COPIED!! PLAGIARISM!!! STEALING!! CHEATING!!
The frequent words we all read here on WordPress. I have been reading them more often now. When I was a newbie here, this kind of stuff was less, but now, almost every week I see a post of a blogger either apologizing for copying or telling everyone their stuff got copied.
Hey there, I’m Saumya from Draw-Write-Inspire. I’m a teenager who usually writes about life, art and things I love as well as things that I don’t like. I am so glad to post on Happy Panda. I’ve always admired this blog and its creator Moksha.
Personal Experiences
I have come across many bloggers here, some with more than 20K followers and even some with less than 100 followers. I don’t really differentiate between my blogger friends based on their follower count, I’m just giving an idea. You won’t believe me, but I got shocked when I got to know one of them had been copying full posts from a blogger and not giving credit. I was like, she had been so friendly to me and now she did this. I am sorry but I am not naming her, probably you know. I was worried if she would do the same thing in future with me as well.
Recently, I visited a blog, that blogger was a nice person and a BTS fan just like me. She even contacted me for some blogging advice and what I do for being so consistent. (A lot of bloggers have been asking that to me so I’m going to post about it soon) I told her about a few things and everything went well. One day she liked one of my posts and I just visited her blog to see what she was up to and guess what, I saw there were quite similar things. You know I do this Quote Of The Week on my blog, she also posts that. If you haven’t seen it, there’s a small poem on my homepage:
She copied this and just wrote this as a paragraph and ta-da, people think it’s her work, but it’s mine. I had posted this the very first day I made my blog public. This is just so annoying! I never knew I’d become a victim of being plagiarized. I emailed her and gave her a warning. She kept denying it but then accepted it and asked for some days so that she could come up with something else. She did take it down so I haven’t mentioned her name and blog.
I remember the first thing about this that happened to me was from a blog of my real-life friend. He made a blog because I made one. He liked the idea so I told him how to do it and all. I know his level. I know how he writes stuff in English classes and Library Classes (during online classes, we need to give book reviews or share a write-up with the class). I read a post on his blog which was way beyond what he could write. It had such heavy words, even a daily English speaker would take a minute to tell the meaning. I copy-pasted the first paragraph into Google. I found out it was from a Russian site. I sent him the link and asked why he had copied it. Instead of accepting it and apologizing, he told me he was not a copy-cat type of person and it was his second blog and that he could read and write in Russian. Like are you serious? Do he really think I would fall for that? I told him he could not make a site with a Russian domain in India and I sent him a very long text, threatening him. It was after that he just sent me one text, ‘Okay fine sorry, I won’t do it again.’ And since that, he hasn’t posted on his blog.
Copying Doesn’t Do Any Good
Please, it’s a request, if you’re taking inspiration give credit. If you’re copying, that is wrong, you should at least accept the fact and apologise to the person from whom you copied.
If you think posting someone else’s work which is good will help you in getting more likes and good comments then you’re right at some point. Of course good content gets recognition but do you have any idea what would happen if it gets known that you cheated? 90% of the time you’ll get caught and you’ll have to face the consequences. Many bloggers will boycott you and the people who used to appreciate your original work before would even stop looking at your posts. Because you made your impression, you jumped in the well.
Not just writing, but anything in this world is not just about the quality or quantity, it’s about how creative and how original you can be. I can write a story in which I write about “a boy named Barry who discovers he has magical powers when he turns 13, he goes to a school called Lowerts to study magic. His parents are also wizards and encourage him to go.” I changed the name and a bit of the story. But couldn’t you get it that it was somewhat like Harry Potter? Yes, it was. This isn’t complete plagiarism but would be counted as cheating. Nobody is going to read this story of yours when they’ve Harry Potter with almost the same story and it is very renowned.
Don’t Act Innocent
Some people just ask for sympathy because they are new to the community. But aren’t you taught in schools not to copy each other’s answers or creative writing stuff? You see a shirt at the store but you saw your friend wearing it so you won’t buy it, well, why don’t you copy that also if you’re ‘new’ and you don’t know what copying and cheating are? WordPress is a beautiful community, we’ll praise your efforts and compliment you, but all of us can be equally harsh if you copy the hard work of an original blogger.
Instead of denying the fact you copied, just apologize to the person, take down what you cheated and never repeat your mistake. That person might actually forgive since you accepted that it was your fault and you are ready to take it down. Yes, obviously, things won’t be the same. You are going to be in regret and you will lose the respect you had before.
Taking inspiration is different but copying word by word is not acceptable. Maybe you don’t know but you can be sent to jail for the crime of plagiarism and copyright. This is why everyone should have a Terms Of Use or Privacy Policy page.
Copying isn’t great, guys. It’s just a way of ruining your blog.
Thanks again, Moksha for having me on your blog. It was a pleasure!
—–XXXXX—-
Thank you, Saumya, for this guest post on a very important topic – plagiarism. Please visit her blog and show her posts love!
Have you ever faced plagiarism issues on here? How did you deal with them? Have you ever been tempted to plagiarize?
PS: Been super hectic at work, please visit my brand page on Instagram and show it some love. ❤ Please also share MOKSHA’s website with your friends and family – especially those living in India.
PPS: I am open for guest posts – I’d love if somebody wants to do a guest post about sustainability. Mail me.
Read my other recent posts –
Happy Panda 
It amazes me to think of the degree to which this happens within the blogging community, personally I can’t really understand why any serious blogger would want to copy someone else’s work as it is literally cheating and unfair on other bloggers.
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I agree – I understand that some times creativity can be hard to find – but blatantly copying someone else is just plain wrong.
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Oof, felt.
Many of my school friends do copy stuff from my blog and when I tell them to stop they go like “stop pointing out the small things” like I think you can relate to this lol-
And then they create a whole scene 😭 That’s why I find it best to shut up in front of them 😶
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But you shouldn’t shut up if they are copying from you. That’s totally unacceptable and they should be made to understand that.
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I really have no idea why they resort to copying. Fortunately, I’ve never been subjected to this. Touchwood! Or maybe, I have but I just don’t know it. And about that blogger who copied from the Russian site. He really thought people would believe it if he said he could read and write Russian!!!! Really? Whoa. The heights that some people will go to, just to defend a bunch of lies. Plagiarism and copying is not cool at all.
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He is a good irl friend of mine!! But he really thought I was that foolish and when he said he could read and write in Russian I felt like giving him a punch but obviously I could not do that!! He really thought I would fall for it but he doesn’t know that I knew about blogging and domains much more than him. You are lucky you haven’t been a victim of plagiarism!!
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I’m glad that he stopped after you pointed it out so many times. He definitely underestimated you. Yeah, either I’m lucky or ignorant!
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Thank you so much for this chance Moksha! It feels so special to have a post by me on your blog. As I said, I have always admired you and your blog! Thanks so much 💕✨
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Aww, thank you so much for guest posting and putting up with my erratic ways! ❤️
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Such a great post Saumya! I could relate with you so much. Agree to every single word you said.
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Reading and taking ideas from other’s work is one thing but pure palgiarism is not acceptable . One may pick up an idea and express his or thoughts about that but in no way just copying and pasting can be accepted. Creativity is original , it can not be copied. Plagiarism won’t take a writer anywhere.
Very well articulated blog Saumya.
Stay blessed always
🙏🌹🙏
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Agreed 👏 Thank you so much ✨
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🙏🙏🙏
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Thank you Poorwa💞
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YES FINALLY SOMEONE WHO MAKES SENSE. I’ve grown tired of people coming after me and my work. It’s not only in the blogging world but irl too. And the worst part is denial! Thanks a lot Saumya for writing this, an answer to all those who copy and want to steal.
Thank you moksha for presenting her post on your blog!
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I have the same problem IRL! I had a family friend’s daughter take my life story and make it about her to gain followers, attention and fame. She’s the biggest copy-cat I know and we don’t keep in touch anymore. It’s a lot harder for her to copy me since I moved across the country and cut our social media.
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What? For real? That’s crazy! People can be so absurd
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We’re both only children so she always tried to “compete” with me. Her mom stalks my LinkedIn profile so I stopped updating it 4 years ago. That was super annoying. And got even weirder as we got older and after my mom cut off contact with her mom.
She lies about her age, and she tried to make a Wikipedia page about herself…. Twice. Seriously, who does that?
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SHE MADE A WIKIPEDIA PAGE ABOUT HERSELF! OMG, hilarious! 😀 😀
Wow! Total whack jobs!
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The moderators took it down. Twice. Her linked-in profile is 17 pages long about how great she is and how many awards she has. She’s never had a real job and I don’t even know what she does. I couldn’t even tell you what her company is if you asked me because it’s confusing AF.
Losers like to brag about themselves. The real winners keep to themselves. This was some kind of quote from somewhere but I don’t have the exact quote.
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Woah that’s really creepy. I hope you’re NC with her.
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Ever since my mom stopped talking to her mom, we haven’t kept in touch. She wasn’t invited to my wedding… that’s how much contact we have now. Nada.
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Yes even I hate it when people stay in denial!
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Thanks for this post moksha. Good post as say ya sorry your blog got copied
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True words Saumya. Some people do that. Also, this post is very nice and brings a good message.
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Thank you so much!
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For a short while I had someone stealing complete blog posts and putting them up trying to get ad revenue. I kept sending DMCA takedowns and eventually got their whole site deleted. Serves them right.
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That’s crazy! And I’m glad you took strict action -serves them right.
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My blood boils when I hear someone copying the work and using it to their name. Its just plain bad
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Same – it just doesn’t make sense to me.
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It’s so crazy to me when people try and copy others content. Whether it’s through blogging or other forms of media. We’re taught from a young age on how wrong it is to plagiarize or copy another’s work. Plagiarizing doesn’t go away just because it’s not a scholarly written paper. At least give credit where credit is due.
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True. I really appreciate when bloggers on here even give credit for just using a post idea from another blogger.
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I have copy-cats outside of the blogging world and it drives me bat-shit crazy. I had to cut some of these ppl out of my life so they wouldn’t be able to find me so easily on social media (they live on FB, IG, and linked-in mostly, not so much WP). Some people told me to not take it personally, but I do. I don’t like it when people can’t think for themselves. Some people call copying flattering/compliment but I call it annoying and juvenile. Why can’t they just say it to my face that they liked my work, rather than steal my ideas and not give me credit at all? If I write a blog post after being inspired by another blogger, I give them a shout-out. It really irks me when people can’t even be bothered to do that!
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Yes you’re right! Some people say that you should be happy that they considered you someone from whom they can copy but I think it’s the worst feeling ever!!
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Especially when they don’t give you credit or even thank you for the idea, even though they clearly copied you. It is the worst feeling ever – completely agree!!
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Yes true that!!
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Well done Saumya. You did an amazing job! I agree with everything you said. Blogging is just like putting out a piece of yourself on the internet and for someone to just take that without credit is just completely wrong!
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Thanks so much!
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I don’t know how anyone could feel good about taking credit for someone else’s work. It’s a shame people have to be called out publicly to stop what is in effect thievery. There are tons of lawsuits regarding plagiarism.
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Glad you finally talked about this- it’s so super annoying when people copy your work but it’s been happening to me for years now and honestly I have given up trying to stop people from stealing my content. I just let it go now and move on with my life. People really have the audacity to steal from you and act like they came up with the idea. I think I know who you’re talking about because she stole a bunch of my content too and when I confronted her she said she came up with it herself and it was just a coincidence.
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That is crazy! Thought with your kind of crazy huge following – it must be so hard to monitor who are are copying from you. But since you’ve been doing this blogging thing for a bit – are there no redressal way for the cases you do see?
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If they copy word to word you can report them on WP but if they steal your ideas then there isn’t much you can do about it. Unfortunately, WP does little to protect its creators 😥
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Ohhh 😦
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Giving someone credit is really not a hard thing. It literally takes a few minutes.
I’m glad I haven’t experienced this.
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Same! Thankfully no experience as yet and hopefully none in the future.
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This is a beautiful piece. Copying someone elses’s with is plain wrong and I’m glad I have not experienced it yet. It’s just wrong
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This was an interesting read. I had no idea that people did this on WordPress. Plagiarism is inexcusable. However, having read about Helen Keller, I’ve learnt not to judge all those who may have presented a work that “looks” copied. When Helen Keller was a child, she wrote a story named “frost king” that happened to be similar to a story by the name “frost fairies.” She was charged for plagiarism. We all know it was not intentional. She was 11 and visually challenged. No one remembered ever reading that book to her. So I believe two people are very much capable of having the same idea without being inspired by the other. But doing it intentionally is when it becomes wrong!
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PS: Boy named Barry going to Lewarts was a hilarious example 😆
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I feel like this happened to me before, but I tried to brush it off thinking well maybe they were feeling the same way. As I read more I was like hmmm this sounds like me. I tried the copywriting thing but even then the work you put out still isn’t safe from plagiarism smh
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Wow, that is crazy. I haven’t faced this issue before (or am blissfully unaware) but hearing everybody’s experiences is definitely a reality check.
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I don’t get it why start a blog just to copy other people’s work? Lol.
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Truly!
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Interesting read!! I had no idea people do this intentionally on wordpress. WordPress is really a beautiful community which helps and supports you even of you struggle with language.
I wish people understand this.
Well done saumya in bringing this to the light!!
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Me too! I was blissfully unaware of how bad the situation was till so many people stepped forward with so many issues! 😦
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Amazing!
Do visit to my blog and follow it if you like.
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Last year when I published my second post, I did this copying thing.
The original author caught me but he was mature enough to describe me consequences. He kinda showed me a path which I am grateful for.
I learnt from my mistake, apologised and never did this thing again.
People need to know the consequences of copyright infringement whether they are a teenager or not.
You can’t make your progress by the easy way or by having a shortcut, it’ll throw you down.
Hopefully, I never experienced this but I somehow know this bts fan girl..
Thanks for bringing this up.
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