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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – I just deleted the Chicago Sun-Times “Zurich update” news feed from my Twitter account after seeing Zurich basketball games that didn’t have much to do with Switzerland. I recently got rid of another news feed about Geneva, Switzerland because too many of their posts were about Wisconsin and Illinois weather and crimes.

Last week I sent a number of nasty notices to someone who was illegally picking up GenevaLunch posts and republishing them on several sites that encourage the visitor to think they are legitimately about and from Switzerland. These are posted from Florida and have nothing to do with Switzerland. At least a real human being replied to my threats about their theft.

All of these are picking up news feeds and just republishing them, what I called stirring the news rather than creating it. And many use multiple feeds that simply look for words like “Zurich” then dump basketball from Illinois with art exhibits in the Swiss town, as if no one will notice the difference.

A plea from this editor: please help us to continue producing real news by scrapping the frauds from your feeds, on the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. If you are looking for information about Swiss rail passes, train tickets, hotels and chocolate, for example, please be sure the site you are visiting is the real thing and not just a lookalike, so that the information you get is accurate and up to date, and the frauds don’t have your visits to count.

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