A round-up of links about The Recent Unpleasantness.

And by The Recent Unpleasantness, I'm referring, of course, to the story that broke in the Smart Bitches' Plagiarism and The Story Siren post. (Well, 'broke' isn't totally accurate, as the it all went down back in January. But the Blogger In Question hadn't been named until yesterday, and so the story hadn't filtered out into the YA world.)

It's important for me—and I may have mentioned this before, but this is how I look at political stuff, too—to take a step back and try to look at any situation like this objectively. Like, I try to avoid taking a knee-jerk reaction and running with it. (And in a case like this, when it hits so close to home, it's not easy.) I think about my own personal response to the specific situation, and then I think about how I'd respond if (in this case) the accused had been a YA author, a blogger in a different realm, a print reviewer, a close friend. Is the accused's identity causing me to pull punches (or the opposite)? Would I highlight the same quotes, link to the same posts, etc., etc., if the accused had been one of those other hypothetical people? I have difficulty when I see people as inconsistent (especially in their outrage), and so I try my damnedest to avoid doing that myself. 

Does any of that even make sense to you? (Is anyone actually even still reading? After that paragraph, I don't blame you if you aren't.)

Blerg. This is going to be distinctly unfun. So I'm just going to dive in.

• The aforementioned Smart Bitches' post, Plagiarism and The Story Siren. If you're only going to read one of these posts, read this one. They've also updated it a few times as The Story Siren has responded to the criticism.
• The posts that originally broke the story at the blogs that were plagiarized, Beautifully Invisible and Grit & Glamour. The explanations of the methods they used to figure out who'd lifted their content are both impressive and fascinating. (At least, they were to me.)
• The Story Siren responded with the post An Explanation and an Apology, and said: "While my actions were not deliberate, I don’t want to give you any excuses. In a way I feel as though it won’t matter what I say at this point. It seems that the verdict has been decided. I was accused of doing something that I am vehemently against, and intentionally or not, I know that there will be consequences." Comments were locked on this post.
• Later, she responded with another post, called Clarification, in which she was a bit more specific in responding to the complaints: "When I first received the allegations of plagiarism, I was presented with the information and could not deny the facts. While the content was not identical the subject matter was. It was a confusion of inspiration and plagiarism on my part. I am not denying my actions. I was in the wrong." Comments are (currently) open on this post, though a note at the bottom mentions that a third-party moderator is removing any comments that include 'personal insults'.
• ETA: Beautifully Invisible has posted a rebuttal to The Story Siren's Clarification: "Am I being harsh?  Perhaps, but I think I have a right to be harsh in these circumstances.  Apparently, Kristi is viewed as a role model by other YA bloggers out there which is something I was not aware of when we published our original posts in January. Knowing that, the fact that she is still making excuses is simply is NOT acceptable to me."
• ETA: Grit & Glamour has posted a rebuttal as well: "It would have been nice if instead of only doing your own reputation damage control, you had extended us the same courtesy and communicated to your followers that WE are not the ones at fault here, and we do not deserve to be attacked any more than you do."
• As Jane_L pointed out on Twitter, it's worth reading The Story Siren's (now-deleted) post about plagiarism, available via The Wayback Machine, in which she says (among other things, of course): "Plagiarism is wrong. No matter how you look at it. There is no excuse... “I didn’t know.... I didn’t mean to... I did it subconsciously.” No, you didn’t. You did know and you did mean to."

That's it for the primary sources. Now for the reactions. There are a lot of them out there—I haven't even touched Twitter, for instance, and there are approximately eight billion (<--translation: almost one thousand) comments on the ONTD post and there's a long conversation at the AWWC—and they range from measured to defensive to angry to abusive to apathetic. Here are a few: 

• Ten Cent Notes: "I'm definitely not advocating any sort of bullying or "mob mentality," but ignoring the issue, thinking that it's okay because it's been resolved between Kristi and the fashion bloggers, is wrong on a couple of different levels. It's a sort of quiet compliance with content-stealing. We're saying it's okay for one of the most respected creative blogs out there to be, at least partially, built on posts that were stolen from others."
• Read. Breathe. Relax.: "I don’t think Kristi intentionally lifted those bloggers content…I think she got lazy or uninspired and did something she should have thought more about." [ETA: This post was written before the second apology.]
• Stacked: "If you've wondered why YA blogging can sometimes get the reputation it does, why people believe there is even a reputation, this may be all you need to know. When a valid and important topic worth having a dialog about emerges, so often it devolves, turning into mud-slinging, rather than discussion. Drama, rather than discourse."
• A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy: "Plagiarism matters; it’s significant. But, on the other hand, I’m also bothered by the reactions Stacked refers to. People were waiting for Kristi to to respond; now she has. (People wondered why she didn’t respond sooner. As someone who, like Kristi, works full time and blogs after work, I can imagine that at work she cannot drop everything and blog or tweet. She needed a bit of time.)" 
• The Book Lantern: "I have a serious question to ask those who continually defended Diehm’s actions last night. Actually, I have a few, one of which being, do you seriously think calling a plagiarist a plagiarist is in any way comparable to a lynch mob? Grow up. Diehm is a blogger who frequently rallied against blog plagiarism, and also admitted her own tearful heartbreak over having been plagiarised herself. I ask you this: Did you feel any sympathy for those who Diehm plagiarised?"
• ETA: This post from Gossamer Obsessions is a must-read: "Plagiarism isn't something that "could happen to anyone." It's not like farting in an elevator, where if you don't clench hard enough or you sneeze, you end up accidentally blowing stolen content onto your blog posts. Plagiarism requires intent and agency. Nothing happens to a plagiarist. In the act of plagiarism, they are not the ones acted upon. They are making an active decision."

Me? Plagiarism = bad. Full stop. But at this point, I really don't think anyone is really even discussing plagiarism anymore. Not that, really, there's a whole lot to discuss, what with that whole Bad Full Stop thing.

Now, the community's reaction to this instance of plagiarism? That's another story.

Comments

[liz]

Wow, I'm way out of it. I didn't know anything was even going on.

[Lisa @Read.Breathe.Relax.]

First, thanks for the mention! Second, I just wanted to note that I made that comment about Kristi before her Clarification post today. She clearly admitted to plagiarizing, in which case my post about how to prevent yourself from making the same mistake is still relevant.

Thanks!

[Leila]

Thanks for letting me know, Lisa -- I'll make a note above.

[Liviania]

Thanks for the round-up. The way people have reacted has been enlightening.

[Julie@my5monkeys]

Rach -- Parajunkee has a very good take on this too.

[Angela H.]

Thanks for such an unbiased and thoughtful round-up of the news on this issue. As you note, things have devolved very quickly. Also, as someone who is staunchly anti-plagiarist (and an English teacher in training), I had an immediate, negative reaction, but I don't think all of what's gone down since then has been warranted.

[Jennifer in GA]

Do you suppose some of the backlash against bloggers who plagiarise stems from the fact that some bloggers don't belong to the "tradtional" media but still get perks, freebies or even get paid for what is considered (by some) nothing more than a "fandom" activity? That doesn't even take into account authors who started out as bloggers and turned their work into a multi-book and/or movie deal.

And I know I've brought it up before, but then you've got the Queen-of-Plagiarising-who-managed-to-come-out-smelling-like-a-rose-even-after-being-caught-redhanded Cassandra Clare, who is truly getting paid the big bucks these days, and has made it to the higher ranks of YA writers. WOuld her newer fans still support her as they do if they knew her history with "lifting" and "borrowing" and "It's not plagiarism! It's a pastiche!"? At this point, I think they would, simply because they like what she is writing.

But she'll still never get a penny of my money, just as I would withdraw my support from any author or blogger who was found to plagiarising.

[tanita]

Whoa.

As always, thanks for the objective round-up of things I'm not sure I want to know, but which, nevertheless, are important to keep track of - Funny, but my reaction to books are so left-of-center that it never would occur to me to plagiarize; I think there must be some pressure to have an opinion that is going on that within our kidlitosphere circle doesn't happen.

Which is nice.

[Maureen E]

And once again I am completely clueless about a controversy involving a "major blogger" (i.e., have never heard of the site before). I can never decide that means I'm out of the loop, or if I just hang out in the best circles.

[Jordyn]

Thanks for the round-up (and for linking to my post). At this point I think the entire issue has brought up some bigger questions that I'd love to see discussed but that, in light of many of the reactions (both supportive and non-supportive, there's a lot of extreme-ness), I worry won't be able to be discussed rationally. I do think the question of why this has gotten certain reactions is one worth thinking/talking about and that almost seems a separate issue from Kristi herself. (Although, in all honesty, I do see this as a very SPECIFIC plagiarism case because of who she is and the fact that much of her blog is built on these types of blog-help posts.)

Hope this comment is at least somewhat coherent.

[Gritandglamour]

And my rebuttal, since you've done such a stellar job of summarizing this whole thing:

Now it’s MY turn for a “clarification”…
http://www.gritandglamour.com/2012/04/25/now-its-my-turn-for-a-clarification/

[Leila]

Nice timing -- I suspect I was adding it just as you were leaving that comment!

I'm sorry you're getting hate mail. Totally, totally uncool.

[avisannschild]

Another post worth reading: Book Bloggers Plagiarising - What Happens Now? @ Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

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