It’s Not Mean to Report Plagiarists

Please Stop Copying My Work!

More and more new writers seem to believe the best way to get ahead is to copy others ideas and even their work directly. It needs to stop and we need to be the ones to stop it.

I have been thinking of writing this post for a while now, and even did so though I ended up deleting it. After all, I thought, if it’s as rampant as I think, then other writers would be writing out about it, reporting it to Medium and blowing these people out of the water publicly.

Yet, as I see more of it with my own writing, as well as with other people’s articles, and I talk with successful Medium writers, I realize that too many of us are trying to play the role or Mr. Nice guy, swallowing our outrage and remaining silent. Or at best we write pieces that allude to the problem without saying it outright.

Well, I have had enough and will say it clear and direct. There are a number of Medium writers who are flat out stealing other people’s ideas and at times their direct content and it has to stop! As for my work, you are hereby on notice. No more Mr. Niceguy. No more warnings or discussion. When I see it, I report it and there is every indication that Medium will act, and possibly even ban you.

What Has Led Up to My Decision

The longer I am a member of Medium and the more I read, the more articles I see that look a bit too familiar. I have seen a number of articles that are similar to mine and several that very closely resemble mine.

In two cases, when I contacted the individuals they were generally apologetic saying they had just joined Medium and were hoping to get a jump start by writing things similar to articles they saw that had a proven track record. While a bit troubling since they clearly knew what they were doing, at least they immediately took them down.

In other cases, when I contacted the writers, they argued with me. The arguments always centered on the same idea, that everyone knows there are no new stories under the sun so no one can claim any content is their own. We all took it from somewhere. Therefore, I had no right to claim that their story, which was much the same as mine except for some wording difference, was stolen. Despite explaining to them that the saying didn’t mean you could plagiarize other people’s work, they said as long as the wording was different everything was fair game.

Now, lest you use this excuse, be advised. In three cases, I reported them to Medium and they were banned.

So now I am putting you on notice. If you take my work (or anyone else’s for that matter and I come across it), I will not contact you, reason with you, or respond to whatever arguments you believe support your right to take other people’s ideas if you change some of the wording. From here on out I will simply report the matter to Medium and let them decide what to do. Please do yourself, me and the other writers on Medium a favor. Learn how to come up with your own ideas for stories and gain the skill to write them in your own unique voice

Why You Should Care If You Are One of Those Who Routinely Take Other People’s Ideas

I can hear the arguments now from wherever it is you are. “Why should I bother when I can clearly get away with it?” “It’s not plagiarism. I didn’t copy anything exactly so there’s nothing wrong with it.” “How else am I going to get ahead?” “ If those big name writers get a ton of engagement for their articles, why should I reinvent the wheel?” “Everyone does it, so why shouldn’t I?”

I’ll give you a few good reasons why you should care and what you are losing out on with this practice.

• Reputation — You may get away with it now, but eventually you’ll get caught and as soon as you do that person is going to look through what else you’ve written. If you are lucky, they will just file a DMCA and you’ll have to take it down. They may also contact other writers whose work you’ve “appropriated” and you’ll get DMCA notices from them as well. But they may go onto make sure that they let other writers know online and when that happens your reputation is shot. You may think the internet is a huge place but the writing community isn’t so big when it comes to plagiarism. There are groups and forums that are dedicated to publicizing those who plagiarize other people’s work and they are very effective at getting the word out. Once you lose the respect of the writing community, it is a very hard road to getting it back, if you are even able to manage it. If you don’t believe me look up the name Jason Blair.
• You may get sued - Enough said about this one
• Growth as a Writer — The only way to develop as a writer is to actually show up and do the work. Being a skillful writer isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes trial and error.
• Your Voice Isn’t Their Voice- Even if an article went viral that doesn’t mean it will do it again if you just rewrite it under your name. In fact, I would say it is almost a certainty that it won’t. Viral articles are those that don’t just say something different, they say it in a unique voice that is specific to the individual. It’s not something that can be imitated in a genuine sounding way.
• Lowered Engagement for Both You and Them — When there are similar articles on the same platform, published close to each other, they dilute each others following. So your article will take engagement from the one you plagiarized, and vice versa. But chances are good that the first one will be the one that gets more views and engagement. So it’s better for you to just put in the time, learn the ropes, and do the work if you want a shot at a real following and a real writing career.

So even if you don’t care about the ethics of it or the fact that you are hurting someone else by stealing from them, at least stop for your own good.

What Is Our Responsibility In this Matter?

I wrestled with the subheading for this section. I started with, What Can We Do? But this seemed like a soft pedaling of there are some things out there you could do if you felt like it, which was not my intention. So I rewrote it as What Should We Do? But we all know there are many things we should do that we don’t. To strengthen it further, I tried, What Must We Do? But that sounded more like a command and while I think it is imperative we deal with I don’t want to sound like my opinion is the only correct one and everyone must listen to me.

That is why I am simply pointing out that we have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to protect our ideas and our presentation of these ideas. The more people get away with copying ideas and content, the more acceptable it will seem.

This is particularly problematic for new writers who look to other content to determine what is okay. When they see other writers have written a story that very closely resembles one already written, or cut and paste large chunks of the other writer’s article they will figure it is fine to do. Just to reiterate, it is not. When more established writers do this and new writers see it, this legitimizes the practice even more.

The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to ourselves and every other writer out there to make sure that people who steal ideas don’t get away with it. A lot of times we are convinced that “telling” on people isn’t nice and we want to be nice people. We fear that maybe others will view us as overly sensitive or vindictive or resentful. We worry that maybe we are exaggerating and will be viewed as an alarmist or as overly possessive of ideas that many people share.

But we know when something is just too close to what we’ve written to be coincidence. And that is why reporting it instead of dealing with it ourselves is the best option. If we are over-reacting, then Medium will see that. If not, they’ll act and the person will be made to see there are consequences for stealing material from others

Take Away and Call to Action

It may be true that there are no new ideas under the sun. But there are definitely new ways of putting information together to form new ways of looking at things, and there are a variety of ways people have of reacting to life itself that can make others think about things differently. Each of us are different. If no two snowflakes are identical then how much more so for people? This means we all have something unique to say.

I am appealing to every legitimate writer out there to stand with me and help get this problem under control. I urge you to report instances of plagiarism where someone has rewritten your article and it is clear that it is more than just on the same topic.

When someone copies more than a sentence or two of your text, report them. Putting your work in quotations and attributing it to you does not mean they aren’t using your work and your ideas to gain their own following or earn money. We also need to have each others backs so when you see that someone has stolen another writer’s ideas or content done this to another writer.

It is up to Medium to make the final determination of what is okay in terms of imitation of content and what crosses the line. But it is time to protect our ideas and our work from the greedy fingers of writers who don’t want to have to struggle to come up with their own ideas and take the time to develop their own styles of presentation.

If you are with me please add you name to the comments below. (Please don’t list the names of any Medium writers you believe has done this as I don’t want this to become a vigilante type of post. Report them and let Medium take over).

Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had work featured in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press & Zero Fiction among others. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies including Untimely Frost among others. She is Editor for 1-One-Infinity, The Partnered Pen & One Table, One World and is Editor in Chief for Promposity & Mental Gecko. She is also the Managing Editor for Novellas and Serials at LVP Publications.

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