I'm not defending the actions of The Plagiarist (here on out referred to as The Offender, it's just less clunky to type). What she did was despicable and inexcusable, not to mention a violation of the people plagiarized.
I've been in contact with The Offender over the last few days and she is well aware that her actions were inexcusable, despicable and disrespectful of the people she plagiarized. While she is hurt by all of the posts going up because of the incident, including mine, she accepts them almost as a form of punishment for what she did. I didn't apologize for what I wrote and none of us should. In fact I think we should all stand up and scream when something like this happens in order to drive the point home that plagiarism is wrong and these will be the consequences should you do it.
In The Offender's emails to me, she wasn't worried about herself so much as the wrong she imposed on those she plagiarized and the potential impact of her actions on other bloggers she's close to. She is shamed by what she did to them. She makes absolutely no excuses for her actions and has been graciously accepting of the onslaught of criticism and harsh words thrown at her even though her name has been left out of the fray. As gracious as one can be given the circumstances. She takes full responsibility for her actions and doesn't see her own ignorance as being an excuse for what she did. She fully complied with the requests of the offended bloggers and knows full well that with them especially, her reputation is quite probably irreparably damaged. For those of us that knows who she is, she knows full well that she'll have to work long and hard to regain our trust, should we be so willing to give her a second chance. She is fully repentant of her actions and accepts the consequences she brought upon herself.
She has demonstrated to me that she's educating herself on what plagiarism is and will work her hardest to turn her blog around into something truly original and all around her. And she knows the hurdles she'll have to overcome to do it.
I can only imagine what it's like to be plagiarized, in any fashion, and I only hope it never happens to me. Woe unto the soul that even considers the thought. I can't speak for the victims in this ordeal. How they choose to proceed is entirely up to them. In all honesty, if it were me, I'd never trust The Offender again. Cordiality is one thing but trust? With me you only have one shot.
But it's knowing just how repentant and shamed this girl is that really has me irked about what someone did to her. I half expected this kind of thing from an anonymous blogger or someone floating around our world but it was an author. You heard that right. An AUTHOR has me rather disgusted with his actions.
This morning I get an email from The Offender saying that she's accepting of the criticism that's coming her way but why does this person have to rub it in and be so nasty about it? He sent her a very nasty email, which she deleted before even emailing me, and then posted it on his blog to gloat. So I read it and it's shocking. This kind of display? From an author? So I scroll down to the comments and while there are few, I saw that Lenore posted asking if he really sent it and if he received a response. His response to Lenore was not yet but he plans on sending a follow-up.
Disgustingly shocked would be a good way to describe it. So I emailed Lenore because really, I wanted to justify my feelings about this. On one hand I don't want to support a plagiarist but on the other she's fully repentant of her actions. She's not acting like a shit, she's not refusing to take down reviews, she's not placing blame anywhere else but on herself. Luckily Lenore felt the same way with similar sentiments and I didn't feel so bad for feeling so torn. If she had been acting like a shit, I would just say "well, she brought that on herself" and walk away. She brought the overall attention onto herself but does she really deserve to be dug at so maliciously?
William Kostakis is the writer of that email, which can be read in its entirety on his blog. I understand that he's close friends with Adele of Persnickity Snark. If it were one of my friends that were wronged, I'd be really pissed off too. But at the end of the day I know it's not my fight and I'm not going to take it upon myself to kick The Offender's ass on behalf of my friend. You know, rant and rave all you want on your blog. As I said, I think this is something we all should do when plagiarism strikes in order to deter it. But I think there is a line to be crossed here.
He's an author. I wouldn't think it very good publicity to go on your blog and gloat how you essentially bullied a high school kid and kicked her while she was already down. And you're proud of it. And showboat it. And even make mention of doing it again. By his own admission he enjoys taking the low road and wants to have fun at The Offender's expense. While he is only 20 (by no means an adult in my eyes, sorry, I don't even consider myself an adult and I'm 26) he's old enough to know better. I hope it makes him feel better to dig into an already broken girl. I hope he feels like a big man for it. The thing is, if he's so close to Adele, then the likelihood of him knowing just how repentant The Offender was was pretty high, meaning he did this despite that. Real nice.
Rest assured, Mr. Kostakis, I will not be picking up your book any time soon. And don't worry, Mr. Kostakis. If you happen to have second thoughts about what you've posted, I've made sure to save it, just in case.
In a time where kids are committing suicide after being bullied, and young adult authors are binding together and rallying against bullying, I find it wholly, and grossly, ironic that a young adult author is acting the bully.
Some of you may disagree with me on this. Some may think that she deserves whatever she has coming regardless of the extent of it. Do you think that? Or now knowing what you know about how she's acting in the wake of all of this, do you think an attack like this is rendered? Does she still deserve it?
Look at both sides of the coin. Put yourself in the shoes of the victims. Imagine that it was you that was plagiarized. How would it make you feel? If your offender was acting like The Offender, how would you feel? Now take yourself out of the victims' shoes and put them back into those of the observer. How do you feel about plagiarism? Knowing what you now know about The Offender, how extensive do you think her "punishment" should be? Is a rant on your own blog about uncreative shits enough? Is the long-term harm she's done to herself fair enough? Or do you think private attacks are rendered?
If she were a writer, her career would be destroyed. All it takes is just one time to be called a plagiarist and you're screwed. But she's not a writer; she's a reviewer. It doesn't make what she did any better, but I'd like to think we'd have room for a touch of forgiveness, or at the very least less than malicious intent, towards her, especially considering her actions.
I want this to be an open discussion as this covers two important topics - plagiarism and bullying. Anonymous comments are welcome but lets keep the mudslinging to a minimum. And please keep names out of it. Any comment I catch naming The Offender will be deleted.
EMERALD BLAZE
2 hours ago
41 comments:
I agree with you completely. Her actions aren't excusable but his aren't either. She has obviously learned her lesson or is learning it and doesn't need this guy pushing all of this in her face and broadcasting it for the world to see as well. At least he wasn't so much of an ass to add her name. I again say I in NO WAY support a plagiarist but he went a bit too far IMO.
I am glad she is keeping head up and taking her punishment gracefully. I hope this teaches her about finding her own voice. Maybe she will speak up against this guy's bullying too. Like you said this is not an excuse to bully someone, and it seems if she doesn't know what plagiarism is, then she is young and may need a guiding hand, not a kick in the head.
Unfortunately I think he "outs" the blogger at the end of that post...yikes scary stuff!
I have no idea who the "Offender" is, so I won't be naming any names. I just caught this discussion in the past day or two and am pretty fascinated by it. I agree with you, Donna, that there is a difference between punishment and bullying, and this lines seems to have been blurred. It must suck to have a review ripped off and rewritten and such, but sending off hateful emails (esp. when you're not even the one who was offended against!) is just not okay.
As a teacher who requires her students to blog for class, I am going to alert them to this controversy. I have not yet come across this issue in my teaching, but I'd like to hear what teens think about plagiarism and the impact of it in the blogosphere. We have studied online bullying this year, and I think that you're not exaggerating in the least, Donna, when you remind your audience that some young people have committed suicide due to online bullying. Scary.
Maybe I'll have my students post about this issue when we return from April break. I hope that they are not as unforgiving as some of the folks whose comments I've read in conjunction with this issue.
Damn, that's harsh. Who is this Offender chick, anyway? I mean, who exactly did she steal from?
I'm not seeing that although I could be overlooking it. He went on a bit of a tangent about not naming names since Adele didn't. Where are you seeing that?
I see it but I really hope it's not who I am thinking. Well, it is none of my business and he is even more of a jerk for putting that there if he was doing it for that reason.
I'm glad you brought this up because this is something that has, in general, been worrying me of late.
It seems to be the attitude of the blogosphere that if something does something wrong (i.e. plagarises, writes an offensive post, etc), that it is a blogger's right to be able to villify that person mercilessly. Snarky posts are written, nasty things are said on Twitter, and really, what's the point? Sure, the person should be alerted to the fact that they've done wrong, but how far is too far? If you saw them in person, would you go on and on and bring it up again and again? When does a person get the courtesy to be a human and make a mistake and THEN BE FORGIVEN. Or, if not forgiven, at least left alone.
It's not Persnickity Snark's post that is the problem. It's this author's email that he not only sent her but then posted on his blog. That's mean, hurtful, and hateful, and it bothers me that these things are okay as long as they're couched in the blogosphere under the guise of sticking up for someone else.
As I've just said to Kristi on Twitter, this all seems to be getting a bit out of hand now, don't you think?
I've read most of the posts about the plagiarism, and I haven't weighed in on any of them, as I really don't like all this blogger conflict etc... However, in this instance, I will say that it's all gone too far when emails like this start showing up on an author's blog.
Thanks for that, Kristi. I am going to delete your post just to eliminate pointing it out but I didn't even make the connection. Hell, I know who it was and I didn't even make it. What a shit he is for doing that. I dislike him even more now for being so underhanded.
Simon, The Offender plagiarized book reviews off of a few different review sites, including Adele's Persnickety Snark.
I do not know who the offender is, but it seems they realize what they did was wrong, removed the copied material, etc. What they did was absolutely wrong but if they have stopped doing it there is no need to be so publicly nasty to the person. They didn't murder someone. They did something wrong which they have admitted to and tried to correct. I do not agree with publicly bashing people unless they have done something absolutely horrific or refused to stop their behavior.
What really gets me is how she was treated by him even though she's truly repentant. For one, the fact that she's so repentant and understanding of the punishment definitely demonstrates a strength of character and maturity, even though she initially made some very poor decisions.
The fact that this author is so harsh to her and relishes it disgusts me.
Donna-
I think i might have been trying to delete it at the same time you did. Thank you though.
I do have to say, that yes, what was done was wrong (the plagiarism), but honestly I am ready to move on. the post (the authors) was way out of hand. I agree ith Jenny. I am physically exhausted from all the recent negativity. I think I'm just going to go crawl in my own little dark hole now. let me know when it's over.
Plagiarism is not good, any way that you look at it. It's just not cool to swipe someone's words and then claim them as your own but it's also not cool to bully the hell out of someone for something they did and already apologized for.
I read the letter that this author put up and if his intent was to make the plagiarist look like an idiot, he failed because all his post made clear was that he's an ass and thinks he's funny.
I don't know who this author is and I never heard of his book but by reading this post, I don't care to read books by someone who thinks it's cool to bully someone to get their point across.
I sincerely hope that the plagiarist isn't a teenager because with everything going on with bullies in schools, it scares me to think how this post could affect them.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
I completely agree with you. Plagiarism = bad, but Bullying = Just as bad, in my book. We need to remember that it happens more often than we think - even by people higher up the food chain. Your statement,
If she were a writer, her career would be destroyed. All it takes is just one time to be called a plagiarist and you're screwed.
is not always the case. Cassandra Claire's plagiarism back in 2001 in her very popular fanfiction - which managed to get her banned in from FF.net - is something people just don't... talk about any more. People just got over it, I guess. And I am pretty sure she isn't being bombarded with this level of hate mail on a daily basis.
People make mistakes. But if Kostakis is going to be sending Hate mail out to random bloggers, he might as well send it to his peers as well.
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Rowena, The Offender is a high school student.
Kay, I didn't know that about Cassandra Clare. Considering how derivative her books are, I'm not all that surprised. I knew she was a BNF (is that the right lettering?) but I didn't follow her. I'm surprised she was able to move beyond that. Maybe it was because it was fanfiction that helped.
She's in high school? Ugh, that makes him an even bigger shit.
I agree with you. I can't believe an author would do that. She didn't deserve that. And I think I know who it is after reading his post. Wow. I will not be picking up his book anytime soon.
Hi all,
I thought I'd drop by and not offer an explanation, but become part of this discussion.
First of all, I wanted to stress that I will *not* be sending a follow-up, that was just a bit of banter in a comments section. I have no intention of contacting the plagiarist ever again.
I feel strongly about plagiarism (obviously), and instead of simply making a post, I interacted with the subject matter the way I always do, through comedy and Chaser-esque pranks (Australians will know The Chaser). While you might not approve of it, or even find it all that funny, my primary audience did.
And yes, I wrote it as an "AUTHOR", but... that was my entire angle. Emailing as an author had the most comic potential - and honestly, it was just an opportunity for me to parody the process of liberally consulting one's thesaurus.
But yes, what I will say is, I did not know the plagiarist's age when I sent the email. That is something I should have investigated, and my response should have been different. But hindsight is always 20/20, and I'm not going to remove the blog post, because, as you say, when things disappear on the Internet, others can make them reappear.
The online community is a living, breathing thing. When you post a blog, you expect to, or at least, hope to become part of a larger conversation. Sometimes, people don't agree with you. You, blogging, is accepting that you are becoming part of a greater community, and sometimes, people don't agree with what you do or say. So, in the same way that the plagiarist had me responding, I accept that my blog post will be criticised, and responded to. It's part of being part of a greater community.
But, again, the Offender's age is an issue, and the post's tenor was an error on my part.
William
While, what The Offender did was a mistake, this author is just adding fuel to the fire. You would think with all the controversy that is surrounding bullying lately, that people would be a bit more compassionate. You would also think as an author of Young Adult books, that he would be mature enough to be setting an example for the younger generation. Personally, I think he is an ass. You can tell from his writting he is an arrogant prick, who is more concerned with trying to get comments on his blog, and promoting that book of his, then that of a person who made a mistake. She learned her lesson, I wonder if he will.
Just to add another element, it looks like the author is just barely out of his teens as well. Might explain a few things.
"I sincerely hope that the plagiarist isn't a teenager because with everything going on with bullies in schools, it scares me to think how this post could affect them."
I was thinking this too. Now that people are saying that she is a high school student I think this makes the author even more of a jerk...
two wrongs don't make a right.
I agree with you wholeheartedly - very well put and said. While I believe that it was right that bloggers rallied against plagiarism, the fact that her identity was kept (rest assured even I don't know her or her blog) and the attack was on what she had done rather than on herself personally, exbihits the kind of sensitivity that is necessary with this issue. Having said that, I believe that Mr Kostakis has attacked the person rather than act, which in the light of everything that you have said, is wrong by any standards. The fact that she was already down and repentant does not open a third party to attack her person much less gloat about it in an attempt to suppose himself superior.
I feel personally disgusted with Mr Kostakis' behaviour and I am with you in this issue. I would say maybe give him a second chance and the benefit of the doubt but it appears that the said author is gloating and smugly enjoying this bullying and I refuse to tolerate this. Hate mails send by authors to a wrong but already repentant high school kid? Very mature.
Sorry Mr Kostakis, the immature act by which you have handled your friend's issue completely deterred me from picking up your book.
Dear Offender,
After reading a zillion posts about you I'm a bit tired(sry offender, I want book posts back). Why? Well lets be honest, one out of ten people take bits and pieces and never notice they've done it because they think pieces do not count as plagiarizing. Pieces make a whole and it causes you to take more and more. You do the crime, you pay the time. Thats the fact. While the trust of your beloved readers will fade, knowledge about this topic will not. Reading and learning more about what you did wrong will help you so you won't do it again. This although is absofreakinglutly is bad but you will learn and grow from it. Just don't plagiarize on a college paper cause that will kick your behind for life. So, read up and educate yourself. Whether or not people will forgive you and move on is their issue. Trust will always be hard to gain once lost.
So Offender, my last words are these. Take a deep breath, apologize and if they (the readers, the person you plagiarized from) forgives you move on and learn from this. You still young and there is always time for change in life. If they don't then well Offender, give them time.
It doesn't mean I am for or against what you did. I'm just tired tired tired of all this stuff and I oh so dearly miss regular posts.
_________________________________
On the topic of bullying:
Have we not read about bullying in YA books to know that nothing good ever comes out of bullying? Have we not learn from Before We Fall by Lauren Oliver or all those other books written by wonderful authors who send only one main message is that bullying can really hurt someone mentally and sometimes physically.
Take a breather and know that the posts you put up can really hurt a persons feeling.
-For the love of Books
Donna,
This is a great post. I completely understand how people can be outraged by the plagiarism, especially the ones who were plagiarized. But like a lot of people have already said here, there IS a difference between punishment and unnecessary bullying. I think it's even worse that the bullying is coming from an author. Authors are people that most of the book blogging world look up to and respect, so being so directly attacked by someone who wasn't actually a victim of the original incident itself must make this girl feel absolutely awful. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should ignore what she did, but I think attacking her out of sheer spite is beneath us. I like to think that most of us are decent people, and that forgiveness IS a possibility. Granted, it will take a LOT of work for her to ever repair her name, and we (as a whole) might never trust her again. But I still think she deserves a chance to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch--this time, with her own voice. The fact that she is still in high school is another thing to consider. Honestly, how many of us have done things during our high school years that we regret doing? I would venture to say that most of us could point to at least one thing that we wished we hadn't done, even if it was minor. The point is, as a community, we should point out what she did wrong, let her know that we won't tolerate it, and move on. Mounting an initiative to completely destroy her is not necessary.
And after re-reading the post by the author, I'm afraid Library Lounge Lizard was right. I think he did out the blogger at the end.
Thanks for posting this.
You know, when I read his post last night, I thought it was funny, and I even commented as such. I guess it was my knee-jerk reaction to being annoyed by this whole issue. "Yeah, take that, plagiarizer!"
But thinking about it today, I have been realizing that it's not so funny. I admit, I don't know the identity of the person who did this, and it has gotten SO MUCH ATTENTION as of late. And as bloggers and writers, we are all very sensitive to our own intellectual property, so this touches a nerve to people in a way that other issues might not.
So, I didn't know that The Offender felt bad, or any of that, I really just got a "tee-hee" out of his post, without thinking about the fact that he might have actually sent this e-mail and the age/situation/etc of The Offender.
And I guess that's the big problem with bullying, isn't it? We think that someone "deserves it" in some way, and we don't stop to think about it any more than that, or think about the impact these actions will have on the person. I mean, here is a situation when a lot of the "big names" in the blogging community are getting stolen from. Everyone wants to rally behind them in support, but it causes that mob mentality, even on the internet. It's sad.
I feel bad now that I supported that initial post, and I admit that I gave it zero thought. I'm looking at his blog again, and it seems like he is understanding the consequences of his actions as well.
I'm hoping that this issue will resolve itself soon and become a good learning experience for the community. Again, thanks for posting this.
According to THE AUTHOR's comment above, it was supposed to be a joke . . . wow . . . that's right up there with dead baby jokes, dude. Congrats. You KILLED!
Okay, this is all the energy I'm going to put into this:
I attack someone anonymously (yes, the unsubtle reference was removed), and you didn't email me, or post anonymously, you put up a noble blog post, with my name, and my blog, and invited others to comment it.
Thank you for stopping online bullying!
I'm not excusing my actions, but stop pretending like leading the mob isn't just a LITTLE fun when it suits you. I have expressed my remorse, acknowledged the major fuck up on my part, but it was a fuck up that didn't TARGET ANYONE. IT WAS DIRECTED AT AN ANONYMOUS TARGET FOR A LIMITED AUDIENCE. THE MORE YOU POSTED, AND THE MORE YOU COMMENTED, THE MORE OBVIOUS THE TARGET WAS, AND THE BIGGER FUCK UP YOU MADE IT.
Forget any 'victimisation' of me, I'm in the wrong. But is that justification enough? The plagiarist was in the wrong too.
I'd start spewing suicide statistics, but it won't kill me. It will make me reconsider my tact, and it will make me grow into a better person. That's what criticism does, in all its forms. Sometimes, it isn't bullying. What bullying is all boils down to perspective - and again, while I'm not playing the victim or excusing my actions, have a look at what's happening. Multiply the comments by 6 and you have the emails.
Again, I fucked up. I probably deserve this. No, I DO deserve this. But don't act like you're saving the world from online bullying.
Three words only.
What. A. Jerk.
Sorry, how is your post any different to what Will did?
Will never EVER posted who it was that was the alleged plagirist...
You however have not only made his name public, but included a link to his blog and are pretty much encouraging people to promote a sustained attack on him.
What you are doing is so much worse, because you are naming him.
William has admitted that his post was in bad taste - further to this, he also said that he had no idea that the blogger was a minor. He has apologised for his actions.
Bullying by definition is a sustained attack over a period of time. This was a one off e-mail that was sent in bad taste.
You mentioned at the end of the post that you wanted to keep mudslinging out of this, yet you have allowed so many defamatory comments to be posted.
In the same article that you have derided Will for a one off e-mail, you have linked his actions to people who have committed suicide as a result of online bullying.
If I were Will, I would be considering what legal action to take .
Again - Bullying is a repeated action. William's post was a one off e-mail and has not been sustained in any way, shape or form.
Bullying is not on - but quite frankly, by continuing this debate, linking to William's Blog and furthering the discussion, in my opinion you are making this situation so much worse.
Did I mention you are making this so much worse? hahaha
*note to self: re-read what you post first*
:P
And sorry to make three posts in a row...
But just a question...
You have mentioned that William is only 20... So he is still relatively young...
How would you feel if you made a funny joke, but it went bad, and then someone dedicated a whole blog post to attacking him for something which he cannot 'take back' - even threatening him by saying you have kept a copy of the post.
I'm sure William is probably feeling incredibly sh*t right now - and every time someone new posts on here, it's like digging a dagger into attacking him. Everyone is doing exactly the same thing...
I just hope your posts don't encourage him to do something rash.
William - if you are reading this... As I posted on your blog to the 'offender'. Take what you can from this situation, learn, hold your head up high and move on.
Oh *le sigh*
I'm not pretending to do anything but to bring light to an inexcusable action. It's okay when the crack is posted on a supposedly small website with "limited" readership but when the same exact thing is brought to light on a site with a larger readership, it's somehow not okay? The internet has all of the same readers. Once it's out there, it's out there for anyone to find so why should I be held responsible for merely linking to a perfectly public website? Anyone could have done it. An even bigger blogger could have done the same exact thing. Would it have been their fault too? Next time, considering password protecting it would have been better, or just not posting at all. While THE AUTHOR has admitted personal responsibility, don't you dare turn this on me and attempt to make it my fault for making it worse. As if it was okay just how it was. I'm not the one that sent a teenager a callous, insensitive email. I'm not the one that posted it on my blog for all to read and gloated about it. I'm not the one that underhandedly EXPOSED The Offender in that post. Oh yeah, he did. Many, many people noticed that outing. I didn't ask anyone to do that. THE AUTHOR did that of his own free will. Perhaps next time he'll think before he posts something; that's he's reaching a much larger audience than he expected. Such is the way of the internets. So all I'm seeing is someone that's half-assing personal responsibility and at the same time trying to fling it back around in someone else's face so as to get his own blame off of his shoulders. Sorry, but I'm smarter than that.
And James, as if the words "legal action" are enough to get me shaking. See, I'm SMRT. In the United States we have this little thing called the first amendment which protects every pretty little word on this blog. And in order to prove libel, it would have to be proven that what I said was FALSE (which it isn't, as so stated from THE AUTHOR'S own admittance) AND was damaging to his reputation. It can't be true and damaging as that doesn't really work. And since he did it to himself? That's like shooting yourself in the foot and then blaming the guy next to you. Nice try, but no.
And really, to pass of satire as a form of bullying as a means to excuse what you did? It's sad. When the majority of people fail to find the funny in the joke, it kind of fails the satire part.
And let's not use THE AUTHOR'S age as an excuse for his actions, okay? In his own country he's legally able to vote, drink and join the military. He's old enough to know better therefore age is irrelevant in his case. I love how age is only relevant when it serves the arguer's purpose.
And this blog post will be the last I make on the issue at hand. It's draining and I'd like to get back to what my blog is really about: book reviews. All I'm doing with this post is pointing out that the slinging against The Offender has gone too far. You're not Jay Leno and it's not a joke. And just because the majority of the comments don't agree with what THE AUTHOR said doesn't make them mudslinging. People think he's a jerk. They're entitled to their opinion. If they started in with threats of physical pain or the like, those would get deleted. Anything else, not so much.
If he wants to be able to dish it out on his blog, he needs to be able to handle the repercussions of his words. As a writer, he should be well aware of this already.
In short Will made it anonymous, you made it public. Further more, by linking to his post (that you allege outs whoever the original poster is) you are:
a) encouraging people to bully Will; and
b) encouraging people to find out who the plagarist is.
While I am not excusing what he did - you also need to keep in mind that your actions can have an equal 'bullying' affect on him.
As you mentioned, people are entitled to their opinion. But sometimes - repeated condoning of 'emotional abuse' can result in just as much harm. At the end of the day - that's what online bullying is about.
Just remember that William is a person in all of this too. He has just as many feelings as the plagarist.
There wasn't ANY need to be over the top and name and shame him.
Especially when he has been so remorseful.
Sigh, unfortunately now that I think of it he probably did give away who it was.
I just posted over at the YAAAB FB page. Everyone needs to calm down and realize that book bloggers do not get paid. They don’t get advances or salaries or perks. They do it out of their love of literature. Why needlessly hurt the people who take time out of their busy lives and review OUR BOOKS? I would be praising them, not mocking them.
That said, the YA authors, bloggers, reviewers, etc. are supposed to be setting AN EXAMPLE for teens. They are looking to us for solutions, not for examples on how to bully or be bullied. Can we all just let this go and think about the bigger picture? Please?
Oh I just can't refuse a good debate. LOL...for the record, I never said or thought the author was a jerk, I said I personally thought he was an ass and I am sticking to it.
There is a difference in the issues here. First, "The Offender" might have plagiarized, but she didn't INTENTLY seek out to harm or embarrass someone. Unlike the above mentoned author, who not only harrassed her in the email, but announced it to the world with malicious intent for his own gain, then turned around and gloated about it.
Second, the author was only apologetic after being called out within the blogverse. If it wasn't posted here, I fully believe that there would never have been an apology and that it would have continued. My reasoning is, because looking at the comment area of his own blog, when it was mentioned then, that it wasn't right, he pretty much blew it off and thank all - what 5 people- who thought his malicious post was great. So, James, get off your sanctimonious high horse and let it go. Is he a friend of yours?
Just so you don't accuse me of bullying, as you seemed to be determined to turn it around and away from your friend, I am not bullying anyone. I am posting my point of veiw which is within my legal right. As for using his age as an excuse. He is considered an adult, regardless if he doesn't act like one. If anyone brought shame, it was him to himself. He is the adult, he should be setting the example.
After reading Megan's comments, and James's, and thought about it a little more, maybe it's time to lock the comments. I know I could argue in circles for eons about I'm right, you're wrong, you're right, I'm wrong and so on. Even something with the best of intentions can end up stepping on a hornet's nest sometimes. While I'm not regretting my post (as I regret nothing in life), I feel that leaving the comments open just leaves the wound open and it's something that really should close. I'll admit my part in keeping it open and I'll delete the comment I just made just so people don't think I gave myself the last word and then locked the comments.
I apologize to Will if he felt bullied as that was never my intention. I just wanted to bring to light something that had possibly gone too far and discuss it in an intelligent manner. I also apologize to The Offender if anything I said, or inadvertently led to, caused any undue harm. My intentions were to help, not hurt.
I still have my (very strong) opinions, and everyone else still has theirs but at the end of the day we're all at fault for making the drama continue and are all to thank for when it finally ends.
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