Why is plagiarism magically A-OK on the Internets?
Stealing people’s work is vile, and not something I can stand.
I mean, on the Internet, things are indeed much more lax. But the idea of ‘credit where credit is due’ is inviolable.
I spent a few hours getting the lyrics to “and I’m home” just right, posted it on AnimeLyrics.com and on my site, and then some mook comes along, takes all of five seconds to copy and paste my translation (in a rather ugly way, with weird spacing and weird line breaks and all) on his or her site.
Plagiarism riles me up like nothing else. Reminds me of how I was accused of plagiarism a few times in the course of my academic career. -__-# Twice because my writing level was higher than what they expected, and once, I was accused of a) being beyond “naive” and b) of committing “double plagiarism” just because the moron couldn’t see a citation in his face.
I’m feeling pissy. I’m also working on karaoke subbing “and I’m home” as we speak. You know, the lovely eye candy you see from high quality fansubber groups for OPs and EDs? That stuff, not the “let’s just stick this line of lyrics up at the same time the song is sung” stuff. Let’s just hope I can encode and hard sub it okay, since as everyone knows, I’m a loser when it comes to technology.
P.S. I contacted that plagiarising site with this:
http://www.sweetslyrics.com/905670.Puella Magi Madoka Magica – and I’m home.html
You ripped the lyrics that I transliterated and translated, to this site without a) asking me or b) crediting me.
The lyrics were clearly copy and pasted from AnimeLyrics.com. I hold the copyright to the translation (i.e. as a derivative work of the original lyrics in Japanese), and I ask that you remove my translation of the lyrics from this site immediately.
Wonder what action (if any!) they’ll take. Let’s see.
Oh, and why am I so sure it was stolen from AnimeLyrics.com? Well, for one, AnimeLyrics.com is a lot more well-known than arwynl.wordpress.com, and secondly, I’d originally translated the first line of the lyrics as “heart encrusted in rust”, and only changed it to “heart encrusted with rust” later here, on my site. :D
And you know, I was kinda very “Eh, whatever” about the Internet for the longest time, until I started contributing back to the community. Then credit and stuff suddenly mattered, because it’s important that you’re recognised for what you did, and not for what you didn’t do. I know that no one really cares who subs or translates or times or encodes or quality checks what as long as it’s done and you can watch or download whatever you want in a timely manner, but it matters to the people who spend time on things, and I’m sure it will to you too, if you decide to contribute something later on (or if you have already).
Arwyn's Yuri Blog 
D: Damn, that is horrible. I really like your translations, they’re of a higher quality than other places. The same thing happened to a favorite artist of mine on tumblr and her request for her artwork to be taken down from a website was met with some rude, totally dickish comments. The audacity of the people on the internet just astounds me sometimes. It’s like, where our words are just little bits of data and stuff, we’re suddenly not obligated to be decent human beings.
Don’t let assholes discourage you. I’m sure that for every plagiarist that spit on your hard work, there’s a bunch more of us that really do appreciate it. :D
Well, there’s the cloak of anonymity and all. I like to think the Internet is a truer and more honest representation of humankind anyway. </cynicism>
But don’t worry, I’m not expecting much from that plagiarising site. Luckily, since the lyrics were copied oh so sloppily, it’s pretty obvious that it was just tossed there from AnimeLyrics.com. In fact, I submitted my lyrics to AnimeLyrics.com immediately after translation precisely because I wanted to safeguard against people like that.
Since AnimeLyrics.com tests users on their translation and transliteration skills before they’re allowed to submit song lyrics, and since the AnimeLyrics.com version has a neat little “Translated and transliterated by Arwyn” byline at the bottom, I’m not too bothered. It was mostly to vent, rant, and complain (which I like to do very much, in case you couldn’t tell!).
It is clear you put effort into the translation and you should be given credit for the job.
Speaking of plagiarism.. I agree its annoying …. and somehow the googling of Dr. chris spense lead to bringing me back to this site…o_o
It really is disturbing to see how people react with plagiarism and the internet or even in flat out real life. That is funny… not that they plagiarized but the fact that in very, very tiny letters it says you can find more lyrics at their site… That just takes balls.. or sheer stupiditiy.. As my teacher likes to say (as of january 2013) “Thou shalt not commit a Dr. Spense as that is what it will forever be known as to the ones who know what TDSB is” …..
I think I would be surprised if they even bothered to link back, honestly.
Incidentally, I looked Chris Spense and plagiarism up on Google and found this article. What I find surprising is not the fact that Chris Spense, a black man, was in a position of power, nor that he plagiarised. But the fact that the person who wrote the article, despite being a former reporter, is someone who has such an unhealthy attitude towards ‘race’.
‘Race’ is a social construct to begin with, but the writer has this awful persecution complex, and is racist too, in his/her own way towards Caucasians.
And let’s face it — we’re all “racist”* to some degree or another (whether it manifests itself as a vague distrust toward the foreign, or in a Ku Klux Klan sort of batshit insane way). It’s just easier and “more PC” for minority groups to express their racism. But I find it disturbingly hypocritical coming from someone who once was a well-known reporter.
*It might be less charged and slightly more accurate to say ‘we all stereotype people racially to some degree or another’, since racism carries connotations of a perception of superiority/inferiority.
Interesting I some how managed to miss the racism in that article the first time I read it through, probably due to the fact the first time through was focused mainly on Spence and less on the actual writers’ opinion. (In all fairness I read through this in class where everyone was focused on what Spence had done)
Though its not that he was a black man nor that he was in power that bothered me, just the fact that his position and the fact that he had plagiarized so much. It really does make some of us look at his apology letter and laugh, while it frustrates and annoys others who also belong under the same school board. And of course this revelation couldn’t have happened at a better time either..
Well, the only thing that he’s sorry for, I’m sure, is that he was caught.
If he could do it all over again, he probably would. Only a complete idiot would plagiarise, really — it’s a particularly stupid offence, since by definition you’re attaching your name to it… kind of hard to assume plausible deniability once it’s brought to light and compared to the original text.
And I don’t think people in positions of power somehow have immunity to moral failings, even though we may tend to think that way — much like the difficulty we have imagining our (biological) parents and grandparents having sex, even though they had to have done it in order for you to exist. A person in power is no more than anyone else — that is, I don’t feel any more surprised that he plagiarised than I would toward anyone else. Or perhaps, it might be accurate to say that someone in a position of power is more likely to “bad” things — since they have enough clout to help them get away with it. (Unless, of course, they’re retarded and do something like plagiarising.)
Nor do I think plagiarism should be measured in degrees — plagiarising once and plagiarising a thousand times are on different magnitudes, to be sure, but the underlying principle is unchanged. I find it heinous, really — and I don’t think I would have a better opinion of the person who plagiarised “only” once (vs. the one who did it a thousand times).
Funny thing though — I’ve been accused of plagiarism three times in my life, even though I can, honest to goodness, say I have never — and will never — plagiarise. Each of the three times I was accused of plagiarism was because I handed in work — according to those educators — that was “too good” to have been done by me. I think that says a lot about them. Two were particularly snide and nasty about it — in one case I was accused of not just plain ol’ plagiarism, oh no… but… ~double plagiarism~ instead. (No, I’m not sure what that means either.) And it was despite the fact that I had, very clearly, cited my sources properly.
Or oh, an older relative who /encouraged/ me to plagiarise and ghostwrite for him. If that isn’t hitting the bottom of the barrel, I’m not sure what is.
In short, I have extremely low expectations of people in general. I would be more surprised by a person in a position of power with a moral and upstanding character. And I would be infinitely surprised when people stop making a big deal out of “Oh wow, a black person is in a position of power!” Until that day comes, racism, racial stereotyping, and martyr-like persecution complexes will surely persist.