Attention Glenn Kelman, Adam Koval, Lockhart Steele, Pete Flint, Krystal Kraft, and More: Gregory Garver of Brokers USA Is, Uh, Using Your Content…Here’s How Not To Start A Blog

October 27, 2007

I’m normally too busy to bother paying much attention to the growing legion of sploggers out there.  If a post or two of mine gets “borrowed” (with or without a linkback) I normally let it slide, but I definitely start complaining if it becomes habitual.  Most sploggers ride on a modest wave of Google Adwords-funded revenue for a few weeks, get shut down, and then move on.  Sometimes a new re.net blogger springs up and decides it’s easier to “borrow” than to write content, but after a few polite email exchanges and explanations, they tend to shape up.

Occasionally, however, a pretty egregious case of content-borrowing comes across the transom.  Imagine my surprise when this latest splog incarnation turned out to be affiliated with Brokers USA — whom I shall not grace with a linkback — which appears to be a respectable, buttoned-up, long-standing San Francisco real estate firm specializing in hospitality properties.

The site’s blog has 2 loooong content pages — which translated into roughly 180 pages when I saved them in a PDF.  A few minutes of perusing these pages found content from

The latter included a question on HUD ownership, graciously answered by Kristal Kraft and a few others.

In all fairness to the site’s “author” Gregory Garver, he responded fairly quickly to my email and fax request to take down my content.  His response, however, indicates that he may not yet understand the basic decorum around blogging.  Perhaps UCSB, his apparent alma mater, had no rules against plagiarism?

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Written by Kevin · Filed Under Brokers USA, Curbed, Industry, SocketSite, Trulia, Trulia Voices 

Comments

5 Responses to “Attention Glenn Kelman, Adam Koval, Lockhart Steele, Pete Flint, Krystal Kraft, and More: Gregory Garver of Brokers USA Is, Uh, Using Your Content…Here’s How Not To Start A Blog”

  1. Gregory Garver on October 28th, 2007 8:09 am

    Well thank you for the insightful post Kevin, glad to see you are making good use of your time as usual.

  2. Jon Loren on October 28th, 2007 8:59 am

    Google Adwords-funded revenue ~~~Wat does this mean and consist of~?~Thank “YOU”~~~Jon Loren~E-Mail~Light@quixnet.net

  3. Kristal Kraft on October 28th, 2007 8:34 pm

    I hate sploggers and plagiarizers. May they spontaneously combust along with their computers.

  4. Glenn Kelman on October 29th, 2007 8:26 am

    True dat, Kevin. Thanks for the heads up.

  5. jlevins on November 13th, 2007 1:14 am

    Stamp em out like roaches. It takes some nerve to do this when transparency is everywhere. What’s your model Gregory? Scrape from the backs of hard working businesses to serve your best interests. And what exactly happens (not that I think it does for you) when you have to cooperate and do a deal with somebody you’re already stealing from? Shame on you… may you fall out with the next wave of attrition.

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