When a Website Copies Your Work: A Case Study In Online Content Scraping
Why attribution without permission (and without a real link back) still harms creators—and what site owners should do instead.
Author’s note: Originally written around 20 years ago and preserved here for the record. Republishing practices and search behavior have changed, but the core issue—copying without permission—remains relevant.
Over the years, I’ve published original articles on Hinduwebsite.com. Recently, I found that ExperienceFestival.com appears to have republished a significant number of those articles—verbatim or near-verbatim—without asking permission.
This isn’t just a question of etiquette. When another site republishes your work, it can compete with your original pages in search results, dilute your readership, and create confusion about who actually wrote the material. In short: it shifts the benefit of your effort to someone else’s platform.
On pages where my articles appear, ExperienceFestival.com sometimes includes a note such as “courtesy to Hinduwebsite.com” and a brief description. However, it does not provide an active link back to the original articles on Hinduwebsite.com. In practice, that means readers have no straightforward way to reach the source, and it reduces the likelihood that search engines will associate the copied page with the original publication.
From my initial review, ExperienceFestival.com has republished roughly 44 articles from Hinduwebsite.com. I have not done an exhaustive audit of their entire site, so the total number of copied pieces from other creators may be higher.
Hinduwebsite.com is managed and maintained by me personally. Most of the articles on the site are the result of years of study and original writing. When that work is copied elsewhere, it undermines both the time invested and the relationship I’ve built with readers.
I’m publishing this publicly because my attempts to reach the site and resolve this privately have not received a response. My request is simple: remove the republished articles from ExperienceFestival.com (or contact me to discuss permission/licensing) and, where appropriate, ensure that any references to Hinduwebsite.com include clear, active links to the original source.
If you’re connected to ExperienceFestival.com—or know someone who is—please share this article with them and ask that they respond. You can reach me by contacting me.