Plagiarist's Paradise
A poem about people who like to take the words of others and pass them off as their own for personal gain, written after a recent story read by me was quite clearly the work of someone else, a New York Times bestselling writer nonetheless, that the plagiarising "writer" here on Vocal decided was ripe for plucking, the bestseller's work being far better than the writer's own, with this being recognised and applauded as such by the Vocal elite, who presented it as some of the best writing that Vocal has to offer and gave it Top Story status
I've found a place, where writers group
And ideas rise and glide and loop
Within its pages, written clear,
Creators gently placing them here.
*
The writer's craft is not so easy,
When I write, pieces seem so sleazy
And this gets me to thinking on
How can I stop getting it wrong?
Because I WANT those extra views
From people who come with eyes anew.
"Look at mine! Look at mine!" I want to shout!
"Come see what I'm all about!"
If I can get the extra likes
My stats and earnings'll surely spike.
But I'm not good, though people are kind
And comments shared reflect their minds
Of curiosity and support,
Like-minded writers exposing thoughts.
*
But this is not enough for me;
I want an elusive Top Story!
I'm stuck within a writer's trap
Because all I produce is pretty crap.
AI is not applauded here
And you're meant to say when it appears
And so I can't draw on its powers
And merely sit here, and softly glower
Over how I can snag the accolades
Without worry on how the words are laid.
*
And like a flash it comes to me.
A blinding, white epiphany!
I don't need to try, my time to waste
When I can merely "Cut and Paste"!
Oh, wondrous internet! All access given
And from your mines, the words are riven:
I trawl and find an exquisite piece
Ripe and plump for me to fleece
And take it for my very own!
No-one will know it's not home-grown.
The final polish? To ascribe my name
And show off what I've merely claimed.
No intellectual input required
The odd word change will help conspire
And convince the reader of my ability
To write something worthy and not so shitty.
*
And here it comes! Top Story! For me!
It worked, stealing from another's tree!
Hooray! And now to perpetuate
The fact that I can really create.
These readers, they are silly fools
They have no idea they're being schooled
As I make their praise a complete mockery
With my cheating, corner-cutting, plagiarist fuckery.
*
I'm angry about this - can you tell?
About the Creator
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By Rachel Deemingabout a year ago in Poets
'20/20'
"Do It Again" the track that would ultimately open the Beach Boys final album on Capitol Records which was released on February 10th 1969 had originally been released as a single in August of 1968. The track was the first of many post-Pet Sounds era throwbacks to the early Beach Boys sound which would become continually more cliched and eventually lead the Beach Boys to the level of self-parody they would eventually succumb to in the 1980s while their closest contemporaries The Beatles nearing the end of their run in 1969 would go on to be viewed as the most influential band of all time. However, the song itself is not bad on its surface, and it opens with a futuristic sounding (for 1969) drumbeat captured by then-Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper using tape delays on the drums performed by Dennis Wilson and John Guerin. The song has been re-recorded numerous times over the years on various Beach Boys-related projects most notably the 2011 re-recording at Capitol studios featuring the five surviving Beach Boys at the time backed instrumentally by various members of both the Brian Wilson Band and Mike Loves touring "Beach Boys" to promote the then upcoming Beach Boys 50th Anniversary reunion tour in 2012. The hammering and power drill sound at the end of the song was an excerpt from a track called "Workshop" that was to be a part of the uncompleted "SMiLE" album.
By Sean Callaghan6 days ago in Beat
Comments (15)
You go, girl. Thank you so much for alerting me of this particular person's penchant for copying others. It does appear he's been recognized for the poor writer and plagiarist he truly is, which is one step in the right direction.
🔥🔥🔥😡😡😡you should be mad! I have a suspicion about who this is… i definitely had a what ?!? Moment when I saw a certain top story the other day at work
I must have either missed the poser's story or was taken in by it! Now there's a disturbing thought. Thanks as always for your vigilance, Rachel. Loved your Pangry (angry poem)!
Well done on taking this up. ✅ I am embarrassed that I placed on the Leaderboard for New Subscribers… I’m pretty sure most of them were from AI ‘creators’ a few hours after my last Top Story.😳😵💫🥺
Here, here!!!! Thanks for writing this, Rachel.
RESPECT. Thank you.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I just made that up. I wrote that. Death to plagiarists! (I didn't write that. I don't condone it. But I understand it.)
There was a discussion on VSS regarding this very person. He's been reported by several people, including Judey. Hopefully, he'll be gone soon..
Thank you so much for writing this. I was really p*ssed off with that story receiving a top story status. I truly hope that moving forward Vocal will learn from this experience and realize more discernment is a must have! When I wrote and edited on Medium, I encountered these types of so called writers more often than I'd like to admit, but quick action to get rid of them and their art of theft (surely not words) was something I was committed to.
Damn. Bad actions, but nice response! Thanks for being one of the good ones!
I think we recognize the same poser, and I have reported it. Hopefully it will be cleared from among us soon... the greatest shame of that is I've seen people come in here who are obviously writing their own work, and at first it isn't all good, but with encouragement and feedback they've improved greatly. That's what I like to see. Each authentic voice is a line in the poem of life, and we can only have a poem as well-wrought as yours here if everyone remains authentic!
Is this that Benjamin character? Why haven't Vocal banned him yet 😡
Great way of expressing your anger at the cheating plagiarist. We would all like to know who it is and what story… But, regardless, I do hope you reported the incident to the powers that be. Lol. Such action tears down this system and the honor code under which it works.
I'm so lost. May I please know who and which Top Story you're talking about? Loved the sarcasm in your poem. You're angry??? Gosh, you're so well at hiding it 😝😝😝 I saw your reply to DJ but still don't know who's the person
Deftly done. Have you reported this charlatan?