Plagiarism

crithit5000 · Post by **crithit5000** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:32 am

I write...lots. I've written around 13,000 forum posts in the last few years over numerous forums and I also author a few web sites. I'm not really aiming for internet superstardom or anything, I just write what I feel is interesting and code some decent HTML/CSS/PHP to give it a decent presentation. Along with playing shooters, it's what I like to do.

So, on December 9th, I wrote this story in a post at one of my sites. It's somewhat factual, with some doses of exaggeration thrown in for entertainment. It took me about an hour to write, and proofread...

It went over well with the members of the forum...so much, in fact, that it was requested that I put it up on the front page of the site. On December 10th, I complied.

This evening, I was going through Webalizer for one of my sub-domains, and caught this little nugget of joy, marked December 11th. The best part?

The little shit that stole my piece is a member of my own forum. He's some random asshat who found the forum. He even felt it necessary to steal another member of my forum's avatar for his signature (this wouldn't be so bad if it were a random image, but that avatar IS REALLY of Cap'n Todd).

Suggestions/Advice?

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:29 am

Ban him and forget about it. That's really all you can do. 70% of the people of the world are toolbags, and 99% of them are on the internet, unfortuantely.

EDIT: Apparently lots of those people shop at Gamestop as well.

shiftace · Post by **shiftace** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:57 am

A ways down that thread...

shawn wrote:I guess a fanboy would mean like for example xbox sucks because the controls are too big and that the nintendo would beat every system like that would be a example. I like the DS though

The shit writes like he's 10 years old. Somehow, that makes the ripoff even sadder to me. I'd have said to go over there and complain to the mods or post a complaint in the thread. But by now, it looks like someone's gone and done the latter.

I don't know any good solution to plagiarism apart from complaining whenever you see it. Putting a generic legal-ish threat at the bottom might deter a few people. Attaching a nicely worded plea to not steal your work might have some (more?) impact, too. But there are still plenty of people who would ignore both of those...

This guy had one of his webcomics ripped off, header/author credit stripped, by several websites and 2 magazines. I don't think he ever got any compensation. (Sexy Losers. The weblog is SFW)

P.S. Condolences, I guess. Nobody should have to waste time on this kind of crap.

crithit5000 · Post by **crithit5000** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:02 am

I'd have said to go over there and complain to the mods or post a complaint in the thread. But by now, it looks like someone's gone and done the latter.

Yeah, one of the other administrators said something, and I chimed in as well. I'd have really like to turn into a fun little spectacle, but I was nice in my post there...now, at my forum...that's going to be fun