Two rants in one week, gee, I'm on fire!
So I consider myself to be like Taylor Swift in blogging. What does that mean? I use all the crap/good experiences in my life/blogging life to write down as posts. Unlike her, I don't really leave clues as to who these people are, though. To me, I just need a healthy way to get it all out without putting someone under the microscope.
I've written about twitter drama and how to's, "originality in blogging" and getting along with others. All these discussions came from fights/misunderstandings with others and I totally don't regret writing it at all.
To those who don't know because you're somewhat new *waves*, I am ALL about the originality. I know that I'll never be 100% original, which is fine, but I do my best. You can see this when I do "Mandatory Rules On", "Novel Melodies" and even the way I write my reviews. I've always felt like there's something special about your blog. Make it special.
I also want to point out that plagiarism is [taken from Google] stealing language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work. So yes, stealing a post idea is plagiarizing, even if you didn't steal my post.
So what do I do when I'm going through my blogging rounds [this was on Tuesday] and I see that someone's done a "Mandatory Rules On" post? [Mandatory Rules is when I share sarcastic "rules" on how to do something badly.]
Now the first thing I do is get a little hurt. Or a lot hurt. In this case, it was a lot. I read the post and while it was nice and had the same sarcasm that I do, I was also a little offended. Apparently, it wasn't meant to be in that format but things ended up that way.
But then! Hold up!
I did something that was both bad and good. Well, two things. The first thing I did was take my rage to twitter in an epic subtweeting match. That was the bad. As a person, I overreact and tend to regret after. It's a vicious cycle.
However, after some civil DMs and apologizing on both sides [I was totally bad!] we totally worked it out.
But the whole problem just makes me wonder. How do you know when you've been plagiarized? Because I don't consider the stupid misunderstanding plagiarism, or at least not anymore.
In a real plagiarism situation...
I love to give people the benefit of the doubt. But I'm also wildly skeptical. So without an explanation, I will almost always take things the wrong way. However, this doesn't mean that I go on a harrassment rage. I'm typically the "burn in silence" type or not, I guess, because I am writing this post.
But if you've seen something on my blog that you've never seen on another's, it is wrong to adapt it without asking. It's also rude and completely unprofessional. I guarantee, you will not make friends this way.
And how do I know?
Because I did the same thing. I stole a blogger's idea and we got into a HUGE fight [I was the wrong one, duh.] This happened a LONG time ago. Now we're friends and it's all in the past but seriously, do not mess with a blogger's features. Think of your own! Or at least, get the courtesy to ask.
But what if it's a coincidence?
Really, anyone can say that it's a coincidence and only they would know. If it is [or they say it is], it's all on them. I also refuse to call them a liar because I always want to think the best of people. I might have wary thoughts on them, but I won't hate them. People post what they want to post, right?
It's a scary thought - how far is too far? When is plagiarism a coincidence? Are they lying or are you too skeptical? All the question! Let me know what you think.
This is a tough call and a lot of the time I think it's just coincidence. It's hard to think of an idea that may not already be out there, even if you don't KNOW it's been 'taken'.
ReplyDeletePerfect example are your mandatory rules posts. I had no idea you did those until I saw this post. I actually have a similar 'feature' on my blog called Rules That Must Be Obeyed, though it's only something I do sparsely.
Looking back, I see your first 'mandatory rules' post was in May 2014. My first Rules post was in April 2014. Which means I did it before you.
Finding out you do these types of posts now, do I think you copied me? No, not likely. It's just a coincidence. I mean, let's face it, it's not exactly the most unique idea in the entire world. It's just a sarcastic list. And I'm sure we're not the first people to write sarcastic lists.
I mean, I could easily sit here yelling and accusing you of plagiarising my idea. But I won't. Because it's a small world and people come up with very similar things sometimes. No harm, no foul.The only time I'd personally get annoyed was if the content itself was copied.
Such an awesome example! I actually didn't know that you did something similar, which is kind of strange lol
DeleteWhat I've learned is that to be "original" it isn't about what you do, but how you do it. If I were to use the exact same topic as you and then list mine in the SAME order as yours with the same points, feel free to yell and scream at me because that's 99% probably plagiarism but since we're just two people developing our own similar ideas on our own, why not just have a great time reading each others' posts? right?
I hate plagiarism!It's rude,mean and really wrong.Do they even think about how much trouble the person has gone through to write up the post?
ReplyDeleteI've had this experience before,just not in blogging.I used to write fanfiction when I was younger-I was 13 then,I guess-and one of my HP fanfic was fairly popular in the site.And then while my story was nearing the end,my readers started to leave me comments saying that someone is posting my story in another fanfiction site.I was angry,upset and sad.That story was my baby.I spend hours writing it,and someone just steals it.No way!
And I confronted the person who stole the story by sending an email for which I never got a reply but later learned that she has pulled off the story from the site.
I can totally understand your situation,hun.And I won't blame you at all.It hurts when you are copied.
Honestly, I think plagiarism is a VERY sensitive topic in the blogosphere. It's the Internet so of course there are going to be tons of ideas everywhere, and with very general ideas, there are going to be different people that come up with the same idea.
ReplyDeleteI think that depending on how broad the idea is, it's okay for bloggers to use someone's idea as inspiration for a blog post and putting their own unique spin on it. It's when the words start being similar that there's a problem.
For example, there are so many discussion post ideas out there that have been discussed by other bloggers, but since they are all written differently, it's okay. People often use the same review style or the same type of features, but when words aren't copied, I think it's fine. I've seen spinoffs of posts from other blogs, and I've really enjoyed getting a different perspective from all those blogs. Also, the blogger usually links to the original inspiration.
Of course it varies with every blogger, so I can see how you might be upset, but if someone takes my broad post idea and writes a spinoff of it, I usually take it as a compliment, unless they're actually copying my words. I know a lot of other bloggers are comfortable with this, too, and that's how I think linkups and memes started. But like I said, everyone is different, so I can understand that you are hurt.
Everything is so damn blurry. My book looks, I had been playing around with the idea of doing that feature for months and when I finally did it, I made sure to look up anything that would be related to it, because I know how sensitive people are. Turns out, there were a bunch of people doing stuff like that. I ended up having to email the girl that did one of the features and asking her if it was okay to do it, just so I wont get into trouble. To this day, I don't feel like I HAD to do that. I was going to name is something else and I wasn't copying something because I wasn't even aware people were doing this. But now, I'm stuck with 'book looks' even though that person doesn't even do the features anymore.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a newbie blogger, I wouldn't have even though about looking up to see if anyone was doing something like this. Ideas are a very tricky thing...
It's like if authors had to email all other authors that wrote about vampires just because they wanted to write a vampire book.
I think a simple 'this idea was inspired by_____' is a good option. But, that's just my opinion...
I do feel, mostly, that (as cliche as it sounds) there's "nothing new under the sun". *shrugs* I feel like mostly every post idea has been done before. I've often blogged about a topic and then read a friend's post that sounds very similar in topic to mine, just a few weeks later. Do I worry about it? NAH. Everyone has an opinion! It's when someone steals your actual thoughts or copies you word-for-word, or your style, or your voice. THAT'S unokay.
ReplyDeleteThere have been SO many posts on the blogosphere that I get the feeling that whenever I post something, I'll be bound to stumble across a post similar to mine.
ReplyDeleteBut I really get annoyed when someone copies content from a post WORD to WORD, or the exact same manner or writing style. Then it's not okay. Otherwise everyone deserves to put their own twist onto a topic :)
Yeah, this is a tough thing because like Cait, I do think there's no such thing as an original idea, not anymore, because we're a huge community, it's almost impossible! BUT, I do believe firmly in that if you use an idea, a similar idea, or were influenced by another post, you should mention them, credit them, point out that they inspired this post and link it because that's what's important. You can be inspired and influenced and credit, and that to me is okay, but regurgitating the exact same thing off someone else? That's what's wrong.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you on this. I have seen other bloggers do very similar topics to me after I have done them and I don't think I have the right to be annoyed about it to be honest. Magazines, newspapers, websites etc. all posts variations on the same stories and that's what bloggers are doing. I think as long as you are doing it in your own words and style then it's fine. I don't expect someone to ask permission to do a similar post to one I've done and it may be a bit frustrating but such is the nature of blogging I guess. I just let them get on with it (even if they are a much more popular blogger and their post gets more traffic than mine!)
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of different opinions about this, mostly because it depends on the situation. For example: if I came up with an original feature and someone tried to replicate it without saying "Hey, I got this idea from [blog name]!" then I'd probably be a bit annoyed. But, if they took that original feature and changed it into something that was THEIRS, I wouldn't mind much at all. There are very few "original" things anymore, especially on the Internet. Also, if someone copied my reviews word-for-word or discussion posts pretty exact, then I'd be VERY upset.
ReplyDeletePlagiarism is touchy, and it's different for everyone. I think anyone would be angry/upset if they found out someone had copied something of their's, but there's also some amount of leeway that needs to be given since not all things are original anymore.
This is such a great post. Honestly I think if someone does a post or feature similar to yours, I don't necessarily consider it plagiarizing. Yes, it probably would be considerate for them to ask you first. But there are so many of the same stories and posts and features out there there are very few things that are truly unique.
ReplyDeleteI think if people get the same ideas, it's not so bad anymore. I remember, I had this idea to write a novel, and I just recently read a novel that has the same concept that I thought of so whoop whoop.. People can share similar thoughts, but it can get annoying if it's WORD-TO-WORD even rephrasing a couple of words is still bad.
ReplyDeleteOn my blog, I did this feature once called Femme Recommends, and I saw a similar post the next day - mainly because I follow that blog. I wasn't offended, I would've been a year back - but I just took it as a compliment. It would be nice to be given some credit.. but hey, atleast they're inspired from you :) Great post though, I can understand what you mean.
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