Saturday, January 19, 2013
Heeeeey! Happy Saturday. At least, I hope you are having a happy Saturday. Some of you probably know about the blog drama that has gone down with a blog that has been plagiarizing lots of people. Anna at Sparkles & Lightning was one of the affected bloggers. (Gosh that sounds so Dystopian). Anyway, that day once I'd heard about it from Anna, we had a pretty crazy discussion about plagiarism along with Jessi at Auntie Spinelli Reads.
We ranted and got pretty mad about plagiarism, as we talked it all out. Hence, Operation Plagiarism Sucks was born. So today, on this the 19th of January, you can find all of us, along with Nikki from Fiction Freak, and other bloggers posting about Plagiarism, because we feel that lots of times, this kind of thing happens and then people just blow it off later as DRAMA. That's why our tagline disagrees. BECAUSE IT IS NOT JUST DRAMA. That is what we are talking about. The ins and outs. The good and the bad. Think of it as Plagiarism...unveiled.
We ranted and got pretty mad about plagiarism, as we talked it all out. Hence, Operation Plagiarism Sucks was born. So today, on this the 19th of January, you can find all of us, along with Nikki from Fiction Freak, and other bloggers posting about Plagiarism, because we feel that lots of times, this kind of thing happens and then people just blow it off later as DRAMA. That's why our tagline disagrees. BECAUSE IT IS NOT JUST DRAMA. That is what we are talking about. The ins and outs. The good and the bad. Think of it as Plagiarism...unveiled.
@annabellemariev @inkyreads @geobobspinelli Yeah plagirism is very underated and nobody ever even notices it goes on! I'd be mad if I were u
— Kierra (@Kiki3239) January 16, 2013
NOTE: That was a very calm explanation. I'm not going to scream bloody murder, but in the following post, I will be sarcastic, and somewhat ranty about things. These are my honest opinions. Please also note, that within the following post there will be quite a few gifs and tweets to express my points. You've been warned.Plagiarism Hurts. It hurts like heck. And it always spreads like a virus. Affecting so many people. Doesn't matter if you are the affected one, or the plagiarist yourself. YOU ARE HURT. And even people like me, who aren't touched, get hurt. It's really sad to see the loss of a blogger friend because of drama. It's sad to see people break honesty codes. People you had trusted. It just HURTS YOU GUYS. So. Let's walk through this story of pain shall we?
When you're a blogger and you write a review, or any post, that is your own original work. And you are proud of that work.
You've written something worthy of being shared on the internet and wow! people are actually reading it! So the fact that then someone would swoop in and TAKE their work makes no sense at all.
Plagiarism, plain and simple is taking someone else's original work and calling it your own, without crediting the original author. That enough she be throwing warning bells. And it's not okay.
But that thing I don't get is why people plagiarize! It's a CONSCIOUS action people. It's not a choice you can make under duress, or hypnotism. On the contrary! YOU CAN NOT PLAGIARIZE AND GET AWAY WITH IT. Seriously, if you are blog plagiarizing, that means you are on the internet. The internet is a public place my friends, this is not something you do without knowing. It's will-full knowing that you are STEALING peoples things. To us, it's like this:
Where are your morals?
What happened to THOU SHALT NOT STEAL? .
@annabellemariev @nikki_wang @geobobspinelli There is NO excuse for anything LIKE this! NOTHING. It's stupidity.In the end it always, goes stale and moldy, so why even do it in the first place? Why in the world to you plagiarize? There is no such thing as an excuse in this case. "I'M NOT CREATIVE ENOUGH TO WRITE MY OWN THING", or "BUT I JUST LOVED THE WAY SHE WROTE IT" will not cut it. If you aren't creative enough to have your own content then why are you blogging? Your blog is exactly that, YOURS. Not your best friends. Not your sisters
— Hannah (@InkyReads) January 14, 2013
Oh and what about taking COPYRIGHTED work, hmm? See, my blog is protected by a Copyright. Annabelle's blog was protected by a copyright. By taking things from her blog or any blog without permission or credit given, AND THEY HAVE IT COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, well that is worse. It's heinous. I mean what are you try to accomplish here? The blogging world isn't a Survival TV Show. It's pure fun, if you keep it that way. [To protect your blog visit HERE.]
I can not condone anything relating to stealing people's writing. I generally don't get involved in Blogger-Bashing-Battles, but I can't agree at all with the things that happen in these situations. Everything is staring them(you) in the face, and yet, people can be so blind. So blind that they don't see see the hurt, lingering there. That sneaky conscience you have will comment the act is NOTHING like the feeling when it runs straight into your head of the people of your master. From the writers perspective is crushing. They may be putting on a brave front,
but on the inside....it's a mess. They're annoyed, and most likely very mad that all their hard work went to waste.
@kiki3239 @inkyreads @geobobspinelli I'm madder than mad. I seriously am seeing red just thinking of this.
— Annabelle Lovell (@AnnabelleMarieV) January 16, 2013
@annabellemariev I do to! It's a horrible feeling to know someone copied your work that you spent so much time on. :(
— Amy Fournier (@amabe421) January 16, 2013
@amabe421 That's a new development. The worst part is the blogger showed no remorse whatsoever, like she thought she was the victim.
— Annabelle Lovell (@AnnabelleMarieV) January 16, 2013
@annabellemariev Yeah, I think that was the problem. And obviously if she took down a bunch of stuff she was trying to hide what she did.It's extremely sad to watch these kinds of things happen and know that it was because of one tiny act, that could be so easily passed over, but wasn't, ruined so many bloggers. You all remember the drama of last year right? That hurt so many people that I know. Finding out a good blogger friend is a thief? That your idol is a "criminal"? Doesn't feel so good.
— Amy Fournier (@amabe421) January 16, 2013
And I'm sure the plagiarizer doesn't feel so chipper any more either. This person's blog secret has been found out and exposed and no there is all this ranting and shouting and cursing and hurt heading their way. Yeah, they always dish out sappy apologies, and that is great, but at the same time it's hard to forgive people, or think logically, when they could have prevented the situation in the first place. And plagiarizers get that kind of response. The negativity bounces back to hit them full on. It's a chain reaction, and the pain spares no one.
Do we get the point? It hurts. People break off friendships because of this thing. People leave the blogosphere. Trust is lost. And it's all caused by an incident that people knew about when it started. There are always choices in life. This is just one of the sadder, more tragic ones. But one that is made nonetheless. That's really all I have to say on the matter. So as I wrap up my post I have a couple last things to put out there.
First, I am NOT condemning people. I make it my place to stay out of this kind of thing. When big drama happens, I express my distaste and condone with the person who got hurt but I don't feel like I need to run around making judgement on people. I hardly know them, and it's not my place. I understand that people make mistakes, even if they are more serious dishonest ones. But second, I DO NOT agree with it at all. That's what my post was about. Sharing the ugly truth of plagiarizing and hoping it helped you all to open your eyes and take another look at what plagiarism is, and how it affects people. Protect your blog. Pledge honesty. The blogosphere has so much good, and so much evil. Let's be the good. Plagiarism Sucks, so let's stop it.
Thank you guys so much for listening to this. Since this is a part of a group posting, make sure to check out the posts from Annabelle and Jessi:
Read Jessi's Thoughts HERE.
Read Annabelle's Thoughts HERE.
Also check out Nikki's Thoughts & Eileen's Thoughts, and/or grab the button for this and promote Operation Plagiarism Sucks on your blog! We'd appreciate it!
18 comments:
Heyo! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I love to hear from my awesome-sauce blog readers. You just made my day! I try to reply to every comment I get so if you have a question check back later! Or just link me up to your blog (if you have one) and I'll visit you! Have a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day! <333 Inky
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God, this situation freaking sucks.
ReplyDeleteI don't get why people plagiarize either. Blogging is all about sharing your opinions about books you read, and I usually feel quite proud of my reviews (except for the shit ones.. LOL). I love it when people actually read my reviews. It gives me a happy, bubbly, warm, fuzzy feeling. Like OHMYGOD PEOPLE CARE ABOUT WHAT I THINK!!!!£!£o!i"j£: But if you're just copying someone else's reviews, people aren't following your blog because they care about what you think... they're following because they like SOMEONE ELSE'S reviews.. So then what's the freaking point???
Also, just FYI, you don't have to "get work copyrighted". Whenever you create something, you AUTOMATICALLY own the copyright. You don't have to register it or submit it. It's already yours.
By law, when something is written, drawn, photographed, etc., its copyright is automatically owned by the author. In other words, a copyright exists at the moment the work is created.
—Legal Zoom
You only really need to register copyright if you ever want to take a copyright infringement case to court. Registering it doesn't give you the copyright, it's just a way of submitting proof of 'ownership' and date of ownership for legal/court reasons. But regardless of whether you register, you own the copyright and if someone steals that content it's automatically copyright infringement.
You're so right. What a great point. :D Haha. I like that quote.
DeleteThanks for this awesome post!! It really sucks. I have stayed mostly quiet about it, but inside I am mad and feel totally violated. I'm mad for me and mad for the other bloggers. I wasn't even aware that I was plagiarized until Anna emailed me. I think that makes it worse. How many of us have been plagiarized and don't even know about it. It's really hard to keep positive about things and be excited about what you are writing when it could be getting used on other peoples blogs without you even knowing. All the time put into reading and writing a review to have someone just take it like it's theirs. I do agree that it's not just drama. Yes, it causes drama, but it should. People should know about these awful, thoughtless people!
ReplyDeleteI agree! I'm not the kind to up and rat people out but I sure feel strongly. EXACTLY. I'm worried that's what happened to me, I just don't know. Lol. Thanks for your thoughts!
DeleteThanks for posting about this! I had absolutely no idea this was going on until I woke up this morning. It's so sad that something like this had to happen again. It's important to spread awareness and I love that you are being professional about it.
ReplyDeleteI like that you are taking a stand against it just being "drama" and getting to the meat of the act. Plagiarism isn't ok. Those being plagiarized worked hard to make their reviews their own and I know for a fact that if it were me, I wouldn't want my work stolen. What's even worse is that it was copy and pasted. That was no "accident" or "influence" but straight up plagiarism. This is the internet, a public place. Did they honestly think they could get away with it? Why chance it in the first place?
Also, why blog if you can't get creative. Sure we all have days where we blank out and can't figure out what to write, but take a break and sit down another time to write it. The point of the blog is to spread your own opinion. If we wanted to read someone else's, we'd just go to their blog in the first place.
Thanks Inky for being professional about this. I know this is going to cause a lot of drama, but bashing people and hating on them isn't the answer. We can still be kind, without agreeing with what they did. Good luck in your quest to raise awareness and hopefully I'll be able to put up a discussion post about it soon :)
All the best ♥
Mackenzie @ Oh, For the Love of Books!
Thanks so much for your lovely comment Mackenzie! You rock so much! It means a lot that you support this and agree! I'd love if you were able to get one up. If you do, let me know and I'll link it in my post!
DeleteBrilliant post! Plagiarism is just plain wrong and should be talked about more. I have never been plagiarised and I hope it never happens to me. All the time and effort into writing an original piece of writing.. and someone just takes it in a few seconds. It is horrible.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting. I love the gifs! I hope you manage to spread the word even more and get the word out about plagiarism. I agree that is it isn't just drama - people get hurt.
Oh thank you darling. It really is. I think gifs spice up everything. :D
DeleteThis kind of thing is just plain sad. I feel so bad for anyone that gets plagiarized, and I also feel bad for the plagiarizer (in a different way!) I agree it totally sucks. As far as I know I've never been plagiarized, but I can imagine that it would make me feel terrible. I spend a lot of time of my blog, and I love writing my reviews. I don't know if they are any good or not, but I'm proud of them! Writing is a creative art! The value is decreased immensely if its stolen!
ReplyDeleteFor sure. It is such an art. And that's why it needs to be spoken up about. :D
DeleteThis post was giftastically awesome! I'm loving all these post that you girls did!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Nereyda! I'm glad!!
DeleteI stole your button :)
ReplyDeleteI love your post...you stated things in a way much more refined than I did! (Not to mention a lot nicer, haha)
LOVE all your GIFs!! Especially Mr. Potato Head ;D
<3
I'm so sorry this happened! It's horrible! I hate plagiarism more than anything in the blogging world. It does nothing but make people feel mad, sad, angry...all negative feelings. I've never understood the reason anyone would ever do it...unless we could get an honest answer from the thief. But could we ever believe anything some with such crappy morals say? Who knows!
ReplyDeletePlagiarizing is wrong on so many levels that it can't be put into words. I don't get it...why do bloggers plagiarize other bloggers? We are all part of the same community. It's not like no one will find out...
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI -- My Free Copywrite turned out to be a scam. I covered this in a post on my blog
ReplyDeletehttp://maryinhb.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-free-copyright-is-scam.html
There are better ways to protect your blog. You can set up blogger to email your posts to you so they are always time stamped and use Creative Commons for more protection.
What an amazing post. Your point of view is perfectly described and so true(I really love the gifs)! I just started blogging (and am not really big or that great at it, but the point is more that I just enjoy it) and all the plagiarism issues going around make me sit and wonder "why even bother?" I can't imagine how painful it would be to put so much effort into something just to realize someone else is trying to take the credit for it (or in a lot of cases actually getting away with it). Writing is difficult and time consuming; writers pour a little bit of themselves and their hearts into what they do. It is so much more than drama when someone tries to steal that from you. It shows a whole lot of arrogance when someone can do this and think that they wouldn't get caught, or maybe they just think they're untouchable... no one likes a giant egomaniac, so why would you even want to be that kind of person? I just don't understand people some times. GRRRRR!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting together such a great group of posts on this subject, a lot to times people really don't talk about the things that NEED to be talked about and taken seriously as often as they should! My heart truly goes out to anyone who has been affected by this absolutely horrifying act.
OMG thank you for writing this!
ReplyDelete