There are sites out there copying my posts verbatim. This is automated based on my site feed. I'm setting the feeds to partial now like other blogs. If you like a post, click through. This site takes a lot of time and work. If you like it support it. It's meant to be viewed green on black BTW. Also, if you have a website, please link to it. Support the site as I support you.
cheers,
matrix
Note if you already come to the site this will have no impact on you. This is only for those that view the site via RSS readers. If you are on a reader, clicking though to posts that interest you should not be a big deal. If it is, just come to the site directly. Also I didn't turn off the full feed, so you will still be able to see some of the post and make a call on whether you want to see the full post - you will not have to click through every single post only to find it doesn't interest you. Note this also translates to less scrolling in your reader.
Update: I heard there is a way of preventing other sites from scraping your feed. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know. If it work, I'll turn full feeds back on. I'll see what I can find over the weekend.
Update: Until I find a better solution, I found a work around for those using Google reader: http://www.doshdosh.com/google-reader-preview-greasemoney-script/. I tested it with Firefox on Mac and it works great. You have to be in list view though for the icon to appear. It's simple to set up. Note Greasemonkey is available on other browsers. Just search for Greasemonkey IE, Greasemonkey Google, Greasemonkey Safari and so on. Note this obviously works with other feeds as well.
For those that this will not work for, note the updates in your reader can serve as an FYI that new content is up. You don't have to click on every link. You can click on one to get to the site, click on the MATRIXSYNTH header on top of the site and parse all posts once. Then go off and wait until the next reminder comes up in your reader. I'll keep looking for better solutions as I have time, but again, if you have suggestions, or tips for other readers, send them in.
Friday, March 19, 2010
29 comments:
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Lame man. So what if they're duplicating your posts. They're backlinks. But you're screwing your RSS readers. Consider me unsubscribed.
ReplyDeleteIt's more than that.
ReplyDeleteAlso I checked and they are no backlinks. They strip that out.
ReplyDeleteplease reconsider! there´s too many posts! it´s very hard to find whats really interesting just thru the headers (even with the little description).. matrixsynth is almost like a secong job to me as it is.. you are gonna get me fired this way!
ReplyDeleteLet's give it a try and see how it goes. If it really is that bad, I will reconsider. I might be able to find a way to stop other sites from scraping my feeds. If I do, I'll turn the full feed back on. Speaking of... if anyone knows how to do this, let me know.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the issue? SEO? Duplicate content? If so, I would bet that you have higher trust and page rank over any splog. I think you just trust the algorithm and keep in mind that readership grows from WOM and folks like me sharing your posts through Google Reader, Twitter, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf there's another issue, like image hotlinking, there are technical solutions for that. If it's something I'm not guessing, I'd be willing to help you solve the problem to keep full feed access.
Full feeds are righteous and down right cool.
Just follow Matrix's Tweets, then click the link if you find something interesting - that's what I do (and how I got to this post...)
ReplyDeleteI hit Matrixsynth 5-6 times a day for info and entertainment in this way (Twitter makes aggregating just so easy) - it's a fantastic resource, and I'd hate to see it go away because of other sites and/or bloggers lack of respect.
Graham, shoot me an email via the contact link on the right. I'll figure something out. I need to head for a bit, so if I don't reply right away, that's why.
ReplyDeleteDon't set your feeds to partial. All that says will do is annoy your subscribers. You want to please your subscribers/followers, or they will leave ... possibly for sites scraping your content.
ReplyDeleteAs for those sites ... this is the computer age, when a program can be written to pull the content off your page directly. They don't need the feed to get it. But you know what else? They will *always* be secondary to you as long as that is what they do. It's poor form, but that's their fault, not yours or your readers. You should trust people to work out who has the original. Trust me, they will.
In short, worry about the people who want to read your site, not the hangers on.
bad idea - lost at least one reader until you change things back. very very annoying to have partial feeds in a rss reader. who cares if other sites are reposting? maybe there are better solutions (randomly adding a logo image or something) that would prevent auto-reposting?
ReplyDeletei think partial feeds work for sites that are mostly articles/text, but for a site like this that is mostly about the images/video its a terrible idea.
When I went to visit the New England Synthesizer Museum, I asked the curator if anyone ever stole anything and if he worried about it. He replied yes to both. He caught some a-hole trying to walk out with an SEM under his jacket. Fortunately he was able to catch and stop the person. I can't. I can't block an IP on Blogger, and I won't host the site outside of Blogger because I want the site to continue on when I die. I don't pay for hosting on blogger so I don't need to worry about the site disappearing when I'm no longer around to pay for it. This site takes 3-4 hours a day, seven days a week. It is a house I built and I'll be damned is some a-hole comes in and starts stealing it all. I ignored it in the past, but I've seen people linking to my posts on that site. That is bull shit. If you can't understand and support me because it is too much trouble to click through, then so be it. I'll put full feeds back up when there is a way to block scrapers. I've spent a couple of hours today looking for something and so far there is nothing. Again, if anyone knows, let me know. Some of my favorite blogs like Gizmodo do not offer full feeds and I don't have a problem with it. I skip what does not interest me and I click through to what does. If everything on this site interests you then come to it and support it.
ReplyDeleteYou're making it personal. The downside of that is your readers are getting the shaft. Gizmodo has always offered a full feed until recently and there was lots of backlash so they gave out a VIP full feed.
ReplyDeleteSo you lose a few backlinks? That's better than losing loyal readers. I'm one who often shares your stuff through Google Reader to thousands of people.
It happens to everybody. My stuff gets splogged about but my readership has never suffered because of it. But your readership WILL suffer if you cut us off.
Good luck.
I hate to say it is a bit personal... especially when someone is aggregating feeds under their own website which serves no other purpose than to dive traffic to click through links from google etc. He's quite right to be upset.
ReplyDeleteI found out what a black market there was for that when I was setting up my own website, and I link to here directly. computermusicguide.com
OK, I found a work around for those using Google reader: http://www.doshdosh.com/google-reader-preview-greasemoney-script/. I tested it with Firefox on Mac and it works like a charm. You have to be in list view though for the icon to appear. It's simple to set up. Note Greasemonkey is available on other browsers. Just search for Greasemonkey IE, Greasemonkey Google, Greasemonkey Safari and so on.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that fix. I love this blog. It's unfortunate that you had to switch to partial feeds in a time when there is so much internet plagiarism going on. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThe greasmonkey thing is not really a workaround as something as irritating as having to click through.
ReplyDeleteIt's nothing near as good as being able to browse through the list and open the articles you like in a new window, that way reading them on green on black.
Why not just go lo-fi and add text parts in your posts that tells the reader that it was from this site. like in the middle of a text just add "I from matrixsynth" or "article brought to you from matrixsynth", vary that and then sometimes add an image here and there.
That's way to troublesome for a scraper!
I´ve found that using the reader as an update notice so i can read matrixsynth on the website not to be the hassle I though it would be. Altough this site is my main synth fix, not just another blog I read for random feeds..
ReplyDeleteIt´s good to be back to the black&green! keepup!
I don't use firefox, so that script is out of the question. This is a bad idea. You're punishing your readers. Like a handful of people are stealing your shit so your entire reader base gets the shaft.
ReplyDeleteIf someone walks out of the Synth Museum with a SEM, the museum doesn't have that SEM anymore and nobody else gets to see it. If someone "steals" your blog content, it's still here and everyone else can still read it. So I don't know if "stealing" is really even the right word for it. It sounds like a lot of backlash from your readers is coming for this change in policy. Perhaps I'd reconsider if I were you...
ReplyDeleteWow, lots of outrage about this, but people should realize that they're biting the hand that feeds them. I know how matrix feels, I run a small site of my own and generate content, and on a regular basis, find my posts on these leech blogs without track backs. It is infuriating to see these people using content that you produce to promote yourself or provide as interesting information for the community being scraped to drive google hits. It's one extra click, it's not like you have to walk down to the corner store to buy each new post.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note on this. This change wasn't a spur of the moment reaction to seeing my feeds being copied. See this post from 2006. I ignored this problem for the last three and a half years. The tipping point? That site was gaining popularity based on my posts and I started catching people (some very respected people) linking to it not me. I even had someone send me a post on that site to post here. The post they sent? It was mine scrapped there. The person that sent the link in didn't realize it. With this change that site and others like it are effectively broken.
ReplyDeleteWhy punish everyone for a couple of punks?
ReplyDeleteI guess it's a matter of convenience for the Google reader people. I understand where you're coming from. I guess I'll just visit the site once in a while instead of using reader everyday. I meant no offence.
ReplyDelete[Note this comment was above the last comment from w4z. I caught a couple of mistakes I wanted to correct but couldn't get to it before w4z's comment went up. The gist of it is unchanged and has not been modified in reflection to w4z's comment].
ReplyDeleteBecause it punishes the site. This site takes a lot of time and energy. Why go to this site when you can get it and more elsewhere? People honestly don't know better. People go for convenience and I'm basically giving that convenience to other sites with a full feed. Sorry, but I won't do that. Why is it so difficult for you to click through? Is it really that much work for you and not worth it? I put in three to four hours a day on this site. Do you honestly think I'm going to feel bad because you have to take two seconds to click on a link? Is it really that much of a hassle? I don't charge or require sign in for the site. Everything is here, right on the front page. I could go with title feeds only, you realize that right? Some sites do that. Sonic State has super short feeds, Sequencer.de, and others. It is was it is and I'm done. If you don't like it you are free to leave.
BTW, w4z you said you were on Google Reader on Twitter. Try the Greasemonkey solution, it doesn't actually take you to the site - it comes up in Google Reader.
w4z, I take no offense and I agree it sucks. You have no idea how frustrating this is for me. It's BS that I have to change my site for this and others have to be impacted. I really don't have any ill will towards you or others that leave. We are all super busy and only have so much time. Anything that hinders that really is an annoyance and I hate to have to add to that. I will no longer compromise my site or time for anyone, and please, don't compromise your time for anyone as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe we could all just take the blue pill for now and calm down. LOL Could a threat of legal action solve the issue of content theft? Maybe a letter from a lawyer? Is not the content of this site published and copy written? Maybe the owners of the others sites could be contacted and they could be made to remove the content or link to the site so that it is legal. I'm willing to help out and track down these felons and give them a spoon full of soggy justice! (Think "The Tick" there ;) LOL Seriously, though, lets go after the b@stards that are causing the problems so there doesn't have to be any changes... because, "Nature is one call you can't put on hold."
ReplyDeleteAnother Tick quote; "You know, Arthur, when evil is afoot, and you don't have any arms, you've gotta use your head. And when evil is ahead and you're behind, you've gotta do the legwork. But when you can't get a leg up, you gotta be hip. You gotta keep your chin up, and kick some-... " http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112196/quotes
ReplyDeletecheck out "hack a day" rss. they have a good solution.
ReplyDeletethe videos are thumbnails, to see the video you have to click the thumbnail that will direct you to there website.
you can get the thumbnails like so: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qAepgZ5iM5k/1.jpg
change the "qAepgZ5iM5k" for the video's "qAepgZ5iM5k" you want.
matrix,
ReplyDeleteYour responses don't address the key point I tried to make: why do you think the RSS feeds are the only way for someone to copy your content? You claim it's only "one click" away, so why won't the copypasters make that one click?
The part that really irks me about this choice you're making is that you're making however many readers subscribe to you click through for every article, to possibly eliminate the chance of a few handfuls (idk exactly how many are copying you) of site "authors" clicking through to copy your content. You say "two seconds", but add that up over your entire readership and think how much of the population's time you are wasting! You're essentially putting a tax on people's time, which I personally think is BS.
Beyond that, I have a question. Has your readership gone up or down in the time these other copypaster sites have been up? Are they actually stealing readers somehow? At worst, someone who doesn't know about your site doesn't find out about it, which is a zero sum.