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Is Quora the ultimate scraper?

         

JorgeV

11:23 am on Nov 7, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 5+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Hello-

For years, I had a page which was producing good traffic, earlier this year, the traffic started to collapse. I assumed it was part of the side effects of Google's updates, changes, etc... However, while researching deeper, I noted that this page is now outranked by a page from the site Quora. A page which was created 3 years after mine, and which look-a-like my content. Same title, and the "answers" terribly look like a sum-up of my page including the comments left by visitors of my site.

So I looked deeper, and I see that lot of my pages, now have an "equivalent" at Quora , all these similar pages, were created last December.

Coincidence?

I don't pretend to claim the exclusivity of the subjects of these pages, and I am fine with people taking their "inspiration" form my content to build their own. Honest people would at least put a link or mention from where they get the information , as I do myself... but with Quora it still to be mass copying, and of course without any credits back.

And of-course Quora is outranking me everywhere now.

not2easy

12:56 pm on Nov 7, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Ordinarily we do not discuss specific sites but your question involves the way that a public platform monitors - or does not monitor - UGC if I understand correctly. Or are the suspect articles' content published by the site? I don't use the site in question and many others may be unfamiliar but I had the impression that it was sort of like a "Pinterest for articles" type of business. What do their policies say in regard to content source?

tangor

6:37 am on Nov 8, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Just more examples of bad actors seeking easy money by stealing other's stuff.

Recently learned some of my content has actually been printed out and is being sold on eBay, of all places!

This has led to an interesting (and frustrating) attempt to DMCA these "sellers" on that platform ... so theft is not JUST websites ... it is others PRINTING it out, calling it "estate papers" (example), and using the web to sell it to others.

Just more proof that 10% do the work and 90% take ... and of that 90% 100% think if it is on the web it must be "free" and they are so clever to burn an ink jet cartridge and SELL it to others.

Life continues to be interesting.

Sigh.

.

JorgeV

10:03 am on Nov 8, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 5+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Hello-

Quora looks like a mix of Pinterest + Wikipedia, from a scrapping point of view. However, it might be indirectly the fault of Quora. It looks like "users" are gaining popularity, from their posts, which then is turned into monetization.

Marty Rogers

8:04 pm on Nov 9, 2019 (gmt 0)

5+ Year Member



Doubt that Quora has scraped your content (check your logs, I may be wrong) it's more likely that since it was ranking well at one time people who saw the questions Googled the answers and found the relevant information on your website and used it. Sucks either way, mind.

martinibuster

9:04 pm on Nov 9, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Doubt that Quora has scraped your content


You are correct. That's not the issue. What the OP is discussing is Quora members plagiarizing content.

It happens. I've had my articles plagiarized by Quora members. Fortunately, Quora has been quick to respond to complaints and taking down instances of plagiarism.

Try their official feedback/complaint procedure to see if that helps.

Good luck!

Roger Montti

not2easy

1:11 pm on Nov 12, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Thanks Roger, that's what I meant by
What do their policies say in regard to content source?
because there are reputable sites that respect your rights and they have users that don't. The difference is what they do about it.