dexterpexter's Journal: A rant -- someone stole something from me

Note: This letter was constructed here as a way of letting off some steam, and has not and will not be sent. So, please note that the sarcasm and such that I speak with is only for my benefit here, and the actual letter I sent was addressed to the editor and was more on the level of "Someone posted content without permission, so please remove it." That said, I give you my rant:

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Dear inconsiderate college student,

I am quite flattered that you thought my piece of creative writing was good enough to claim as your own, even if I thought it one of the more vapid things I have written. I furthermore got a bit of a chuckle when I verified that over five hundred words were copy-and-pasted and claimed as your own, but that you didn't bother to retain the peculiar formatting that I chose; I suppose that you not only fail to understand the ramifications of plagiarism at the college level, but that you also fail to understand literary devices. I found it even more funny that you are a member of your university newspaper staff and still had the nerve to plagiarize, although it also makes me ill to think that you might pursue (and achieve) a career in journalism.

Some unfortunate characteristics I am cursed with are the following: I have a very unique writing style, I regularly check for violations of use of my written material, and I keep rigorous, dated records of what I write. I call this unfortunate because you have put me in a very difficult position. You are a college student with a semblance of an understanding for the importance of creative writing, seeing as you choose to contribute to your university newspaper under the Arts section. I am sure it your act was just a silly mistake--hopefully out of appreciation for my writing (as I would find that ever-so-flattering), but more likely because you were up late the night before your deadline and needed to contribute something, and figured no one would know--but it is an almost unforgivable one as you are poised to head out into the world, marketing yourself as a professional, despite your engaging in unprofessional behavior that, until now, was only known to yourself. Perhaps you feel bad for doing it, but I suppose I will never know for sure as regret is always plentiful when someone is caught. The difficult decision I am forced to consider is how to approach this. I have been advised to seek legal counsel, and have such at my disposal, but that wouldn't gain either of us anything, since plagiarism is rooted in the lack of acknowledging that it was not you who wrote said piece, and nothing but your own revelation can help us achieve this ethical nirvana anyways, so I am choosing to approach this casually. The damage is done and you are now published, enjoying the fruits of my labor; unfortunately, alerting your editor, the one contact I have, will likely win me one of three responses:

1) You will apologize, the work will be pulled offline, and a retraction will be printed in the next issue of the newspaper. No one will read the retraction, but a lesson will be learned, and hopefully we will end things amicably.
2) Your editor will not only respond, but will pursue disciplinary action against you. Some universities take plagiarism lightly, but others will enact a hand so heavy that you will likely ruin your career because of a stupid college mistake. It is my utmost hopes that it is not this response which comes to pass, as I understand mistakes.
3) I will be ignored. Frankly, this is the worst of the possible outcomes because, while I am laid-back about handling this and simply want you to learn this lesson now before you become one of "those people" whose ethics are so corrupt you can smell them, I will not stand for such an impasse to go unacknowledged. It is only then that I pursue my full options.

Seeing as you do not post your contact information online, I have been forced to contact your editor. With the possibly of #2 occurring, this has left me wrought with guilt. While I am flattered at the thought that you found one of my older pieces so worthy of stealing, my day has been ruined out of concern for you; somehow, that doesn't seem right...

Furthermore, not only did you steal my written word, you stole a bit of the confidence I have in letting a small piece of myself be open to the world, instead of letting it stagnate on my hard drive. My self-imposed worrying for your well being in righting this wrong has only added (true enough, by my own choice) insult to injury.

-dex

Bank it.

[BandwidthHog]

Since it sounds like you already have it documented thoroughly, simply ensure that you can conclusively prove it at any future point in time. Someone who does that once will likely do it again. That oughta remove any guilt you feel about possibility number two coming to pass.

Of course, some subtle taunting wouldn't be entirely out of line, either.

Friend, have you considered...

[ellem]

Violence?

Yes violence. Violence can solve any conflict. Any conflict not solved through violence can likely be solved by adding MORE violence.

Please consider violence to solve this conflict.

What is the piece?

[tmasssey]

Obviously, the piece is accessable; otherwise, they couldn't have stolen it. Do you care to tell us how we can access it?

*grovel*

[Ethelred Unraed]

I'M SORRY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN! I WAS...

Oh. You didn't name names. Er, I deplore plagiarism in all its forms and think the culprit should be shot.

Harrumph!

Cheers,

Ethelred
(who denies plagiarizing anything, except for Susie's test in third grade math, and I did my time for that, and I'm on the straight and narrow now, honest)

Lost: retirement opportunity

[nizo]

You forgot the best option: save this as future blackmail material, in the hopes that this person would become famous and you could use it to get monthly hush payments.