Bad News, Bad Experiences
I just found out that aquarian-prince's journal has been deleted and purged. It makes me sad =( it's not something big, but it still annoys me somewhat. I might re-post the works on my own comm and journal, because then there's no chance for it to be deleted and purged (pretty sure they cannot think of my comm as inactive, especially with the amount of comments it has received =) thanks to all the wonderful commenters, you know who you are).
Now onto the bad experiences: it seems that I got into fights with people a lot in the past couple of months. I don't know if I'm just being testy or something...
So the story is, I'm an active member of an English subforum in a mainly Indonesian forum (yes, you all know I'm Indonesian, it's not a secret). However, I don't give out personal info there, and only a couple of people know my true gender and age. Most of them thought I'm a middle-aged man, really. Also, lately I haven't been using much text emote, so I know that I might come off as really curt and grumpy, but I'm really not.
There was this one guy I got into a discussion with. I used "err..." in my post and he asked me what that meant. I told him I used it to show hesitation, and we got into a full-blown argument only because he insisted that in writing there should never be an "err..." to show hesitation. Right, so now you're suddenly a master of English and has the authority to tell me what to and not to do? Lucky for me another member came onto my defense, saying a language is meant for communication and if I wanted to use "err..." to imply my hesitation in replying, then I am allowed to do so. Honestly, the nerves of some people.
Second, I got into a fight with a lazy arse plagiarist. I created a thread on improving English via writing in that subforum, and someone actually had the gall to ask me for articles that he could use to be published in a magazine publication that he worked for. Worked for; meaning he got paid to write stuffs in it. I told him that I didn't get how people always asked me this kind of question (ie I'm talking about the "I'm too lazy to look it up myself via Google so I'll just ask you to do it for me" bit) and told him to use Google. I also told him that since he was paid to write the articles, shouldn't he be doing exactly that instead of plagiarising articles instead? (he even told me that he often went to the hot thread to find articles and use them to be published. Shameless)
So this guy got all smart ass on me, telling me that "Google is for you my friend. You want to know why? This thread title: writing to improve English. That's why give me the definition of writing please" and proceeded to slag off my thread, telling me it's only a "chit chat thread" and that if I didn't want people to come up to me with this kind of question, I should change the title.
Right, so visiting a writing thread entitled you to the right to ask for articles to plagiarise? Is that it? I don't know which planet you came from but you obviously don't even known basic manners. I got back at him and asked him "why don't YOU give me your definition of writing then". I have been lenient with the people in the subforum because most of them still have awkward English and I wanted to encourage them to keep writing. If they are too scared to write long essays, then I encourage them to write long forum posts. It still helps in learning, and that's why it looks like a chat thread. He was a newcomer who didn't look at the history of the thread and only visited for his own gain, yet he badmouthed the thread. It pissed me off.
He then proceeded to tell me "watch your mouth my friend. Plagiarism? Are you sure? How many articles have you read?" and here I quote his next bit "Do you know most of the thread here is originally English article? I never blame this forum or something like that because I know everyone here want to get nice or great reputation, they just want to share, just like me. I need something that I want to share. Easy huh... is not something idealistic thing like why people pay me blah blah blah... got that? Be polite and I will respect you.. that is basic rule.." and he ended it off with "it's your right to judge me for plagiarism"
You bet your arse I would. One, yes, I know that a lot of articles posted in the forum are taken from another source. I am not stupid nor ignorant. Also, I know that these people DO NOT claim to be the original writer of the article, nor do they get paid for it. What about you? You put your name down in the magazine as the article writer, and you get paid for it. That's not plagiarism?
You do not blame this forum because you have NO right to. They didn't do wrong. They didn't do YOU wrong. You, on the other hand, did wrong, against all writers in the world, who worked hard to come up with ideas for articles to write. Some of the original article writers didn't even get paid for writing it, so why should YOU get paid for copying their works?
And idealistic? Really??? It's common sense and manners. You get paid to do your job. You're not doing your job and you get paid for it. You should be ashamed of yourself. And the nerves of him, telling me to be polite and he will respect me. Yeah right. You have disrespected us writers by doing plagiarism in the first place, so no, I will not be polite to you. Saying all that only further proved your ignorance and arrogance, so I rest my case.
To the people wondering why I am so mean to him, that's because I hate plagiarist. I have had at least three people posting my works on their own journal (that I know of. These do not include incidences that I am not aware of yet). Someone pm-ed me on LJ and told me that someone on Asianfanfics posted my work under their name. I kindly and politely asked them to please not re-post and if they want to share, please link the people back to my journal instead, as it is still pretty much alive. The poster tried to give me credit (although she got the name wrong) and took it down when I asked her to, which was kind of nice. I have no qualms about people posting my works translated into their language in a local forum or in their journal, but if it's still in English, please do not repost.
Another case that I knew of is a girl (I am assuming the poster is a girl from the way she talks in the A/N) posting my fic (I can't remember which one it was. It's a series, and I think it's completed... it's quite long, so I'm guessing either Blossoms of Spring or the Four Seasons, or even Lovely Lover. I also remember it's not M-rated because of the reason I shall mention very soon) on Asianfanfics. As usual, they write an A/N claiming that they wrote the story, yadda yadda, and proceeded to post the fic. Halfway through, they said "I'm getting bored with this story because there is no smut". I was like, "then why the heck did you steal it from me in the first place!?" and if you were really the writer, why didn't you write one smut scene for it then?
There was another case of plagiarism that happened quite a long time ago. Think it was on Winglin. Someone reposted my Blossoms of Spring and claiming it as their own. I even had to open up the Word doc in my comp to make sure it was mine, then pm-ed the girl (assumption, again) to please take it down.
So yeah, I have had really bad experiences with plagiarism, which is why I am quite ruthless to people who openly plagiarise (especially if they get paid for it!)
Now onto the bad experiences: it seems that I got into fights with people a lot in the past couple of months. I don't know if I'm just being testy or something...
So the story is, I'm an active member of an English subforum in a mainly Indonesian forum (yes, you all know I'm Indonesian, it's not a secret). However, I don't give out personal info there, and only a couple of people know my true gender and age. Most of them thought I'm a middle-aged man, really. Also, lately I haven't been using much text emote, so I know that I might come off as really curt and grumpy, but I'm really not.
There was this one guy I got into a discussion with. I used "err..." in my post and he asked me what that meant. I told him I used it to show hesitation, and we got into a full-blown argument only because he insisted that in writing there should never be an "err..." to show hesitation. Right, so now you're suddenly a master of English and has the authority to tell me what to and not to do? Lucky for me another member came onto my defense, saying a language is meant for communication and if I wanted to use "err..." to imply my hesitation in replying, then I am allowed to do so. Honestly, the nerves of some people.
Second, I got into a fight with a lazy arse plagiarist. I created a thread on improving English via writing in that subforum, and someone actually had the gall to ask me for articles that he could use to be published in a magazine publication that he worked for. Worked for; meaning he got paid to write stuffs in it. I told him that I didn't get how people always asked me this kind of question (ie I'm talking about the "I'm too lazy to look it up myself via Google so I'll just ask you to do it for me" bit) and told him to use Google. I also told him that since he was paid to write the articles, shouldn't he be doing exactly that instead of plagiarising articles instead? (he even told me that he often went to the hot thread to find articles and use them to be published. Shameless)
So this guy got all smart ass on me, telling me that "Google is for you my friend. You want to know why? This thread title: writing to improve English. That's why give me the definition of writing please" and proceeded to slag off my thread, telling me it's only a "chit chat thread" and that if I didn't want people to come up to me with this kind of question, I should change the title.
Right, so visiting a writing thread entitled you to the right to ask for articles to plagiarise? Is that it? I don't know which planet you came from but you obviously don't even known basic manners. I got back at him and asked him "why don't YOU give me your definition of writing then". I have been lenient with the people in the subforum because most of them still have awkward English and I wanted to encourage them to keep writing. If they are too scared to write long essays, then I encourage them to write long forum posts. It still helps in learning, and that's why it looks like a chat thread. He was a newcomer who didn't look at the history of the thread and only visited for his own gain, yet he badmouthed the thread. It pissed me off.
He then proceeded to tell me "watch your mouth my friend. Plagiarism? Are you sure? How many articles have you read?" and here I quote his next bit "Do you know most of the thread here is originally English article? I never blame this forum or something like that because I know everyone here want to get nice or great reputation, they just want to share, just like me. I need something that I want to share. Easy huh... is not something idealistic thing like why people pay me blah blah blah... got that? Be polite and I will respect you.. that is basic rule.." and he ended it off with "it's your right to judge me for plagiarism"
You bet your arse I would. One, yes, I know that a lot of articles posted in the forum are taken from another source. I am not stupid nor ignorant. Also, I know that these people DO NOT claim to be the original writer of the article, nor do they get paid for it. What about you? You put your name down in the magazine as the article writer, and you get paid for it. That's not plagiarism?
You do not blame this forum because you have NO right to. They didn't do wrong. They didn't do YOU wrong. You, on the other hand, did wrong, against all writers in the world, who worked hard to come up with ideas for articles to write. Some of the original article writers didn't even get paid for writing it, so why should YOU get paid for copying their works?
And idealistic? Really??? It's common sense and manners. You get paid to do your job. You're not doing your job and you get paid for it. You should be ashamed of yourself. And the nerves of him, telling me to be polite and he will respect me. Yeah right. You have disrespected us writers by doing plagiarism in the first place, so no, I will not be polite to you. Saying all that only further proved your ignorance and arrogance, so I rest my case.
To the people wondering why I am so mean to him, that's because I hate plagiarist. I have had at least three people posting my works on their own journal (that I know of. These do not include incidences that I am not aware of yet). Someone pm-ed me on LJ and told me that someone on Asianfanfics posted my work under their name. I kindly and politely asked them to please not re-post and if they want to share, please link the people back to my journal instead, as it is still pretty much alive. The poster tried to give me credit (although she got the name wrong) and took it down when I asked her to, which was kind of nice. I have no qualms about people posting my works translated into their language in a local forum or in their journal, but if it's still in English, please do not repost.
Another case that I knew of is a girl (I am assuming the poster is a girl from the way she talks in the A/N) posting my fic (I can't remember which one it was. It's a series, and I think it's completed... it's quite long, so I'm guessing either Blossoms of Spring or the Four Seasons, or even Lovely Lover. I also remember it's not M-rated because of the reason I shall mention very soon) on Asianfanfics. As usual, they write an A/N claiming that they wrote the story, yadda yadda, and proceeded to post the fic. Halfway through, they said "I'm getting bored with this story because there is no smut". I was like, "then why the heck did you steal it from me in the first place!?" and if you were really the writer, why didn't you write one smut scene for it then?
There was another case of plagiarism that happened quite a long time ago. Think it was on Winglin. Someone reposted my Blossoms of Spring and claiming it as their own. I even had to open up the Word doc in my comp to make sure it was mine, then pm-ed the girl (assumption, again) to please take it down.
So yeah, I have had really bad experiences with plagiarism, which is why I am quite ruthless to people who openly plagiarise (especially if they get paid for it!)