COPYCAT, COPYCAT WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
I"VE BEEN TO OTHER WEBSITES TO LOOK AT THE SCENE
COPYCAT, COPYCAT, WHAT DID YOU THERE
I COPIED A REVIEW, AND POSTED IT HERE
Today, I found a copied review here. A movie review on Amir Khan. Found it because the review was so good, the writer’s comments were not. Totally off in style, attitude, everything.
What is the deal with people who feel they must copy someone else’s review and post it here, claiming credit for it?
Do they not know how to write on their own ? Really, how hard is it to write your own opinion, never mind how good your writing skills are ? Even kindergarten kids can write "My Day at the Zoo" reviews.
But no, copycats not happy with just writing, THEY WANT APPLAUSE !! VUs!! "GOOD JOB" "EXCELLENT REVIEW"
What is going on in that plagiarist’s brain ? What’s the psychology ? I wanna ask - Does it make you feel good, to get applause for stealing someone else’s review? Are you nervous that your own writing is no good? How bad can you possibly be? Are you just another Opal Mehta lacking confidence in your own abilities? Come on now, this is not the place your writing has to be Booker Prize-worthy. Be yourself.
People think they will not be found out. After all, the internet is a huge place, right? Who is going to know if you copy something somewhere and post it here? even if one or two come to know, who cares ? they have probably forgottten the link where they read it. they cant prove anything, right?
WRONG ! there is a search engine for just that purpose, called COPYSCAPE.com. It shows you which other webpages on the internet have the same article/review. It is possible that in one or two cases, Copyscape may not return any results, depends on how good their search engine is. But if any links are returned, you’ve definitely got more than one place where the same article appears.
Goto this link https://copyscape.com, and in the search box, enter the link of the review that you suspect has been copied, and hit enter. Copyscape will search the internet for any entries that match. If the review is original, you should not get any results for the search.
If you get one or more results, here’s some more things you should check ...to be fair-minded.
Maybe the author also wrote the same thing on his own blog? Please check if the review is under the same name in MS. IF it is, its not copied, its the same author writing in both places.
If the other site or blog has a later date than the review in MS, maybe the other guy copied it from MS. Do check the dates to make sure, that the date in MS is later than the original article found through Copyscape.
If it is a copy, what can you do?
If it still looks like a copy from another source, enter a comment on the review about being copied, giving link to the original article, as a warning. If by some chance, they actually wrote it, they will respond back. If you wish, you can also inform the original article/blog writer about the copyright violation. This allows them to take action against Copycats.
DOES MOUTHSHUT CARE ?
It should. There is an email link copyright@mouthshut.com on the Contact Us page, which should be used to send copyright violation to Mouthshut admin. I wish they had given a form feedback kind of thing, but I understand the email link is better when a non-member of MS is reporting such violation. The offending review will be deleted by them, after checking.
(sorry I’m using a lot of shout-caps here :( it really gets my goat - this copying. And for what? No one is getting any prizes for writing. In one day, your review will be gone from the main list)
nono