Plagiarism Is Wrong, Kids

[bashfullyshameless]

Y'know, if he'd just kept the original text, then he could've claimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm a busy guy and I totally meant to cite and I just got distracted before finishing the piece and then forgot." Instead, he switched out a bunch of words so that a Google search wouldn't catch him red-handed... but he has the same exact flow of ideas and info, so anyone who has read both articles is clearly gonna see what happened.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/10/fareed-zakaria-plagiarism-new-yorker-time_n_1764954.html

I have no idea how much anyone on the AH will care. Obviously, there are lots of stories here on Lit that are "inspired by" other stories. Sometimes stories are so close that they're the written equivalent of bands covering the songs of other bands. Personally, I think that's totally cool--as long as the author is willing to state his/her inspirations.

 

[SamScribble]

I guess the really important test of an ‘inspired’ piece is: Is it better than the original? Does it add something? Does it say something that the original didn’t?

Factual pieces (‘just the facts, ma’am’) are often very similar to one another. Why wouldn’t they be?

And opinions are frequently shared, so it is also more than likely that opinion pieces will, from time to time, be more than a little similar.

Swiping wholesale, however, is another matter – whether it involves words, music, or pictures. Plagiarism in this case is just a fancy way of saying theft. But, on the Net, there's not a lot you can do about it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

George V. Higgins said, BAD WRITERS PLAGIARIZE, GOOD WRITERS STEAL.

Theft or whatever you wanna call it is common in music, nifty ideas are borrowed all the time, and improved, I think.

ORIGINAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfOQwzmwvOE&feature=related

COPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM4GrN5D374&feature=related

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I do my damndest not to copy other stories on lit. But I feel no shame in taking inspiration from a movie or book.

If the author of 'The Windup girl' happens to be on lit, and takes a serious issue with my bottom tier stories, then he can tell me to delete my story, and I'll just be happy that he read it.