#plagerism

[violottie]

WE ARE SO BACK

[cookies-in-chees]

the most insaine lie that James Somerton told wasn't anything about plagiarism it was the idea that women/fujoshis don't want to see 2 dudes having crazy weird sex

[lets-steal-an-archive]

TL;DR he's only sorry he got caught

[0sbrain]

HE HAS BEEN AWAKENED

(posted on 26-2-24)

[msbluebell]

How We Fall For People Like James Somerton

We're all joking, but this James Somerton thing has me really fucked up.

I wasn't a huge fan of James. I saw a few of his videos and liked them. In the ones I saw he was calm and explained things straightforwardly and even the one or two times he said things against white women...well, that's language I've been seeing on Tumblr since I joined back in my tweenage years. I thought it was just a dismissive joke pointing out a frank reality.

I didn't watch him too much. Just a few videos. I kept meaning to watch more, but I didn't because sometimes I wanted something easier. But I regarded him sell because of how informed he seemed.

And that's the thing, isn't it? He SEEMED informed. He spoke confidently and sometimes quoted queer sounding articles and I trusted him blindly. And why? Because he was giving me information that SEEMED well researched.

Illumanaughtii too. I WAS a consistent fan of hers before other youtubers came out. Because she presented information really well and I like hand drawn characters and because she read academic sounding quotes. I trusted her and her information was stollen. And I feel like a fool for ever having trusted her now, but at least her stollen facts were apparently accurate. Maybe.

James though, he straight up lied. Todd in the Shadows went through a lot of effort to expose those lies. He did so much research that I didn't bother to do. And he admitted he only did it because he happened to know people more informed than him that noticed the lies and went down a rabbit hole.

And maybe if I was more involved I would have noticed. But that's beside the point. what's getting me is I didn't bother to check myself, I just blindly trusted.

And the worst part is I can see why it happened.

I work.

I work, and then I get home, and when I get home I stress. I stress about work I have to do tomorrow, or classes, or finding a new job that actually pays a livable wage. And to escape that stress I go online to AO3, or tumblr, but especially Youtube.

Because I like youtube, I like to have noise in the background while I work. I like to listen to things while I read. And some of the time it's ASMR videos, or watching someone cook something. But mostly? It's history things or video essays.

And when I'm working, or reading, I'll hear a fact, and I'll look up, and I'll think "Huh, that's interesting to know, I didn't know that." And I won't think anything about it.

Because I'm busy, or I'm tired. I'm tired from work, and I don't want to do more work. Or sometimes it's mental health. This is my coping mechanism. I'm trying to learn things, do something to distract myself. I'm not looking to disprove things.

In other words I'm lazy. Or, if I'm being kind to myself, I'm tired.

Maybe if the topic was something I was an expert in I would have noticed. I'm a former ballerina, I'm a failed history major dropout. Maybe if he'd said something like "Holodomor never happened" or "Boudica is a Finnish folk hero" I'd have noticed. Maybe.

But he didn't, and I didn't notice. I assumed he did the work, and why?

Because surely a gay man wouldn't spend hours on youtube talking about Queer history if he wasn't passionate. Because he, a queer man, would surely know about queer history. Surely he wouldn't want to spread lies and hate. And he's quoting from books and articles so why wouldn't I trust him?

My trust was blind and unfounded.

And now I'm reeling from that. I'm reeling because I'm starting to feel like I can't trust a lot of people. How can I listen to any Youtuber casually now?

I can't, I never should have assumed I could.

Now every informative video feels like I need to do tens of hours of research just to be sure what I'm hearing is true. I feel like I can't trust anything unless I do.

James Somerton took my trust.

And it's not only that either. That's not what scares me the most. It's that there are THOUSANDS of people like me. Millions like me. Who are learning something from a video or a tweet or a tumblr post from someone they assume is an expert and are blindly trusting because they assume they can trust it. They don't intend to do their own research because they're tired, or don't know how. And that scars me. I was a history major, I studied tyrants and misinformation and the rise of propaganda, and I, with all my tools to notice, was still blind.

You cannot blindly trust a video, you cannot blindly trust a tweet, you especially cannot blindly trust a tumblr post.

YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPOGANDA

[vaniloqu3nce]

Wednesday, crossing her arms: You are being very hurtful right now.

Enid: I just want to know why you’re here—

Wednesday, literally sitting in her lap: We’re best friends. What if they’re malicious?

Enid, looking across the table at her Tinder date: I’m so sorry.

Wednesday: Oh we’re leaving already I wanted to try their appetizers?

Enid, already dragging her out the door: Can’t you stalk me from far away like a normal person?

Wednesday: I resent the idea of normal, Enid.

Inspired by @caitlynsdog

[sugimoriedits]

Lol Palworld really thought they could copy Pokémon's homework and get away with it

[kenniex2]

A THIRD PLANE HAS HIT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

[itsbansheebitch]

The man, the myth, the legend

Friends and enemies, I present: the award winning investigator, prolific journalist, and conspiracy debunker, Brian Deer

You can watch the documentary he got sued over (he won) on YouTube for free:

[lokisgoodgirl]

Wattpad ✊🏻

Helloooo... so due to this I've made a Wattpad. You can find my wattpad HERE If you're already on it, I would appreciate a little follow to make me seem legit (which I guess, I am!). And hey, there's a folder of some greatest hits if you fancy a trip down memory lane 😆 Don't get too excited, it's all old stuff. However - I got intel that complaints from writers on the platform are taken more seriously than readers, so I'm basically attempting to help boot whatsherface off and/or get our stories back. (° ʖ °)╭∩╮ I have a list of the URLs of "her" fics and yours if you're affected. If you find one, feel free to PM me and I'll add it. Edit - the above situ has been resolved - yay! ❤️❤️xx

@meowmeow-motherfucker @littledark11 @simplyholl @fictive-sl0th @foxherder @thedistractedagglomeration @loopsisloops @glitchquake @holdmytesseract @jaidenhawke @silverfire475 @fandxmslxt69 @morriggannlostinfandoms @marygoddessofmischief @thevillainswhore @wheredafandomat @mistress-ofmagic @acidcasualties @kikster606 @tbhiddlestan83 @trickster-maiden @skymoonandstardust @justjoanne242 @ladyofthestayingpower @smolvenger @kaleenjackson @kellatron55 @icytrickster17 @buttercupcookies-blog @mrs-illyrian-baby @anukulee @presidentlokis-hornyhelmet @girlwthecurls @superficialdomina @ohboyanotherlokiblog @ijuststareatstuffhereok89 @holdmytesseract @divine-knight-hand

[silver-tongues-blog]

Hey internet, remember when hbomberguy made a 4 hour video on why plagerism is bad and everyone agrees that plagerism sucks? Just asking for no reason

anywho, anyone here play palworld?

totally doesnt look like a recolour of anything else

[ito-itonomen]

My work got stolen and plagerized on ao3 again.

The culprit turned out to be a creep who tried to write me down as a co-author on his fic despite me having never met or spoken to him before.

After the first incident, I just rejected the co-author link and went on with my life.

Then he gifted me a work. I just deleted the email because I didn't want to encourage anything.

Turns out this was a mistake because last night I received a warning from a commenter that someone had posted a fic that was a straight copy and paste of my fic, What Big Claws, as well as the work of others.

The 'author' in question goes by the handle Nick_Uzamaki and the Fic is The Eda Daughter, which, sounds about as Ai generated as you would expect from a cheap copy of someone else's work.

I've left him a comment telling him off, but I thought I would let others know because this person has reportedly not only stolen my work but the work of others as well.

Provided below is a link to the fic in question, feel free to look up the rest of this poster's work to see if you or anyone you know has also had their work copied without permission.

[readingcutie]

Whenever I am writing an essay for school I have this imposter like syndrome (not imposter syndrome) where I am always wondering if I am plagiarizing one of my articles but it was so good that it gotten under my teacher’s noises or that all of my opinions come from the articles that I read or videos that I watch. The Hbomberguy came out with his plagiarism video and now that is basically cured because I am not James Somerton

[lilfrogfella]

the hbomberguy reddit has a collection of not only other creators james might have/probably had stolen from, but a bunch of other queer creators who don't disguise their transmisogyny, biphobia, aphobia, racism and blatant sexism behind a thin veneer of activism

rowan ellis made a tiktok about being a potential victim. i'm sure there are so so many other creators who woke up to being notified their work was potentially stolen to prop up someone who made more in a month then some creators make in a year.

and what truly breaks my heart is that there are so many publications and creators who have either passed or not interact with the internet entirely who will never know their work was stolen, and i know this has been repeated over and over, but i honestly don't care if i'm the thousandth to say this. the horror and shock is overwhelming.

but seriously! go check out all these amazing creators highlighted - not just those at the end of the video but those on the reddit page as well!

[weaselbeaselpants]

Lindsay Ellis plagiarized a ndn author

This post isn't a callout and it's only my own post because the OP source I just learned it from, @neechees, doesn't allow rbgs at a certain point on that post.

After Hmbomberguy's expose on Illuminaughtii and James Somerton some people are giving a well deserved eye back to the leftube sphere that was kind of schism-d and held under scrutiny in what I feel was, a lot of the time, misinformed hate campaigns in response to genuine criticism; especially towards Lindsay Ellis who up left after she was canceled and hasn't returned to continuous video making publicly even after people have mostly agreed the hatedom directed for her Raya and the Last Dragon takes was stupid and was erasing actual SEA people's discussions of the culture. To hear and see a decent breakdown of that film's representation problems BEYOND the Ellis-parts because it's worth your wild regardless of if you've seen the movie, please watch the three part video series hosted by Xiran Jay Zhao.

To tl;dr the 2021 drama: people have held an ire towards Ellis for a long time feeling like her and her white-woman base talk over, steal, or just straight up don't apologize for their own racism towards women and ppl of color, and after Lindsay did a problematic by pointing out that Raya and the Last Dragon was like ATLA, people jumped on her.

Being both a longtime fan of Ellis and white as fucc, I personally feel like Lindsay kind of forgave herself and threw out the actual criticisms held against her every bit as much as people just kind of treated her like a punching bag. Or, to paraphrase @padawan-historian's old takes from then, they treated Lindsay like she was trying to be the ENTIRE conversation, not the start of one, and like every possible outcome that could happen over her videos was her fault personally. Some of Lindsay's loudest and nastiest 'critics' were, in fact, other white people or just people who have no good faith in addressing her fuck ups, like Lily Orchard, fe.

One 'Lindsay did a racism'point tho that I felt wasn't truly addressed in full though were claims by indigenous people that she was anti-native, especially in her videos about Twilight and Pocahontas, which yeah at the time I was very passive of you can 100% find post abt that. But then Neechees linked me to an article I, and I think a lot of other video essay-fans had never seen before. This article accused Lindsay of stealing half of her talking points on Disney's Pocahontas from theirs.

When people on the breadtube spectrum talk of Lindsay, even people who criticized her at the time. all kind of agree that the intensity of the backlash was uncalled for and, while not everyone agrees if her public silence is a 'canceling' or not, agree with her need to just take care of herself these days. For those curious, this is the article making this claim:

I am not saying you need to all unfollow and hate everything Lindsay ever touched, mkay? But I also genuinely hope that Lindsay addresses this+comes clean because holy fuck. Unlike Somerton, all I can tell you is I don't just 'believe Windsey wouldn't hurt nobody uwu~'. I am pretty certain that Lindsay care about the topics she covers, for whatever that's worth to say as another whiteperson. It's just that, like Contrapoints, I ALSO think she has a tendency to deflect criticism within that sphere and lump all her negative bagage together. This really sucks cuz not all of us are Lily Orchards or Vaush clones.

Most of us are/were casual watchers of Lindsay like we are Hbomber, Contra, Lady Emily, Folding Ideas, and ToddintheShadows (does he count as leftube idk?) and we really, genuinely don't want to believe that Lindsay stole from + refuses to listen to women of color when they call her out.

Where I like almost everyone in the leftoob analyst sphere that's ever growing and hopefully now weeding out Illumanaughtii-s and Sommerton-s of the world, there ARE controversies within the space that I don't agree with creators on. Some are dumb things like the exact takes Lindsay has about movies n shows that I just up and disagree with her on, Princess Weekes' proshipping apologia that I have LOTS of thoughts on. However, some matters are clearly personal and about maters that just don't involve me. Earlier this year, Folding Ideas and Lady Emily ctrl+alt+deleted some replies they made to Quinton Reviews, making clear that they very much still dislike him based on something that happened between Quinton, Lindsay and I think SarahZ. And by "dislike", I mean also still believeing his former editor over him on who was boundary pushing about who in their relationship. On the offchance any of those creators or their stans somehow see this, know that I'm not going to tell any of you guys how to feel about whatever Quinton did in private I'm not aware of; it's just that I also happen to believe Quinton on this issue and I don't like the guiltybyassociation mantra.

>>>>side note: I hate that every time someone says "I believe so and so after hearing their side now" ppl jump on the "you were just a stan from the beginning and never actually able to listen"-bs. Yeah, being more familiar with one creator over the other means there's bias, sure, but I kinda hate that that once held bias means you can't be held as any kind of source or form your own opinions. <<<

Big introvert vibes ahead: the thing about any big social circle of better-spoken people than you is they ALL seem like a scary meangirl's table from outside looking in. The kind that'll send goons after you with passive-aggressive "this is slander against me and I have the right to be upset abt it sorry if the stans eat you alive". They can also be made out by their fans to be harmless internet nobody's who YOU are at fault for getting mad and staying mad at cuz it's not like it matters on the internet and are clearly just out for drama and 'twofaced' yourself. I think the reality is the same thing that drives every community forward as well as drives them apart: these people are legitimate friends. They stick up for each other the same way we stick up for our personal internet friends whenever there's shit coming their way. The breadtube circle, whoever that is at this point, clearly know some shit we don't about themselves as much as they don't know shit about us and our true intentions. One of them has a platform and responsibility, where the other has power in masses and following them or not. We gotta all make the choices best for us.

Anyway. I guess, if any of the stuff about Lindsay ripping off that writer IS true, I really hope that she admits and apologizes for it. That's not cool to do to her indigenous audience, or even me, one of her white fans who expects actually allyship.