Monday, July 13, 2009

My Girl Beckeye Is Eagle Eye

(Sorry Becks-I totally jacked this from your site)

Plagiarism is a dirty act, plain and simple. It is one of the first sacred rules you learn about in journalism school; one that you NEVER break. (See: Mike Barnicle) Heck, in high school, they threatened that engaging in plagiarism was punishable by expulsion or worse-criminal charges. Long story short-don't do it unless you credit your source. It's a bad move that can destroy literary careers and reputations and turn into a lethal career killer.

To plagiarize is defined in Merrriam Webster's online dictionary as:

to steal and pass off (the ideas and words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source.
to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.


I tell you all this because my blogger buddy Beckeye from that FABU pop culture website, The Pop Eye, has loyally brought it to my attention that The Daily Dandy has been plagiarized....I know you're shocked!!! So was I!!! That's right people, The Dandy has become the victim of a horrendous literary crime, a plagiari-ee, so to speak.
In other words, I have arrived!!!!
WHOO HOOO!!!

I'm kidding....I take this sh*t very seriously and the fact that this person BLATANTLY passed off my words as his really pisses me off.

Becks sent me an e-mail alerting me to the fact that this clown, a "Mr. Ash gee" from the Indian website nhatky.in.com, jacked my American Idol recap post from the night Adam Lambert was in the bottom two. It's not like he stole a few gems here and there, NOOOO. He jacked the entire post!! Even my photo!! (which I jacked off google) It looks like he cut and paste the entire post, passed it off to his editors, and then went on about his day. Like it was business as usual, which I'm sure it probably is.

I never would have known........ but Mr. Ash gee, you made one too many fatal errors in judgement, dude. Beside engaging in "dirty plagiarism", you discounted the loyalty between fellow bloggers. Big mistake on your part, HUGE. My girl Becks totally had my back, and now you have been busted!!

The thing about this is that in my ORIGINAL post, I used a very conversational language, as if I were speaking directly to my Dandy readers about the previous nights episode of AI. Possibly not my best work, as I used a few "inferred profanities" to get my passionate point across. (Couldn't he have jacked some of my better, less profanity laced stuff? sheesh)
To prove my point, here is my ORIGINAL post dated April 30, 2009,




And here is the cheap, ripped off from The Dandy, "Mr. Ash gee"'s pathetic attempt at his own American Idol glory,




Look, as writers, we all must be readers, and as such we are certainly inspired by something we read some where out there in the World Wide Web, but for God's sake, credit the source! If you lift an idea here and there, how much time does it take to add a link and cover your literary a*s???
SOOOO, as punishment, Mr. ASS GEE, or whatever your name is, I will send an e-mail to your purported employer over at nhatk.in and inform them of your blatant theft of my words and let the chips fall where they may. You only have yourself to blame.
As for us over here at the Daily Dandy, we take care of our own.

For one day only, as your American punishment, I urge my readers to please feel free to insert Slumdog and Seven Eleven jokes into today's comments.

Karma's a bitch dude.

17 comments:

will said...

I've been considering using this

http://www.copyscape.com/

Haven't yet but it does seem like a reasonable thing to do.

Heff said...

Is that Adam Lambert in that pic ?

SURELY NOT !!!

BeckEye said...

It is Adam Lambert, Heff, but that's not really me. Well, it is. Part of me anyway. I am a Photoshop wizard, what can I say?

So, Candy, I thought at first that the site might be some deal where they repost American stories for their audience, etc. But even if that were the case, they would HAVE TO credit the source of the original post. On their front page, they post news stories from other sources and list their sources. He's obviously some hack entertainment blogger that just grabbed the first thing that he could find.

You should DEFINITELY get a screen grab of that article in case the moron deletes it once he realizes that someone found him out.

Unknown said...

Harsh. I hope he gets into trouble. In other news, congrats on making it in the blogger world!

Soda and Candy said...

What an a-hole. Kudos to BeckEye for finding him out!

PS - Let's call this what it is and not lower ourselves to bringing race into it though - a-holes come in every color.

SkylersDad said...

The only time my blog has been lifted and used word for word was that one time where my family went to court to try and have me removed as a family member.

Ookami Snow said...

I've always thought that plagiarism is a dirty act, plain and simple. It is one of the first sacred rules you learn about in journalism school; one that you NEVER break. (See: Mike Barnicle) Heck, in high school, they threatened that engaging in plagiarism was punishable by expulsion or worse-criminal charges.

Seriously though, you need to be sure to hound that site into punishing him and/or giving credit to you.

Cora said...

I've been thinking about this ever since someone ripped off a post from Clever Girl Goes Blog. How often do blog posts get stolen? Looks like it might be pretty frequently!

The only reason he wouldn't credit the source is if he believed he'd never be found out, but to leave it word for word with BeckEye's name in it and everything was just foolish of him. Get him, Candy. Save a copy of it and go after him.

It wouldn't hurt to put a copyright on the blog either. I'm thinking about doing the same thing.

Ookami Snow said...

Update, seems Ash Gee only steals web content. how about his review of the Salem Witch Trials:

http://www.nhatky.in/salem-witch-trials-series-12340634

which is directly lifted from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

So there you go.

MJenks said...

What's with all the folks getting plagiarized recently? Makes me wonder if I'm getting ripped off.

Oh, no, wait...that's right. My stuff sucks!

The Dental Maven said...

WHAT A FLAMING JACK ASH!!!!!

DUDE! You better pray I never make it over to your continent!

Try doing something you're good at, Okay? Perhaps a job at kinkos making copies - you could really shine at duplicating.

Andy - Instafather said...

As a reporter in non-blog life, I totally appreciate your anger about this- I'm upset, too. I wonder if anyone's doing that to me-- it's so random Beckeye even found it.
You want me to spam him with porn?

Fancy Schmancy said...

Unbelievable that he could do that and get away with it! Good job, Beck! Give them heck, Candy!

Tuesday Taylor said...

I'm so impressed with BeckEye's eagle eye! Candy, DO NOT let this douche bag get away with this! Give him a Candy Dandy Beat down, stat. I've got your back...

Furtheron said...

Now apologies but my head instantly goes... so did this guy get paid for this... then it goes... wicked what an easy job trawl the internet for an interesting, topical, witty post then nick it submit to paying website and wait for the paycheck to arrive.

Sorry - that isn't the right thinking is it?

Now second thought is... bugger no one has ever lifted any of my posts... probably since they are neither interesting, topical or witty... :-)

Anonymous said...

Burn him! Set him on fire...no mercy! Track him down and fry his bitch ass.

Chris said...

"What a maroon." - Bugs Bunny

There, I cited my source.

But man, Candy, that wasn't even good plagiarism. It was a cheap cut and paste job. How can he possibly live with himself?

Ah well.