Last October I put up a post about my abhorrence of sploggers.  This morning while making my usual rounds of checking on my blogs and search engine updates I found someone doing this with my Fall television post from a few weeks ago.

Here’s my original post: Fall 2009 TV Viewing Schedule

Here’s the splogger post (at start4all.com): Fall 2009 TV Viewing Schedule, Blue Shotgun, Indianapolis, Indiana

As you see, they run the posts through a plugin* (or other software) which changes the verbiage here and there to where it makes no sense but certain keywords will get picked up by Google and the other search engines.  Then they throw in Google AdSense and turn off the comments and have no way to contact them.  In some cases the sploggers will at least link back to your site (a.k.a. “source”), but that is not the case here.

The site behind this particular instance is start4all.com, which I’d never heard of before now.  I tried to contact them through their main page but it appears that the contact form isn’t working.  This appears to be some sort of hosted service running WordPress (probably WordPress MU from the looks of it).  So it’s hard to say with certainty who is behind this and I’d be surprised to get anywhere with pursing it.

Needless to say, this drives me batty and is a nuisance to bloggers everywhere. We don’t spend our time writing posts just for people to steal the content.  Most of us offer the content freely out of our passion for blogging and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a little courtesy.  If you actually like a post, feel free to quote it and reference it on your own site and/or comment on the post. But please don’t try to claim it as your own (especially when you include the blog’s name and phone number). And this applies to Tweets & Podcasts as well, both of which I’ve had happen.

So what to do? In my case I’ll suffice with this post and hope to get a response from start4all.com. But I’ve seen other bloggers:

• Turn off their full RSS feeds. I’m not a fan of this option as it eliminates your RSS readers.
• Start throwing all sorts of advertising in your face. I have no problem with advertising and do it to some extent myself, but when you start adding pop-ups and other intrusive ads I’ll just go elsewhere.
• Start charging for membership to your blog. I have no problem with membership blogs if your blog is an appropriate candidate (specific subject with frequent valuable content).
• Stop blogging all together. This is the worst option, but one that I understand.

With that said, please share your stories and thoughts. And as always, feel free to leave a message for the podcast (voicemail number below).

* There are a handful of WordPress plugins out there with hefty price tags which do this sort of thing while claiming to automatically “create” content for you. DO NOT ask me what they are or where to get them.

Running through the 2009 Fall TV Schedule I don’t really see many shows that I’d go out of my way to catch, especially when it comes to the small crop of new shows. Of all the nights, Thursday is clearly the best with 2 or 3 shows that I like being on at the same time.

That said, here’s the rundown of what I might be watching this fall.

Monday Nights

• 8pm: Monday Night Football (ESPN) – Football. Enough said.
• 8pm: Heroes (NBC) – I watched season one but lost track during the shortened season two. If I ever get caught up I’ll watch it.

Tuesday Nights

• 9pm: Scare Tactics (SciFi/SyFy) – Funny show, but not one I have to watch every week.
• 10pm: The Forgotten (ABC) – I might catch the pilot just to see.
• 10pm: Bizarre World (Travel) – Sounds interesting, but for some reason Comcast doesn’t offer the Travel Channel in HD which limits the chances that I’ll remember to watch it.

Wednesday Nights

• 9pm: MythBusters (Discovery) – You have to love MythBusters, but don’t necessarily watch it “live” as it’s on over and over again.
• 9pm: Ghost Hunters (SyFy) – Probably the best of the “ghost shows”, but it’s fine to record and watch later.
• 10pm: Eastwick (ABC) – I’m really unsure about this one, but am willing to at least watch the pilot.  [Update: Now that I see a commercial for Eastwick I'm thinking that's a no-go trashy show. No thanks. That leaves me with no Wednesday night network TV suggestions.]
• 10pm: Destination Truth (SyFy) – OK show & a good combo with Ghost Hunters, but not one I always watch all the way through. It could really be trimmed down to half-hour episodes IMO.
• 10pm: MysteryQuest (History) – New series which the commercials look interesting. Probably something to record and watch later or OnDemand (if they offer it).

Thursday Nights

• 8-9pm: Bones (Fox) – If I’m watching TV live, this will be what’s on.
• 8-9pm: The Vampire Diaries (CW) – Wasn’t impressed with the pilot, but we’ll see.
• 9-10pm: Fringe (Fox) – Interesting sci-fi show with plenty of humor. It’s no X-Files, but it’ll do. Normally I have to watch this one later.
• 9-10pm: Supernatural (CW) – Speaking of the X-Files, this is where many people from that writing/producing crew wound up. Not one for the kids (and neither is Fringe), and one that I’ll have to watch later the majority of the time.
• 9-9:30pm: The Office (NBC) – Normally pretty funny & one that I own the previous seasons.
• 9:30-10pm: 30 Rock (NBC) – Another one that’s normally pretty funny & one that I own the previous seasons.

Friday Nights

• 8-9pm: Smallville (CW) – Tied with Bones for my overall favorite that’s on TV right now. What’s not to love about Superman?
• 9-10pm: Stargate Universe (SyFy) – We’ll see if they can pull it off again.
• 9-10pm: Dollhouse (Fox) – I never finished watching Season 1 and was surprised that it was brought back.  It’s OK and I may get caught up if I have the time.
• 9-10pm: Ghost Adventures (Travel) – The most recent of the trifecta of “ghost shows” that I’ll watch on occasion (the other two being Ghost Hunters & Paranormal State). This one borders on the absurd with them “provoking” and supposedly finding things everywhere they look. Interesting nonetheless.
• 10-11pm: Numb3rs (CBS) – I really like this one, but just haven’t had a chance to watch it for the past few seasons.  I think it’s time to get the DVD’s and catch up.

Saturday Nights

• College Football (Various) – Again, it’s football.

Sunday Nights

• 8-11pm: NFL Football (NBC) – And more football!
• 8-8:30pm: The Simpsons (Fox) – A staple that I haven’t been able to watch many episodes of lately due to Football, then forgetting to turn on the TV Sunday night once football season is over (which isn’t a bad thing I suppose). Time to start recoding these again and skipping the commercials.

Midseason Shows (a.k.a. You may see them, you may not)

• Chuck (NBC) -  Our favorite geek is supposedly coming back midseason.
• Day One (NBC) – Sounds like a new twist on Jericho.
• Past Life (Fox) – Sounds interesting.

Gone For Good (a.k.a. Canceled TV Shows)

• Goode Family, The (ABC) – A summer series by Mike Judge (Beavis & Butt Head, King of the Hill & Office Space).  Your typical Judge humor focused on hippies this time.  I didn’t figure it would last (and ABC probably didn’t either by running it in the summer), but there are rumors flying that it may land somewhere else, which is always the case with cartoons.
• Harper’s Island (CBS) – An OK murder mystery series that went a few episodes too long this summer. I have no idea why anyone thought it’d be back though. The title’s too limiting for it to be an anthology series.
• King of the Hill (Fox) – See Simpsons above.  Funny show that will be missed.
• My Name is Earl (NBC) – This past seasons had many “really not right” moments, but overall it was funny.
• Pushing Daisies (ABC) – By far the best on the list of canceled shows. ABC should have their broadcasting license revoked for ditching this one.
• Reaper (CW) – Funny show that only stuck around two seasons because it was on the CW (the “major” networks would probably have pulled it a few episodes in). This will be in my home library soon.
• Stargate Atlantis (SyFy) – I watched the first two season and lost interest for some reason…like split seasons, not knowing when it was on & having a life.  It was OK, but wasn’t Stargate SG-1 by any stretch.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox) – Season 1 is in my home library and I’ll add season 2 at some point. I’m not surprised to see it go, but thought Dollhouse would be shown the door first. (But of course Dollhouse is probably cheaper to produce than TSCC.)

So there you have it. My extensive list of TV shows (minus a few here and there of course).  Let me know what you think and feel free to leave a message for Blue Shotgun Radio at 317-565-4250.