Dear Tech bloggers
There are some who make genuine efforts, even with limited resources. That's how I started. And that's good as long as its done honestly and there's consistency in growth- quality and traffic.
But then.... there's this:
https://www.indiblogger.in/forum/review.php?action=replied&id=20463
Ripping off photos from multiple sources? Are you kidding me??? Whom are you trying to fool????
Then there's a particular website where one of their bloggers/guest writers who basically catered to a PR agency's request for wrongfully promoting a component without any proper testing. They just ripped off marketing words from a press release and used official press shots. While its not plagiarism to pick up specification, quotes and press shots- it maks an impression that tech bloggers will put up any garbage for whatever reason.
I don't understand. Why do some people do this??? You think this works for you??? This is cheap.
Renie, if you're reading this, I really believe we should have a wall of shame section where we list the name of the plagiarist and/or the website that ripped off the content. Running a review website of anything is not a joke. Way too much time, effort, money and energy needs to be invested to run a proper review website and even compete content wise against the 'mainstream' mentality. People will think tech bloggers are con artists- and companies will think they can easily get free coverage just by sending a press release and from those who rip off content from other sites. This has to stop at some point and having a wall of shame will atleast help by discrediting plagiarists.
Wall of shame? 
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=1 
But yes, he was wrong.
The fact that every 2nd blogger is trying his luck in Technology blogging makes it more vulnerable to copy. Its idiotic, I have seen people copying and pasting descriptions from Google Playstore (exact words) and making it a blog post.
I guess this copying mania is present across the board, not just in technology! And I feel your angst, Sorcerer.
Dear Sorcorer,
Dont get me wrong, I am on your side, I agree to this point that web is increasing getting flooded with such things as you mentioned but I am also not in favor of what you suggest..
What is the problem ??
What they are doing, in general is not illegal, so what is our problem ?? If I dont like it, I wont read it.. As simple as that.. Web should always be a place for free speech.. Unless they are stealing my image, there is no way I should complain..
It's subjective..
Without a super villein, there can never be a HERO, so unless there is this junk, no one will read the good one's since nothing to compare with, which would make a good work, good..
It hurts revenue..
Boss its competition, so definitely, it will hurt your revenue but no one is asking you to be active on this section..
Free Speech..
By the way, who are we to judge what is good and what is bad ?? Let the people judge and that is the law / rule. We are just thinking such press release type blog post is bad, actually doesn't make it bad..
Does it ??
People would read if they like, else they wont..
But that absolutely doesn't gives me or you the right to pull the plug..
Bad things should always be there, it actually helps to earn loyal readers, as without comparison, no reader can judge how good I am..
Indiblogger
Renie him self runs contest, and now a days, 90% of the blog in IB is having more than 80% content written for IB or BA contest.. Good thing in my book, it helps the genuine blog to keep loyal readers for genuine content..
Conclusion
It hurts, I know to see how hard I worked for something and some one writes, pollutes the subject with no idea about the same, but that is the way it is suppose to be and that is what is called Free Speech !!
Waiting for your input on my idea of this ...
+100 Hunky
90% of the blog in IB is having more than 80% content written for IB or BA contest.
IB has around 35k bloggers and perhaps more blogs registered ( as many have multiple blogs )..but only 300-400 odd bloggers participate in contests ( mostly the same bloggers ),...does that add up to 90%?
That +100 was for the opening remarks not indi thingy
@ND..
I was refering to active IB members, not those who are dormant..
but only 300-400 odd bloggers participate in contests ( mostly the same bloggers )
I hope IB takes note of this, specially the thing in brackets, since I am sure, this wont be beneficial for them in long run.
what is dormant...u think except those 300-400 bloggers...rest dont blog at all?? i think they are very much active ...though they may not be active in forum/contest etc
and the brackets makes no difference...because when those blogs appear in google searches during campaigns...i think its beneficial enuff in creating brand awareness/buzz or whatever it is called
i think its beneficial enuff in creating brand awareness/buzz or whatever it is called
I am sure it is, otherwise there would not have been contest..
what is dormant...
Creating a blog for sake of creating a blog.. Yes, that is dormant / irregular.. 
but how do u know...that besides those who take part in contest..rest are dormant??? or created blog for sake of creating blog?? check the blog directory...see the top ranking blogs...most donot take part in contests ...are they dormant bloggers? o.O
@Hunky
There are many flaws in your thought process here.. and appricate that you recognize that it hurts!
What is the problem? - Some one puts efforts, some one else reaps benefits. Google discovers both blogs have same content and may accidently penalize the original. There is problem dude.
It's subjective... - no it is not. Sourav Pandey won many contests from IndiBlogger until the expose on plagrised content. There were no heros, yes there were those who caught him, but many lost their prize deserved prize to him - he never returned any of the prizes he got from Indi. And I do not think using the hero-villian, good-junk metaphor can be used here. The copy is so brilliant many a times that it is considered better than original but without any credit to original one. Yes, it is not subjective, it cannot be.
It hurts revenue.. yes it does! And it is not only for Roshan but everyone else who have spend their time and effort. In case of Roshan, he invests money to test hardware to review them and post it on his blog! You cannot say someone can walk away with what you came up with your effort, your money and then adds some.
Free Speech.. this is really the most bullshit thing I have read in weeks! You got the meaning of Free Speech wrong. Free speech is to share "your" thoughts, not copy someone else's. It is the right the right to express your opinions without censorship or restraint. It is to support one's thought, but not claiming it as your own.. It does not mean theft at all. Do a look up on Oxford dictionary.
IndiBlogger.. well you haven't got your facts right. Nandini already has clarified and I second her on that.
Conclusion
You writing this whole thing, even though claiming support for Roshan, is exactly against what he is trying to say - stop plagairsm. The freedom of speech is for your opinion and not to steal someone else's and claim as your own. I do not know why would you be okay with someone else copying your idea? The whole logic that if a basked full of apples are good and one are rotten you would keep the rest and throw the rotten away works only on fruits. Not on the internet as people do not have means to verify what is genuine and what is not.
@Indianomics..
Free Speech is everything, even saying bullshit is also free.. The entire Hindu Culture worship cow and Muslims eat cow, so ?? That's freedom of religious practice..
Beside, I never supported Plagiarism, rather I said those sub standard blogs, where they write review about a device from the press release.. I don't oppose them either with mentality of bring them down..
yes it does! And it is not only for Roshan but everyone else who have spend their time and effort. In case of Roshan, he invests money to test hardware to review them and post it on his blog! You cannot say someone can walk away with what you came up with your effort, your money and then adds some.
That is the part of game.. He is not doing any favor to us by writing, neither I am nor you are.. People will write, copy from press release and write a review, since its not illegal.. If you don't like it, don't blog..
Now the question is, who am I asking you not to blog ?? No one, but who are you asking those who copy paste and makes up a review by reading others, not to write ?? I do agree, blunt copy pasting should not happen at any point but those sub standard blogs, they never violated any law and will exists..
Being Penalized By Google..
Part of game again, you may complain, I may still write bullshit, since I am allowed to..
stop plagiarism
Please note,
- Copy pasting from Press Release is not Plagiarism
- Reading 10 review about GTX980 or MRF Tyre (my case
) and writing my own without even trying the card or tyre is unethical, lie but not plagiarism.. - Getting high rank over a genuine user review for that article is not plagiarism..
- Making more money than actual user reviewers over that article is not plagiarism..
- It can be benefit of better Internet (SEO, write up, marketing or such) skills but certainly not plagiarism..
I neither oppose them nor support them.. They are unethical, but they are not illegal.. But I do oppose the mentality of censorship..
Again I agree with Hunky's view, beautifully explained 
@Hunky
I said free speech is not to copy someone else's work.. does not mean people can write whatever crap they want to.
The problem is if there is a sub-standard blog, whose author just reads 10 reviews while does not test the product and writes a review - the readers cannot verify the truth. I mean it is simply impossible for everyone to read a blog and make it out that the this guy hasnt tested the product. What happens is - the 10 people who took effort and came up with review lost a viewer, and that viewer would be confused on whom to trust. Tomorrow, after having a bad experience he wont trust even those who wrote genunie reviews.
You see, more such stupid people would come up the less people would start trusting genunie reviewers. Unless you are techy enough to find your source to trust, which most of the people are not. So your justification that good blogs are boosted by bad does not hold any benefit.
Legal - well they are, as such there are no such clear law on what one can write and there is absolute impossibility to check each and every writer as Internet is just huge. So, it means that you have go to beyond legal to find what is the best way to get good content.
I need to stop arguing as this discussion is going no where..
I am going try and pen down once more, there is difference between blunt copy pasting, rather what we call plagiarism and those sub standard blogs where blogger reads 10 reviews sums it up and makes up his own without any idea of the product he is reviewing..
I oppose plagiarism but I also oppose mixing both (sub standard and blunt plagiarism) and terming them all as plagiarism !!
Legal - well they are, as such there are no such clear law on what one can write and there is absolute impossibility to check each and every writer as Internet is just huge. So, it means that you have go to beyond legal to find what is the best way to get good content.
They are legal so why crying about it, main reason for we cry, if I am not mistaking, and if I am honest, it hurts revenue and it takes away recognition from us, those who work hard toward building the content..
Its better that we work hard towards our own setup, diversify it, think of more innovative way to out perform those sub standard / junk content..
I said free speech is not to copy someone else's work.. does not mean people can write whatever crap they want to.
Sorry, disagreeing here.. Yes, people can write what ever crap they want to.. Given that, its within law.. That is free speech..
Why ??
Because, in my, your or may be 100 people's book, that is crap, but its possible, 30 people's book that is not crap.. So who are we to suppress the voice ??
I do beg your pardon for drawing this example once again,
The entire Hindu Culture worship cow and Muslims eat cow, so ?? That's freedom of religious practice..
It's not that, I don't agree to you on pollution of internet and flooding of those sub standard blogs.. I only disagree on terming plagiarism and sub standard together and suppressing them with same rule..
I said free speech is not to copy someone else's work.. does not mean people can write whatever crap they want to.
People are free to write whatever crap they want! Because what crap is to you need not be do for others.
One might prefer an article which tells me in non technical terms whether a particular hardware device is good over an article that is filled with benchmark results. And someone might prefer the detailed analysis containing benchmark results. The audience for the two types of reviews are reviews. For one set of audience, the other reviews are crap. And one is free to write and promote that crap.
I agree with Hunky we are no one to judge any other blogger, and what they do.
Every one has right to express, copying is bad and it sucks, many time my articles are just copied by some of other bloggers.
I think worse are those bloggers who get products and write praise for poor gadgets just because they are paid.
Let there KARMA decide what they get.
I understand your anguish, TS. It is true for me too. I too see many blogs that are badly maintained, have poor content, poor writing style, non existent grammar. Yet they outnumber me, by far, in terms of traffic. Quite a few of them were set up as "billboards" with the objective of gaining a slice of the "blogger revenue" they've heard about. They have their objective and they are flooding the blogosphere. There are many of such blogs than there are good bloggers who take the time, the care to write, to create and produce a good product.
However, if the market is unable to distinguish between a good blog and rotten blog, that's fair competition.
I value my blog, my time and also the time of the people, the few, who take the time to come, read, comment and have a conversation with me. Over the last year or so, I have slowly built up a regular stream.
A wall of shame will not work. quis custodiet ipsos custodes - translates to "Who will watch the watchmen". The concept is: who decides who goes on the wall of shame? What criteria do we use? I can guarantee you a healthy debate on that topic.
I suggest: Call them out on their blogs. Some will fix themselves, some will tell you to get the *eff* out of there.
C'est la vie, my friend, c'est la vie!
I think it is not about a Good blog or bad blog, but effort in creating content the priority.
Exactly as Indianomics said: there are people who just believe the PR and post their reviews and not test the stuff at all and that would be wrong.
But what I am saying does not apply only for hardware testing- or tech in general. It applies for everything- food/ restaurant reviews, lifestyle and stuff, movie reviews, product reviews, book reviews, service reviews, etc. We already had a case where a book reviewer was "asked" to take down a review. I remember CK saying that long ago, he was asked by someone to post reviews in his site without any product (mobile?). CK knows that's just wrong- but how many people do you think its wrong? In that link shared above, that guy didn't even know that ripping off images from google image search is a no-no, but yet he produced a 'review'. Quality content providers can only be relevant and hold credible if there's least amount of substandard writers.
When we had that meet in Mumbai which was with bigrock, many bloggers like amit aggarwal and all spoke. I attended that "Jumpstart your food blogging" thing which was very niche specific- food blogging, reviews, etc. People asked questions like "Do we have to review all types of- or can we do only veg, or indian" or specific types that they stick to and about ethics- what if we write facts that food and service was not good, we post and they force to take it out, ethics, etc. Indiblogger can arrange some meet or workshops where someone established in a niche can address people who are new and not-so-new but not sure how to good about things. Indiblogger also has a very large memberbase of specific niche that can attract that crowd. At the very least we can have a platform where people can ask questions and know what is right and wrong. This way quality blogging can be encouraged, at least with people who show genuine interest but don't know what they're doing.
In a way, its long term benefical for Indiblogger too. There's an influx of substandard blogs and those writers dont know right from wrong, so something must be done to reduce that. Quality bloggers within a site that holds a memberbase carries a good reputation and value too- for indiblogger and for bloggers.
there are people who just believe the PR and post their reviews and not test the stuff at all and that would be wrong.
does the PR say its mandatory to test those before writing from them? in that case all those journalists who churn same news based on PR they get in various Press conference/events etc -- are they plagiarists too? they should try and test kya before writing from PR??? try telling them that...
in bloggers one expects more personalised perspective on review/experience..becos blogs are meant to be personal viewpoint...but still, if some publishes the PR itself...its not plagiarism per se..because the company themselves has handed out the info.
See i think people are confused with what I am trying to address here. There are two things- both are not connected with each other:
1. Plagiarists
2. Pseudo reviewers.
Tech blogging has WAY too much plagiarism. But mostly its pictures. Specifications and marketing lingos always come from press releases, product pages, etc. Its not hard to convert specifications into a paragraph plus toss in few usual 'flowery' words. While using press shots and marketing lingos are not plagiarism, but ripping off photographs taken by reviewers for their own site is plagiarism. Like it or not, whether its taken via google or any search engine, the photo is ripped off from NDTV Gadgets.
Some unethical bloggers are easy to catch. Those who use words from such sources obviously did not test it in hand. Some of them even take photos from other sites.
A part of both issues can be addressed by de-listing blogs that use photos from other websites, unless they have linked it back to the source. At the same time, if Indiblogger considers having that niche specific review blogging workshops, it should help to address the issue as well. Encouraging quality and discouraging such content at the same time should help to discourage unethical bloggers in time.
but ripping off photographs taken by reviewers for their own site is plagiarism.
yes i agree here...taking personal clicked pics and not those given by company themselves is plagiarism...esp if they try to declare it as their own
taking personal clicked pics from others and not those given by company themselves is plagiarism
correction* else the sentence was looking weird o.O
Now most of your may not agree to it. But out of those people who don't, how many of you guys review on a regular basis? It requires a lot of research, time and also money. Even with mobiles and all that, you still need money to generate content- cameras and lights to take good photos, money for hosting, money to buy benchmarking softwares. Its not cheap. On top of it, a lot of people use adblock. But when there is a rise of unethical bloggers who write any garbage without having a product in their hand, its just not possible. Now before someone says "competition- deal with it!" are you kidding me? When a good blogger competes with another good blogger, its competition. A good blogger competing with an unethical writer who rips off from multiple source just to please PR and marketing is just plain wrong. At best, such blogs should be delisted.
Note again, I would sign a petition of take down a website if your image is copied, make no mistake about it, but I disagree on following,
It requires a lot of research, time and also money.
I agree, but are you (rather the tech bloggers) on a death sentence by law that if you don't do it, you will be hanged ??
Now before someone says "competition- deal with it!" are you kidding me?
No, rather its fact.. The way you sound, it seems the online stores should not run, since they are giving such discounts, how can a offline store owner run his business, all those expenses, salary, showroom charge.. So since their business and lively hood is getting effected, FK and such should be closed..
Point I am trying to say is, unless they are doing something ilegal, taking steps would hurt free speech..
The way you sound, it seems the online stores should not run, since they are giving such discounts, how can a offline store owner run his business, all those expenses, salary, showroom charge.. So since their business and lively hood is getting effected, FK and such should be closed..
Like I said, good bloggers competing with good bloggers is a good thing. But if good bloggers are competing with plagiarists, bad writers and spammers, it just shows that there's too many influx of wrong type of people in the niche. Comparing that with online Vs. physical retail store is not even a seriously flawed comparison. A bad store giving bad products/ service to practically of its customers- physical or online- is just bad. Either they should learn from the mistake, fix people's problems and change their business practice- or should just go out of business. Its no different from the time when people booed around when snapdeal vouchers were given away. On top of it, some even posted about sour experience they had. A lot of people pointed that out and eventually Indiblogger had to ditch snapdeal for Flipkart.
Hemal posted about that guy who won multiple blogging contests. Same philosophy. But having workshops about bloggin and how to do it prevents a lot of these from happening. In the meanwhile, the existing ones can be discouraged to do so and encourage to do the right thing.
Point I am trying to say is, unless they are doing something ilegal, taking steps would hurt free speech..
Now where did I talk about free speech? This got nothing to do with free speech- not even close.
I agree, but are you (rather the tech bloggers) on a death sentence by law that if you don't do it, you will be hanged ??
I was merely talking about taking steps to discourage them or point towards the right sentence, but you seem to be hellbent on derailing the point I am making.
i love snapdeal 
@TS..
Discourage ??
Be active on review section, be harsh on review, for those blogs.. Everyone is game for that..
But as I wrote already,
there is difference between blunt copy pasting, rather what we call plagiarism and those sub standard blogs where blogger reads 10 reviews sums it up and makes up his own without any idea of the product he is reviewing..
You are right, I seem to be hellbent, but you are wrong on what idea and I trying to derail here.. I am opposing the system, where plagiarism and sub "standard junk" is treated in same plate..
Blog is your own, and you are free to write within the legal boundary.. If that is junk, well its your opinion what you are expressing.. If i disagree, I may criticize via comment of simply writing a blog post in my blog or what ever platform I have access to.. But I have no right of terming plagiarism and sub standard as same thing and take action against them in same manner..
Now where did I talk about free speech? This got nothing to do with free speech- not even close.
You didn't directly, but indirectly, that is hurting free speech.. My blog, my rule.. I would write anything I want, as long as that write up is within the law !! If that is sub standard, well fine, don't read, but why would you want me to shut up and stop writing, i am within the boundary of law..
It's better to concentrate on our own setup, diversify it and try to out perform those with better design, easy to read and such way rather shutting them up.. Shutting them is definitely (I think personally) against free speech !!
SnapDeal vouchers aren't that bad per se, but they have a lot of limitations which Flipkart/Amazon vouchers don't have. If SnapDeal will rectify that, I'm sure we'd have no problem with their vouchers too. I'm glad with any voucher, but happier with Flipkart ones. It's relative. Anyway, this post is about something else. Let's not derail the topic.
I get thoroughly cofused in threads where the discussion suddenly takes a quantum leap from the truth about tech bloggers to the validity of snapdeal vouchers.
I think this topic deserves a blog post all it's own. Maybe I'll ask the SloMan or the PeevedPunjabi to write one. One each, maybe?
What is happening in tech blogging is precisely what is happening in beauty blogging and food blogging. I guess wherever there are corporates involved, press releases become the primary source of 'inspired' information. Only today I got a call from an app making company and the person on the other side asked, 'Would you be interested in interviewing the CEO?'
I said, 'Yes.'
She said, 'Please email us a questionairre and we'll send you the answers. Our CEO is not in Delhi.'
I said, 'You let me know whenever he is here. I prefer bayonetting a CEO than imaginging him writhing in pain.'
Well, our tech bloggers, as you have rightly said, are in a hurry and, therefore, want to push forward hurried posts that are dependent on info that is fed to them. Some of them don't even bother to rephrase sentences and so we are on the verge of a new term: the clone blogger!
:)
I think, with time, such bloggers who don't put in efforts to a proper review/copy or use pictures from other sources will automatically become unpopular (if they ever get popular). Both search engines and followers will ditch them for better sources anyway. So why bother?
Destination Infinity has a point , let there bad KARMA punish them, You or any one else can't do anything about them.
Readers will abondon them if there content is shallow and not trust worthy.
If you are able to add value to the readers, you will grow.
If you have product which is sub standard you test it and since PR team has sent it free you write a postive review , that is actually worse than creating a review after reading many sources and sharing right information.
Readers care about content and how it add value to them.
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