Oh no, she didn’t! (sadly, yes, she did)
Friday, April 27, 2012Posted in: Azteclady Speaks
Tags:arseholes abound, Kristi Diehm, Plagiarism, The Story Siren
And for those of you tired of the plagiarism conversation, go somewhere else and look at some puppies and rainbows.
It seems that the latest version of the thief’s apology reads thus:
“When I first received the allegations of plagiarism, I was presented with the information and could not deny the facts. While the content was not identical the subject matter was. I thought only content could be plagiarized. Changing a few a words around with a thesaurus, or simple copying and pasting content. It seems as though taking a general topic and rewriting it is plagiarism. That is simply my own ignorance on the matter, and I should have known better. It was a confusion of inspiration and plagiarism on my part. I am not denying my actions. I was in the wrong. I read a post, I thought it was interesting and wanted to make it into something that would be relevant for book blogging.”
I guess it was just a matter of time for her to claim ignorance in lieu deliberate wrongdoing. I imagine that she thought that deleting her previous words (if indeed that post on plagiarism was originally hers) would give her plausible deniability.
Yeah, good luck with that. Thanks to Has, here’s a link to a post on plagiarism posted by The Story Siren way back when (two years ago, give or take a few). Which read, in part:
Plagiarism isn’t just copying and pasting word for word and passing it off as your own. It can be taking someones work and changing around the sentence structure, getting out your thesaurus and changing a few words here and there… basically taking the central idea tweaking it and passing it off as your own work.
Mind that she has deleted it from her own site (no link, not giving her hits) since the story broke in the book blog circles a few days ago.
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Edited to add: rats! Cervenka spotted the similarities before this went live.
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Edited again (on 04/29): via The Book Smugglers, this excellent post at Radiant Shadows.
Fangs for the Fantasy
April 27
11:56 am
Why I do believe that be the sound of backtracking and the smell of excess defensiveness.
Sad thing is, something like this is usually enough for fans to forgive and forget (and demand others do likewise). I can see the temptation, no-one wants to think badly of someone they like or a site they visit – but giving behaviour like this a pass is becoming too common
See, this is oen fo the reasons I don’t have much truck with apologies – someone apologises then they start excusing, justifying etc etc. It’s all about absolving blame, not admitting fault.
Mireya
April 27
12:13 pm
I never knew about that blog until I found out about the plagiarism on the romance-related blogs I visit. One thing that disgusted me royally, people JUSTIFYING her (oh there is nothing truly new or original online… oh she apologized already let her be… oh those blogs are not on books it doesn’t really matter-not said in those words, but the implication was there) and almost starting flame wars in the comments section against those questioning the Story Siren’s non-apology(ies). Many seem to believe the BS that she “made a mistake”, and of course, then people started explaining what a mistake is and that little tiny issue of intent. Either way, I am disgusted. I am glad that the be big romance blogs are taking this up and when hits come up on search engines, those posts pointing to her unethical and illegal behavior will come up at the top.
AztecLady
April 27
6:32 pm
@Fangs for the Fantasy:Apologies: exactly.
@Mireya: And that’s why I keep ‘harping’ on it myself. You know why we keep seeing assholes stealing other people’s original content? Because they get away, not even with a slap on the wrist, but actually getting sympathy and support from people who have not the least idea what the fuck they are about.
Mireya
April 27
8:43 pm
@AztecLady: Yup, and I don’t know if it is me, but it feels like “incidents” of this nature are increasing, and I think it’s precisely because of what you just said.
Anon 76
April 28
6:22 pm
Authors have been bitching about this kind of thing for a long time. “No, you did not just lift my text and type in a change or two. NO NO NO!”
Now reviewers and bloggers are facing the same thing. Good words, thoughts and ideas snapped up from the “internet page.”
Copied, pasted, and revamped. It’s a bitch and a half, but as I was told long ago, happens all the time.
Mireya
April 29
2:58 am
@Anon 76: I agree, though there is a fundamental difference this time around: the victims are being depicted, somehow, as the bad guys. It’s extraordinarily warped and disturbing this time around… and I have been reading blogs saying that “things have been blown out of proportion”, which makes me think they haven’t bothered to actually go to the source (the victims’ blogs) and read their explanations-explanations that they felt they had to provide given the sheer degree of harassment they have been getting.