I really can't believe I'm even writing this, but just for the heck of it, I googled the first line or two to one of my poems, the one that's actually posted on this site ("I am tired of pretending") and someone had posted it on their blog pretending that they had written it! http://proppie.blogspot.com/2012/05/i-am-tired-of-pretending.html A coincidence is entirely impossible. This is word-for-word my work, all four rhyming stanzas of it, and you can check the review room if you don't believe me (I might add that that post is 10 days older than this person's blog entry), though they actually used an earlier draft that I posted on a different site, one that's a lot less well-protected than this one. I know it's my own fault for posting the poem on the internet at all, and I know that the person isn't making money off of it or anything, but I find it uncomfortable that someone else is claiming that they wrote my poem. Anything I can do? I wanted to write a comment, but my college network blocks that feature and I can't find another way to contact the person anyway.
There is a Report Abuse link at the top. I certainly think plagiarism qualifies. The blogger reports her location as South Africa, which could complicate prosecution. Posting a comment accusing her of plagiarism would be pointless, she'll just remove it.
Going after the poster would likely be a pointless venture. They'd only ignore you, and as Cogito highlights the intricacies of cross-border litigation would probably make that impractical. Instead, I'd go to the website hosts, in this case blogspot. If they're anything like this site, they'll take accusations of plagiarism very seriously, and are best placed to quickly remove the offending post.
I know this doesn't help you, but this is exactly the reason why I'm super paranoid about putting my stuff online.
You're right to be paranoid, apparently. Normally I'm more careful than that. This is just something I wrote on a whim, though, and I wanted some fast help. I never intended to get it published, and I still don't. Mostly, I'm just surprised. First, it's not at all good enough to be ripped off. It's mediocre and quite amateur. Second, I don't understand the motive behind it. The person's not profiting from it or anything. Nobody seems to visit this blog much anyway, and if you read the person's profile, it's just supposed to be things they wrote in their spare time. So what's the pressure? Why pretend you wrote a lousy poem anyway? I don't know. I guess it's not worth puzzling over. I'll probably do what Banzai and Cogito suggest anyway. Thanks guys.
Not that I doubt your claim, the evidence is pretty clear, but when i type in "I am tired of pretending" in google all I get is Charlie Sheen quotes...also, the poster claims they are dealing with depression and these post are how they deal with their depression: "this is a way for me to deal with my depression and to get a lot of negatives out. nothing more" So I wouldn't worry to much about it, you are actually helping someone.
Wow, that's horrible, and quite odd that the post is just the poem and nothing else. Since you wrote this on the Writing Workshop, the one that took your poem has to be a member here, correct? Not that they would fess up...but that's not being very courteous here.
Try not to be so upset, after all this person has no creativity and imagination that they have to resort to stealing other peoples work. I also had a look at a few other things on there to see what else they'd nicked and there's several other poems that have been flying around the internet that they stole. In terms of plagarising and being paranoid about putting stuff online, well it's a risk you take and you have to decide between getting your work out there and having people read it or keeping it safe and only a handful of people seeing it. At the end of the day this person must have thought your work was good otherwise they wouldn't have stolen it.
The version that was stolen wasn't from this site, actually. I can tell, because the first two lines of one of my verses got changed after I'd done some editing. I had that version of the poem posted in two other places, so they must have taken it from one of them. To indy5live: you're right, if you just google the first line, you get Charlie Sheen, but if you type "I am tired of pretending each" in quotes this is the first and only thing that comes up. That's how I found it in the first place. I didn't really expect to have any hits except where I'd posted the poem in the first place, which strangely enough does not come up at all. As for helping someone...I don't know. I feel like this person must have some serious self-esteem issues if they're doing this for no reason at all. Does my letting them plagiarize really help their well-being? Northern Phil: I'm not really upset. Just more surprised and a little hurt. I knew it was a risk and everything, but I just didn't think anyone would bother. I mean, since it's online and I can so obviously prove that I wrote it, I figured no one would have a motive to steal it and it wasn't that great anyway. Which it isn't. I'm someone flattered, I confess...but a quick reality check tells me that the poem is still mediocre and that this person's judgment isn't exactly sound.
I know this is annoying, but if at any time you needed to, you could prove that you posted the poem and put it out there before they did.
