2. What do we think about this comment? I mean, going off my ideas is one thing, lifting the whole concept is pretty much a no no, right? Also, kinda like stealing? Esp. since I'm seriously considering adding a chapter to my book about Twilight being modern Mormon proselytizing (albeit unwitting proselytizing?)

Well, papers like that quote other papers/essays/books/internet sources all the time, or paraphrase stuff they get from their sources. It would be better if your book were published, because in that case she (he?) would be able to use that as a first-hand account. I suspect she (he??) would cite you properly in her paper even without quotes, since she's got her professors looking at it.

I wouldn't be surprised if she got her draft works cited page returned to her with the link to your LJ entry marked as questionable, though. Besides, I think someone has already written a 100 page thesis paper about the Mormon influences in Twilight. It was very boring.

I love that your daughter wore her bathing suit under her school clothes. Did she just run straight through the house and out the back to the pool?

I think that comment is a bit fishy. First off, citing a journal would get strange looks from her professors? In what universe? Sure, your LJ isn't solely devoted to the academic study of Mormonism, but professors are plenty familiar with the internet and using it as a research tool. Particularly so with a topic like this, where very little published resources would be available. I work in academia and I don't buy that excuse for a second.

Second, cannibalizing someone's notes, as they put it, is plagiarism. They aren't your ideas, ergo, you cite the source. And it sounds like this isn't the only post that s/he's read on the subject, which suggests to me that s/he knows full well that you are working on publishing a book.

What I don't understand is why they bothered to comment at all, even anonymously, when they intend to use your work.

I don't know what kind of legal protections you have in this case. It would be worthwhile I think to find out which of your LDS notes they intend to use. I'm sure some of what you've posted can be found in other places, but then, why bother to use your notes at all if it's general knowledge? It sounds like they want to use your ideas and that is problematic. Hopefully this person will respond to any request to not lift your work.

Oh Emily, you cutie.

2. OH HELLS NO. Plagarism.

Re: 2 - if she means, by cannibalizing your notes, she's using your post to find the original books/sources and read them herself, that's a-okay.

if she means, by cannibalizing your notes, she's paraphrasing what you're saying and not citing you as the source, that's unethical and, oh, plagiarism. (I'm guessing that she's not going to cite you, even for her paraphrasing, since she said that her professors would look askance at her quoting from you directly. I can only imagine that's because they're looking for her to use academic sources, not because they're anti-internet (which could be implied) - all major citation styles have ways to cite journals, blogs, forums, databases, webpages, so if that's her objection, she's uh, wrong.)

I think it's worth asking her to clarify what she means.

Also - if she imagines that she's the first person to be taking this to academic circles, she's very, very wrong. A friend of mine (who's a lit professor) has been at three conferences in the last year that had Twilight panels.

Yeah, no. My professor always taught us you're citing IDEAS, not words. If you didn't think of it, if you got that idea from another source, YOU NEED TO CITE IT. Even if she's not quoting you directly, she's still using your thoughts; ergo, she must site you or she can be called out for plagiarism. Plain and simple.

As for getting "weird looks" for citing a blog -- if she's working with pop culture and society, it shouldn't be a problem. It's not like she's going on Wiki and using it as her only source. I've quoted blogs in the past, and most professors don't mind as long as you're using other sources to back up your claims (if that makes sense). It sounds like this person stumbled upon your entry and decided it would make a good paper.

Also, I think it's one thing to use it in a paper for class that you don't intend to submit for publishing to a scholarly journal and quite another to present this to the rest of the field as your own work. It's still plagiarizing either way, but at least you're not professionally benefiting from the first one.

Besides, NO ONE can do it like you can, Stoney! Her paper would probably be lame!

I had to say something, but you know you can screen or delete me, baby! <3333

ETA: *takes a tip from Emily, puts on swimsuit and gets on a plane to your place*

Edited at 2010-09-23 04:58 pm (UTC)

Yay for Emily! Emily going to school in her swimsuit puts me in mind of the times, as a teacher, that I have had to comfort little girls who have discovered after they have finished their swimming lesson that they have no undies. We had a bag of clean underwear just for this purpose. The other, more amusing, occurrence is when they realise that they have to get entirely undressed to remove the costume when they need the loo. Needless to say, they don't do it twice. :)

2. Sounds like a guilty conscience to me. If I warn the originator of the ideas that I mean to use them then I can present said ideas as my own because nobody knows otherwise (except the true originator and I already asked her so that'll be cool). If that makes sense.

Either way. I cry 'PLAGIARISM'. Kita would get her flying monkeys I think.

It's plagiarism. That she doesn't realise it's plagiarism, that she presents the whole idea of plagiarism as cute fun, and that she's doing a "thesis" on pop culture, that she seems to think she's the first person to come up with this, all add up to her being a pretty awful student at a pretty awful school.

Plagiarism. Cut and dried.

It's plagiarism. What's more, I think that she knows full well that it's plagiarism, or why not post with her journal? Even if she doesn't have one, a free LJ takes about three minutes to create? And even people who post anonymously on a regular basis generally have a signature they use.

She uses neither. Which makes me think that she doesn't want you or her professors to know who is doing this. I.e., she knows she's being a crook.

I think she's telling you because that way she can say, "Oh, I contacted the original writer...in an old post that she could easily miss and probably isn't even following any more, but I still contacted her. And I told her exactly what I was going to do, and she didn't say I couldn't! So I'm ALLOWED to do this!"

To maintain your rights to your work, you need to contact her immediately. Respond to that post and tell her that what she is proposing is NOT on and NOT allowed by you at all. Honest to God, this is in the same category with people trying to sell published fanfic (Lori Jareo and Lady Sybilla, anyone?). The Nonny Mouse is trying to sell someone else's meta rather than fanfic of someone else's work; that's the only difference.

I think my eyes boggled so hard, they nearly popped out of my head. Yeah, the question of picking through what you've written and using it in her paper WITHOUT CITATION is a big no-no. Your posts are circulated well enough that some of your phrasing (sparkle-peeeeeeen!)are actually becoming part of pop culture/twilight lexicon and more importantly (IMHO), your pictures have put together a more subtle reference to exactly how the twilight world compares/contrasts with the REAL WORLD. (Yes, I still crack up about the Geronimo reference w/ the cliffs from the Princess Bride. "If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" --->ageless parental admonitions put into a hysterical portrait of what Smeyers is encouraging. Did I just get too analytical? Whatever. Anon is trying to talk about pop culture, he/she should cite you.)

*gnashes teeth at plagiarism comment*

Let me know if I need to dig out my pitchfork and torch for that person.

Kittens (and pups) think "dawn == loving time." My sister's dog does not understand why I don't like her in bed with me. It isn't the sleeping that the problem: it's the waking.

This comment has nothing to add.

do you need one more person to say "blatant plagiarism"?

If so, count me in

Ah ha ha. I remember those heady days of yore, when the lure of a pool to leap into pretty much shorted your brain out. Awesome. :)

And yeah - she's stealing. Sheesh. I hope she replies back. I hope she doesn't just slink away and do it anyway. Lamer.