Thrice Plagiarized: I’m Flattered Beyond Words

Posted by narrowband - 31/05/07 at 03:05:07 am

[Edit@1331hrs: The author in Case Study 3 has edited his entry in a bid to inject a dosage of originality back into his blog. I consider this as a sporting gesture and I appreciate that. I'd like to also acknowledge angel for her kind support!] Perform a quick search on Google with keywords “impak maksima” and “yi nan wang”, chances are you’ll see Narrowband.org listed on the first page of the search results. My point is, these are among the top keywords that helped bring traffic to Narrowband.org lately. To many bloggers out there, traffic also means revenue. You know what I’m talking about?

Now, just so you know, I write my own contents. I construct my own sentences, I carefully choose my words and I come up with my own examples to illustrate my points. If I borrow some content from somewhere else, I acknowledge my source. Conversely, when someone uses my idea, words and examples without permission, I can get a little upset. Also, the fact that the contents are arranged in the same order as how I’ve written them irks me to no end. And I get particularly upset too if they use my contents to earn some income. I call them plagiarizers.

Let’s do Case Studies. You may click on my original entries and compare for yourself. In the following snapshots, I’ve circled (in red) the sentences that I feel are very similar to, if not exactly the same with mine.

Case 1
Originally on Narrowband.org: Spirit of Love – The Taiwanese Hokkien Series (Published on May 12th, 2007)

Reproduced entry: (Published on May 16th, 2007)

Plagiarized Yi Nan Wang | Narrowband.org

The author is a young, female blogger. I stumbled upon her blog by chance. As you can see, there is not a single indication that says she copied from my site. It was a CnP work, at that. Sarcasm got the better of me when I decided to leave her a comment, “Nice post! :)”. Actually I wasn’t mad at all – I was just trying to pull her leg. She does not have advertisements on her blog, so there was no big deal. That comment was deleted not long after, and in one of her later posts she apologized to me publicly (that, by the way, is the most honorable gesture any blogger under such circumstances could do). I actually felt bad and wondered if I’d scared the wits out of that poor girl. I left a comment to assure her that it was all good and I hope she’d learnt a lesson.

Case 2
Originally on Narrowband.org: Geng: Malaysia’s First 3D Animated Feature Film (Published on May 23rd, 2007)

Reproduced entry: (Published on May 23rd, 2007 – same day)

Plagiarized Geng | Narrowband.org

Waitaminute. “…viewers are able to portray a muhibba sort of diversity among the group…”? Doesn’t make sense, does it? It should be the characters that portray, not the viewers :). And there is no such thing as the Faculty of Creative Media in my university. It should be ‘Creative Multimedia’. Goes to show why you should always watch, read, listen, support and buy original! :D

That blog is maintained by a team of contributors. I actually left a comment in one of the earlier entries in that blog (on a totally unrelated subject), and my guess is that one of the authors backtracked and landed on my site on the same day. That person then decided to write about Geng the Movie, which was my latest entry at that time. I surveyed the site and found no advertisements, so I told myself not to get too upset about it. The site probably receives much lower traffic than mine does. Besides, the author was kind enough to provide a link to my site anyway (although the author didn’t exactly mention that those words were cited). I shrugged it off and smiled to myself, thinking, “At least somebody read and liked my writing.”

Case 3
Originally on Narrowband.org: Impak Maksima, for the Malaysian Drift Enthusiasts (Published on 15th April, 2007)

And then came the break. A third plagiarized entry, and it’s a monetized blog. I feel like I’m contributing towards his blogging income – no matter how little.

Reproduced entry: (Published on May 31st, 2007)

Plagiarized Impak Maksima | Narrowband.org

I’m not linking him up so as not to contribute to his backlinks. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of people writing about the same things all over the internet, and I’m not bothered. But when someone copies my work, I get upset. You shouldn’t copy someone else’s work and treat it as your own – especially if you’re using it for purposes of generating income, regardless of whether a permission has been granted or not.

I read with great interest the entire article in The Star’s InTech about blog advertisements (Tuesday, May 29th). I wonder if blog advertising companies (in particular, the top two Malaysian companies mentioned in Tuesday’s article) have a mechanism that detects non-original entries and probably warn (if all fails, blacklist, then!) bloggers not to plagiarize. A plagiarizer should not pocket the income he/she does not deserve.

*CnP: Copy and Paste

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26 Comments »

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  1. My work has never been plagiarized. Not that I know of anyway.

    But I’ve had a lot of experience with people who do that. Worked a few semesters with them and I really died a hundred times then.

    IS IT REALLY THAT HARD to just say, “Oh, I got this piece of info from so and so…” or just place a link somewhere in the entry…??!!

    Your comment on the first case was so funny la.. I don’t know why I find it soooo funny.

    Comment by Deng — May 31, 2007 #

  2. Wau… narrowband is famous liao! So when wanna give me a signed copy of your work? I shall keep it until it will fetch a good price on eBay. *grin*

    If your writing is good enough to be plagiarized, you know you’re there already. I wouldn’t even know if my site has been plagiarized, because I don’t check my stats or do searches to find my site. *grin*

    Comment by rinnah — May 31, 2007 #

  3. it seems to be a habit for some students nowadays to do that too. Copying the exact sentences and then adding their own in between.

    Comment by ivan — May 31, 2007 #

  4. no other to put the blame on but Bill Gates Microsoft and MSOffice…they are the culprits to cut and paste :D

    Comment by Lucifer — May 31, 2007 #

  5. Aiyooooyooo why ppl so teruk nowadays. Hai hai….

    Comment by Che-Cheh — May 31, 2007 #

  6. Deng – Funny meh…? I think if I were a new blogger and some sarcastic dude left a comment like that in my blog, I’d have been frightened ;p

    Wanna check if your work has been plagiarized? Try http://copyscape.com! (As mentioned in this entry).

    Hahaha, I can’t take anymore flattery, Rinnah ;p But if you really like I can send you a coupla Post-It notes with a few paragraphs of my entries and my signature on them. LOL.

    I didn’t purposely search to find my site. I stumbled upon those from various sources by accident. It’s not like I went all-out to hunt for plagiarizers or something, no..~

    Ivan – In print, it may be more difficult to detect plagiarism. But on the internet, it can sometimes be quite strikingly obvious.

    Lucifer – Haha, it was a noble ‘invention’, nevertheless…

    Che-cheh – Good ma… on the brighter side, can take it as a compliment ma, right or not… ;p

    Comment by narrowband — May 31, 2007 #

  7. see? ur so good everyone wants to grow up to be just like u!

    Comment by wuching — May 31, 2007 #

  8. wah, like that also can. great minds ‘think’ alike.

    Comment by xin — May 31, 2007 #

  9. for me, if there’s a link back, i wouldnt mind at all eventhough they didnt cite it (well i don’t too, sometimes… =p)

    Comment by CincauHangus — June 1, 2007 #

  10. Wuching – No good la being copycat.

    Xin – I still remember the moment when I was trying to think of something to write, which word to use, and how to construct that particular sentence. Plagiarizers don’t need to go through all that – don’t even need to think.

    Cincau – I get what you mean. I still feel there is a better way to write a more personalized, original sentence. The author already italicized the entire ‘short description’ text, which is to show it is a cited text. But that part where my work was copied – the author treated it as if it’s his/her own.

    Well, to each his own, I guess.

    Comment by narrowband — June 1, 2007 #

  11. don’t I know abt CnP…think Italy!

    Comment by hooiching — June 1, 2007 #

  12. Good to point of these copycats. Well some say it’s a good learning process, but i guess it’s lazy. Eh, but it’s a good recognition, ok i’ll not slut bout how good u are bla bla.. u really do know who u are.. :)

    Comment by Jian — June 1, 2007 #

  13. hmmmm…. how did you find out in the first place? i think one of the main threat of blogging is being plagiarised. i will be quite furious if someone take something from my blog and made it as though it’s their work…

    say no to blog-plagiarism.

    on the other hand… like what others said… it only shows that you’re good…

    Comment by zewt — June 1, 2007 #

  14. Hc – Yalar. Similar case.

    Jian – Yep that is to look on the bright side lah.

    Zewt – How? Various ways, but mostly through backtracking via links that brought traffic to my site. I didn’t even use that copyscape.com service or purposely launch a ‘plagiarism-crackdown mission’. It was all by chance!

    [Edit: Btw Copyscape also fails to detect the abovesaid plagiarism anyway.]

    Comment by narrowband — June 1, 2007 #

  15. i shall give copyscape a try this sunday…

    meanwhile… is this plagiarism?

    http://linkenlim.blogspot.com/2007/06/islam-not-above-constitution.html

    Comment by zewt — June 1, 2007 #

  16. Hello and thanks for dropping by my blog. Neat place you have here, with interesting posts too!

    I totally understand how you feel about being plagiarized. I hate it too. That’s why when doing assignments or stuffs that involves marks in university, I was extremely cautious. If my friends want to borrow my copy of answers, you know what I will do? I’ll come out with another copy of answer and pass that to them. So that mine is 100% safe. Phew!

    Comment by day-dreamer — June 1, 2007 #

  17. Heh Zewt, that’s a pretty delicate situation u have there. I’m no plagiarism expert… in such cases, normally (in university), I’d go ask my lecturer. LOL. It’s only one line.. and he has a linked you up (a permalink, at that. It’s more specific that way. I did not get that treatment; the link to my page was a general one – to my blog that is. Not that it’s a problem – but there’s a difference.). Personally I think it’s fine ;p

    Thanks, Day-dreamer! Hmm, about what you do in uni… I’ve seen a fair amount such measures being taken myself (not by me though)… and I can understand why’s that. Pretty troublesome, no doubt..

    Comment by narrowband — June 2, 2007 #

  18. YAATTTAAA!!!

    Haha… Din know I so ‘Yatta’ wan… ;)

    You think I can go ‘scare’ some other ppl with just my words? kkkkk… ok ok, wishful thinking nia larrr! Can anot jek? :p

    If someone ever plagiarised MY work, (but don’t think anyone will cos I’m a bad writer :p) he/she had better understand the phrase “hell hath no fury like a woman SCORNED” ;)

    Comment by angel — June 2, 2007 #

  19. Hi zewt,

    What I did was merely directing readers to your site coz you wrote a nice post that I want readers to read.

    Readers visiting my blog daily are slightly more than 100 only, no way to compare with yours. I didn’t get any significant increase in readership by linking to your post either. It is vice versa, if only you are kind enough to link me to your blog, ha!

    Plagiarism ? perhaps ! if you consider a link to your blog with your own title is plagiarism, than pardon me for my naive mistake.

    Comment by Linken Lim — June 3, 2007 #

  20. Angel – Wah then I think you better put some banner to warn people first. Dem scary… haha. But I think you’ve been very supportive so I’m very touched!

    Linken – I’m sure it’s all good with Zewt :). He’ll read this, btw just so you know. He’s also subscribed to follow-up comments in this post.

    Cheers.

    Comment by narrowband — June 3, 2007 #

  21. Hi, narrowband,
    Forgot to say hello to you, sorry !
    Nice blog, already book marked and shall visit more frequently.
    Cheers!

    Comment by Linken Lim — June 3, 2007 #

  22. No problem, Linken. Thanks for the bookmark! You have interesting contents. Actually I read SoPo blogs like ktemoc, whatalulu, skthew and the other heavyweights as well. You’ve found yourself another reader.

    Cheers.

    Comment by narrowband — June 3, 2007 #

  23. linken…it’s all cool… i wasnt really saying you plagiarising… was just highlighting it for kicks… i am very sure you weren’t and it’s cool.

    Comment by zewt — June 3, 2007 #

  24. I don’t think I face this problem. I have too few readers anyway and am relatively unknown in the blogosphere. But what you highlighted is interesting reading.

    Comment by Bengbeng — June 9, 2007 #

  25. Judging from your ‘Malaysia-tour’ and meeting with so many bloggers along your trip, I must say that you’re not at all unknown, Bengbeng! :) I seldom get plagiarized too actually. Only suddenly I came across these. I don’t receive many readers as well, just enough to keep me motivated, and keep the blog interactive.

    Comment by narrowband — June 9, 2007 #

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