reviews_and_ramblings | Some random thoughts...

Some random thoughts...

I don't do rates (it's like a statement, I don't do drugs, I don't drink...). I always hate scheme and similar, my Italian teacher in highschool, after fighting for years to force me to plan my writing before starting them, surrendered and let me do as I wanted; I wrote from scratch, I still do, without almost editing it... It's like I'm, you can't change me, and so, how can I summarize what I wrote with a rate?

And above all, I don't believe in rate since they are "cold": I can read a book today, and since I'm in a fool mood, I can hate or love it, and maybe next week I will change my mind. Same as you: a book for me is wonderful since touch something in me, and for you is boring, since that same spot wasn't touched.

I'm not a reviewer, I studied Economics at College, not English or Literature! I'm a reader, and I read what I like, so please, don't take offense if I don't like a book, I believe that I have never said that a book was bad, only maybe that I didn't understand it or that it left me unaffected. And I'm not a writer or an editor, so I'm not nursing the secret idea to publish a book... I have some stories that swirling in my mind, but I'm not good enough to write them, and so they will stay in my mind.

English is not my language, so I can't judge if a book is grammatically good or not, and I don't want to... I write what as a book left me, cold, happy, sad, and I believe that you can understand it from what I write. It's not like I love every book I read, but if I write a post, probably there is something in the book that pushed me to finish it: and since I have in this moment more than 400 books in my reading list, if a book managed to catch my attention for enough time for me to finish it, then it means that I like it. For the "love" verb, the book has to be very good.

Don't try to involve me in fights, I don't like them; and don't believe that I can't fight, I can, but this is my sand box and I do as I want here. But I love confrontation, so don't worry if you want to leave "nasty" comments, if they have a sense, even if bad, probably I will reply to them.

And if you heavily lift from my LiveJournal and take the credit for my work, could at least don't gloat over how good you are? Ask you to at least put a link would be too much... I love when people link me, one of the happiest moment is when I discover that someone notice my little sand box and say something. I don't pretend that you ask me nothing, don't get me wrong, it's part of the pleasure of life, and an happy surprise, when I find something of unexptected, but I hate when something I spent time to prepare get apparently unnoticed to discover that raised a sandstorm somewhere else.

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I hope you enjoy Dostana. That's the movie the icon is from. :)

Thank you Clare... and you can yell as you want here, you are allow to play in my sand box ;-) Elisa

I've found so many great books and artists through your journal. And when you've disliked something, you've always stated it gently and objectively, which is more than can be said for a lot of review sites. What's wrong with that? Your LJ is an invaluable resource. Thank you for sharing it.

Thank you. For example I really love that you linked my LJ when I post about Dan Dos Santos. In that case I haven't contacted the artist, but I loved that people let me know they liked my choice. Elisa

Try not to let them get you down. Easier than said, I know. The thing is, according to your library, you have read hundreds of books. Of course you're going to be more prone to review those that had qualities you liked! Otherwise you would be writing reviews 24/7.

And instead I have also a day work ;-) Elisa

Can I guess that they(?) are fans of some writers? Or people envy you?

We(I don't know how many) know your policy that you never write negative reviews. Just ignore those who don't know about it. I wonder if they have read your reviews well. You never review a book in a way like this, "This one is great, the best one I've ever read!", too :D

Recently I was seriously troubled with the online world. We must accept what other people are doing, as far as they don't abuse the low. But to which degree? I know that some people may not like what I'm saying or pictures I post etc. I could explain to remove their misunderstanding, though is it worth doing? There are vicious people who provoke and make you use f or c words. I'm not going to fall on this level, though.

As you've mentioned above, it's a part how the internet works.

Wish you a happy weekend :)

Thank you Max. I believe they are most people that really don't understand me, and I have to learn to ignore them. But sometime I feel to rant a bit. Good week end also to you. Elisa

Hey Elisa. I always thought your reviews were more than fair. When you don't like something (like menage or cheating men), you say that up front and you remind people that it's personal and that someone else might like menage, etc. And your reviews are great! I don't know how many times I've bought books based on what you said. Whoever this jerk author is that's been saying your reviews are bad should feel lucky you're even being reading them!

And for whoever is plagiarizing your reviews... I don't know what to say. WTF?!

Thank you. I notice around the net that sometime you said that you discovered some new author thanks to me, and I'm always happy when I read it. Elisa

Hi, Elisa. I hope I can express my appreciation and help to offset the negative thing that happened. I think you're a fantastic reviewer! I'm so impressed by how MUCH you manage to read, and it gives me incentive to read a little faster.

Sometimes I get discouraged because I'm an individual rather than a group of reviewers, and I just can't compete with what a group can do. Then I remember that you are individual, and your site is very successful, and I feel better!

I've been meaning to link to you and your reviews for awhile, and I've been too disorganized to get to it. I'm going to do that today because you should know that you are appreciated.

You have a truly comprehensive collection of reviews, plus you're always finding us gorgeous art and photographs that deserve to have a wider audience but probably don't because they're gay-themed. So you're doing a lot of good for the artist / writer, and us fans.

Plus you've got the most beautiful LiveJournal I've ever seen. No one else's can compare.

You said: "I will not use the word "plagiarism" since for me it's not possible to "copy" a post, and above all, if it's something sporadic, could be really a coincidence. It's when something happen 1, 2, 3 time and from the same person that make me really angry."

I don't blame you. If someone is stealing your content, it is a serious matter, and will not be tolerated by most Internet Service Providers.

If someone reposts your content on their website and claims that they wrote it, that is plagiarism. If someone reposts an ENTIRE piece that you wrote, and gives credit to you and your website, that is still content THEFT.

Sorry to go into all caps here, but I think a lot of people misunderstand this and think that reposting your content on their website is okay as long as they add the credit that you wrote it. It is NOT okay. They are still taking the content that you worked so hard to create and using it to add to the overall content of their website.

This hurts your website because search engines may bring up the other person's site if it has a higher ranking. In that situation, your writing is working to send people to that OTHER site. If the other site is receiving ad revenue, then your content is making money for THAT other person, and not you.

The correct thing to do is for someone to quote maybe one or two lines from your review and then LINK BACK to the original source, which is your website.

If someone is plagiarizing or stealing your content, I recommend that you take action. It's entirely up to you if you'd like to do this because it can take time and make you feel a lot of negative emotions.

But if you decide you want to do this, contact the content thief's Internet Service Provider. You can find this at http://whois.net/ Send an email to their Internet Service Provider with full details about the content theft, and ask them to take action.

If you're truly angry, you could send the content thief an email letting them know that you plan to contact their advertising sponsors (if they have any) and notify all of THEM of the content theft. I've found this to get spectacularly fast results (the stolen content gets taken down right away).

Good luck, Elisa, and remember that you have a lot of fans and supporters!

The internet makes it so easy for people to steal the work of others. I guess it makes them feel popular when they distribute what they steal without giving credit or linking to the source.

It is one of the downsides to sharing your creativity, Elisa. Just know that 99.9% of us who visit here enjoy and appreciate what you do.

Oh, I should add that what I've suggested about handling content theft does work internationally.

That last part I suggested about contacting advertising sponsors got quick results from a South Africa site.

Exception: communist countries where there isn't a concept of private ownership -- I'm still not quite sure what to do in that situation. Best of luck on your situation.

Thank you for the insightful and very detailed comment. I will memory this one and if thing get nastier, maybe I will do as you said.
And thank you also for your kind word about my LJ, I remember that I already said to you in the past that I spend a lot of time for make it "pretty", and I'm glad that it get notice.
And you are right also in another point, you, me, and I believe very few other, are alone in maintaining our site and trying to do it as better as possible, and so probably it hurt more when someone with better visibility try to shadow what we are doing.
I have no problem when people "lift" from my LJ heavily if they at least link me at the end, or at least say that it's from me that they find the source. What I absolutely don't like is when they lift without even trying to understand what I wrote and why.

Thank you Jardonn, you are for example the good side to be on the net, it made me immensaly happy when I read your little post about me the other day. Elisa

I notice a lot of site that are only a container of lifted post from other site. I really don't understand why they exist, since I don't believe that people really read them. Elisa

Oh, Elisa, I'm sorry if people aren't treating you the way they should. It still puzzles (and frustrates) me, but the internet seems to breed bad behavior sometimes. :(

I love reading your reviews. You have such a joy for books and romance, and that comes through in every review you write. It's what makes you special, and I for one am grateful you're here. :)

I've always loved and respected your reviews and follow you here and on librarything - you've helped me a lot in deciding which books to buy and what to expect. I've never found you to be negative or unfair. I hope you feel better soon!

Thank you Dakota, I'm always glad to know that the joy I feel reading a book is transmitted through my posts. Elisa

I'm better now, I'm reading so it's always better ;-) Thank you, Elisa

You said: "you, me, and I believe very few other, are alone in maintaining our site ... so probably it hurt more when someone with better visibility try to shadow what we are doing."

That's a good insight! I hadn't stopped to think about, but you're right.

You said: "What I absolutely don't like is when they lift without even trying to understand what I wrote and why."

I think that they do it because it's hard to write original content. They lack the ability or they are just too lazy. Their desire to have a successful website outstrips their willingness or ability to work for it.

So they "lift" heavily from the content of your website to add to their own. They hope that they can get away with it so long as they give you credit or link back.

It is true that there is no "global law" under which this sort of theft can be prosecuted. But if they repost too much of your content, it is still theft. The internet community in general will not tolerate it. So there is an informal "global law" of all of internet content writers looking out for each other.

Too many of us are angry about pouring all of our energy into creating original content and then having it "borrowed" by the parasites who want to keep up with everyone else but don't want to work for it like the rest of us.

The more successful someone's website is, the more it tends to get victimized by content theft. I'm not THAT successful, but I've still had my content reposted in its entirety by fiction writers whom I've reviewed who should have known better. (It's rare that fiction writers do it.)

I've also had it reposted by kids over at WordPress, among other big blog publishers. The big blog publishers are so nice to deal with. I send them a link to the stolent content and they just rip it down immediately. Problem solved in no time!

Yes! This describes that South Africa example that I mentioned to you.

These sites exist only to run advertising all over their sidebars and collect ad revenue. But they need to increase their website traffic if they want to make any money from visitors clicking on links, or from visitors looking at the pages (page-exposure revenue).

So these sites just steal content from everywhere and post it, regardless of its meaning or context or relevance. The site owners hope that web traffic will come in from people using search engines to search on popular terms. It's a way to steal and make money.

It's so pernicious! With those type of sites, you defend yourself and your content by threatening to strike back where it will hurt them most: their ad revenue. Email them and explain that you will contact all of their advertising sponsors and inform the sponsors of their content theft unless they remove all of your stolen content within a 24-hour period. It gets results.

Now I'm off to post a link to your site on mine! Best, Val

Ah, Elisa, you rock! I read your journal every day. :-)

Shawn Lane

Now I understand how they work. Usually I ignore them, but if they gain money from it, probably next time I will do something. I recently refuse to post an ad banner on my site, since I don't write post to gain money, but I don't want that other gain on my work. Elisa

Thank you Shawn, you are one of the "external" readers that I recognize, since you are so kind to leave a comment sometime. Elisa

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Some random thoughts...

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Thievery

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Re: Thievery

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Containers of lifted posts from other sites.

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Re: Containers of lifted posts from other sites.

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