For %&$#'s sake.For %&$#'s sake.Argh. Argh. Gnah. I can't believe what I'm about to type.
When I first made a homepage four years ago, when I first came to
college, I put a bunch of random stuff on it. (Like most people do.)
Included was a paper that at the time I was rather proud of, a 2500-
word ditty on a halfway obscure academic subject--women's suffrage, to
be exact. I don't know why I put it up. I thought others might be
interested. [1]
I also put up a notice on that page explicitly stating that I
considered all the writings on that page my intellectual property, they
were copyright of me, and if anyone wanted to reproduce or publicize
them, yada yada, they could very kindly email me to ask for permission.
Not long after, I actually began to get requests to use or reproduce
that paper.[2] I suppose at the time there wasn't a whole lot on the
web about that topic, and people were randomly finding my page on it.
I was befuddled but bemused as to why anyone would want to use *my*
paper (I wrote it in high school after all--HIGH SCHOOL, people!), but
I would grant permission because, hey, why not.
So, I'm going back into that topic for a research paper due next
week[3], I want to add about 5 to 10 pages worth of new material, so I
do a websearch on that topic. I wasn't terribly surprised to find my
own paper at the top of the list. I *was* quite surprised to find that
it wasn't my site, however.
So I click on the link...and my paper flashes up on the screen. Not a
link on that site to my paper, on my site, but my *paper*. The small
favor I can be thankful for is that at least it included my name. :P
And guess what site decided that my modest little paper was worthy of
full publication?
The Welsh Communist Party.
The FORKING Welsh FORKING Communist FORKING Party.
The page had little pictures of a hammer and sickle and everything.
I was...well, stunned is a good starter. Shocked. Aghast.
Disbelieving. Furious starts the next list. I know the web is built
for plagiarism and outright stealing (I've taken backgrounds and such
from other sites without pausing--but only if the site said it was okay
to do so), but I was really unprepared for the fact someone might take
my entire paper, without my permission, and just blatantly post it like
that. It's not like I was naive to the inherent crappiness of human
nature, but mostly I just didn't think the paper was good enough to be
stolen like that. :P
And the WELSH COMMUNIST PARTY?!?! That can't possibly be a real
organization, that's a bloody Monty Python skit!!![4]
I'm so pissed right now [5] I can't even describe it. It makes me want
to delete all the contents of my various pages. I've already deleted
that paper and all my other writings from my site.
If there were just a link to my site, I'd have been okay with it.
(Still scared, but okay.) But outright theft...this is just...crappy.
It's like raising a child and watching it get kidnapped by...oh, I
don't know...Welsh Communists or something. :P
Bloody Welsh bloody Commies. I mean, *really*.
--
Saffra
Fuming and rm'ing furiously
[1] Okay, I'm a nerd, shaddap.
[2] But an interesting nerd!
[3] It's not recycling if you add stuff.
[4] If this is a real Monty Python skit I won't be at all surprised.
Nothing can surprise me anymore.
[5] Angry, not drunk. Though that might be next.