Ooh! If you've seen last week's post, you'll know that I'm dealing with plagiarizing. This post was written a few months ago, but I love that it follows last week's pretty well in terms of topic!
Unless you live under a rock [or without WiFi,] you've probably seen something like this happen:
Person One says something on twitter or facebook or any other social media. It gains the attention of a lot of people. Now everyone's participating in an interesting and thought provoking discussion with no one being ignored.
But what if you have such strong opinions that you think it deserves its own post on your blog? What if you want to write a full blown essay [with gifs!] about it? I mean, it was never your discussion in the first place, but you have such interesting thoughts.
Basically, I'm wondering where the line between expressing opinions from other's discussion and stealing is drawn. I can't tell you how many times I've seen such amazing discussions and questions on twitter. It happens all the time and I think it unifies us as a community. And then, in my mind, I think "hey, wouldn't it be cool to write a post on this?"
And I nearly do.
But then, my senses kick in and I convince myself that it's plagiarism. That it's someone else's discussion and the polite thing to do is to not steal their thunder.
So I end up venting it all on twitter, even though I still want to write a post. Which is why, now I'm putting it all out here. Do you think writing a post from a discussion brought up by another is rude? I've been plagiarized [or felt like I've been plagiarized] and it isn't fun, so I'm very wary on this topic. Would I be stealing their spotlight, ideas and making myself look like a fool in the process? Or is it true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
I have to think that stealing a discussion idea isn't plagiarism. I mean, I know that plagiarism is stealing someone's original ideas, but the thing about discussion is that it doesn't necessarily come from an original author. I mean, I know that a popular topic to discuss now is diversity in YA—and part of that comes through the "We Need Diverse Books Campaign." But... Diversity wasn't their idea in the first place. They just saw a pre-existing issue that was underaddressed and decided to do something about it. And, I mean, who "invented" diversity? So, I don't know. I usually really enjoy discussing things I see in the real world (news, other blog ideas, etc.) but I also usually cite all of the sources where I've been reading about the idea. I mean, I'm giving credit to where I got the idea to write the post, but it's still my privilege to write about freely. But that's just my two cents...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that they didn't "create" the idea. but at the same time, they're the ones who brought it up. If someone were to try to start up another campaign, it would be like "dude, we've already got one...."
DeleteThis is a really tricky topic. I wouldn't say writing a post inspired by what someone else said is plagiarism as such. And it's not unknown for people to have similar lines of thought (a lot of my friends have brains that work the same as mine and we'll often end up saying things in unison, agreeing on topics, suggesting similar ideas, etc) so I don't think it's bad to write a post inspired by something you saw/heard. Still, if you're ever unsure it's best to ask for permission to make the post and link back to whoever inspired it.
ReplyDeleteHowever if the person was repeating a decent chunk of text said by someone else word for word that's when it crosses the line into plagiarism. One scattered sentence or two that sounds similar can be hard to identify as plagiarism, it could just be a freak coincidence and the people think similarly. But if we're talking about anything longer that's when it gets real fishy.
I don't think discussion posts can really be plagiarism unless a person were to take someone's discussion and post the author's thoughts pretty much verbatim. Generally in discussions, you have your own thoughts and feelings about the subject and while they may be shared with another person, posting your own thoughts in a post, isn't really plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a really specific thing like….say if I were to do a discussion post based on a feature of Lauren's (BookmarkLit), would that be considered plagiarism? I don't think so, I'm giving her credit, I told her I thought of doing a discussion for it.
I think it just depends on what kind of discussion it is. Like someone could write a post in advance or have an idea for a post in advance, see another similar post to theirs, and then sort of wonder if they should still post their own, I would think they should because they thought of it before ever reading the similar post.
i wouldn't necessarily consider it as plagiarism because there are so many bloggers out there going through the same things and it would be natural if topics are coincidently the same. On the topic of inspiration, I believe that as long as you've mentioned in your post that you're being inspired by so and so and you saw this post on so and so's blog, its completely OKAY. This is such a great topic, Nova :) Kudos!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is plagiarism to use a topic, because I can't imagine that nobody else ever thought about that topic before the blogger talked about it. But, to give myself some peace, I always refer to the fact that I saw XNAME talking about it on Twitter. Just to give some credits for the inspiration :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think writing about the same discussion topic as a person is plagiarism at all. There are so many ideas out there that discussion topics have been reused over and over and over again. I think that's one of the beauties of the Internet. Everyone can talk about the same topic, but in their own unique ways, making one huge discussion with so many different opinions. As long as words aren't stolen, it's not plagiarism on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI don't think being inspired is the same as plagiarism. I mean, plagiarism is where someone sees something and copies it EXACTLY. if I were you, and REALLY wanted to post a discussion topic based off a tweet, I'd just say it in the preamble to the post, like "this discussion was inspired by x's tweet", and then a link to it. That way, your inspiration is clearly stated, and you're giving credit to the tweet that inspired you!
ReplyDeleteIf I really wanted to write about a discussion topic that was recently brought up on Twitter, I'd just mention it in my post and link to the discussion and the person's acct who started it. I highly doubt she'd mind. I wouldn't really consider it plagiarism; you're wanting to say more than can be said on Twitter. :)
ReplyDeleteNah. I don't consider writing about a particular discussion topic that's already been addressed by another blogger to be plagiarism at all. Sometimes we run the risk of exhausting a topic, but if you have strong opinions about a certain topic, I think the book blogosphere would encourage you to write about it on your own blog. (I always like it when a blogger says "this post was inspired by X's blog post" because of course I click on over to read the other bloggers opinions as well".
ReplyDeleteI don't think so since you're putting your own take on the theme or big idea. Lets be honest, there are tons of book blogs out there and saying that no two blogs are going to discuss the same thing would be ridiculous. As long as there is no plagiarism and the blogger mentions that their idea on the topic was inspired by so-and-so then I think it's okay :)
ReplyDeleteWell, personally, I wouldn't call this "plagiarism". I have seen some discussions where the blogger states where s/he got the idea from (ex. "This post was inspired by [x]'s discussion post..."), and would be a good way to ensure your readers that you're not stealing anything, and at the same time expressing your thoughts on a particular topic.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are lots of topics that have been repeated throughout multiple blogs (like YA tropes, book boyfriends, etc.) and no one really considers those as plagiarism.
Aimee @ Deadly Darlings
Inspiration and plagiarism are two very different things. While you might risk upsetting the people who originally discussed the topic, it's definitely not plagiarism to talk about the same thing. Of course, if you say the same things as them (exactly or even paraphrased) then it becomes a problem of plagiarism. Generally, if you can type your post without looking at the original discussion, you know those are your own thoughts and opinions.
ReplyDeleteI do think some people get upset though, especially if the topic is unique or not many people are talking about it. If it's something that's not constantly discussed, or if your post is more of a "response" to another post/discussion, I would say to provide links/credit.
Funny that one of your recent posts is on copying! I'm currently dealing with something similar and it's definitely NOT fun. Argh. But I can relate to how you feel here. I'm really paranoid about stuff like this, mostly because I don't want to offend anyone if my post comes across as copying, or like you said, stealing their spotlight, even though I never meant for it to be that way. But I've learned throughout my time blogging that most of the time, people are happy that their post manages to inspire other people. I know I would feel happy and honored too, if a discussion post or tweet of mine got someone else thinking enough to write up an entire post about it! :)
ReplyDeleteJust to be on the safe side, though, I always try to ask the original person if it would be okay if I wrote a post based on what they wrote. I also try to credit them by linking to the original post. That way you can avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings. So if a post inspires you to write your own post, then I don't think it's imitation. Imitation is when you're doing something with the intent of claiming it as your own original idea, and being inspired clearly isn't that.
Okay, I have no idea if my comment made any sense, but those are just my thoughts! And I hope you managed to get your plagiarizing issue all sorted out by now, it's seriously stressful dealing with them. :(
Well I won't call it stealing,if the blogger clearly stated that they were inspired by another blogger's particular post and give credit to them.I myself have written two posts before which was inspired by other bloggers,but I made sure to ask the bloggers' permission and then after they told yes,I gave them the credit for inspiration in my blog post.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also think it depends on how they have used the blogger's post.It's plagiarism if the blogger not only copied the idea but also copied down the same thoughts and sometimes even the exact sentences.But if they just borrowed an idea and created their own post with their own opinions,then I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
Ah I wouldn't call it stealing if it's getting inspired by a post, you know? When that happens, I like to mention in my discussion where my thoughts originated on. Mostly, I want to dig into another part of the discussion, but I always link to the original thought or post! Plagiarism is really hard to define, imo. Very interesting post, Nova! x
ReplyDelete