This is Not the Post I Wanted to Write

On plagiarism, online etiquette, being a good literary citizen, and thoughts on how to respond if this happens to you

Hello and welcome to Notes from the Town Hermit, a haven for the overthinkers and deep-feelers who search for reasons why life should be worth living. These letters are a labour of love, so if you have the means and want to support my writing, please upgrade for full access.

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Dear Inklings,

I hadn’t intended to write on this topic at all. My tendency is to keep quiet and carry on. However, thanks to the courage and encouragement of people who believe others would benefit from an article like this, I’m pushing past my own discomfort in hopes my experience will help someone else.

Recently, it was pointed out to me that someone had taken huge chunks of my work on the Asian Writers Collective and duplicated them onto their own Substack.

The same week I experienced this, I serendipitously came across this essay by

Elle

, and felt many of the same emotions. It was strange to have had my work stolen by someone who’d been so nice to my face—someone I had supported and promoted.

I also saw this note by

Claire Venus

:

Even earlier, I’d seen this note by

Jenovia 🕸️

:

Others speaking up gives me courage to do the same. Thank you,

Victoria

and

bakhtawar

for giving me clarity and helping me with this piece.

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While I could have blocked the person who stole my work immediately, I chose to reach out and give them a chance to explain themselves. I also requested they make changes to their site so it would no longer bear any resemblance to mine. Keep in mind, this person had not attributed me at all, anywhere on their site. As of this writing, they still have not.

Their response was an apology, but also an insistence that “Any similarities to your AWC page are completely unintentional, I absolutely promise you. I was deeply inspired by your work and spent a lot of time reading it so I can understand how sentences will have stuck in my mind. But, I promise you, if there is any plagiarism it is completely unintentional and I am so, so sorry.”

The following screenshots are of the “changes” they made:

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

I sent these screenshots to them, along with a message: “I’m not sure this can be said to be totally unintentional, since as you see from these side-by-side screenshots, almost all the wording is exactly the same. It still looks almost completely copy-pasted. These were from my original submissions post here: (link).”

Because my newest submission guidelines were slightly different, they may have thought it was “different enough” to satisfy me. Only after I sent the screenshots with that message did they finally choose to start over from scratch on their own page.

Which is what most writers do in the first place.

They also continued insisting it was purely accidental:

You ask for honesty, and I am giving it - I have done throughout this. Though it is hard to believe, it was unintentional. I made no secret that I found your work inspirational and made extensive notes - too extensive, I now know. I wanted to model my work on yours as it was such a wonderful idea … I know the horrors of plagiarism. I would never intentionally try to pass someone else’s work off as my own. What I did here was, as I said above, make notes that were way too extensive, without properly denoting where it was quoting, which then led to reproducing your work. I won’t deny that. But it wasn’t intentional - it was a complete accident of improper note taking. What I have done now is delete all the words on my page and start again from scratch, without my notes even, so that there is as little similarity between the two as possible.

I struggle to understand how copy-pasting someone’s words can be accidental. Even so, to take so much inspiration from someone else’s work requires proper attribution, which they did not give.

Inspiration versus stealing

Plagiarism is a serious offense. It is not flattering or complimentary.

When inspired by another writer or creator, it’s common courtesy to give credit for the inspiration.

Esmé Weijun Wang

has a great article on how to be a good literary citizen here.

Jeannine Ouellette

also wrote one here. Please give these a read.

I think of

Mika

, who credits people for any inspiration, no matter how small it may seem to others. I think of

Ruhie Vaidya

, who does the same. Ruhie recently asked me if I’d be okay with her writing an essay inspired by one of mine. She did not have to ask permission, but I appreciated her thoughtfulness.

Victoria

is also someone who credits generously and inspires me with her people-centered focus.

There are many writers here who do their part to keep the literary world one that feels safe. Sadly, intellectual theft happens all the time. I’m not unique, and I know this will happen again.

We are all inspired by others. It does not diminish your own work to admit it.

When in doubt, ask, and always, always credit people generously.

Thoughts on how to respond if this happens to you

From what I’ve seen in comments on notes like Claire’s and others who have experienced, most people agree that the very least you should do is remove the offender from your list, if not block, right away.

I chose to engage because I did want to hear from them and give them a chance to explain. If it had been someone I hadn’t had a relationship with, I would not have done so.

I have no desire to “out” this person or name-shame them. I’ve tried my best to remove any hints that could lead to anyone being able to identify them, even by gender. I do not want anyone reading this to try and find this person.

As I said in my message to them, I still wish them the best. However, I did remove them from my subscriber lists and requested they no longer interact with me. They agreed to respect these wishes.

How you choose to respond is up to you. Here are some things to keep in mind (some of these are what I’ve learned from

Claire Venus

and

Elle

):

• Not everyone will respond well to being confronted. This person was apologetic and did what I asked. Others may be dismissive or not see it as a big deal.

• If you speak out publicly about it, expect some people to label you as “dramatic” because “these things happen.”

• If you speak out publicly about it, expect some people to turn it against you. Be prepared for that.

My experience of speaking up for myself has been positive, if any positive can be gleaned from this. I truly do not wish any ill will on this person, and only hope they will choose to do better in the future.

How this has affected me

The past week since this happened, I was unable to sleep well and my chronic illness flared up. I felt betrayed by someone in whose goodwill I’d trusted—someone I’d once considered a positive part of my Substack experience. I kept quiet about it, only confronting that person directly. I seriously considered not even addressing it with them at all, turning a blind eye to it.

Perhaps I am dramatic for being so affected. Things like this happen to all the time to many, many people. In a way, I was expecting it—just not from someone I had trusted.

It has shaken me.

Substack was my happy place, but lately I’ve lost my motivation to write or spend any time on it.

That said, I will recover from this and carry on building this fellowship and the Asian Writers Collective. One person won’t ruin this beautiful space for me.

I ask for your patience in the meantime. Thank you.

With Love from Your Town Hermit,