Since the content in the Encyclopedia and on other parts of this site was written by myself or Ash and belongs in copyright to myself and Ash we have hired a company to keep our copyrighted content off other websites and off eBay unless they have our prior permission to use our content. We take it seriously because it is our hard work that allows these articles & writings to be developed. If anyone wants to use our content you can submit a Helpdesk ticket. The agreement pretty much tells you that you can use content from our site as long as we are credited as the source of the content and all legal rights & copyright remain the property of this website.

These companies/people have been given permission to use our content as long as they credit us where they use our content:

MysticMegaMall
thespiritkingdom
Designs by Fifi


If I've missed anyone with prior permission let us know.

And I have to say that I am shocked at the number of eBay listings that have come back to us that have our Associations & Encyclopedia information in them without any credit to where the seller obtained the information. It gives unknowing buyers the illusion the seller did the work themselves.

Idea Theft is an ongoing struggle. There are so many people who don't want to do ther own work. Good Luck with it...
Caiyros

Good for you! :thumbup:

I'm glad to hear that.

Though, if a lot of places had been returned with your Encyclopedia information and the like, that's also scary from a consumer perspective. Because..well..If the sellers are going around and taking information without crediting their sources and claiming it as their own..That would almost have me worried about what other sort of information could have been taken without credit. It's also sort of scary in that a seller might not exactly have as much knowledge as they're wanting you to believe, with regards to what it is they're selling. Which..Well..Especially in the Meta category, I'd think that you would want a seller who has a fairly good understanding of what it is they're selling, even if every entity is different in terms of personality and things. o.o;

Here's hoping that things will go a bit better with this new team on the job, cracking down on plagiarism.

Idea Theft is an ongoing struggle. There are so many people who don't want to do ther own work. Good Luck with it...
Caiyros

True, true. I used to think that Elvis invented the sexy voice-over during music until I heard a song by the Inkspots vintage 30s-40s and the man speaking over the music mid-song sounds EXACTLY like Elvis. He doesn't sound anything like him singing but when he speaks you could trick someone by telling them its Elvis. And since Elvis pulled heavy influence from the black community I wasn't entirely surprised. And anyone who knows me knows I wouldn't say a malicious word against Elvis ( :inlove: ) being Memphis born & bred but in that case I think he did steal an idea.

And to me it's not so much idea theft... sure some sellers watch this site & glean influence for their listings, we know that... others probably also come up with exact or similiar ideas all on their own. It is the theft of exact information, most of the time not even bothering to change the words, from the Encyclopedia. We spend our lives on our work, we work insane hours to achieve the totality of CH and sellers come here, take the information and post it along with their diatribes of being hard-workers and any unknowing bidder believes they did the work to derive that information. That is all that bothers me.

I was conflicted about even hiring them to do this because I'd almost rather have them steal our information and have accurate information circulating in the paranormal community than to have them remove our content and then place unfactual information in its place for sake of having something there.

Not to mention I know from personal experience that most sellers who you ask to take down your copyrighted information actually get upset with you for telling them not steal from you... almost that "how dare you threaten to report me for stealing your information!" attitude.

I've tried to be encouraging when it comes to the encyclopedia. I've noticed that when it comes to the paranormal, people either have their heads totally up in the clouds and believe all sorts of nonsense, or they're complete skeptics that believe absolutely nothing even if hard evidence is staring them in the face.

I believe that an open minded yet rational approach is best. You can have a rational scientific mindset when exploring these issues. Be open to things that might completely defy any or all of your expectations, but don't be afraid to call BS when you see it. I think you guys are on the right track.

That being said, you're doing good work by adding to a body of knowledge that's sorely lacking or woefully incorrect. This does help raise the consciousness of the planet as a whole, whether you realize it or not. This of course is a good thing!

Of course, you get into a mode where you try to give away information for free in order to help people. However, your generosity is eventually taken advantage of by nefarious or just lazy people. This happens to just about everyone no matter what your field is.

Considering that the average spiritual level of development for the planet is currently that of a teenager, those of us that are on the older side of the spectrum (number of lives lived, not physical age) get tired of this nonsense real quick. It even gets so bad sometimes that we don't want to contribute anything at all because we know it'll just go unappreciated or simply taken advantage of.

The key is to remember that this work is important, and you are getting through to the people that need it. You're right in taking steps to protect your work, but don't invest too much time and energy into that. Let the teenagers play their games. The joke's on them anyways since sooner or later, they're going to have a life (or more likely, many lives) having people steal from them so that they understand the other side of the equation. Most people have to learn the hard way anyways.

C'est la vie!