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A comment on A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and fake businesses. Parent comment

Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by anamexis on Saturday January 21, 2023 @08:29PM (#34473086)
> Oh and the real masters of this business model? Well they don't bother SELLING the leads to contractors, they will quite literally start their own company and will hire their own plumbers, electricians, concrete crews, etc to squeeze as much profit as possible.

Now, this part is funny. It's come full circle to a legitimate business. (Kind of)

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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by ryandrake on Saturday January 21, 2023 @08:51PM (#34473264)
Reminds me of the Key And Peele “Bank Heist” sketch[1].

1: https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM

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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by aaronharnly on Sunday January 22, 2023 @08:21AM (#34477079)
Yes! Or the Mitchell & Webb farming sketch:

https://youtu.be/_pDTiFkXgEE

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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by lubujackson on Saturday January 21, 2023 @11:14PM (#34474194)
Kind of the same path Google attempted with SEO spam, making the easiest path to success actually producing content people spend time on and link to.

Of course, this has devolved into the "life story before the recipe" sites that have become the shining failure of what can go wrong by focusing on these metrics.

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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by hollerith on Saturday January 21, 2023 @11:21PM (#34474242)
The incentive to put the story on the page along with the recipe comes not from Google, but rather from US copyright law, which has decided that a plain recipe is not copyrightable; there has to be some "personal expression".
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by 0cVlTeIATBs on Sunday January 22, 2023 @07:47AM (#34476859)
Is prepending useless text an attempt to stop copying of the recipe, or is there another incentive (besides SEO)?
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by hollerith on Sunday January 22, 2023 @09:39PM (#34484806)
It is to stop copying of the recipe by allowing the site owner to sue the copiers for copyright infringement.
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by anamexis on Sunday January 22, 2023 @02:29PM (#34481350)
This doesn't make sense to me. Isn't the recipe itself still not subject to copyright law? What is the benefit to the creator to adding the personal expression portion?
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by hollerith on Sunday January 22, 2023 @09:38PM (#34484794)
No: that's the point: copyright law says that a plain recipe is not copyrightable -- i.e., if I copy your recipe, you cannot sue me for copyright infringement unless the recipe is mixed in with your opinions and subjective perceptions and such.
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by anamexis on Sunday January 22, 2023 @10:50PM (#34485259)
Right, I get that, but the thing people value (I think) is the recipe itself, which is also the part that can be copied (when separated from the opinions and subjective perceptions, which I suspect most people don't care about).
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Re:A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and ... by urbandw311er on Sunday January 22, 2023 @04:06AM (#34475640)
This was my thinking too!

It’s less shady and more a simple reinvention of the marketplace model.

The shady bit is the fake reviews and also an element of “fake it til you make it”

So they’ve also reinvented the trad VC-backed business model!

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