My memes must be really inspiring! Today, I saw a page that had blatantly plagiarised one of them. I read it and thought “what in the world? I wrote that!” So I pulled up my version to compare and found that the other page had literally just flipped some of the words then added some extra in the middle, but it was obvious they had started out by copying mine. Some phrases were exactly the same. That is very dishonest. It is indeed plagiarism. Not just copying someone’s words, but to flip them around in an attempt to get around it. Beware of people that do this!
I started posting simply to educate others about narcissism because I was frustrated that no one around me understood it; however, many of us who write have realized that some people start pages solely to get supply. They will steal ideas from others, take credit and get a bunch of followers. To get more people admiring “their” (stolen) words gives them an ego boost. They don’t create anything new, but instead start copying from others. They can’t play nice and “share” a meme, so they just steal it and put their name on it. Some of them shamefully cut the real author’s name off a meme, or they steal the exact words and put their own name on it. Or, like this one did, they willfully “borrowed” the words and decorated them a bit to take credit for my writing. Some will copy from others word for word, then change the font and post the exact same thing.
These people are not honest people. They know what they are doing. They are willfully and almost always maliciously stealing. They know darn well you don’t cut an author’s name off to put your own. (Right?) They know darn well that they are trying to be “sneaky.” The fact that they go through the effort of doing it shows that their intent is not good.
I don’t play that game. I just post about narcissism under a fake name because I don’t like attention. I am not trying to run a fan club. Everything I write came from MY head. I share posts from others directly as much as possible so people can see who made them. I try to help the community by SHARING so people can get credit for their wise words. On rare occasions, if I can’t share directly, (for group privacy for example,) I make sure I share the memes directly as they are with the writer’s name on it. That is the key point…WITH the writer’s name on it.
I do, however, ask that people not steal my words and misuse them to get credit for something they never wrote.
To quote this page about plagiarism:
“What is Plagiarism?
Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.
But can words and ideas really be stolen?
According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
turning in someone else’s work as your own
copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on “fair use” rules)”
Note…just changing some words around is STILL theft and fraud. Beware of sources that do this. Something is wrong with that type of behavior.
Ha ! My N bully smear campaigning sister does that with my art, ideas, music, words of comfort to others (omg I have cringed when I have seen her comments to mutual friends using exact verbage and words she has NEVER used prior and it’s obvious. The art , ideas are COPIED , she has even insisted I dig up originals for her to scan and I was so flattered thinking she really wanted to toot my horn lol. Of course I am no longer in contact with her, nor ever will be again, and according to true friend AND MYSELF, am DOING SO MUCH Better.Of course, when I USED TO “argue” with her and tell her exactly what she was doing to me such as bullying, confusing me, gaslighting, et al, she also turned all the words that APPLY to HER, the Narcissist, back ONTO ME…and of course emailed this to everyone else in the family who by the way, I am done with also, her flying monkeys. They have unleashed on me since my Dad’s death 2 years ago. Your site has helped me immensely and continues to do so. I am so grateful. <3