I'm always changing my forum to find ways to improve and noticed earlier in the year another site (that I won't mention here) copied my forum exactly, even down to the same meta description word for word. I did feel quite annoyed at the time because of all the work that I put into the forum and this Admin is a member on my site too, hence where she got the idea or copycat. My forum looks completely different now as I've changed it but still have the same description and meta tags and won't change them because somebody else has duplicated them.
Has anybody ever copied your forum on to their site? Did it annoy you or did you feel differently about it somehow?
I haven't had it happen to my site, but I've been a part of other sites that have been copied. (And it's still a crappy feeling.)
You put a lot of time, work, effort into making that site stand out and be unique from others and someone who's too lazy/stupid to do the work themselves comes along and copies everything.
I've heard people say they'd be flattered. But in truth most people who say that have likely never actually had it happen to them. And having been on sites that were ripped off, you don't feel flattered when it happens... you feel angry, insulted, sad, violated and annoyed but not flattered.
The first thing to do when this happens is grab screenshots of everything. (To provide proof.)
For skins, check the source code to see whether they used your exact skin (like it has: your credits in the CSS, lines that you included, links to your images or etc... ) or it's just very similar. Remember that even if a skin looks similar it does not mean it was copied. For example skins using black are pretty common. So you might see #000 (Black) and #A60000 (Red) used because those are common colours.
You need to actually verify they've copied before making any sorts of accusations or claims. Otherwise it looks really bad for you (especially if you make accusations publicly, which is generally a bad idea).
Then after the evidence gathering phase, you need to contact that admin (privately of course) and try to reason with them. Ask them to remove or change anything that doesn't belong. (I recommend against just asking for credit since that sends the message that what they did was ok.)
If they refuse to listen or co-operate... Then take it to the next level and submit a DMCA report to their host (do a WHOIS to get that info). Be certain to include very specific details about what is copied and from where. (So if they copy your rules word for word then include the links to their rules and your rules.) Include every link, screenshot and conversation with the site owner you can for proof.
This will authorize the host to remove any content which doesn't belong to the copycat. Or if the DMCA report is severe enough (like enough info was copied) they may elect simply to terminate the user's site/contract without refund.
Though this should be a last ditch effort if they won't remove it on their own... And never threaten or warn them that you'll persue DMCA since that may cause them to go into lockdown mode. (Where guest access is restricted, they may hide or modify things to cloak their thievery and most assuredly you'll find yourself banned.)
This has never happened to me but over time it might. I guess it is just something that some will go through. If it were the same niche with different topics I would not care but I would not want the same subforums and such to be listed.
It's not something I've ever thought about, really. I guess it's unlikely in my sphere, since it's pretty crowded anyway, and alot of people are members of more than one forum in the same genre. It wouldn't make any sense for someone to copy and existing one.
Having said that, I've seen a couple that have been created to look pretty darned similar to the other forum I modded on, because it was the biggest one. I don't see the point, though - when I started up, the first thing I wanted to do was try to create something distinct and different, with it's own 'USP', rather than being just 'yet another politics forum'. I guess some people must just be sly and lazy, though!
I've had people copy my forums, adding the same forum sections, titles and descriptions to their sites. It is annoying, but I've never seen a copycat forum become successful and most of them disappear in a short period of time.
Perhaps if someone is not original enough to come up with their own content, they are unlikely to be able to create a successful community.
