Someone is copying and reposting your posts under another name on another site

While google searching for an ATS member on-line to see if that person had posts outside of ATS, i stumbled upon a website which copies posts from ATS threads. This other website also signs the copied ATS posts as being from a member on that other website.

The copied posts from ATS can be found under the "conspiracy catagory" on this other website. This other website also uses Twitter and YouTube for posting. So some of your videos from here (ATS) can be reposted on this other website's YouTube account and your post headings are being "tweeted" and then linked to this other website as if that is where they are originating from (and from someone else).
i started a thread here on ATS (on 27-8-11) questioning what this other website was on the "Board Business and Question" section of ATS. After a very brief time where other members flagged and commented, ATS deleted the thread. (This led me to a wha??? Huh??? moment toward ATS)...
Like any good nut-job conspiracist i also have to question ATS's motives

The explaination given to me about why my thread was deleted as explained by a mod who deleted my thread was to not give this other website more attention (hits/clicks).

Hence, this is why i am not giving the link or name of this other website - to keep ATS from deleting this current post (but i still believe this question about this other website has merit and should be made aware of to ATS members).

Although, personally i believe it is not up to ATS or the mods to determine what other websites ATS members visit. (IMHO) i also think this sort of implies a type of control and censorship by ATS over it's members. (i've also read several complaints usually on the "Boards" about ATS deleting or burying posts from members.)

But, if they (ATS) don't want this other website's link attatched to an ATS thread i'll abide, after all it's ATS's prerogative and their site. (i always thought it was spelled "perogative", not "prerogative".)

When i asked the mod about the ATS members who had already commented on my other thread and what would they think about my post disappearing the mod answered that many mysteries exist on ATS. (not quite an answer to my question.) i also took the comment as a kind "screw them", they don't need an answer. But that could have been just my interpretation.

So, my question about this other website "mirroring" ATS was never answered.
i did recieve and then answer a couple of U2Us from members when they asked me about my thread's disappearance with what the mod had told me.

So anyhow, it seems this other website under one of their member's avatars copies almost all of ATS's new posts (rather quickly) and reposts them as their own.
And i am still wondering what/who this other site is and also what is its connection (if there is one) to ATS?
Also, why did ATS delete my other thread and not answer my or other ATS commenters' questions?
Besides (the obvious T&C) is there a type of censorship on ATS when it concerns them (ATS), or something they don't approve of?

i kinda do see deleting my thread as a type of censorship considering it didn't violate the T&C and had generated flags and conversational comments and questions from others.

Below are the copies/(quotes) of my notice of the thread being "moved" (deleted) with mod's name and other website removed (i also removed the thread title as it was the other site's name).

Textfrom: XmodX sent: 27-8-2011 at 10:57 PM It was necessary to move a thread you created titled, "XXXXX" which was originally posted in the Board Business & Questions forum, to the Complaints forum. XmodX has initiated this action, and included this message about it:

[*Link to where the thread was moved did not work for me and i got a 404page]

So i re-U2Ued the mod and below is my question and the mods response...

My U2U question:

Still was wondering if anyone knew what this site was???

And the mod's response:

from: XmodX sent: 27-8-2011 at 11:34 PM There are actually lots of sites out there like that, and one of the problems, aside from "hit whoring", is that they often farm IP addresses for nefarious purposes.
The "here" link only works for moves to other public forums, which is often the case.
As for members wondering, an unfortunate side effect, but there are many mysteries on ATS.
All the best,
XmodX

Now this has my crazy conspiracy mind spinning... (there are still a couple of teeth left on the old cogs which engage every now and then).

This line from the mod's U2U got me to thinking...

"...Since we probably shouldn't be giving this site any more hits than it already gets, I'm moving this off the public boards, lest we give them more of what they really don't deserve..."

To which i said to myself - What about what ATS members deserve? Don't we deserve a reasonable answer? Who cares what some other website deserves or doesn't deserve? Why delete the post when the mod could have just as easily deleted the link with an explanation as to why? Why were the folks who had commented just left hanging?
Why wouldn't ATS want its members (us) to know about another website using our posts and using them under another person's name?

Should ATS allow its members to post about "such things" without the fear that ATS mods will delete them?
Which only makes me wonder what other types of posts have ATS mods (re)moved from the forums (if any)?

[sidenote: It also seems a "*breaking news" story which i had recieved on my twitter account from wikileaks (only minutes) before i tried posting on ATS never actually posted and seemed to disappear. Although, this disappearing post could've been a mistake i made while posting or a glitch durring posting as it seems others on ATS were having some problems posting and with pages loading too on that day.]
[*sidenote to above sidenote: The breaking news item was from a wikileaks document where an US embassy worker who frequented conspiracy sites was being monitored by the FBI. This item was sent to me by my wikileaks twitter feed and was breaking news and included the date and time. but i digress...]

Has anybody else noticed posts or comments disappear from ATS? (either theirs or others?).
Of course i realize it would be hard for ATS to do anything about other websites copying posts from here and reposting on another website as someone else's original posts. But i think we should be informed about such things, which is what i am trying to do here.
i've tried to word this post as clean and honest as i could. i see no reason for it's removal. If this post does get removed i am afraid this will be my last post on ATS as i will become an ex-member (so what,? do i want my money back?). Because this would show me that ATS isn't what i thought it was.

i like ATS and read threads everyday and totally enjoy some of the enlightening and constructive posts from some members. But it seems recently i've read more and more posts concerning disappearing threads and buried threads and "banned" members. And i have read quite a few comments about over-zealous moderators on some threads/topics while other blatantly offensive and/or "redundant" topics are left alone.

Thank you

as ever
mike

I would have never thought of this.
I'll now have to go over to those other "site" that were not supposed to know about and check.
SnF

Thanks Mike..

I would like to add..

When money is involved..especially lots of it..there is always an agenda.

Peace

man now ats is censoring us? is no place safe...

reply to post by trika3000


The ATS owners should bust anyone who rips off their content.
That's what I think anyhow,

Woww....and the plot thickens....is the game at foot?

I always thought that ATS has friendly ties with the CIA, FBI and NSA.....

Just in case they need to snif out 'trouble makers'.



Good luck with your quest..

You're right. I just moseyed over to the most likely suspect and found a verbatim copy of a popular post here, but there it is posted by anonymous. I'll have to go through T&C, but it seems to me that's a copyright violation. It's pretty blatant.

Edit. Yup, it's a violation. You CAN copy, but if you do you must attribute:

6) Use Of Content; Copyright. All content created by Users of TAN website are governed by an "Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Unported" Creative Commons Deed (hereinafter "Creative Commons License"). Users can share, distribute, copy, and transmit the work Users find on TAN websites provided Users provide proper attribution that includes the name of the Website User, the name of the Website, and a link to the content thread. These usage rights do not apply to any commercial use of the content found on TAN websites, and such use is strictly prohibited without prior written authorization from TAN. These usage rights also do not apply to derivative works, and such use is strictly prohibited without prior written authorization from TAN. Each post of each thread contains a "copyright" link that clearly specifies the method in which the material may be shared, distributed, modified, or used.

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
reply to post by trika3000

 

The ATS owners should bust anyone who rips off their content.
That's what I think anyhow,

Their content? ATS is a community driven machine, the only success ATS has is a direct result of our work.

Threads and high respected members keep disappearing faster and faster.

reply to post by schuyler


Ahh.... well if it is a site allowing anon. posts, then it is not the site I was thinking of.

***

Having said that, in order for the thread to be plagiarized, it would have to be taken from the author and re-posted by someone else... who is to say that the original poster and the anon. poster were not the same person? Hmmmm

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by schuyler

 

Ahh.... well if it is a site allowing anon. posts, then it is not the site I was thinking of.

***

Having said that, in order for the thread to be plagiarized, it would have to be taken from the author and re-posted by someone else... who is to say that the original poster and the anon. poster were not the same person? Hmmmm

Yeah, that's possible. Next step is to ask the original poster.

I get very confused about the T&C at times. I've had things removed that are exactly the same as things that make the front page and they aren't duplicates. I don't understand how some things are allowed while others aren't, and the terms used in T&C are subjective and can be interpreted differently by different mods.

Example:

15b.) Profanity: You will not use profanity in our forums on the Websites, and will neither Post with language or content that is obscene, sexually oriented, or sexually suggestive nor link to sites that contain such content. You will also not use common alternative spellings or net-speak alternative for profane words.

"Obscene" is up for interpretation in this crazy dehumanized culture I think. If I were Religious, I'd find much of the content on this site obscene, it's an objective perspective in my opinion. I don't want to violate their T&C but I do get confused on interpretations.

reply to post by LadySkadi


The site i was talking of uses an avatar name, it's not Anonymous related as in "Anonymous", buy posters are anonymous as you don't know who they are.

reply to post by schuyler

Ah but can a post,which after all is the individual members intellectual property,legitimately be copyrighted because that member chooses to post it in an ATS forum? what copyright law would uphold a complaint by ATS that the member had posted the same material on another site?

If the issue is that the members post has been plagiarised,is it not up to the member to pursue the matter should he or she wish?

reply to post by trika3000


So just to be clear (sorry migraine) are you saying that threads from ATS are being pasted (exactly as is) on another site without crediting the original author/site? Or are you saying that the same topics are being transferred to another site?

Some sites may belong to some sites. Is it to spread LIGHT? Dont know. Is it to seek more capital? Dont know.

Thanks for the info

reply to post by LadySkadi


Exactly the same as if copied and pasted (including new members mention ATS). But the posters avatars name is different from ATS, as if it is original content from the other site... (PS. Migraines suck )

Who cares?

Leeches have always existed.

I do not think (unless said someone was charging for the copied material)
it is such a big deal..

What do you want them to do?

Call 911??

The FBI????

National Guard??

Originally posted by nake13
reply to post by schuyler

 

Ah but can a post,which after all is the individual members intellectual property,legitimately be copyrighted because that member chooses to post it in an ATS forum? what copyright law would uphold a complaint by ATS that the member had posted the same material on another site?

If the issue is that the members post has been plagiarised,is it not up to the member to pursue the matter should he or she wish?

By posting here you give some claims to copyright because the post then falls into a Creative Commons license:

17) Rights In Posted Materials: By posting on this message board, you relinquish all exclusive copyrights to any materials you Post and furthermore, you grant TAN non-exclusive, non-revocable worldwide, royalty-free rights to copy, distribute, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, create derivative works, and publicly perform the materials in perpetuity in all forms.

In other words, if you're really hot to copyright your stuff, you should not post it here. Creative Commons is not quite public domain, but it's close. It seems to me that whomever is posting verbatim posts from here on another site is violating the ATS Terms & Conditions AND the Creative Commons License. I thionk either ATS or the original author could both pursue this if they wanted to.

reply to post by obummerdeception


OH NOOOO

i think the FBI and CIA already know about everything

S&F

I could have sworn I saw some posts worded exactally the same as some on here on another site while I was surfing.