Disclaimer - This article is 100% free of AI and ChatGPT.
Article updated 27th October 2024
Hi there!
As you may have heard, there has recently been a bit of controversy around the back and forth between us (Caroline and Neil) and another travel blogger couple, who have taken ‘great inspiration’ from our blog.
And it appears we aren’t the first based on the feedback we have received. Throughout the process we've never once 'named names' and will continue in this manner.
You may well have arrived here after hearing about the plagiarising, or after seeing the couple’s bizarre one-sided Instagram story video where they play victim. They also cherry picked and discussed certain negative comments from Threads and Facebook posts, and left out some others that really needed addressing. However, not once in the video did they address the fact it was a clear-cut plagiarism claim where there was so much compelling evidence.
After their site host intervened and they took down the article, we assumed that was the end of the saga and that everyone could move on from this.
We have kept most of this evidence back and we were never ever planning to release it but now they’ve done their slanted side of the story; it is time to show the full extent so you can decide for yourselves - because we are nice like that :)
DMCA - our first ever filing (and hopefully the last)
With so much evidence we filed our first DMCA. The DMCA was successful and the offending article is currently down. (Edit - their article has quietly reappeared online under a different URL, but with the plagiarised copy removed).
Below we will show like for like screenshots of our work (published on 10th September 2023) and their article (published 27th October 2023 - 7 weeks later).
The source code of both the article and photos proves this. We have since updated our article on 2nd October 2024.
We also have Google Analytics proof our article started ranking on Google on 10th September 2023, as the couple have been fabricating more lies and telling people our article wasn't ranking on search engines when they wrote theirs.
The facts and nothing else
We have had private messages from other bloggers about them and their experiences, but we don't plan to publicly share the details, we just want to keep this to our own experience and purely evidence based - no emotions or 'smoke and mirrors'. However many said they knew exactly who we were talking about without us naming 'names'.
We won’t be doing 15 minute long incoherent Instagram story videos or limiting our message to small groups so some of those affected can’t see what they are spreading.
How we spotted the plagiarism
We were all set to update our Talat Noi in Bangkok blog a couple of weeks ago, as we’d been back around the neighbourhood a few days previously and had noticed a few changes.
We tried to find out why a local feature (something quite specific) had been taken down and used Google to seek answers on this - their website came up below us in the search results with a very similar description.
We’d never seen their article before (a blessing in disguise really) and as we read it, we recognised large chunks of information had been lifted practically verbatim, stuff that we’d written after countless trips there.
But not just generic things like food and drink items, but descriptions and specific street art locations that were only available on our website.
Here are some of the most telling examples below (which were also shared with the hosting company as part of the DMCA). This is public information so we are allowed to share it.
Fun fact - we actually went inside the gift shop and bought pin badges. The only two sites online that mention this hostel sells pin badges are ours and theirs!
Again, only ours and theirs mention the former steel shophouse, plus they've managed to pick the exact same drinks from the menu as we did
We noted down all these street art spots whilst exploring the neighbourhood. So how come they also appear on their site too?
They've listed all the items in the same order! They were too lazy to even look at the menu to make it a bit different.
Our copy just re-worded
We mentioned there was a La Cabra coffee shop in Dubai - there isn’t anymore, we made a mistake and it has relocated to Muscat, Oman. This appeared on their website too.
Oh yeah, the best bit
Whilst all this was going on - we realised we’d made a small error in our copy.
The thing is - they replicated this exact same error!
We accidentally used the description ‘deep-fried lotus root’ which was wrong. It doesn’t appear on the restaurant website menu as it isn’t correct - but it appeared on their plagiarised article.
Initial Steps
We didn’t want go the DMCA route so we initially emailed them from a private address. In hindsight, we should have probably emailed from our official email address and been a bit less emotional but goddammit, we’d caught them taking great chunks of our content and we were obviously p*ssed!
We have been advised that we cannot show screenshots of the emails as they are personal and private and shouldn't be shared in public (which they did on their Instagram stories).
We went back and forth a bit, and after receiving their second email where they gaslit us, said our article was inferior and then accused us of copying from them (despite the clear-cut dates and evidence), we decided to vent our frustrations on a closed Facebook blogging group, knowing they were members.
In their Instagram video they vented that we were not 'active' members of the Facebook group - so what and how is this relevant?
We never named anyone and literally everyone in the comments agreed with us - if you are new to this story or have only seen the couple’s Instagram video, you probably won’t be aware of how concrete all the evidence is.
The Facebook post was subsequently removed as the couple messaged the admin of the group telling her it was all ‘lies’.
After their site host asked them to remove or rewrite the post, we then received an extremely polite email from them (a very different tone to the previous email). They said they believed they still hadn't done anything wrong and wanted to meet with us face to face to discuss it. We decided not to reply. The article was removed shortly after and we were happy with the outcome and wanted to move on.
DMCA
We’ve never had to file a DMCA before and hopefully won’t have to again - we simply emailed their hosting company and provided them with the same screenshots as above.
The hosting company couldn’t have been more helpful - the couple asked to see our evidence via the host and we were more than happy for it to be shared as it was irrefutable.
Then it gets weird!
So when we were sent the couple’s weird explanation video by bloggers yesterday, the lack of detail and subterfuge about what they’d actually done didn’t surprise us too much (it fits their narrative).
The one bit we found really weird (and hilarious) was that they made outrageous claims that we had set up a limited company a few days before we first emailed them, just so that we could go after them.
Nothing could be further from the truth - don't flatter yourselves!
We have a screenshot below of a conversation with Caroline's accountant back in January who advised us to start our joint company at the start of the financial year in April when Caroline's company was ending. We applied for the company at the beginning of April and it got approved a few days later. Nothing to do with those guys at all.
We never had any intentions other than making them aware of the plagiarism and getting their article removed. It's just another Macguffin from them that makes no sense but fits their story.
They went on and on about it for several minutes and completely and utterly embarrassed themselves - it was a desperate attempt to deflect from what they have done. Maybe if they start a fourth blog, it will be all about conspiracy theories!
The couple also banged on for ages in their video that they had no WIFI at all and it has been oh so hard for them (I'll get my tiny Italian violin out), yet they somehow managed to scour the internet to seek out our personal details - which are completely irrelevant to the plagiarism case.
They also mentioned in their ridiculous Instagram video that ourselves, plus others who commented on the Facebook posts were just looking for 'social exposure'. Their delusion is off the charts.
Whoever encouraged this couple to go on camera and shame themselves, please let yourself be known - we'd love to buy you a drink! We couldn't have planned it better ourselves!
Even MORE evidence
The couple published their plagiarised article on 27th October 2023 and on their social media feed we can see they were in a small town in Albania during this time period. According to our Google Analytics, only 6 people viewed our Talat Noi article on the 25th October 2023, and there were two page views from someone located in this small Albanian town - coincidence? I think not. Chances are billions to one. They also viewed the article twice again on the 26th October 2023.
Would we do this again?
We aren’t sure as it has taken up a lot of time and it means we’ve published less new blogs lately but sometimes you just have to stand up to such blatant plagiarism - especially when you have 100% categorical proof the only site it could have come from is yours.
The positive from all this is that we have made so many new travel blogging friends (hi guys!).
The future of travel blogging
The travel blogging industry is in turmoil, what with (un)helpful Google updates, AI nonsense and ChatGPT copy - none of this is helping, but we still can’t believe active members of the Traverse travel blogging community (often rewarded with press trips and speaking gigs) think it is OK to ‘borrow’ others content and personal experiences in such a blatant way.
Thank you again for all your support so far.
Feel free to drop us any questions - it could happen to you!
Update 25th April 2024: The response to this article has been phenomenal and it has become our most viewed Instagram story ever. It is also the most views we’ve had for a new article in the first 24 hours.
Again, thank you so much for all your feedback and support - hopefully something positive will come out of this.
The ultimate irony in all this is that if the ‘award-winning’ blogger couple in question had just admitted it from the offset, apologised after we sent a private message and not gone on the offensive, all of this would have gone unnoticed - but instead it has been seen by thousands.
July 2024 update - this plagiarising pair were self nominated for a TBEX Travel Creator Awards in the 'best travel blog' category but had their nomination revoked after an internal inquiry and several emails from bloggers highlighting their previous plagiarism. It is unlikely they will ever receive an award nomination again - so many bloggers and other genuine content creators are very upset and angry at what they have done and how they behaved towards us.
September 2024 update - the thieves are self-nominated for a Traverse Creator Award. It is unbelievable that despite being proven plagiarisers and removed from the TBEX award finalists, they continue to apply for more award nominations.
We’ve been communicating with the Traverse award organisers and they confirmed that they knew about the plagiarism and they absolutely do not condone their behaviour. However the couple’s nomination will not be revoked (yet) as it is a ‘video category’ and not a ‘blogging category’ that they are nominated for.
For us, this isn’t just about the blatant copying of our words, it’s also about how they conducted themselves when exposed - the fabrication of multiple lies, the manipulation, the gaslighting, victim playing and their unapologetic nature. So we wholeheartedly disagree with the organisation’s decision.
Thanks, Caroline and Neil
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