I've Been Plagiarized

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

I'm the victim of plagiarism, and to be honest -- at the risk of making light of the situation -- it's kind of flattering.

To be sure, plagiarism is a serious offense and can ruin a journalist's reputation and/or career. It should not be taken lightly and universities are in the right to pursue strict academic discipline for violations of plagiarism laws. But when I found out that one of my articles was plagiarized in the college newspaper, The Beaver Tale, I couldn't help but feel somewhat appreciated.

So I didn't get a byline. It was wrong for the writer to use my property, but he has been sufficiently punished for the offense as it appears from the article that he has been fired.

I feel a bit of sympathy for the kid, as I would for any fan of my work, and I would like to disclose that I didn't know about the incident until he personally e-mailed me to apologize. Let this be a lesson to all writers: you should never plagiarize. It will catch up to you. Every time.