RIP OFF MERCHANTS
Posted by anthonynorth on October 17, 2007
It isn’t often that I get angry but some things go beyond the grain. My good blogger friend Writer Chick has recently been informed that one of her posts has been placed on another blog as if written by this blogger.
An investigation by others in her community led to the discovery that other bloggers’ posts have been repeatedly ripped off. Read the subsequent thread here. It is beyond belief.
It looks like blogger power has now closed this blog down.
But there will be others, and no doubt there have been others in the past. However, I think it is up to bloggers to unite to say we will not let this happen. This is all about a writers’ integrity. It is wrong.
Now, I’m not talking, here, about linking to other blogs and posts. I encourage people to link to me, especially my research on mysteries. Ideas are there to be shared. But not ripped off.
This is a different thing altogether.
We’ve all heard a lot of the power of the internet. But that means nothing without integrity. It means nothing if we cannot speak up – shout out – about our indignation when this sort of thing happens.
So let’s use the power of the internet in this instance. We bloggers need to put out a clear message to the low lifes who think they can capitalize on other people’s efforts. Blog about this, and let your community know that we will not take it.
© Anthony North, October 2007
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poseidonsmuse said
Blog content is intellectual property. Plagiarism of creative, original content for the purposes of mis-representation by an author, other than the orignal creator is WRONG!
Common courtesy (like common sense) is really not that common, now is it?
black_mamba said
Is this gonna Kill You? No i Dont Think so !
karen said
Man, I have moments of blogging blankness, but ripping off other people’s blogs for filler goes beyond the pale. Not sure whether or not to be pissed that nobody’s ripped me off… must go think about that now.
writerchick said
Hey Tony,
Thanks for this post and the support. Much appreciated.
Annie
anthonynorth said
Hi PM,
I’ve always thought that concepts beginning with ‘common’ were incorrectly named. They are not common at all.
Well said.
Hi Black Mamba,
There are things called principles. Look it up.
Hi Karen,
When blogging block hits, there is only one real answer. A date or two in the calendar missed. It says something important. Like honesty.
As for ripping you off, dear, they wouldn’t dare
Hi WC,
You’re welcome. Infact, it’s you doing us all a service.
totaltransformation said
Shut ‘em down!
anthonynorth said
Hi Totaltransformation,
In this instance, we did. It was encouraging to see how so many came together in defence of integrity.
ratdog said
Goodness!!!
I know I may not be the best person, to always write down what I really feel or think about something on my blog page. Even when it doesn’t always comes out the way it should do, but stealing someones work is awful.
I just couldn’t do it, because by doing it, it wouldn’t be my own personal touch to my blog page.
TiamatsVision said
I had this happen to me. I found a paper I wrote in college, changed a bit and published in a magazine. The thing that really teed me off, was that it was ripped off by an acquaintance of mine that I lost touch with. Good to see the bloggers standing together. Plagiarists need to be fearful of retribution in this high tech world. Hopefully an example was made out of this one.
anthonynorth said
Hi Ratdog,
This is how most honest people feel. Well said.
Hi TiamatsVision,
Yes, the blogger in question has closed down.
The worst case of student rip-off I’ve ever come across was a research paper published on the internet. Great chunks of this were taken out and used in – wait for it – the British New Labour government’s dossier to justify war with Iraq!
When governments do it, it is vital for writers to stand up and say, it is wrong.
TiamatsVision said
Anthony-Wow! Did the original writer of the research paper go after the British New Labor government?! I would have had that incident plastered all over the net!
anthonynorth said
Hi TiamatsVision,
At one point it was plastered all over the UK media, but the point was lost amidst the furore over the alleged lies in the dossier – a dossier that had convinced Parliament to agree to British entry into the Iraq War.
It was a point that stayed with Blair right up to him going, and will hopefully keep catching up with him for many years to come.