It is with great dismay that I have learned a user here has plagiarized my writing.
I created this original post last night on Open Salon:
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=57673
A user here read this story on Match Doctor this morning and thought it didn't sound like the rest of this "author's" writing. She did a text search and found my article, then notified me of the plagiarism. I had to create an account here to confront the plagiarist and to alert the System Administrators.
Note how this user has substituted her name for mine, unable to sufficiently rewrite the text or alter any other details:
http://www.matchdoctor.com/blog_99576/IT_S_CHRISTMASTIME_-_THINK_ABOUT_YOUR_ELDERLY_NEIGHBORS.html (UPDATE: user has deleted her account and removed the blog post in question.)
I'm a freelance writer, and writing is my sole source of income. I build my resume and establish my credentials based on my writing. To find that someone else is using my original work as their own is discouraging, to say the least. After the fury, shock, and hurt to realize that I had been ripped off, my next concern was with how many other random authors this user has plagiarized. There are many talented authors on the Web, all of them expressing their unique experiences, and people like this user can do no better than to rip off their hard work and claim it for their own in the hopes of garnering esteem and admiration from others.
Surely, no one can approve of this practice. Everyone must understand how wrong it is to steal someone else's work. On every level, everyone must see the injustice of this practice. (UPDATE: It was wrong for me to ask anyone to approach this user with their concerns. The issue was between me and the forum mods.)
[slight mod edit to remove the name, however the message may apply to others and other written works and they'll refrain from literary theft. sorry this happened, sir. as you know, we don't condone that practice.  ]
UPDATE: Point taken, mods. Keep up the good work.
Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)
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read more blogs!
Blogs by sxoidmal:
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| On the Trail of a Plagiarist |
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kywonder
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Dec 7 @ 2:35PM
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I am sorry that you had your work stolen. But I would like to tell you that your writing is beautiful and I loved the story.
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MrPaul
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Dec 7 @ 2:56PM
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 Yes she should have given you credit for your work  But I dont think it was done with malice or to deprive you of anything  I'm sorry you feel so angry and bitter.  As I see it the intent was to get people to open their eyes to those around them and to show more sympathy and caring.  While this should be year round. People seem to be more open to helping, and caring for others during the Xmas season. God bless, Paul
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Blondino
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Dec 7 @ 2:58PM
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http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=22635
and
http://www.matchdoctor.com/blog_95563/THE_JOKER_IS_McBUSH_Oops_McCain.html
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Peabianjay
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Dec 7 @ 3:02PM
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Such a shame, when it would've been SO easy to simply give you credit for the piece in the first place. Or provide a link. Hell, even "anonymous" would've been better.
I trust the MD folks will address the situation quickly.
(Fact is, though your claim sounds valid, I don't wanna be part of a "witch hunt", either. The situation should be left to the "powers that be".)
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Skydognc
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Dec 7 @ 3:04PM
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most excellent that you came here and posted this, Thank you !
Nobody likes a phony.
I like how you left a trail yourself to back up your claims, well done!
In the forum area, at the bottom there is an area to complain to management for abuse. I think you should copy and paste portions of this in that area so "her" theft will reach the proper authorities and be pulled, and appropriate action taken.
There are awesome writers on this site ( by which I am not one) , and this not only insults you , but them as well.
Good luck with your hunt !
Sky.......
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Tiramisu4u
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Dec 7 @ 3:09PM
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*dittos kywonder ^^^^..... 
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missliss78
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Dec 7 @ 3:27PM
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What a shame.
I am no great writer myself, though I do truly admire anyone who possesses the talent. I hope you reap some sort of satisfaction from this.
What I don't understand is WHY people do this. Yes, she could easily have posted the blog, giving you credit...as well as the others she has stolen & posted as her own. I'll surely never forget this whenever I see her post here again.
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lazareth
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Dec 7 @ 3:34PM
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But I dont think it was done with malice or to deprive you of anything
As she states in one of her blogs about being a published writer, she should know the meaning of plagiarism. And by all means should give credit where credit is due.
it's sickening. And I would be angry as well.....
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alivenwell351
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Dec 7 @ 3:43PM
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With all due respect to Mr, Paul, he is dead wrong.
You have every right to feel ripped off, and kudos to you for bringing it to light. As you said it's not just about you...it's about others' hard work & creativity that's been ripped off too, by her and by others. It's ALWAYS been a "law" that others work is given it's proper credit when used on here. Most do, but you get a nasty like this "lady" every so often who don't, trying to appear cool and thus feeling like they're something, which they aren't!!...
Calling her on it in no uncertain terms was a good thing on your part to do. Hopefully it will sink in to others who do the same thing...
And that's what this whole thing is all about.
Thank you!!
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scorpiogirl36
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Dec 7 @ 4:06PM
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I have a question...what would identify this blog as any more yours as hers?
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PsychoMagnet
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Dec 7 @ 4:17PM
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Surely, no one can approve of this practice.
I certainly do not.
Please let RomanticLibra106/Marilyn know how you feel about plagiarism, and about using someone else's work to make her appear to be a nobler person than she is.
I certainly will not. Someone from here was good enough to contact you and the mods have allowed you to call her out publicly. It is absolutely none of my business. Asking other bloggers to harass her seems less than noble to me.
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summerbreeze916
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Dec 7 @ 4:21PM
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Thank you again so much, Christian, for bringing this to our attention. To you and for YOUR blog......I give to you a kudo........... 
Dang it......I gave her a kudo!
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jayej
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Dec 7 @ 4:23PM
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But I dont think it was done with malice or to deprive you of anything As she states in one of her blogs about being a published writer, she should know the meaning of plagiarism. And by all means should give credit where credit is due. it's sickening. And I would be angry as well.....
If you really want to be a published writer than someone elses' work is sacred.
Makes you wonder when this is said about the book she wrote...
I have a lot of stories - some humorous - some not so humorous. Of course the names have been changed How much more than the names got changed?
J
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imlost2
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Dec 7 @ 7:59PM
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I don't agree with someone who copies another's work, but maybe she just wanted to get information out there and didn't think to give the credit like it should. We've had blogs like this before. On the other hand, with so many fake profiles, how can we be sure that sxoidmal is not some person who has it out for Libra and is just being mean because she/he was aware of where Libra got her information from and noticed too that she didn't give the correct credit? I don't mean to belittle your position or your blog sxoidmal one bit, but we've had our share of scam artists believe me. Have you written to her and asked her yourself? I think this should have been done and you might have gotten the answers you were looking for before posting this blog. It could have been one big horrible mistake. The sincerest form of flattery is when someone copies you. I need to repeat however, I do not agree with plagiarism, I just think there might be a mistake. I like to give ppl the benefit of the doubt. Take care Lost
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chatillion
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Dec 7 @ 8:00PM
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scorpiogirl36 said:
I have a question...what would identify this blog as any more yours as hers?
Quickly scanning open salon,Christian's post is marked DECEMBER 6, 2008 11:52PM
RomanticLibra106's blog was posted 12/7/2008 11:07:08 AM
Incidentally, referenced blog has now been deleted.
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PullMyFinger
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Dec 7 @ 8:12PM
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Publishing oneself isn't being a published writer by the way...This romanticlibra thing is just a thief, plain and simple. You can spin it any way you'd like, but she just walked into this gentleman's home and lifted his work, calmly walking out the door with it tucked under her arm.
She should be removed from this site and banned for eternity. It's a disgusting practice that I myself have been a victim of. I feel your disgust.
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Fender
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Dec 7 @ 9:21PM
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I'm kinda hoping she did it by mistake...Although I know that's impossible. It's just my sickening hope to see some good in people.
...Being copied sucks. And that's all there is too it. Having someone else take credit for your thoughts...It's just not right. I have noticed whatever she had written was deleted so I am assuming you are 100% right with the information you've posted here.
Sad to say though, she isn't the first and won't be the last.
...I had someone copy my blogs and bring them to another site. It only happened twice that I know of but I was mad as hell about it. Mind you the mindless drivel I spout takes a few minutes to type up, yet it's my drivel. It belongs to me.
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whiteghost672
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Dec 7 @ 10:12PM
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She has been removed from the site. Looking up her account it says "User has cancelled their account or does not exist!"
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travelwoman
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Dec 8 @ 12:22AM
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Some people make "things".
Writers "make" written "things".
If somebody would take a "thing" from a thing-maker, s/he would be a thief. No matter where the thing-maker had his thing: in his house, his yard, someplace else. It was still the thing s/he made and had his/her name on it.
Copying somebody's writing and passing it as one's own is theft, too. That simple.
RomanticLibre knew better than to post something she copied from somebody else without giving him credit.
And what kept her from writing about the interesting article, maybe quoting a couple of sentences in quote-marks, and then inserting the link to the original article, signed by the original author? She would have still had a nice blog and the attention she's apparently been seeking, and the author would have had many "hits" on his web-site and on his article....
But no, she had to steal it and pretend it's her own...
Very deceiving...
I'm glad she's gone... 
BTW.... the original article is very good... 
.
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bardnsage
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Dec 8 @ 12:45AM
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copyright
patent pending
patented
registered trademark
All designed to protect your orginal work. If you don't use it, and post it in a public forum, or sell it at a flea market,,,,
you don't get to bitch too much about someone stealing it.
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sxoidmal
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Dec 8 @ 1:01AM
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bardnsage: That's not quite accurate. Posting your writing on your blog or in a public forum are considered publishing your work and such work is protected under copyright law. If you have any question about that, please speak to a literary agent or a publisher and see how they feel about it. There are many consumer and trade magazines that will not accept a submission if it has appeared somewhere else first, like another magazine, a blog, a personal Web site, or even a dating community.
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albertafire
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Dec 8 @ 1:18AM
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i just read your post,,
wonderful story,
and yes, makes one think..
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Novalite
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Dec 8 @ 3:02AM
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"Your comment will wait for approval"
I speak freely and, believe that if you don't advocate free thought and speech then I won't bother. I was going to say something positive but never mind. Keep your closed blog to yourself.
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funisnumber1
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Dec 8 @ 7:51AM
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^^ sxoidmal you are correct.
Trademarks and Patents require thorough research and filing with the federal government, at a significant cost in time and money. Advertisers use this frequently because the cost of loss of identity investment in involved with infringement can also be significant and they have intellectual property that involves this kind of protection. Trademarks usually only pertain to logos, phrases, and taglines/sluglines, not to entire bodies of work. Patents apply to items that are more tactile in nature and therefore not applicable to written word per se. See the ASCAP website for their full definitions.
In addition, all that using a copyright protection on your work does is allow you a legal recourse if another uses it to make money. You can prove you intended this work to have protections that require YOU to give permission to use it again. Anyone can use a copyright text or symbol on their original work indicating such. No Feds required. You still have to do your due dilligences and catch people in the act. Even with a copyright tag, a poster/user only needs to give you full and due credit for your work to avoid plaigerism claims if they're not trying to make money on your work.
If you publish work that you don't mind being used in cited sources or even republished and you don't use a copyright, then you should ensure that your name, date and time are involved in the body of work.
Yes, **sob** I have lawyer friends. Don't hate me.
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EternalFlame
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Dec 8 @ 11:23AM
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Oh FFS Nova, sxoidmal is brand new on this site, and 'wait for approval' is the DEFAULT blog setting. I'm sure he doesn't yet know how to change it. Give him a break.
Sx, thank you for calling out yet another plagiarist on this site. I called one out not long ago, and was attacked for it, chastised, and blasted in both blog comments and email...not only by the plagiarist, but by her supporters. I was floored, appalled, and disgusted that people would actually support someone in stealing another's work.
Now my original poetry and writings no longer appear on this site...all I post here is what I call "Fluff-n-Stuff". It's all crap that I don't care about. The stuff I care about goes on another site, where it's all password protected, and only people I greatly trust can read my blogs there.
I'm sorry your first MD experience was with a person of this sort. I'm hoping you stick around and get to know the many wonderful members of this community that would never dream of doing what was done to you.
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maxximuss1967
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Dec 8 @ 11:59AM
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The blogg world on here is a world of make believe, fake photos, names, Maried people playing single, it is no wonder we have a fake writer as well, I would not be so upset. To copy ones art is the highest compliment, but to sighn ones art as your own...not cool! Welcome! and feel free to write somthing for us to enjoy! A professionaly writen piece of substance would be refreshing from the normal silly blogs (mine included) that we normaly post on here? 
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hello4sue
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Dec 8 @ 2:03PM
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Thank you MODS for removing the target's name and not encouraging ridicule of members. There are ALWAYS two sides to a story and having only one side here, its seems a bit off. Just seems there could have been a better way to handle this then blasting someone in blog or forum, at least after trying to resolve it another way (private email, reporting to mods, asking the copied blog to be removed or credited to it's proper source). I don't know either party and am not taking sides, just saying that this common practice of accusing others in a public forum is an old game for adults to be playing.
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misschoos
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Dec 8 @ 3:29PM
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Excellent stuff.
I did doubt a few of the blogs posted from the person in question as she didn't appear to have the ability to write so well, based on her own blogs beforehand.
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