Update: OpenDiary.com Responds
By Jonathan Bailey • Dec 20th, 2005 • Category: Articles, Personal Experiences, VillainsMy previous article on OpenDiary.com has remained one of the most-read articles on the site since it was first penned in August. It has drawn a great deal of criticism from OpenDiary fans, many of whom seem to be very confused about the articles purpose, and is probably this site’s most talked-about piece.
However, it was only recently that it got the attention of the publisher of Opendiary.com. He posted a comment to it saying, in part, that he finds plagiarism “despicable and will do what I can to stop it.” He also said that there is a method in place for reporting rules violation and that it had been used successfully in another incident involving his site. Finally, he offered a direct email address for anyone with plagiarism complaints to forward their requests directly to him.
While I want to be optimistic and call this a sign that things have changed. I have several concerns. First off, the means of reporting violations, clicking the “Report a Rules Violation” link underneath “Help” on the page itself, has proved ineffective. I have filed at least one complaint through that and not received a response, even after using a full DMCA notice.
To make matters worse, I sent an email to the address listed in the comment shortly after it was posted and now, nearly four days later, I’m yet to hear a reply. My intent with that letter was to address continuing concerns that I had and to get more insight from them for the purpose of writing this article. I’m sorry that I never heard back from them before I posted this and I still hope to do so.
In the meantime though, no matter how hard I want to believe that this is a sincere change, until I see actual evidence of improvement, I have to keep my current stand. However, I will continue to inform everyone on things as they change. The law of probability says that I’ll have another incident on opediary.com or one of its related sites soon. We’ll see how that goes.
01/04/06 Update: A few days ago I received a reply from the Diary Master at OpenDiary.com. He said that he had already downloaded the form from the United States Copyright office to register his designated agent as per the DMCA and was planning to submit it soon. He also confirmed that the above mentioned “Report a Rules Violation” was the best method for handling such complaints.
Though I am very pleased to see him taking such an active role in issues fo copyright infringement, I will be following up on this as keeping watch as things progress. I sincerely hope to be able to remove OpenDiary.com from the Villians list soon.
Update 09/20/07: I am closing comments to this piece because people are commenting to it before they read the entire piece, checking the updates or the other comments. This matter is closed and has been closed for over a year.
[tags]Plagiarism, Blogging, Copyright Law, Content Theft, Copyright Infringement, OpenDiary[/tags]
Jonathan Bailey is The Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today, which he founded in 2005 as a way to help Webmasters going through content theft problems get accurate information and stay up to date on the rapidly-changing field. He is also a consultant to Webmasters and companies to help them devise practical content protection strategies and develop good copyright policies.
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[...] This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I have updated the previous article about OpenDiary.com with information from an email I received from the site’s administrator. The news on that front is very good and, though I’m reserving judgment until I see action on their part, I’m hopeful that they are on the right track fo be removed from the Villains List. [...]
Ok, so you’re the Plagiarism Police - Yippee.
OpenDiary is home to thousands of diarists worldwide, with some diarists as paying customers, like myself. I certainly DO NOT condone plagiarism, and will be the first to say that your previously described ‘experience’ in regard to that matter was, indeed, unfortunate.
What I don’t understand is why you would think that your writings are anymore important to you and your world, than mine are to me and my world…but apparently that is the case because you are willing to go to any extreme in order to ’shut down’ OpenDiary. Yes, on one hand there’s a lot of ‘junk’ diarists belonging OpenDairy… but on the other hand, there are just as many gifted writers - what a loss it would be to have such talented writings deleted into oblivion because of your unfortunate incident…because YOU wanted the OD plug pulled.
I had one of my own entries on OpenDairy copied and pasted by another diarist. It’s life, and sometimes bad things happen to good people…I dealt with it…case closed.
Dude, it’s not only about you. Get over it.
Your efforts, while they may be in good intentions are totally out of line and overzealous. Plagerism is a horrible thing and should be punished, but it’s a DIARY! It’s not an article, it’s not a person’s personal website, it’s not a book or even homework, it is merely a person’s thoughts, or someone’s else’s as you point out. I personally don’t even consider it a blog.
Opendiary is an outstanding site that offers a wonderful service. It’s run quite efficiently on the budget it has as well. I’ve never had any problems whatsoever with issues being handled. I’d like to know why you don’t go to chat rooms or those sorts of sites… or do those not have plagerism?
I have been writing on opendiary for 6 years. This is the first time i have seen this — so much for it being the sites most talked about piece… I only found this by clicking on the wrong opendiary search –
[...] This still leaves several unanswered questions, including why they haven’t registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and why the first abuse reports were ignored. However, I have replied to the email in hopes of opening up a dialog with Xanga on these matters and I will report back what I find. I am hoping that Xanga, like OpenDiary, will promise to change its policy for the better or that, better yet, this whole matter will be just one giant misunderstanding. [...]
So you’re considered the Plagiarism Police too? Please excuse the laughter. I will never understand how people can get so bent out of shape if they are innocent of wrong doing. You’re not accusing them of anything. And, if they are wasting their time attacking you, they’re not scanning their own site for illegal activity. Therefore, if the site is shut down, it’ll be THEIR fault, not yours!
Prior to reading your posts about this OpenDiary place, I had never heard of it. But, who copies other peoples’ intellectual property into their diary? I can see writing a boy’s phone number or what you found on the bathroom wall or even a funny quote from a movie, but an entire article? We’re talking about an article written by a total stranger without permission. That’s the sad part to me. Are their lives so boring they must steal and lie? Sad, sad, sad!
Keep up the good fight you Plagiarism Cop you! (I’ve begun to wear my title with a smile! The only ones getting upset are the guilty - in my eyes.)
Open Diary is a great site and it’s GREAT that you are trying to control it all. I have an acount on OD & OD helps me get out feelings that I know I can’t write anywhere else. People are very supportive there. It makes me feel like people understand.
Well, it’s always good to see there are people with too much free time on their hands.
I personally don’t. I take about 5-10 minutes out of my busy day to document the happy, sad and sometimes amusing events in my life. If I don’t want people to see it, I make my entry PRIVATE. It’s a personal choice.
Tell you what, why don’t you take off your cape and leave the word-stealers to their sordid business; go out there and get a life - maybe then YOU’ll also have something to write about on OD that people may or may not be tempted to steal.