The Truth Will Out

@irishidid (8687)
United States
July 14, 2008 1:21am CST
I have spent the last few days considering whether or not to report someone for plagiarism on Helium. I hesitated because I had written on the same subject. I did not want to be seen as a sore loser or that my writing was better than this person's. Most of all I wanted to give this person an opportunity to go back and change things. She never did. If she had just changed things around, put her own touch in the directions. Maybe even said stir instead of beat. No, they were copied directly from the sites. They were recipes written exactly as those on such websites as foodtv.com. What made me finally report her was looking at her other recipes in other articles and finding every last one had been copied and pasted. Then I thought of the other people who had written on the same articles. It wasn't fair to them to keep silent. Before reporting I tried to contact this person and suggest they might want to change things. I found she was not accepting comments, so I felt my hands were tied. You might say it doesn't make a difference. They give the recipes out for you to use. Yes, they do. For personal use, not make money from. There is a difference.
2 responses
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
26 Aug 08
I agree and would have done the same thing in a heart beat I know I put a lot of time, thought and effort into my writing as do other writters and it really burns me to see someone plagiarise someone else's work. I am very surprised however that Helium doesn't use copy scape or something similar before posting work on their site. I have many times reported people on myLot for copy and pasting articles and claiming them as their own - and I have seen a lot who that's all they did, often from the same sites.
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
26 Aug 08
I actually got a membership at Helium over a year ago but have only post one or two articles - not sure why but think it was because I just spent too much time figuring out what to write only to find someone else already had :( I should check it out again some time.
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
26 Aug 08
It only takes a moment to check an article. I don't mind being rated lower than someone, but not when they have cheated. The writer (using the term loosely) is no longer on Helium. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who flagged her.
@Sillychick (3275)
• United States
14 Jul 08
You did the right thing to report her. We all need to do our part to make sure Helium is a quality, reputable site, and that includes reporting possible plagiarism. Helium takes plagiarism very seriously and looks into every suspected case of it. I doubt they would assume you are just a sore loser. I see your point that the information is available, but as you said it is not for people to make money from or try to pass off as their own. Plus, most of those are copyrighted, so it is illegal to copy to another site.
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
14 Jul 08
Oh, she admitted she got them online, but it didn't excuse the copy and paste fact.
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
26 Aug 08
Actually I believe it's automatic copy written if you post it on a web site - they are your words so even if someone copied and pasted your response here it would be concidered plagiarism.