I was going to do a fun and funny post about the rapture that didn't happen. I thought that would be a way to lighten up the tone of my blog. I even did a hashtag search for the end of the world confessions and found some real doozies. I didn't want to deprive you so here they are:
#endoftheworldconfessions i might be a cute sweet little blonde ... but i do burp like a man! ;)
#endoftheworldconfessions ive liked all of Britney spears hit songs
I sometimes use mothballs instead of matzo balls #endoftheworldconfessions
I sometimes pay strangers to pre-chew my food for me when dining solo at restaurants #endoftheworldconfessions
#EndOfTheWorldConfessions My hottest sexual fantasy includes Barney, chains and a pickle jar.
#endoftheworldconfessions last week my friend was talking to me and she kinda sorta got me into liking Justin Bieber. A LITTLE
#endoftheworldconfessions I once purposefully made myself get fired from a job...
I only pretend to be gay so I can motorboat girls. I'm actually straight. #endoftheworldconfessions
#endoftheworldconfessions I used to find my parents hidding place for Xmas pressies, open them, play with them and wrap em back up!
I hope everyone enjoyed them, because they were all pretty funny in their own way. Now, the reason I decided to NOT do my post on the rapture that didn't happen is because when I pulled up my Twitter to do a last minute check for a couple more confessions, something crossed my timeline that gave me pause. I saw something touted as an “idea” from someone...only, it wasn't really their idea. That gave ME an idea. I decided that even though I had all these end of the world confessions, I was going to talk about something that I see happening with more and more frequency...plagiarism.
Now, those of you that know me know that I'm not just going to hop up on a soapbox and start spouting bullshit...I'm going to research the hell out of the topic first. I found many great resources dealing with plagiarism. Most of them were geared towards the teacher types, but there were many out there that contained general knowledge about plagiarism. I think that plagiarism.org said it best when they declared that plagiarism was an act of fraud.
This isn't just a problem for school teachers. This is an issue that ALL writers should be aware of. I follow a lot of fan fiction writers on Twitter, and I see it happening more and more to their more popular stories. And they're not even the only ones I see this happening to on Twitter. I also follow a fair number of roleplayers on my account, and I constantly see characters, storylines, names, and everything else being copied.
I know that everyone wants to be popular, or have a great story, or a cool name. Seriously, that's not the problem. The problem is when you take from someone else in order to make this happen. The law doesn't distinguish between stealing words and ideas, and neither do I.
Brace yourselves people, I'm stepping up on the soapbox and passing a message on to all the lame-asses out there that are plagiarizing.
Get real! How bout plagiarizing this idea...COME UP WITH YOUR OWN SHIT. Like I said...just an idea. Stop stealing characters. Stop stealing plot. Just stop stealing and think up something that's all your own. Instead of spending your time thinking about other people's ideas, come up with your own. It's pathetic to see, it's even more pathetic to watch happen. It speaks volumes towards YOUR character, and I'd like to take a moment to point you to my previous posts.
I promise that I would much rather read or see something that might be less developed, but that's original than to see something that's stolen from someone else. I also promise that not only will I NOT be reading something when I KNOW that there has been plagiarism involved in the creation of it, I will be cautioning other readers as well.
And no folks, I'm not calling folks out, or starting a gossip column here. I'm just pointing out a problem that I've seen and passing on a message. I would however like to caution those of you that are writers to watch for plagiarism of your stories, characters, and plot. I'd also like to caution those of you that may be roleplayers to watch for your characters as well.
Now that I've done my little soapbox spiel...Did everybody have a great Rapture?
