Angry Piper: The Return (Of Plagiarism)

Saturday, April 05, 2008

It's really no big secret that I've been missing in action lately. Aside from a few comments here and there, I've been a ghost in the machine for a few months now. If you've noticed, I'm touched. If not, that's fine too.

No, I won't go into why I haven't been around. It's not relevant. But I will tell you all what's new in Piper-land. I have a new blogpost on the blog and some new fiction at Angrypiper.com. Oh, and I was plagiarized. Again.

First, I have my first real blog post in months. It chronicles Day 6 of my Ireland trip: The Ring of Kerry. If travel blogging isn't your thing, or if you're sick of hearing about my trip to Ireland that's taking me forever to chronicle, then skip it. If you have enjoyed past installments and/or just like reading stories of me pissing off my brother in Ireland, check it out.

Second, even though I have been neglecting my blog, I've been working hard in other areas. I've decided, against my better judgement and despite what you'll read below, to post some of my fiction online. I call this series Conversations with Stephanie, and it's more-or-less something I'm writing as an experiment. Feel free to look it over if you haven't already. The first three installments have been up for a few weeks now, on my brand-new Fiction page.

Now, on to the plagiarism. A few months back I read something on Sara Sue's blog that basically said that if you post content online, it's not a question of whether or not you will be plagiarized, it's a question of when. I was intrigued, and so I visited Copyscape, which is one hell of a great website that looks for copies of your material on the Internet. I discovered that one of my book reviews was basically stolen; some staff reporter from the St. Thomas Source, a newspaper down in the island of the same name, lifted about 100 words or so verbatim from my review, published it as his own work and collected a paycheck from it. This annoyed me, and if you like you can read all about it here.

Fast forward to the present. Those who have visited my site may recall I have several Angry Rants available for your perusal and hopefully, amusement. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this rant has made it's way onto EBaum's World. Go ahead. Compare the two. I'll wait.

Looks awfully similar, doesn't it?

You'll notice it's in the profile of a fellow who calls himself Hawks81. I am not Hawks81. I do not know Hawks81, nor have I ever given him (or her) permission to publish my stuff. The most annoying thing about this is not only did Hawks81 steal my rant, he didn't even bother to alter the many references to The Angry Piper contained therein.

So, I registered for EBaum's world (as angrypiper, of course), and sent this fellow a letter requesting he remove the rant. Since he hasn't been online in a long time, I can only assume he hasn't received it. I also contacted EBaum's World via email and informed them they have copyrighted material on their site and requested they remove it. So far no response, but I'm optimistic; it's only been a couple of days.

Both times people have stolen my stuff (that I know about), friends have pointed out that it's kind of a backhanded compliment, because someone must think my writing is worth stealing. I guess, in a way, I should take it as such and feel flattered.

But I don't. I take it as a backhand. An insult. In the first case, someone profited by my work. In this latest case, while he hasn't profited by it, someone basically presented it as his own. He did not link to my rant. He ripped it from my site and pasted it in his profile uncredited. Oh, and lest I forget, currently there's a "contest" of sorts going on at EBaum's world where the best (i.e. funniest) rants will be selected and posted in a special area of the site for public accolade.

EBaum's world gets a lot of traffic, and that's potentially a lot of online exposure for my writing. Exposure that could not only benefit Angrypiper.com, but indirectly benefit Third Option Media as well. I'm not saying my rant is likely to win, but if it did, I wouldn't know fuck-all about it. But boy, that Hawks81 guy would sure look clever and witty.

The Wand of Wonder is a home to many talented and creative people. I urge anyone who cares about his or her online material to use Copyscape or a related search service and make certain your stuff isn't getting stolen. Christopher Morris, I'm looking in your direction; also at folks like Malach, who has already found his artwork being used without his permission, CJOwen and Ben Byrd, who write interesting fiction, and the Cap'n, who is reponsible for some seriously hilarious shit.

Fuck Plagiarism.