So good, they copied it!

[The Spin Doctor]

I was searching for something on Google and something rather unexpected turned up. It was an article attributed to one Howard Trott entitled 'Filtering through traffic', and dated Saturday, September 30, 2017.

It appeared on a website belonging to Spartan Motorcycle Couriers who also appear to run a training school. The article can be found on the blog here:

https://www.spartanmotorcyclecouriers.c ... h-traffic
I only had to glance at it to see that it looked very familiar, and it didn't take more than a few seconds searching my own archive to discovered it's actually a word-for-word (almost, anyway) cut and paste of my own work, a version of which was previously published on my own website www.survivalskills.co.uk.

For example I wrote: "Motorcycle Roadcraft explains that filtering is a form of overtaking to make progress past stationary or slow moving traffic but gives no real advice on where or where not to do it.You might be surprised to know that filtering is taught on basic training courses in congested areas and the DSA examiner will expect to see it applied on test if appropriate. Needless to say, as an ex-courier in London, I used to do it all the time."

In the version attributed to Howard, the same paragraph reads:

"Motorcycle Roadcraft explains that filtering is a form of overtaking to make progress past stationary or slow moving traffic but gives no real advice on where or where not to do it. You might be surprised to know that filtering is taught on basic training courses in congested areas and the DSA examiner will expect to see it applied on test if appropriate. Needless to say, as a courier in North West England, I do it all the time."

You'll note that rather cheekily, the 'ex-courier in London' phrase has been replaced by 'courier in North West England'.

If you want to compare versions, you can find a snapshot of the page on my website entitled 'Filtering - what's legal and how to do it' dated from March 7 2009 on the Wayback Machine here at:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090307050 ... ls_20.htm
I've since updated the article on my page to make it read better and to correct one factual error. A lot of the articles on my website appeared on the old VD site at some point, most likely including this one, so it's possible it was culled from there.

Pretty cheeky I thought, and a letter has been despatched requesting that the pirated copy is removed immediately, whilst offering to author them original content.

[slowsider]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I read that somewhere.

[Horse]

"Oh. I thought stuff on the Internet was free"

As the editor of a club magazine kindly explained to me when I queried use of content from my website.

[The Spin Doctor]

Whilst most of what I write is copyright, some of my work is marked as 'Creative Commons' which means it CAN be reused, with the proviso that the work is attributed to me and not used for commercial purposes.

[Deadpool2]

a litte like biker down lol

[The Spin Doctor]

a litte like biker down lol

Well, I did write the Science Of Being Seen module for Biker Down in Kent, so when it went national after our team won a couple of road safety awards, the SOBS presentation (at least, a rather dumbed-down version), went with it with my blessing.

They're currently in the middle of filming a new video to be used for Biker Down's Mod 3 out in California. Be interesting to see what that's based on!

[Horse]

They're currently in the middle of filming a new video to be used for Biker Down's Mod 3 out in California. Be interesting to see what that's based on!

@The Spin Doctor

Did you ever get to see it?

[The Spin Doctor]

You've just reminded me that I have a copy on a USB which I haven't yet seen. Something for tomorrow afternoon.

[The Spin Doctor]

Incidentally, that article which prompted the thread appears to have vanished.