Let me start off by saying I am not linking to where this situation took place. I'm not giving this person any shine.
I apologize for troubling you all with this situation but it's time for what has been going on behind the scenes to be brought out into the open. This post is partially so that this person can see themselves and the situation for what it really is and it is also so that you guys can know what's going on if you start to see a bunch of angry replies from someone and a bunch of deleted replies by me.
The picture you are seeing above are screen caps taken from both my blog and someone else's blog. Obviously there is a striking similarity in both the subject matter and the writing style. The posts are almost identical word for word.The person who wrote the blog that pretty much copied mine has been a member here from almost the very beginning. At first they were very supportive and I even acknowledged their support and thanked them.
Around March of 2009 I started noticing little things that they were picking up from my blog and just from me in general. That's fine because we're all inspired by each other, right? When I first started this blog I was very much inspired by Pseudo-Occult Media. I publicly acknowledged that and would link to Ben's blog all the time. He embraced this blog right away and there were no issues. That's how you do things. There are a slew of blogs that have came out that acknowledge Mk Culture as an influence and link to me. That's just how things go.
The thing is, in the beginning, I covered the same topics as POM but I never in my life would copy someone basically word for word. Even when we covered the same topics my take on the subject was very different than his. The blogs that are inspired by MK Culture never just outright copy my posts and they always give credit.
So as time went on I noticed that this person was posting at a forum I use to frequent before I even started this blog. They were pretty much taking things that I said and posting them as their own thoughts. No links to the blog, no acknowledgment of where they got the ideas from - nothing.
Eventually I confronted them about their overall personality. They took this personally and wrote a blog about me at the end of June of 2009 (yes, that is how long this has been going on). The blog pretty much painted me as a bad person and made it seem like I confronted them for no reason. I let it slide. I was thinking, whatever, they can be mad at me if they want. If they hate me maybe they will stop studying me.
Imagine my surprise when at the beginning of July they replied to one of my posts as if they didn't just diss me days earlier. But you know what? I let it slide and replied respectfully.
Months go by and they're still responding. I'm just ignoring them at this point and going about my business.
By December 2009 they are still responding. Repeatedly. So I decide to just reach out to this person and throw up a white flag so there will be no negative energy floating around. If this person checks their records they will see that I contacted to them the day after they responded to one of my posts. That is the ONLY reason I got back in contact with them. Prior to that I had been ignoring them.
After that I checked out their blog and saw that in November of 2009 they were still copying me as shown in the screen caps above. This is before I contacted them and this is while they were suppose to dislike me and while they were saying I was negative. If I'm negative and you don't like me why are you copying me and lurking on my blog?
I also noticed that they were still on that forum that I use to go to presenting my ideas as their own. I let it slide. I figured maybe since I threw up the white flag things would change. I didn't even confront them with this.
As the months go by they continue to repeat their behavior. As a matter of fact it had gotten worse. So I finally brought it out in the open and gave my thoughts on the situation. This person had the nerve to act like I was the one following them and that I was slandering their name. It was fine when they were writing blogs about me but they want to play the victim when I give them a taste of their own medicine.
Here's the funny thing about the internet, once you put it out there it's there forever. So I have evidence to back up everything I've said...you on the other hand don't because you're lying...So don't try to twist the story around, I have everything saved, do you?
So this person pretty much monitors everything I do online. I recently wrote something without even having him in mind and he went and lost his mind posting all over the place that I was slandering him and lying...the post wasn't even about him. Paranoia is a funny thing.
So this is advice to everyone out there, keep an eye on who's responding to your blogs. It's not always the best idea to let things slide once you notice a problem. Thanks to all of the blogs that support this blog and are about positivity. It's great that we all support each other but I guess I should have expected that there would be one bad seed in the bunch.
That's the thing about the internet, you run into all sorts of weirdos. Plus in this day in age, many people copy from others. Irks me like no other. I've seen it in countless of forums. Because of this, I prefer to lurk in the background and keep all my wonderful thoughts and ideas to myself.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many times I spent a large amount of time typing out a thoughtful and heart-filled reply to something, only to see a day or two days later, some jerk without an original bone in his/her body come out and say the same thing I had recently said!
These losers act as though they are some grand philosopher of life and understanding. Cite your source and give credit to where you received your thoughts or information from. I do it all the time. It’s called integrity.
Stop hogging the spotlight and allow people to bask in their OWN glow.
I'm a freelance writer and this behavior makes my blood boil. I don't know where people get off thinking this is okay or that nobody will notice. I've called people out before, but it's a big problem. Some will get defensive; some will apologize but continue.
The thing is, people like this suffer from major self-esteem issue and they don’t tend to stop, even when called out. It’s as if they don’t know how to stop. I guarantee you are not the first person who has been a victim of this individual’s behavior. Everywhere you go, you have people like this, even moreso online.
Hey, at least you don't have people stealing pictures of you and your family, acting as though your children are their children. Your spouse is their spouse. Thankfully that hasn't happened to me (don't upload photos online) but I have seen it happen to a lot of people. Sick minds...
You would think this individual would be more concerned about the scary and uncertain times. The fact that there is so much evil within the entertainment industry. Instead they're stealing your ideas and claiming that it is YOU who is the copycat. That's rich. Somebody's priorities are royally screwed. Good luck to ya! I hope you get it strengthen out.
Oh and to the copycat: THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING QUIT BEING A LOSER AND COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS. AND CITE YOUR SOURCE DAMN IT!
Heh...
ReplyDeleteSorry about the 3 responses. I thought what I said was so great, I had to copy myself twice. HA!
The first two times it said the URL request was too large to process. I thought it didn't go through the first two times. It would be awesome if you could delete multiplies.
*slinks back into the shadows*
It's alright, I edited it for you.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side I guess I'm lucky that this happened online instead of offline. When I see something similar happening offline I'll know exactly what to do.
Thanks for you reply.
As a fellow blogger, I totally feel you and agree with your frustration. Like I told another blogger I sited, it's kind of hard to spread the "TRUTH" while being dishonest and not giving credit where credit is due. Keep up the good work, and I hope this loser stops stealing your stuff because it doesn't help the creditability of our Revolution. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, and thanks for the blogroll listing!!!!
ReplyDelete