[Morghana]

I know this is a weird thing to bring up on a mental health forum, but here's what happened:

I have a poem posted here in the Creative Corner entitled "I am tired of pretending". I have the same version of the poem posted in another place online. Well, someone apparently saw one of these two versions of the poem and posted an exact copy on their own blog, pretending that they had written it

My first reaction was to be a bit angry. I worked hard on the poem, and while it isn't much, I'm proud of it. But then, I started looking at the blog more, and found that it's just a personal blog where the owner supposedly writes out their own feelings in poetry. It's even called "Just Me". I don't want to get into it much, in case the person is a member of this site (I doubt it was taken from here, though; the other site I'm on is more public), but their profile description says something to the effect that they're depressed and that writing is an outlet.

I don't know. Something about the whole thing makes me very sad. I'm glad that someone was apparently very touched by my poem, and rather peeve that they plagiarized it. But I find it more upsetting that they put so little value in their own ability to create poetry that they had to take something that wasn't theirs. I read some of the entries on the person's blog, and the poetry is just as good if not better than what I wrote.

I don't know precisely what I should do. I guess I should report the plagiarism, but I genuinely don't want to hurt the person, especially if he/she is suffering depression. I tried contacting them, saying they could leave the poem up if they just give me credit for it, but I really doubt I'm going to get an answer...

So in conclusion, I'd like to offer these suggestions (haha, I've been writing too many essays lately, can you tell?)-
1) Be careful what you post here or anywhere else
2) For God's sake, people need to be proud of their own art!

[SublimeChange]

Aww, it sucks someone stole the poem Morghana, but I guess, imitation is the greatest form of flattery?

Hopefully they answer back though.

[Indie'sOK]

http://sladeroberson.com/blogging/pl...t-thieves.html

Good news! There is something you can do if the owner of the blog is using Google Adsense.

[insideout]

Report it to Doc John if they are in this site!!! He doesnt tolerate that kind of fraud/abuse and neither should you!!
Hopefully you can print the poem you wrote showing the date being earlier than that scum bag's.
Take back your intellectual property and dont just lie down and try to be "understanding". Someone stole from you, then turned around and took your credit. You are seriously worried about hurting their feelings??? C'mon REALLY! Do the right thing which is stand up for whats yours. That person needs to be held accountable and you arent doing them any favor in the long run by letting them get away with this type of disgraceful behavior.
It's outrageous.
Dont be a victim.

[Perna]

It could be that the person just uses what she finds around the web that she enjoys; I don't see anywhere that she attributes the poem to herself or says anything about it. I think if she "borrowed" your poem she might have borrowed the others (why they're all uniformly "good"); I would leave a comment on her blog page where your poem is and/or send her a PM through her site suggesting she mention at least what site(s) she borrowed poetry from, if not try to start a conversation with each owner and ask to use it on her blog. I think she might be young/a teen, from the graphics and all?

[Morghana]

Originally Posted by Perna

It could be that the person just uses what she finds around the web that she enjoys; I don't see anywhere that she attributes the poem to herself or says anything about it. I think if she "borrowed" your poem she might have borrowed the others (why they're all uniformly "good"); I would leave a comment on her blog page where your poem is and/or send her a PM through her site suggesting she mention at least what site(s) she borrowed poetry from, if not try to start a conversation with each owner and ask to use it on her blog. I think she might be young/a teen, from the graphics and all?

I'd say you're right about the blogger not attributing the poem to him/herself, except that if you read their profile, it rather implies that everything on the blog is written by them. As I said, I don't mind the poem being up there; I just wish I'd been asked and it had been made clear that it was my work. I haven't checked on the other poems, but you're probably right: there's no reason I'd be the only one. I wanted to leave a comment, but my college network refuses to let me for whatever odd reason, so I sent a PM, but I think I probably won't receive a reply.

Yeah, the person is probably young, probably a teen. I've done the "depressive youth trying to find herself through writing" bit myself, and I know what it's like. The difference is that I actually wrote the (mediocre) things I took credit for, and the process has helped me immensely. I wish this person really did find solace through writing. Just...not through plagiarism.