Has anyone noticed......

That Goofbutt's blog has been removed?

How awesome is that!!! It was up yesterday as I did take a look at it to get more details for google.

Bout time I say. I will keep a look out in the future to see if he creates a new one but I am glad that one is down.

Awesome!!!

x

Its about time!! awesome!

Damn! Good job all who put in hard work towards trying to get him removed!

This is great news! It's nice to see that the effort put in by PnQ members was seen and attended to.

We may never know what happened but between member complaints, threats of lawsuit & messages to his family, including his father, something did the job. Probably a combination of all.

I am, as are the majority of our members, delighted at this recent development regarding our dear, departed Mr. Goofbutt. However, I think it would be a huge mistake to just breathe a sigh of relief and go back about our business as usual. This is a young man who found a way to make money, and to make it at other peoples' expense. He has no moral compass and I think he will try very hard to rebuild his "empire". And it is safe to assume that there are dozens (maybe even hundreds) out there just like him.
We need to stay vigilant, work together, and share any information we find (or suspect) not only with the mods, but with each other as well.

Amen Anna! Thanks for posting this and letting us know his blog was deleted. I agree we need to band together to prevent this from continuing.

Who is goofbutt?

"gooftastic".......the guy who plagiarized so many of our poems or to be more specific, Yunes Ramahi.

Whats to stop him from making a new account? or going under a new internet handle? its great that hes gone, but for how long. he obviously had a reason for doing it and i dont think he's gonna sit back and be all "oh OK guess they dont like me anymore"

I agree but as above, we need to be vigilant and keep a look out. I know I will!!!

^^^^^^^^ "It's nice to see that the effort put in by PnQ members was seen and attended to"

^Couldn't agree less with Mel. But, I wonder (like many other members) if the mods will ever have a policy/strategy in place one day for real action, better than endless debates or "invisible" plans, not fully disclosed to the members.

It is actually not at all difficult to get such people kicked off big websites with properly worded DMCA requests/complaints.

Perhaps, mods should consider writing out their own ready to go action plan/letter, for the next Goof, who ventures his "paws" on PnQ, thinking stealing is not punishable.

I did notice one residual problem, though. Google removed his blog, but failed to kick him off from searches under his name on their search engine, . If the letter (I suspect it was Liz's) that successfully removed his blog, had added the request to remove him from Google search (his blog link still shows up on a search), he would have been forever lost to the world, under his Goof or Yunes Ramahi name. Perhaps, Liz can still request that, as she has, I presume a correspondence link with a contact at Google to help her. Goof still has a twitter account, facebook account, and a few other accounts...but luckily there are no infringing materials on them.
I doubt that writing to his father or brother had any effect whatsoever...reasons: his entire account was deleted, not simply the stolen poems. A parent/sib would have only been successful in getting him to remove his borrowed postings. Nor do I believe that sending requests to Google via informal channels (e.g. sibs via "contact us" link on blogger) did anything either...: as they did not bother to acknowledge her request, nor informed her of the action...both requirements for properly executed DMCA complaints. So, I have to laud Liz and other PnQ members (??? I wish they disclosed themselves) efforts, who actually pursued the cause individally in the prescribed format to get him off the blogsite. A job well done Liz, and all who individually contributed to Goof being kicked off google website, using the correct protocol!
And special thanks from all of us, to those who contributed in bringing him to the attention of all the members..Nevi, James and Andrea Pike, Dixiedaisy, Anna, and all others who put in the hard work of identifying and collecting the information for the complaints to be made possible.

(This is just my opinion and a suggestion from analysis of the events and actions disclosed on the forums, so people, please do not take this in a negative way :).

I personally feel, and joined this website under the assumption that Poems-and-Quotes has legal copyrights for out work. as it belongs to the writers and the website. i dont really know how that works. but i think if we copyrighted it then legally no one would be able to plagiarize. i really just joined a copyright thing and will copyright my work to avoid this. unless the site does offer it?

Every poem that Gooftastic stole (plagiarized) from the members was legally copyrighted. So how do you figure that the mere fact that a poet holds a legal copyright on his/her work will keep someone else from stealing (plagiarizing) it?

^^ Reading this article may help. Particularly the section titled "Copyright registration" in the middle.
http://www.copyrightguru.com/belmont_classes/IntellectualProperties/LectureNotes/topic4_formalities/topic4_formalities.htm

--"Copyright registration is not required to own a copyright". You need to be able to prove that you are the legal owner and that your work pre-dated the infringer's copy. This is already assured by publishing it on PnQ, as each poem is date stamped.

--"Registration provides what is legally known as "prima facie" (on its face) evidence of ownership". Copyrighting anything carries a minimum fee of $35 on the US govt. copyright eCO website here:
http://www.copyright.gov/
So, unless you are a movie producer or a famous author, musician, poet, playright or someone who wishes to spend needless money, you are better off keeping it simple, by publishing your work on a website like PnQ. Once you remove the work, from a digital publication, blog or website, you have lost the ability to prove that the work belonged to you. So, if an infringer who had earlier stolen your work, decides to publish it as his/her own, you are indeed screwed. So best not to remove your work, or else you will have very little to prove that it belongs to you if you have to fight for it.
Given the reality in digital publishing, people should very carefully consider the pros and cons before removing their work or closing their account permanently.
The problem PnQ currently seems to have, it seems, is the lack of a well defined policy of how to deal with external infringers, as evident in this recent incident, despite similar prior such events over the years. Simply search forums with the word "Plagiarism" and you would learn that this issue goes as far back as 2004. Some websites will aggressively defend your work against plagiarism from their site, as they financially benefit from the ads/hits, and therefore have formulated a defense strategy to keep member trust in them. Hopefully, one day that will happen here too.
In most instances, if you wish to pursue it on your own, you don't need a lawyer, but just the ability to read some basics, some borrowed legal language available for free everywhere, and use of your common sense, to report the infringement to the external website. However, it will certainly help if the members/mods put together a ready action packet, for whoever wants to report it.

While researching the old Plagiarism blogs on PnQ, I ran into some (in)famous quotes, which I found quite humorous, requoted below for some laughs:

--"plagiarizers should have their hands cut off...:
--"plagiarism gives you genital warts"
--and then we should throw rocks at them. sharp rocks of poetic fury

Half the posts, and perhaps some amusing threads , it seems, are permanently lost, probably from people closing their accounts.
(Edited from original)

That made me happy. thank you

"Couldn't agree less with Mel. But, I wonder (like many other members) if the mods will ever have a policy/strategy in place one day for real action, better than endless debates or "invisible" plans, not fully disclosed to the members.

It is actually not at all difficult to get such people kicked off big websites with properly worded DMCA requests/complaints."

There weren't actually any invisible plans. We told you what we knew, which wasn't much. Other members like Lioness seemed keen to take a more active stance, which was good.

Maybe other mods feel differently; I can only give my opinion on this, but... We really only have authority on this site. If one member plagiarizes another, we can give them the boot. However, once we venture out into other areas of the internet, we have no more sway than any other member besides Janis, who has legal authority as owner. I honestly don't think that Google or any other large host is going to give us any extra glance just because we say we are moderators.

Now you might have the opinion that, as moderators, we should take a more proactive approach to policing plagiarism across the internet. This is arguable, but it's a fair opinion to have. Since this method would have obvious limits, however, remember that everyone is equally equipped to pursue their own plagiarism issues as they arise (in fact, this ordeal has probably been a good learning experience). When it comes down to it, your word is as good as ours.

^ Thanks for the clarification.

I and perhaps other members must have misunderstood this statement by Larry dt. 4-13-12 requoted from Anna's prior blog):

"I had asked Janis ' permission to initiate a class action suit against Google & Yunes. My reasoning being that it takes a 2x4 up the side of corporate America's head sometimes to get their attention. (I raised boys also.) Janis instead wants me to make a formal demand to the Internet Providers. For my two cents, that's a necessary prerequisite to any lawsuit anyway. We'll shake that trunk & see what falls out of the tree."

^The last sentence was perhaps entirely metaphorical. I perhaps misunderstood that the mods are indeed working on it.

The second and third last sentences seemed to suggest, that Janis gave some directions to you folks, to file a DMCA complaint on behalf of the plagiarized members. Perhaps, my error again. Apologies again on my misunderstanding.

"Now you might have the opinion that, as moderators, we should take a more proactive approach to policing plagiarism across the internet."

^ that will be ludicrous, an impossible task. Members are the Plagiarism police on any such website..you might enjoy reading some blogs on the PnQ "Plagiarism police force", right on this website. I enjoyed reading about the volunteer Police force and the concern they had and a few laughs out of the bickering of who got the most, etc.

Lastly, no need to take my comments negatively. All I was trying to do was to help both members and the mods. This note should not be taken out of context, but as constructive to help build a policy of self-defense from future external Plagiarists. The situation seems to have resolved, but perhaps the bridge to the next one still needs a foundation to be laid some day. The best way for the situation not to repeat, would be a proactive plan with ready to go sample C&D and takedown letters, where to complain addresses or links for Google, facebook, Yahoo, twitter and like sites, clearly written out to deal with the Plagiarism, perhaps as a supplement to Plagiarism article (a self help guide of sorts), for affected members to follow. But, that is just my opinion.

Sorry but he has not been stopped, he still has plagiarized poems listed on this site

https://plus.google.com/105193206756858968512#105193206756858968512/posts

which is a google plus account, which he can still make money from. The battle has not been won just yet. The links have been removed but the initial posts are still there with bits of the plagiarism. Any suggestions?

I stated that he could still make money but that I am not sure of but think that with some of the poems content still being seen under this link, we have not succeded

So what should we do !? :/

^Start here, if you are one of the authors whose poems have been stolen:

http://support.google.com/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1114905&page=ts.cs

Then, just like for blogger, you should end up at the actual E-file DMCA form:

http://support.google.com/bin/request.py?contact_type=lr_dmca&dmca=text&product=googleplus

Then write out your complaint in the easy format there...one poem link in each line. Click on "Additional infringing material" (a clickable field) to create extra's for each poem/link. It seems the form does not have an area you could send a customized request, like the sample letter I drafted in Anna's earlier thread. Google is smart, does not want legal threats written out in these forms, no wonder, none of these letters sent by the E-forms are being published on chillingeffects.org (which should open them up for liability...circumventing the safe harbor, by limiting the language in the E-complaint form. The only one's being published are the one's sent by mail or fax...check it out for yourself).
But, my suggestion for now, wait till you get a response from someone at Google, which you should within 2 weeks or less, and then customize a more legally sounding letter with the following additional components:

2) "Takedown" of his blog
3) Request his google account access disabling and IP blocking
as he is a "repeat infringer" by referencing his closed theft account (gooftastik.blogspot.com) to the PNQ thread of James/Andrea or his own account) or his other google accounts.

(Just reading the bottom of the E-notice, it seems Google suggests contacting appropriate google support for that service through the tab link at the top (which is essentially the tab which I believe Sibs originally used....Sibs, you did follow the correct format here, when reporting multiple links through this tab for Blogger, but Google's 'bot reply never was followed up and registered as a DMCA complaint, perhaps).

The most shocking revelation on his Google+ blog is a picture slide he pasted boasting the number of hits he got on his blog (I am not sure which one's, though):
7,277,837 for pageviews
101,955,147 for something else
Wow! it seems this guy was a pervert of sorts...enjoyed the attention by pasting stolen works of others, and perhaps making some money of these sites? I am not sure how he could have done it without a Google "adsense" account. Did anyone see any ads on his pages?
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EDIT: Wait a minute, I just realized that the link provided for his Google+ accounts above^^, shows his last posting was on Mar 19th... suggesting that his Google account access has already been disabled. No wonder there are no newer posts by him. They did not remove his Google + account, which they should have, but simply the clickable infringing links. I only see 1 poem on there, which I am not sure belongs to anyone? So perhaps no real infringing material on this account, other than links to his facebook and twitter and the already removed blogger account. Correct me if I am wrong.

In this situation I would suggest that Lioness or whoever has already established contact assigned to them by Google DMCA, should simply ask them to remove his Google + account as well, as it is an extension of his blogging account, containing references to the infringing blogger account that has been closed, and stolen pictures and a link for a copyrighted song (Sony).

I don't have time to check this further now, but will be happy to do it later tonight to help.

Wow this dude is despicable. can you give me a walk through on how to report him, i tried but got confused

David, I have to confess that I'd rather get all of my work stolen than do all of this every time I see my poem on some website without giving any credit to me. It's just so tiresome and ....I don't know it just feels like nothing is going to stop these plag. they are everywhere and if we were to stop them one by one ...we won't have any more time for writing lol.

Here is something that I remember from Batman Begins (2005) Ra's al Ghul character, which may have answers to your dilemma:

Henri Ducard: When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?

Bruce Wayne: The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve, yes. I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. And when I traveled, I learned the fear before a crime and the thrill of success. But I never became one of them.

Henri Ducard: Men fear most what they cannot see.

Henri Ducard: [to Bruce] Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society's understanding.

Henri Ducard: Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.

Bruce Wayne: That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.
--------------------------------------

So, certainly it is an individual choice, but compassion towards hardened criminals (=repeat infringers) will let the evil thrive and propagate, until it destroys society itself one day, and its values. If each of us did our part, we can claim our citizenship, in this global society.

DirgeVenustas1 93 ^^^^ I would love to help you, but Gooftastik is already gone, his stolen collection wiped off and buried by Google, we only have his Ghost (some remnants) still haunting PnQ members.

But, this issue will arise again, and again, as it has for the entire history of PnQ....and the solution would still be elusive, unless people act cohesively and strategize for the future.
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Edit: Just realized he still has over 200 (likely stolen) pictures in his storage album here
https://plus.google.com/photos/105193206756858968512/albums?banner=pwa&gpsrc=pwrd1#photos/105193206756858968512/albums

A bank of stolen stuff ....from somewhere! But probably unable to access it, with Google sacking his access.