Have you ever had your blog content copied without attribution? If this has never happened to you, let me tell you that it might happen! You need to read this post and learn about what you have to do if something like this happens.
People that steal your content are called content scrapers. A scraper site is a website that gets its content from other websites or blogs through Web harvesting.
Why do people create such spam websites?
They mainly do that for advertising purposes. These websites have no value whatsoever. They just collect revenue from advertising. It is an old technique some marketers used. They write sloppy content to annoy visitors and make them leave by clicking on ads.
I know a friend who suffered from content scrapers. Her blog posts were copied by another blog! She talked about how she solved this problem on her post My Blog Has Been Hijacked!! Make sure you read it because I am not going to repeat what she said. But I am going to show you another thing you need to do when your content get stolen.
But first, you need to check if someone is stealing your content. You can do that on CopyScape.
The tool will show you a list of sites that copy your content. You can visit them and see what they have been doing with your content.
The first thing you need to do is to contact the webmaster and ask him or her to remove the content. If they don’t reply, take the needed action:
Report it to Google!
Yes, you can report spam websites to Google easily. They offer a very cool spam reporting feature on Google Webmaster Tools. I first learned about it from a blog. I don’t remember the blog exactly because I didn’t read the post or comment. I just read the title “how to report spam websites to Google” while scrolling down. When my friend Adrienne commented on my post How to Know if Someone is Stealing your Product and how to Prevent That, she mentioned this problem of content scrapers. I remembered the post title then and started looking for the blog. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it, but I did find what I want.
Without further ado, here is how you report spam websites to Google:
Click here to report spam to Google
Follow these steps:
- Write the URL of the website that steals your blog content
- Write the search query. You can Google one of your blog posts that were stolen and see if they’re indexed. Sometimes you’ll find them ranking higher than you! Copy the search query and paste it in this field.
- Copy the URL of Google search result and paste it in this field.
- Specify the problem. In this case, it is duplicate site or pages.
- Write additional information. Here you can say something like: “this spam website is stealing ALL of my blog posts and it is ranking higher than me in the search result! Please take the necessary action.”
- Click on Report Spam
You’re done! Rest assured that Google will take the needed action!
Additional things you can do:
- Contact the website hosting company.
- Contact advertisers. Most of them don’t want to be associated with such websites. Don’t forget that these spam sites exist mainly because of advertising. If you hit them there, they won’t be able to survive!
I’ve never had my content stolen. As I said, it might happen and it is almost inevitable now.
Are there ways to prevent it?
I am not sure. Some bloggers use Blog Protector plugin that prevent right click and selection of text. I am not sure if this plugin is effective. I wonder if it can stop content creation software from retrieving content from your blog… There is also a plugin called Copyrighted Post. It shows a copyright notice at the end of each post you write. I don’t use any of these plugins and I have never tried them. I don’t think prevention is the best cure in this case.
What do you think? I look forward to reading your comments. 
Please, help me spread the word by sharing this post. Thanks in advance!
Have a great day!
Mouh,
Great blog post. I think people are just not aware enough of this. So glad to see more about it.
Everyone needs to check their blog regularly in order to assure that their content is not being used by someone else.
Thanks for mentioning my blog post.
Have a great day.
Dee Ann Rice
Dee Ann Rice@Online Marketing And Blogging Basics recently posted..A Fish Story!
Yes, bloggers need to check their content on a regular basis to nip content scrapers in the bud.
Your blog post discusses other solutions in detail. That’s why I mentioned it.
Thanks a lot for stopping by and for the RT!
Take care.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Know if Someone is Stealing your Product and how to Prevent That
Hey Mouh,
I am kinda on the fence about this, you see I actually get a nice trickle of traffic from people/sites re-using my content.
I used to absolutely FREAK OUT when I seen my content on the content scrapers sites, but you know what… now I don’t.
There are far too many sites out there like those ones, and to be sitting checking and reporting all of them would simply be a waste of my time, I really think we should all be focusing on more productive tasks to take our online businesses forward.
Plus you should also consider this… these sites do tend to link back to your site from your own content (seo benefits / link juice / keyword rich anchor links etc) so it’s not a completely bad thing, because essentially they are doing all the hard work for you.
However, if it really bothers you that much, one trick I know many people use to stop content scraping is to set your rss feed to “snippets”
because most scraping apparently comes from your blog’s RSS Feed I believe, this means it only scrapes a little of your post and not the full article.
OR just don’t write good content and the scrapers wont want it ha ha (joke of course)
Very nice blog post though, simple to follow for those who wish to go down the path of shooting down the scrapers.
Catch ya later,
Sally
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I might not agree with you. There is a site that copies my content, but it always link back to the original article. I didn’t worry much about this one because, as you said, you do get some traffic from it. The problem is with those who steal your content without linking back. When you Google specific keywords, you find that the site is ranked higher than you! Now, that bothers me. Sometimes you do get traffic from scraper sites, but they more often than not generate traffic they don’t deserve.
I don’t really freak out when I see such websites because I know Google will take them down sooner or later, but it is a good idea to strangle them at birth and clean the Net from such things.
I DON’T believe your content gets copied! You always add your personality and it is hard to copy your content without linking back to it. Even the most advanced spinning software can’t spin this:
“OMG OMG OMG I have like the biggest smile on my face everrrrrrrr as I type this post.”
Thanks a lot for your comment, Sally! So happy to see your happy spirit here!
See you very soon.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Create Clean and Professional Diagrams Effortlessly Using this Free Tool
Great post Mouh, thanks for writing this one. See, I knew you could help us if or when this should either happen to us or someone like Dee Ann again. I was so applauded when she told me someone had done that.
Luckily, my content is still safe with me. Maybe it’s because I write more on a personal note each time, who knows. But Dee Ann’s signature was at the end of each post too. The nerve some people have though.
Mouh to the rescue, that’s my guy! You’re the best my friend. Thank you for doing that. You know I’ll share!
Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..5 Reasons Why People Won’t Comment On Your Blog
You know what Adrienne, when you write on a personal note, it is hard to get copied! I once faced problems spinning an article I wrote. I mainly failed to spin a paragraph that was talking about an experience I had. I think being personal is a good way to protect your content from scrapers.
Content scrapers like magazine-like articles that are written in a matter of fact way.
That’s another reason for being more personal on your blog!
Thanks a lot for your comment Adrienne. You’re the best my friend!
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..Do You Make This Time-Consuming Mistake When Accepting Guest Posts?
Hi Mouh,
Great post.You have shared nice solution for stolen blog.I like the way you explained the topic with the help of photos or screen shots.I think report it to google is the best way to solve the problem.
Thanks a lot for your comment! I always like to use images to make things easier to my readers.
Yes, reporting it to Google is the best thing one should do.
Thanks again for stopping by!
Mouh
wow, amazing, I didn’t know that it is possible to use such application, thanks for info
You’re welcome! Happy I could help!
Wow good tutorial. Thanks for sharing Mouh.
But on the bright side isn’t stealing the sincerest form of flattery. If people are stealing your stuff that means that whatever you’re coming out with is good enough for people to want to steal!
I just ran my site through copyscape. No theft of my content yet… : /
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haha, one positive thing about content scrapers! I should stop writing good content then!
I guess content scrapers can’t copy your sense of humor, Paul.
Thanks a lot for stopping by! I’ll see you very soon.
Mouh
I have had content scraped in the past. It is the most annoying thing. I did the first part of what you said and e-mailed the guy who was doing it. But he kept on with it.
I didn’t report him to Google but I think someone else did, because a month or so later his website was gone! That made me feel better.
Another thing you can do is just keep linking back to your own content at the beginning of posts. That way, the scraper will actually be giving you a backlink form the stuff that he steals from you!
Matt@Twitter Tips Blog recently posted..Being active on Twitter does seem to help generally with SEO
Matt,
What a nice trick! Content scrapers will link to you will-nilly! Thanks a lot for mentioning it. It is just great. I should have paid attention to that.
I do believe that scraper sites lifespan is very short especially after Google Panda.
Thanks a lot for the amazing trick and for stopping by!
Come back again, Matt, OK.
Mouh
Since when does Google receive reports?! Sounds like a perfect solution, i’m just curious how effective it is. We all now how “busy” Google is, i find it hard to believe it’s going to look into my little problem.
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Hi Martin,
Google is busy and also very big! Matt from Twitter Tips Blog faced this problem, but he didn’t report the issue to Google. And the scraper site was gone after a month or so. Imagine if you report it to Google… It’ll surely go away in a very short time.
What you must know is that users are search engines main source of revenue. If Google pays no attention to them, it’ll lose its status just like the 1990s leading search engines lost it due to Spamdexing. The existence of such sites makes Google results irrelevant. If Google fails to dispense its users with relevant results, it’ll lose them and lose money in the process. That’s why it pays so much attention to them and to their problems.
Google states that they monitor every request. I can go and report my competitors to Google to hurt them. They must check all of the reports!
Thanks a lot Martin!
Have a lovely day!
Mouh
You’re right, Google makes money from its users, but how does he manage to do it? Because there’s no viable alternative, and users don’t have anywhere else to go.
Let’s say I don’t want to use Google anymore, where do i promote my products, on Bing?! My sales will go down ten times.
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It is not a question of alternatives. If Google stops giving accurate results, users will switch to another search engines without caring about whether it is good or not. They’ll just choose one that delivers better results compared to Google.
It is not the search engine that give you money, it is users. When users visit Bing more than they use Google, you’ll start relying on Bing willy-nilly.
Thanks a lot for stopping by again and again. I so much appreciate that!
Mouh
Hi mouh,
Your post really helped me to understand the way to restore our stolen blog content. It has great details and yet it is easy to understand.
That’s what i was looking for. I will definitely share it with others.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot for stopping by.
Love that!
I am so happy you now know how to stop content scrapers. I am really happy to know that!
Mouh
Hi Mouh,
So I will call the Commander Mouh when someone dare touch my site
I have seen people using Google to block or push down scraper sites. One of my FB friend had who blog copied to a site with the same name and just different extension. It was horrible. He launched complained with G and the site was taken down soon.
I hate my content to be used by someone in an inappropriate manner and without attribution. I think your steps will come in handy in someone does that.
Thanks for sharing them bro
Keep writing this awesome stuff 
YES! We’ll destroy them all!
What happened to your friend is really horrible! I know that some people use this technique. That’s why it is advisable to purchase .net and .org, etc. when your site or blog is growing. But I think Google is there for help good people.
So happy I could help, Ashvini! Thanks a lot for your support my friend.
Have a lovely day!
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..Check How Ugly your Blog Looks on a Mobile Phone!
Mouh,
I have never had my content stolen yet (O: but like you said it is almost inevitable now.
Copyscape is a great tool for every webmasters to check out if someone is using their content. I have used it couple of times before but this post certainly is a reminder for me to check again (O:
About my content being used by others on the web, I honestly do not have a problem with it as long as they verify my site as the source.
Thanks for the info and the reminder brother.
Later..
Adam Paudyal recently posted..Is Word Of Mouth The Best Way To Land Clients?
Adam,
I think there is nothing wrong with copying content as long as they verify your site as the source. Some people don’t do that and they end up ranking higher than you. Fighting those is a good idea.
Thanks for your comment dear Adam. I always appreciate that.
See you soon.
Mouh
Great article on Copyscape. I first started using it 2 years ago when my content was stolen. Sometimes its best to prevent any thieves from stealing content by adding the “Protected By Copyscape” button.
It might be a good idea to add the “Protected By Copyscape” button. But I believe content scrapers don’t steal content manually. They get content from a multitude of sites. That’s a hassle when done manually. So most of them don’t get to see “Protected By Copyscape” button or any other copyright notice.
Thanks a lot for your comment!
Mouh
Hi Mouh, Fantastic post! I read it earlier this week but was away from a proper internet connection so couldn’t check my site. I’m happy to say that Copyscape doesn’t show my content has been stolen.
But I do have a question for you. My posts are often listed in sites such as paper.li. I think that’s a great thing that drives traffic to my blog. What do you think?
Also, there is an iPad app called Zite that I have loved as a reader since it launched. Zite figures out what the reader likes and then gives the reader articles in the app for the reader to read.
Some publications threatened to sue (because they weren’t getting credit for links and their ads weren’t being shown) so Zite now sends the readers to the publications’ site for the publications that complained.
Every article on Zite has a link to the article on the web. I usually click through so I can read the comments and tweet from the articles I read.
The Wonder of Tech started appearing on Zite last week. That caused me to do the Happy Dance. My traffic has soared for the past three articles that have appeared on Zite. I don’t want to complain to Zite because I am so thrilled to be included on their site.
What is your opinion on being sited and linked to on other sites? Am I being naive that it’s a good thing? I would really appreciate your advice on this.
Thanks so much for yet another amazing blog posts. Your articles are always so helpful!
Carolyn@ The Wonder of Tech recently posted..Google+: What’s the Buzz About?
Thanks a lot for your comment, Carolyn!
When I first checked CopyScape, I found a site that copied my content, but linked back to my blog. I didn’t worry about that and I didn’t report it. But now I see that the website is no longer there. I think Google is strangling such sites at birth. So if you’re unsure about what you should do, I think Google will choose the best option for you.
I don’t think those sites will hurt your blog. They send you a lot of traffic! That’s something I’d be happy about because it is no mean achievement! Your blog deserves that!
Thanks for asking!
Enjoy your day!
Mouh
thanks Mouh, you have written very valuable article. this is something new for me, I am newbie blogger
I ma glad you like my post. Happy I could help!
Come back again, OK.
Mouh
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I first checked CopyScape, I found a site that copied my content, but linked back to my blog.
I think that’s fine as long as they link back. But I do believe the website won’t be there for always. You won’t find it after some time if you check.
Thanks a lot for your comment!
Come back again, OK.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Know if Someone is Stealing your Product and how to Prevent That
Thank you very much for this post. I just discovered a blog doing this to my site. They’ve jacked interviews, recaps and exclusive content.
I have a stress headache as I type this comment. I am raging mad. But knowing I have options & a way to deal with this has made me feel a little less angry.
I really appreciate this post. Thank you once again!
Respectfully,
Mob Mistress
Mob Mistress recently posted..Famous Food: Humble Pie or Witch’s Brew?
You don’t have to be mad. Google and other search engines do know the good and bad guys. Now you do know what you have to do. Report the issue to Google and the scraper site will be removed. And even if you don’t do that, Google will do it for you. But I think it takes a bit of time compared to when you report it yourself.
I am glad I could help.
Thank you so much for your comment. Come back again, OK.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..Turn your Handwriting into a Font in Less than 40 Seconds!
As a blogger, I always make sure that the content I am writing would be original and unique. Also, I am always making sure that there would be no one who will dare copy my articles. You too, should do the same. It is our right to protect our works.
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Samantha,
Thanks for your comment.
Sometimes people copy your content to share knowledge. That’s fine as long as they link back to the original source. Content scrapers just copy your content without linking back to your blog. Those are the ones we have to fight.
Thanks again.
Come back again, OK.
Mouh
Absolutely makes sense! The only problem of others who copy contents is they might lose their valuable readers because of the chance of directing them to the resource site wherein there might be lots of more informative posts which can be useful to the readers.
Samantha@Teeth grinding recently posted..Causes Of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder(TMJ)
That makes sense too! The lifespan of these scrap sites is really short… They easily lose the trust of both readers and search engines.
Enjoy the weekend, Samantha!
Mouh
Hello All~
To update my earlier comment. The offender did take down our content. He acted as if her was doing us a favor. He chose our high traffic post and posts appearing on first page of the search engines. He also mentioned he’d linked us at the end. I had to laugh. All the links were dead. At the end I am happy our content was removed.
In addition Google did get back to us the very nice day. They told us the content was removed.
I prefer not to go to sites with similar content as ours. But one of my bloggers does. She likes to share the information with our readers. We’ve come up with her just telling our readers a bit of the information from the original source and then linking. So if the readers are truly interested and want more that can read it on the site that did the work.
Thanks again,
Mob Mistress
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Excuse the excessive, no coffee. LOL
Mob Mistress recently posted..I Married A Mobster: “Crazy” Joe Gallo
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I think it is fine when you link back to the content.
But Google doesn’t tolerate those either. Even if the link back to the original content, Google removes those site forthwith.
Thanks for coming back!
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Display Random Testimonials on the Sidebar of your Blog
I run an Android related blog, and someone copied my content and a close variation on my domain. I’ve new to this, and I’ve been worried about it most of the day – thank you for helping me develop the start of a plan of action and prevention.
Rock That LG Optimus V recently posted..Download Netflix for the Motorola Triumph
Glad I could help.
I hope you can solve all of the problems you’re facing.
I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..How to Know if Someone is Stealing your Product and how to Prevent That
this is exactly what happened to me today. I was searching in google for some keywords for which i used to rank on the first page earlier and i was shocked to see that someone just copied my content and is now ranking for those keywords instead of me. Sadly my post was now nowhere to be found on the first 5 pages atleast. I guess google considered mine as the duplicate content.
And after doing a bit more research. I found 2 sites that copied my content. 1 of them copied just one post. And the other one copied more than 10 posts word to word without mentioning the source ofc.
And there was no option to contact the author of the second blog. No contact us, no about me. Just cluttered with all kind of ads everywhere. So i reported it to google. Waiting for google to take any action now. If it won’t i will just click bomb the adsense ads. That would take some of my revenge atleast:D
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Hi Karan,
I am sure the website will disappear soon. It is a good idea to register your site with Google Webmaster Tools and verify your site. This way Google will know you’re the owner of the site and its content. A site that copies content from other sites will never create a Google Webmaster account.
It is also a good idea to tweet your post as soon as you publish it. I am sure you have a Twitter account. So share the post there as soon as publish it. The thing here is that you must get your blog post indexed first. Make sure Google crawls your post before someone copies it. I find sharing it on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media website so effective.
Hope this helps, Karan.
Enjoy the weekend!
Mouh
ya i already have a webmaster account:) But i don’t think which site gets indexed first makes any difference. Google can be really stupid at times. Right now google shows my site lower than the one which copied my content. See this image:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3fGE_jkT0Jg/Tj6mZd1Y4OI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/i37P0lYDzGE/s1600/goooogle.JPG
the site that copied my content 1 day ago is still higher than the post i published on 18 jul.
Anyway i am sure some day, google will ban this site…
karan recently posted..Control VLC Player With Your Phone
What a bummer! The site copied everything! That’s really bad. I am sure Google will find about that soon.
Make sure you always Tweet your own posts as soon as you publish them next time. You can also use Social Monkee to build backlinks to your post. I find that so helpful.
Thanks Karan! Everything will be fine, don’t worry my friend.
Mouh
Mouh recently posted..6 Tips to Protect your WordPress Blog
yeah i will be more careful from now on. Thanks for your advice mouh.
By the way all the posts that were copied from my blog are now removed. I reported using DMCA to google and it removed it. Wasn’t fun to report each post manually but still it works.
The sad part is that the site which copied content from my blog is still copying content. Not from my blog but from other blogs. Google should ban such sites completely..
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It is weird Google didn’t take the website down. I think people should report the issue to the website’s hosting service. But Google must at least remove the site from its index…
I am glad the site no longer copies your content. Congratulations my friend!
Mouh
Thanks Mouh, now I have to get back to my files and report those 4 people for plagiarism. I won’t do this if only they give me back some credits for my content.
Glad I could help, Jane.
It’s really frustrating but Google will always have a way to track down this content stealers. Thanks for the tips Mough, more power
Mika,
Welcome back to my blog. I am glad you came back.
Google will always be there for us because WE users make Google powerful and richer.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend my friend.
Mouh
You know I’m a fan of this blog Mouh and beside your post are very useful to skip. Thanks, you have a great weekend too
Ow, thanks a lot Mika.
I read in one post about a blogger who used to copy contents from a popular site. As in no credit is given to each post he copied. There’s no link or no original author’s name, totally nothing! The good thing is, copyscape, with the help of Google, victims were able to discover these right away.
Heard about that too, Mark. There are many content scrapers nowadays. But as I said, their lifespan is very short because of Google’s monitoring and because content owners can report them and strangle them at birth.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you here again.
Mouh
Since we’re talking about stolen content, I want to know your side about re-written other’s content. Do you think this is a bit acceptable? Or still unacceptable?
I believe it is a sheer plagiarism, Mark. When you copy a whole article or post and rewrite it using a spinning software, you’re stealing content. Even with those Content Creation software that retrieve information from different sources and then combine it into a meaningful whole. That’s plagiarism as well.
I don’t think one should do that now. There are many PLR articles that you can spin or rewrite. If you have seen a useful info on another site, you can still discuss it on your blog and mention the original source.
Thanks a lot for stopping by again.
Have a great day!
Mouh
Thank God for Copyscape! These kind of people are pests to the blogging community and everywhere else. Its so hard now to have something good out there in the web, people will try to steal that from you. This information will be very helpful to the new bloggers and writers.
Well, this is life. Bad and good will always be there. It is important to know how to fight it.
Thanks Robert.
Nice tut. Though it never happened that my content got stole, you never know when it could happen. I’m glad to see Google rising up to the challenge.
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Yes, you never know. You always need to check CopyScape and the trackbacks you get. You might see surprising things there.
Best of luck, Joshua.
Thanks for pointing this out Mouh. That’s why I don’t submit my articles just anywhere especially on low quality directories. I prefer posting it on my own websites or find some good blogs that excepts guest posts.
Your content can get stolen even if you publish it on your own blog or website. So always be careful.
Hi Mouh,
Many of the bloggers around us are facing same kind of problem these days. Actually there are tons of helping tools which are build for this purpose only. These tools go through your entire blog and jumble up a little bit to create a new one. As you have mentioned already, contacting those advisers who are associated with these fake website is the best option.
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Michael,
Yes, contacting the owners is the first thing one must do. They usually don’t reply. But if they do, you can ask them to remove your content. What you have to do after that depends on them. If get the run around, you have to report the issue to your host or Google.
Thanks for stopping by.
See you very soon, I hope.
Mouh
Mouh, nobody likes those content scrapers.. Thieves like them has to be banned, they deserve it. Yes, we don’t have to be very relax about this issue.
Exactly Noemi. We shouldn’t be lax in finding about them and fighting them.
You have posted a very valuable article who will help a lot of bloggers. We really need to fight with those content scrapers and Copyscape is such a great soft that shows you if someone steals your content.
We can never stop content scrapers, but this doesn’t mean we should give up. We just need to take the necessary steps and if we don’t know them, find them!
That CopyScape site looks great, I hadn’t even thought of watching out for people content scraping my blog. Your site has great information on it! I’m definitely going to keep a closer watch on my site in case my blogs end up somewhere else.
Thanks for the kind words, Karen. I really appreciate that.
You always need to keep your eyes peeled especially today. Spammers and content scrapers are getting smarter nowadays.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Have a nice day.
Mouh
FYI, bloggers:
At http://www.SiteSketch101.com, we’re going to post on this subject and explain how bloggers can enact the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to protect their work. Look for this to appear Oct 30, 2011.
Thanks for the info, Barry.
Great tips! Now if I DO ever catch someone using my content, I hope I can remember how to find THIS post again!
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You can always bookmark the page, Larry!