cases it was a "web developer" creating web sites for businesses who had taken the images, hopefully my email to the companies whose sites had the images resulted in a loss of business for the "developer"

[John Rumm]

Easy enough:

*/ with:

*/handyman365.net