Imitation is NOT the Sincerest Form of Flattery
I’m annoyed and a bit pissed because Complex Magazine had a post on their site called “50 Funny Spelling Mistakes on Twitter.” Sound familiar to you? That’s because I have a website dedicated to catching the grammatically-challenged and overall foolish that happens on Twitter. It’s called DumbestTweets.com, and it’s over a year old. Also, I created a “25 Dumbest Tweets of 2010” post back in December 2011 and a “50 Dumbest Tweets of 2011“ post (well, 2 posts).
So, when I got hella tweets from folks yesterday with the link to Complex Mag’s post (which I didn’t link to here on purpose), I clicked on it expecting them to feature tweets I haven’t seen before. What do I see? SCREENSHOTS of tweets I’ve posted on this site AND Dumbest Tweets. With absolutely NO credit to me.
Oh?
*SCREECH*
Wayment. The people of Complex Magazine got the unmitigated gall to not only steal my idea, but they were lazy as all the dambs and just saved 50 images from my site and create a crappy slideshow post. Then they uploaded it to the web and got thousands of hits. Off my gahtdamb work. And ALL they had to do was mention where these tweets come from. ALL. THEY. HAD. TO. DO.
This was bold, blatant, and daft.
I wanna fight the air. And them. What kinda foolishness is that?
This keeps happening and folks are always saying imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, yet I’m not flattered AT ALL. I’d only be flattered if they gave me credit and called me the genius that I am and said I was the awesomest person to ever be awesome. Or they could simply give a hat tip to where they got it. But right now? I am annoyed and frustrated about it. And I wish a plague of hacked pages on them. Because I’m petty and I feel scorned. They’re getting all these pageviews off me and I am not pleased.
And they should know better. They’re supposed to be a legit publication that supposedly has some journalistic integrity. So I’m disappointed that they’d be so ballsy about this. Was it an intern who did it? Even they should know. You give proper credit. Always. But NAWL.
Back in December, some joker ass joker created a video from my Dumbest Tweets list and never mentioned where he got it. He also used screenshots from my site. No credit. His video ended up on World Star Hip Hop, got over 90,000 views and no mention of me. And he had the nerve to actually feel like he did nothing wrong.
So YES I AM LIVID. Like a buffet owner when Rick Ross shows up.
These unoriginal classless wonders can’t find clever ways to get people to read their sites and that’s just unfortunate for them.
As a writer, my ideas and originality are what I hold near and dear to me. When people make money off my hard work, I wanna show up at their house and step all in their garden and kill their plants. Then I wanna kick all their trashcans down and flood their bathrooms. And then I shall end the rampage in my head by TPing their houses and having a dog crap on their lawn.
This is how I deal with the rage in my mind.
If you wanna flatter me, send me gifts, buy me shoes and tell me my locs are luxurious. DO NOT copy my work, my voice or my blog as a way to make me feel good.
So, do me a favor. Tweet @ComplexMag and tell them they should get original. If they can’t, the least they can do is #PayAMISH to the person they’re stealing from. It doesn’t take long to drop a link.
And while we’re at it, I DO IT BETTER, COMPLEX!
P.S. In case you missed it, check out my How to Protect Your Blog Content: Know Your Rights post. It’s clearly necessary.
Edit: One of Complex’s editors just emailed me to say they talked to the writer, who admitted they got those from my site. And they’ve now added a link to DumbestTweets.com in the intro of the post. Victory, I guess. Although most people who would have seen the post ALREADY HAVE! Since it’s a day old. All I do know is that I will never link to them (not that I had in the past). No Country for Complex Magazine.
But seriously. Folks gotta STOP doing shit like this. Just STOP.
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It is time to write that book. Come into The Book Academy and learn how to go from IDEA to INK.
22 Comments
This is pitiful! It seems like this is happening more and more these days. And when a supposedly legit pub is behind stealing someone’s work it’s quite sad. I don’t blame you for being LIVID. Your reaction is hilarious as to how you would cut up on them. To not site back and STEAL everything is just tacky.
Damn Damn Damn Complex!
This is horrible. The internet, while proving to be a bastion of creativity, has also provided a way for lazy idiots to appropriate such creativity as their own while foolishly thinking no one will notice. Get ’em.
You most certainly do it better; the captions they came up w/were lame as all hell. Ole unfunny ass fools. (-_-)
It’s getting to the point where you’re going to have to copyright your thoughts.
You handled it WELL!! I’d have cursed their moda, their fada, anybody else involved in their borning, and what’s more, I would have honestly consulted a jujuman to cast spells to shut down that site!—->not even kidding!
Plagiarism is THIEVING! And THIEVES should be behind bars. Even the mental kind of thieves like in the case of Complex. They are Tactlex!
Long time reader, first time poster. That was your ideal and they stole it from you. You have my support. Anything I can do to help you out on this one.
why folks gotta make EVERYTHING so hard???? not enough to keep ’em busy, i guess. seriously though, there was a discussion on #blogtrends about plagiarism just a couple of week ago. sad that some folks can’t be bothered to express their own ideas in their own voice. wonder if they talk like you also (in real life)?
This is so trifling! The fact that some extremely bright light bulb over at Complex felt it would be okay to just copy and paste pics without citing sources is some pure ree-GOT-damb-diculous crap. Even we rocket scientists know you have cite sources for evRAYthang (equations, pictures, AWLofit). I would help you at the office…dump out the shredder baskets and hole-punchers everywhere. Eff the rain. #MakeItSNOW!
Their little note is so half-assed: To create this list, we combed through sites like dumbtweets.com and dumbesttweets.com and compiled the most ridiculous errors for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
What they should have said is “After being put on blast by everyone, we were shamed into admitting that the person who ‘combed’ (read: went to one website and stole screenshot after screenshot)is a hack who couldn’t come up with his own material if he projectile-vomited alphabet soup onto paper. Please enjoy” Why do they do that? Why wouldn’t they take a sample for your site and say ‘To see more, go here’ and credit you proper but also not just reproduce your efforts? Luvvie, you handled yourself professionally, but they deserved to have the earrings come off.
Humph!, we may need to resurrect John Cochran to point them in the direction where the need to occupy all the seats. That is just TIYAHD and WACK!! I hope who ever you go in retainer is locking all your content down STAT
oops, meant ‘got on retainer’ … Steal DAT Complex…TIEF!!
Way to call them out, girl! Plagiarizing will not be tolerated.
That is beyond not cool. Boooooo Complex.
I don’t think they did enough to repair damage.
But I’ll chill.
Well at least, they admitted the plagiarism but still…it’s just so wrong. Sorry, Mama.
I just checked. As of 5/25/2012 4:16 am EST there’s no mention of you in the intro.
I just check too and there’s still no mention in the intro. I’m thinking they lied to you Luvvie.
I am so pissed for you! I love your dumbest tweets! Assholes.
Aww.hell.naws..( takes off earrings, applies Vaseline to face and neck; removes tips from a bobby pin) Sum body need some answers up in heah! Go get them! That ‘ish is SO not right, and the “explanation is not only half-hearted, but disingenuous.
THE “WRITER” OF THE “ARTICLE” OF COMPLEX MAGAZINE SHOULD BE FIRED AND ALSO COMPLEX NEEDS TO WRITE YOU A CHECK ASAP!
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