Food website that 'fixed' blogger recipes removed after backlash | Hacker News Reader

Food website that 'fixed' blogger recipes removed after backlash

theguardian.com

10 pointsprawn15 comments

https://twitter.com/redman/status/1366187523043696642

> I'd like to clarify that we do not make any money off of this. There is no revenue, much less profit.

I can't believe he spouted this bs. He's not making a wikipedia of recipe. Of course he's planning to make money. Once recipe creators' web/blog traffics are down, they'll rely on his website and he'll pay them "content creator fees". And he'll distribute ad money/premium membership revenue etc.

At least be honest.

> She told the PA news agency: “The suggestion that we write these introductions to tell a story and the meaning behind the recipe and do that just to make money is really offensive.”

Well good!

I don't want to bring up the George Carlin bit again, but being offended doesn't hurt you.

These 'content creators' need to understand that no one cares about their trip to madagascar or the look their mother gave them when they were mixing their ingredients - all people care about when they google a recipe is the recipe. I want to know how to cook my brocollini in ten minutes, not spend 20 minutes reading your life story.

(I might be generalising on my own experience, but considering the existence of the website, clearly I'm not alone in feeling that way)

Fair, however the people telling you that have a price.

It can be their story, or maybe it could be a payment too.

Surely people don't expect those things gratis?

Those stories are there to lengthen the time someone is on the page, a SEO tactic. To me, the reader, they are infuriating....

You should demand a refund.

Let me guess, you're trying to make a living off a recipe blog?

Rude, and stupid.

And so?

Surely you don't expect it for free, right?

That is real, basic skill that you seek guidance from. A skill you do not yet have too. (Along with many people)

My understanding has been that recipes are not copyrightable. Have you noticed that pretty much every type of chocolate chips has the same cookie recipe on it, and so does baking soda?

https://www.findlaw.com/smallbusiness/intellectual-property/...

There is luckily extensions for it nowadays and I keep seeing the "jump to recipe" button more and more.

> It’s worth clarifying, imported recipes are only visible to the user who imported them

Seems legit.

Recipes have zero value. Ironically it's the bit people hate that's the signal to which recipes better.

Doesn't every recipe app do this already?

TlDr; Someone wrote a way to deal with SEO spam on recipe pages, but it was a copyright violation.

Maybe a search engine provider could do something similar, and then the spam wouldn't be there any more

It didn't say anything about a copyright violation. Removing all the extraneous material seems like exactly why it wouldn't be a copyright violation.

"Why Recipes May Not Be Literary Works

For recipes, courts instead have looked at part (b) of the Copyright Act, stating, "In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work."

https://www.findlaw.com/smallbusiness/intellectual-property/...

This sort of thing produces cognitive dissonance if you take for granted a world where programs are copyrightable, though...

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