I was about to head over to the WarriorForum to check out the new posts when an email dropped into my inbox from EzineArticles about an article I’d submitted to them a few days back. So I opened the email, assuming it would contain an acceptance notice. It didn’t. Hmmm…
The article I had submitted was about the problems I’ve been having with the WordPress “Missed Schedule” posts on some furture-dated blogs and directing people where to find solutions (they’re listed on this blog). So it came as something of a surprise to see this the content of their email:
Hi Gary,
I have reviewed the article and I see that it contains links which are invalid, and bring up error messages.
I suggest editing the article to include active links prior to resubmission. Also, we do not allow content which discusses or promotes the use of article spinning software.
Please ensure that your articles and links are free of this content as well.
Thank you,
[name withheld]
Ok, my site was suffering from server outages last week and the EzineArticles staff probably checked the links when the site was down. But I thought the line referring to the use of article spinning software was odd. There was no mention of article spinning in the article I submitted to them. So I wrote back to them, pointing this out. This was their reply:
Hi Gary,
The blog post “My Article Marketing Strategy” at your linked site https://webbizkb.com has content that promotes article spinning, and submitting spun articles to EzineArticles.
This should be removed prior to the article being resubmitted for review.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
[name withheld]
What?? So EzineArticles was rejecting my article because of an unrelated post I had on my blog? I had to take this further and sent them this email (I was a bit pissed off when I wrote it):
Excuse me? You’re trying to censor what’s on my blog?? While you have every right to determine what content you’re willing to publish on EzineArticles itself, you have no right to dictate what people publish outside of EzineArticles, even if you don’t agree with it. It’s called free speech by the way, in case you’re not familiar with the concept.
If you’d actually read the article properly, you’d realize that I personally rewrite articles because I don’t trust spinning software. I do use spinning syntax with my rewrites so that my articles can be submitted to the likes of Unique Article Wizard. Now if you’re telling me that EzineArticles won’t allow me to rewrite my articles so that they’re unique, once again you’re infringing on my rights.
You should also do some research. Two of the tools I mention in the article submit exclusively to blog networks and Unique Article Wizard does not submit to EzineArticles. I make no mention of spinning articles for submission to EzineArticles.
So get your facts straight…
And their reply:
Hi Gary,
Thank you for your email.
I noticed you write, “If you’d actually read the article properly, you’d realize that I personally rewrite articles because I don’t trust spinning software.” and “I do use spinning syntax with my rewrites so that my articles can be submitted to the likes of Unique Article Wizard.” Please accept my apology, we are not stating that you can’t re-write content. We ask that you do not submit re-written content to us. Re-written or re-worded content is not acceptable, as derivative works are not 100% original and are not exclusive to you. Lastly, we are not attempting to censor your blog. However we are not able to accept content which refers, promotes, or links to information on spinning or spun articles. Ex: your link states “So first, I write an article. Pretty simple. Then I take that article and rewrite each sentence in it two more times. It?s important to note that it?s sentences that get rewritten and not paragraphs as a whole.”
Thank you,
[name withheld]
So they’ve missed the point entirely. If I do intend to submit articles to multiple directories (which isn’t always the case), I always submit a unique article to EzineArticles not a spun article. And I always submit to them first so they get first dibs.
But in their reply they have admitted to censoring my blog because of a particular post on it that is unrelated to the topic of the article I submitted to them. The links in the article I submitted also did not point to the article on this blog about my article marketing strategies, but to the post about my WordPress “Missed Schedule” Woes. So, because my blog has one post that refers to article spinning, the whole blog is blacklisted. If that’s not censorship, I don’t know what is.
I should also point out that that EzineArticles’ Editiorial Guidelines make no mention of the non-acceptability of articles that link to websites that refer to article spinning (let alone linking specifically to a post about article spinning). The closest condition mentioned is 1a: MUST BE AN ORIGINAL ARTICLE THAT YOU WROTE. And, as I’ve said, the article I submitted was an original article that I wrote (not a re-tasked PLR article).
So their position seems to be based on a rule they just pulled out of the air. They have every right to refuse articles that are submitted to them (subject to the rules they publicly specify) and I can understand that they wouldn’t want to accept articles that link directly to what they deem to be unacceptable topics, but to not accept an article because the linked-to site has something on it somewhere that they don’t like is blatantly biased, especially when they don’t even provide guidance on such a matter on their Editorial Guidelines page.
That begs the question: What else are they censoring because of rules they don’t publish?
What Do You Think?
I love getting comments so add your thoughts or replies below. Am I out of order in my views here? If you have a question, I can also answer you here. Plus, you’ll also get a backlink to your site of choice if you leave a comment!
All the best,
Gary Nugent
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Filed under: The Marketing With Alex Journey • Website Promotion
Hate to say it, but I come down on the side of Ezinearticles here. The web already has tons of duplicate content; we don’t need more of it in the name of getting backlinks for our sites. (and yes lightly re-written articles are nothing more than duplicate content really)
I think they are well within their bounds to say that they won’t publish your content on their site if they don’t like anything about the site you’re linking to – you’d have the same right to turn down any advertiser who wanted to advertise on your site if you didn’t like the content their link was going to, right?
I don’t think it qualifies as censorship; it’s just quality control and controlling the image of your brand – they have every right to do that.
And by the way I’m not trying to come down as some Holier than thou; I myself have indeed re-written plenty of content. I’m just saying I can totally understand their argument 🙂
Hi Gary, if i understand it correctly ‘article spinning’ refers to rewriting an article so that it can be published elsewhere… in that case much of what passes for news on television, radio and print media would be included in that category. I stopped reading newspapers 20 years ago because i recognised the pattern and formats used… and could see that all they were doing was providing ‘new’ content, which meant nothing to me.
If the ezine group don’t want to publish your article… then that is their right… but getting you to update your website sounds a bit fascist, doesn’t it? Reminds me of a popular US singer who made a statement regarding the US involvment in Afganistan some years ago. One of the big news networks had their songs removed from the US playlist and distribution network.
Hi Gary, by the way i have set up a directory for natural therapies at http://www.abbyeagle.com/directory-es/
I am going to add an article section and am wondering what is an acceptable number of links to allow in an article that point away from my site?
Does not a lot of links that point away from the site influence the overall ranking that the domain home page gets on google? Or is each page treated as an individual entity?
Interested to hear your comments.
Abby Eagle
I am almost speechless after reading that! What I can’t understand is that their comment “We ask that you do not submit re-written content to us. Re-written or re-worded content is not acceptable”. EzineArticles have a WP plug in that will automatically submit your blog content to them as you post it on your blog. There is a lot of discussion about this on their blog and one successful article writer advises that you tweak the blog post article before submitting it to them. When I asked her to what degree she advised tweaking it she said she rewrote the first paragraph substantially and made some minor adjustments to the rest. She does this all the time but this does not gel with their comment that re-worded content is not acceptable.
By the way I have rewritten PLR articles which have been accepted by EA!
To answer your question I don’t think you are out of order at all.
Sandy
Hi Gary,
Ah, yes, the reality of life hits Gary right between the eyes. You see, here’s the truth – most people think because they’ve been told – that we in the “free” world (I put the word free in quotes because it’s, perhaps, the biggest misnomer in the english languauge) live by the “Rule of Law”.
Guess what – we live by the rule of “Who’s Law”. In other words whoever is in charge of the law, terms, guidlines … whatever … interprets the law as they see fit.
I see that you are from Ireland. We have a problem in the USA wherein people want to view our constitution as a living document as opposed to an eternal document.
If it’s a living document, it can be changed on a whim. If it’s an eternal document (which in my humble opinion it is because it relects the basics of human nature and you as a marketer know that human nature changes very little, if at all, over time) it truly is a law.
I understand your frustration – can it! Move on! turn that blog post into a password protected “secret” and when people sign up to read it – explain why. It will be very educational for them.
Hi again Gary;
Did you say “Ezinearticle” or “Googelzinearticle”. It appears to me that Ezine is trying to step-up to the likes of Google.
I’ll give credit where credit is due. Ezine is the best of the best as far as article content is concerned. The articles I have written have driven some good free traffic to my websites. Period.
But, when they start dictating this type of giberish, knit-picking, play-by-my-rules guidlines, it’s time to speak up and let everyone else know that this may, and probably will, happen to each one of us at one time or another.
Thanks again Gary for the information. I’m in your corner on this one.
Hi Gary,
I am not going to discuss about an acceptable level of rewriting of articles. These discussions will be endless and both sides are right.
You asked about censorship of your blog. I agree with you that request to remove the post from your blog is censorship. Of course EA can dictate the rules, but sometimes they are making decision without a proper reading of particular article. In my case EA changed the subcategory of my article and afterward rejected the article as content didn’t match category.
I can deduce from the the exchanges that Ezinearticles has already taken their stand and you want to prove that it is not in order. In situation like this(where the service is free, and a private entity is involved), the interpretation of the condition is assumed to be the perogative of the service provider. The best way to outsmart such a system is to develop a similar service with your innovation as a way to competition. Have I really made a contribution? Please let me know.
Hi Gary
Big Brother is watching! I agree with you mate. WTF does it matter?
Remember though, you can’t beat them…
regards
joe
I agree with you. I stopped posting on there because of their extreme censorship of my articles. I talked to another woman who was a PhD psychologist who also complained about the same thing.
There are other artilcle sites that you can publish on like Searchwarp that don’t have the heavy handed censorship. Also ezinearticles took days to post my articles while searchwarp only took minutes.
Blessings on you and yours
John Wilder
I caught your post on Warrior Forum and came here to tell you that you are totally right and it happened to me also. If we get enough to complain -they may change their ways but until people are up in arms…they will do nothing.
Ezine feeds off of free content much to their financial favor -your are giving them free quality content and they are making millions on it. Your sweat is free for them, think about it.
Ezine articles is censoring anything to protect their own interests due to pressures from google, the government and corporate interests.
I am so sick of censorship on the net, and its time that Ezine gets off their pedestal -another article directory will take its place.
They don’t own the internet. By the way, how to make a bomb, or poison someone is also available on the internet, but that is allowed?
You want to get even? Write all your articles in an ebook and sell it on clickbank, or anywhere else you want….they should not profit from your work then turn around and slam your work because it happens to be the truth and it works.
Screw them!