Forums that copy off of you?

[MisterBobbyPin]

What should you do when another forum copies off of you in either theme, topics, or posts? I'd call them out on it and do my best to put a stop to it. What would you do?

 

[Cedric]

First of all, feel honored, you must be doing something right for one to copy your stuff. So that’s a big compliment. I wouldn’t be bothered much about it. People can tell which one is the original and which one the fake. Eventually it would slap them in their face when they get called out from members.

 

[Kale]

I honestly wouldn't be that surprised or anything. I know people can tell the original from a copycat forum. Once they get called out from members, they'll likely shut down or do their own take on the genre/niche.

 

[Strawberry]

In an era when the same thing has been done over and over, I think it can be difficult to call out who has copied who. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery apparently! Really depends on what it is - theme is probably the biggest giveaway if it looks too similar. Threads and discussions, I think we may be clutching at straws with that.

 

[Cory]

It depends on what they're copying off me. If they steal our theme that is supposed to be unique to our board, then I'll probably file a copyright infringement complaint with the forum software I'm a part of. This goes for resources created exclusively by me too. If they're just copying general discussion topic ideas, that's really nothing new and something most people do.

 

[Arantor]

I've had people copy my site down to the point of trying to post as if they're me. Maybe if someone feeds it into an AI they might do a half-way decent impression, hah.

But these days, sending takedown notices to host companies is straightforward enough.

 

[Heatman]

What should you do when another forum copies off of you in either theme, topics, or posts? I'd call them out on it and do my best to put a stop to it. What would you do?

How do you intend to stop them? Sue them?

Naaah! It's a complete waste of time to me. It's not going to change anything. Hell, if you're copied, it means that you're doing so well that others want to be like you.

 

[Reverie]

Back in the day when forums were quite rampant, and we even tried to open on different days and etc so we wouldn't have to share peoples activity... it was frustrating when people copied. Like - the obvious copying. I noticed one had copied a layout and I was irked by that, but I didn't tell them I was upset, and I only communicated my frustration with my fellow admin... But I remember that frustration! Eventually everyone was more active on my forum so it was fine lol, but it kind of amped me up to come up with more creative content. Competition can be a good thing! At my current age I would just take it as a compliment and move on. Many forums are copying or using ideas from other forums, maybe not meaningfully stealing - but they just recalled they liked a forum did x, y, z so they did it too. I think as long as forums put their own swing to it then it's fine.

 

[ClicketyKat]

Copying what you've worked hard to accomplish is annoying!! I see it happen with ideas though, you see something really cool on one site and then suddenly 3 more sites have it as well. I guess that's the way that trends begin?