# More of Cecil's work found elsewhere without attribution.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [April 20, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826 "2019-04-20T18:32:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/1 "2019-04-20T18:32:08Z")
A search for the lyrics to “Boston Charlie” brought up [this column from 1981](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/458/what-are-the-lyrics-to-walt-kellys-classic-carol-deck-us-all-with-boston-charlie/), which prompted me to look up all the words to "Good King Sauerkraut’. That search led me [here](http://ruthholladay.com/2010/dec/23/good-king-sauerkraut-look-out/).
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/2 "2019-04-21T18:53:29Z")
There’s always been sites that lifted material from the site, including sites that copied columns and staff reports wholesale and pulled posts off the message board and put their own ads around the postings.
Not worthwhile to go after them and difficult to track them down, they’re invariably not operating in the US. We do appreciate hearing about them, though.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/3 "2019-04-21T19:28:49Z")
This is kind of an interesting case because different rules apply to different people.
No, this isn’t a rant about the _haves_ versus the _have nots_, but about interpretation of the law.
The law gives a statute of limitations on copyright infringement–“unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued”–but courts are split on when that accrual begins.
There’s the injury rule, which holds that the accrual begins as soon as the copyrighted work is infringed on. And there’s the discovery rule, which holds that accrual starts when the infringement is discovered.
So, depending on which court holds jurisdiction, either the statute of limitations expired years and years ago (the infringement occurred in 2010) or the SoL clock began ticking at 1:53 PM today, when **Tubadiva** , as an agent of the copyright holder, acknowledged discovery of the infringement.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/4 "2019-04-22T04:44:17Z")
The cost of litigation is so high and the chances of recovery/recoupment of any damages so remote that it’s just not a useful thing to contemplate.
As I mentioned before, these sites are not operating from the United States, they’re in places like China, making them difficult targets to track and legal judgment difficult to impossible to enforce.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/5 "2019-04-22T06:15:51Z")
For what it’s worth, this one is based in the U.S.
Then again, it’s also worth noting that the blog hasn’t been updated since 2016. There may not be anyone running the site at this point.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/6 "2019-04-22T13:32:23Z")
What’s perhaps more troubling is not the fact that the infringement exists, but that **Skywatcher** apparently found it before the real, legitimate site. Scofflaws will always be with us, but it’s a bad sign when Google ranks us lower than the scofflaws.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/7 "2019-04-22T17:13:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What’s perhaps more troubling is not the fact that the infringement exists, but that **Skywatcher** apparently found it before the real, legitimate site. Scofflaws will always be with us, but it’s a bad sign when Google ranks us lower than the scofflaws.
Hmm, maybe we can make this work in out favor.
1. Register a new domain name: “[straightdupe.com](http://straightdupe.com)”.
2. Rip content from this domain and post on fake site.
3. Have fake server randomly redirect to this domain.
4. Profit!
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/8 "2019-04-22T17:17:50Z")
I think the Google situation is gradually changing over time.
For a while there Straight Dope columns on old newspaper subscriber pages were showing up before [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) in Google searches – i’m seeing more and more searches where the official SD site is listed first or close to first.
It’s still not perfect but the situation does appear to be resolving in our favor and that’s a good sign.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/9 "2019-04-22T18:12:09Z")
As a test, I just tried a search for “rhino viagra endangered species”. [Cecil’s column](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2985/has-viagra-helped-endangered-species-by-reducing-demand-for-rhino-horn-etc/) (on other legitimate sites) was three of the top five results. Even with “show similar results”, Google gave four pages of results, not one of which was the copy hosted here on [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) . Though, neither did I see any hits for illegitimate sites. On the other hand, when I add “site:straightdope.com” to the search terms, it still pops up, so Google does know of us, but just doesn’t like to talk about us.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-of-cecils-work-found-elsewhere-without-attribution/832826/10 "2019-04-24T16:53:53Z")
I really think this situation is improving and will continue to do so over time. The internets are a big place and Google has some complicated algorithms. Will it ever get back to the good old days when we were ALWAYS first? I dunno. I hope so. We are getting closer. There was a long period of time we didn’t get hits at all, so even this is forward movement.
Should also consider that this site is not the force it once was; we’re not getting the traffic we did i years past and there’s a lot more stuff out there than there has been before and more every day. It’s not at all the same set of circumstances that we enjoyed in an earlier time.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator