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Theta Mom®

Redefining Motherhood

Plagiarism Will Not Be Tolerated

I feel compelled to write about this because I take my blog very seriously. As I’ve said in the past, I began this blog as a way to begin the dialogue about what it means to be a Theta Mom. I have since built an amazing community of women and mothers here. When I receive emails, I respond to the best of my ability and I even helped many of you find the resources that you needed, especially in reference to blogging.

This is the kind of support I am proud of. This is the kind of support that communities thrive from.

However, never would I imagine that a fellow blogger would actually plagiarize an entire page from this blog word for word and place it on her own blog as if it was her own. She literally copied and pasted my entire page, simply adding in the name of her own blog where appropriate.

That is STEALING.

I work very had to create posts that are authentic and original. Furthermore, every company that I work with knows who they are dealing with at Theta Mom because of the policies that I created myself and set forth on this blog.

The bottom line?

Plagiarism is stealing.

It’s unethical.

And it needs to stop.

As bloggers, plagiarism is something that potentially affects all of us, so I would love to hear your thoughts. How do you feel about it and how do you handle it?

***Update: I found out about this yesterday and I am so grateful for your support. As fellow bloggers, you totally understand how wrong this is. Although the blogger referenced in this post has not responded to my emails, she has taken down the page. I was just on her blog this morning and it has been removed. Maybe she finally got the hint that plagiarism is a serious offense and it certainly won’t be tolerated.

Comments

  1. How infuriating! It is illegal, but I guess the question becomes whether they gained any profit from it.

    I too recently have been realizing lately that as bloggers all we really have is our reputation and unfortunately there are some who devalue us all by doing unethical things. It’s sad, but unfortunately a reality in the offline world too… :( I guess the best we can hope for is that people do their homework to realize those of us that are genuine & ethical… not just saying that we are!
    .-= OCMomActivities – Katie´s last blog ..Last Minute New Years Eve Recipe and Table Decorating Ideas =-.

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  7. Although a compliment, if she copies and doesn’t give you credit it’s plaigiarism and shouldn’t be tolerated. I’m with Jennifer – let’s bombard her with feedback!

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  15. OMG!!! Flattering if something you wrote inspired the person to write something themsleves. Even better if they mentioned you too. But no so cool to plagerize and write your post exactly word for word. Very NOT cool! How did you find out. I worry about that too. I have to establish some ground rules and copyright myslef. My goodness gracious. Hope you are abel to work it all out. I would most definitely contact the person if you havent already.
    .-= Modern Style Mama´s last blog ..The Truth about Early Motherhood =-.

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  16. I recently had a post stolen and it was pointed out to me on twitter–I never would have found it otherwise. Stealing is so wrong, and while I believe in karma, I also believe we have to help each other out. If I spot a blogger doing something unethical, I will point it out. Thank you for this timely post.
    .-= Nicole Feliciano´s last blog ..Momtrends Love Kelty Packs =-.

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  17. Everyone has already said what I was thinking (Well, I wasn’t thinking about the virtual toilet papering, but it was an excellent idea) but I just needed to chime in with my outrage on your behalf. Whether we are bloggers or authors, or columnists, our words are our own and they are often hard to come by. Anyone who would take the easy way out and steal someone else’s work should be shunned. I’m sorry for your experience!

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  19. Stealing content from someone’s blog and passing it off as your own just does not compute. I’m sitting here reading the comments and re-reading your post and I’m just not able to process the fact that someone stole your words and affixed them elsewhere. How do I find out if this has happened to me? And what is the recourse? And what preventative measures can I take to make sure it doesn’t happen? (Beyond the Creative Commons thingy…) I hate that we have such an awesome thing going here in the blog community and someone has to go and wreck it by being dishonest. Boo and hiss on them.
    .-= Kami Lewis Levin´s last blog ..Giving up the Funk (Tearing the Roof off the Sucker) =-.

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  20. Thanks for the feedback ladies. I competely agree with you, and this is when our copyright comes into play. I have copyright on my blog in two distinct places. I own the content on this blog and when someone passes it off as their own, they are infringing on this copyright. She needs to remove the page or rewrite it herself!
    .-= Theta Mom´s last blog ..Plagiarism Will Not Be Tolerated =-.

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  21. That is very disheartening. I’d expose the villian AND leave her a nice little comment on her blog. I’d even write an “open letter” to her on my blog. But rest assured that what goes around, comes around.

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  25. Wow that is unbelievable! However I was in this same situation. I have been selling on ebay for about 5 years. I wrote an ebay selling ebook specifically focused on moms. I was (and still am) very proud of it. It took me a year to write. Well anyway one of my customers who bought my book actually created a blog around it. I found out because one of my other customers just happened to come across it and knew it was my work. So it is great how the good people look out for one another. Well it was a hot mess. I actually had to threaten her with a lawyer before she took down the content. It was stressful and ridiculous. But people who plagiarize should not be tolerate at all. If she does not take that content down by tomorrow I would take further action for sure. So sorry you are dealing with this Heather. Tammy

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  26. I’m so glad that you wrote this, Heather! I’m curious how you responded – did you confront that blogger directly and , if so, how did you do it? I’m asking because I have a reader who regularly copies exactly what I do…not word-for-word, but – formatting, about page, disclosure policy, titles, EVERYTHING. Not sure what to do, but she’s definitely “stepping on my toes.” Any guidance would be appreciated.
    .-= Stephanie´s last blog ..A Mom 2.0 Story {why I’m opting out this year} =-.

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  27. Stephanie~This is so frustrating! In my case, she literally copied my ENTIRE 7 paragraph PR Welcome Page word-for-word. 7 paragraphs of MY writing! I’ve sent her 2 emails and commented on her blog. I am awaiting her repsonse to take it down…trying to be the bigger person here, but I am beginning to lose my patience.
    .-= Theta Mom´s last blog ..Plagiarism Will Not Be Tolerated =-.

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  31. I am sorry to hear that. That would make me so mad and would really just BOTHER me for a while. Blogging is such a personal thing – it’s kind of like – why would you want to steal a page from my diary? That just doesn’t make sense.

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  32. That just SUCKS! I don’t get people who do that!
    I had a blogger steal one of my recipes word for word with MY picture and post it as it was her own – I called her on it – all she did was taking mine down and replace it with anothers – it didn’t take much looking thru her blog to realize most of her content was stolen – I contacted several bloggers who she stole from – I saw some of those post dissapear, and other’s did not – I still check on her blog once every few weeks – I’ve even written her again explaining what she’s doing and how it’s wrong – she NEVER responds to me ARRRG – I have reported her blog to Blogger – for what that’s worth!
    .-= TidyMom´s last blog ..The Girlfriends Guide to Blogging – WFMW =-.

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  34. I am so sorry that this happened to you. You’re an amazing blogger, writer, mom, and you words are your own. No one should have stolen them from you. That is 100% wrong. Just as wrong as it was to steal other people’s words in University. I do hope this person says sorry ot you – it’s the least they can do – and own up to their mistake. Again, I’m sorry, hon. That is just so wrong….
    .-= Loukia´s last blog ..Sugar and spice and all that is… not-so-nice! =-.

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  39. I can’t imagine ever copy/pasting someone else’s words into my blog – unless I was reposting with permission and clearly crediting the original author, including linking back to the original post – that just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
    One of my favorite things about blogging is the ability to link to other bloggers creating a truly dynamic community. Taking someone else’s words and claiming them as your own goes against the spirit of the medium.
    .-= WannabeMomErin´s last blog ..Seven Things … Dec 29, 2009 =-.

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  41. Wow! That is so rude. I can’t stand when people just take someone elses work as their own. It sucks that the blogger isn’t responding to your emails or comments. Obviosly they know they did wrong! Sorry! ((Hugs))

    I’m curious to know how you stumbled upon it. I mean you have over 1000 followers and I have way less and don’t know how I’d ever catch something like that unless it was brought to my attention. That’s why sometime’s I’m so skeptical of posting designs on my blog even though they have watermarks and my copyright trademark which I recently started doing. I respect a person for their originality and being unique, not for what they stole from someone. Ugh!
    .-= Jael Custom Designs´s last blog ..Can you “Simplify My Life”? One can only hope… =-.

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  42. You have GOT to be kidding. WHAAT?! And how did you find out? They obviously didn’t mean for you to visit them!

    You have a great thing going on here and you KNOW I’ve been a loyal follower since I found you. Anyone can tell how much you put into this and how rewarding it is to you. To try to be sneaky and hijack that is unacceptable.

    I can’t figure the motivation behind doing that…
    1. If you have to steal content, blogging aint for you.
    2. I have found this community to be so supportive and wonderful, it’s disheartening to find that behaviour here…

    Does the person know you know? How do you plan to handle?
    .-= When did I become my Mom´s last blog ..Year in Review =-.

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  46. Good post! And yes, as a writer I couldn’t agree more. It’s a respect thing. Copyrighting is tough too.A long time ago I wrote and self published a Selling Techiniques Manual. It was part of the consulting service I did. I found out a client of mine was having his employee photocopy it and pass it around instead of buying more copies. I pointed out it was copyrighted and he was infringing. He laughed at me. :(
    As far as the copycat is concerned YUP that’s shady and B.S. I would however be the bigger person here and not expose her publicly. I would call her on the carpet and let her know that is unacceptable-between you and her. A public pissing match is unprofessional and no one wins. Keep up the good work Theta Mom!:)
    .-= franticmommy´s last blog ..It’s Not Just Rodney =-.

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  47. I really need to add that plug-in to reply to comments because your comments are great!

    To amswer some of the recent questions, I have emailed this person twice and I left two comments on her blog. I still have not heard back from her. And thank you Frantic Mommy, I am a classy, professional person!

    Let’s see if she responds today!
    .-= Theta Mom´s last blog ..Plagiarism Will Not Be Tolerated =-.

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  50. Hmmmm. Well, if this has happened to me, I don’t know about it. If someone were making money off of something he or she stole from me, I would certainly go to court. If not, I would e-mail or leave a comment (both, but comments can be removed) calling attention to the fact the blog was stolen.
    .-= Renee´s last blog ..A New Direction =-.

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