god i love you so much. thank you x100000 for this. it sucks so bad to have gone through this, to have seen you and my dearest friends go through this. we put EVERYTHING into our writing and to watch it shamelessly be taken from us is devastating. every word of this is so true, i can feel the frustration through my screen and it’s all valid!!! what happened to creativity, to originality, to attributing ideas to creators? we’re human beings, and this hurts!!
My girl! I had you on my mind ALL THE TIME when writing this. I feel your frustration, and i, more than anyone, understand the amount of work that you put into people’s princess. You deserve the world and it literally breaks my heart to see this situation happening to you, of all people. I love you so, so much. I’ll always be here for you. 💌✨
Yes! Thank you for speaking up on this unsettling increase in plagiarism on substack. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Likewise I’m mortified and downright livid to see ppl stealing the brilliant work of so many gifted, talented, and beautiful writers on substack. I’m so sorry this is happening to you (tbh I get pissed, bc I feel protective of substack writers’ creative hard work!) last month, I saw an account who had stolen verbatim the super popular title of Sarah’s brilliant essay on JD thought daughters! No quotes, no citations, just blatantly grifting her genius title?! WTAF??? I reported the plagiarism to substack, but I worry that the site isn’t doing enough to prevent the alarming theft of writers’ IP? As a visual artist, one of my greatest fears is having my art get stolen if I decided to post it online. I imagine it must feel so violating, like the copycat has stolen a bit of a writer’s soul by taking her original words and claiming them as their own. It’s so disrespectful and dishonorable. I mean, I understand that all art inspires other art; actually I find the collaboration/inspiration between artists very beautiful. But there’s a huge difference between inspiration and shamelessly copying. It breaks my heart that this plagiarism is happening to writers who I read often, writers who are super creative, talented, thoughtful, empathetic people. Sharing writing and art with the world online is an act of trust, generosity, and bravery. Idk why the copiers even bother, bc to readers it’s clear as day when someone is using copy/paste to lift another writer’s ideas? Maybe they just want clicks? Anyhow I’m on your side, and I will vouch for any writer friend who has been plagiarized. Human connection is a big part of why people write/create art. When someone harms that connection by breaching our sense of ethics, trust, and safety, it hurts the whole community. Thank you for sharing this crucial story; I love reading your beautiful writing. Writers and readers unite!
Jessica!! Oh my God, let me tell you, i saw that as well! And i was truly so shocked and heartbroken. There were ‘genius title’ comments on the comment section and that made me snap. Sarah is my best friend on here, besides being a gifted, talented and beautiful writer like the ones you mentioned! So it truly made me so upset. And the thing is that she was copied way too many times, and honestly disrespected way too many times. I find inspiration beautiful as well, many impactful things were born from inspirations! But plagiarism is really something different. It’s really dishonorable, besides being a crime. I’ve seen so many of my friends (including you) talk about how hurtful it was to see us get shamelessly copied, and i do agree that the whole community is deeply hurt by that. Some members of the community truly see the plagiarism and don’t give the creators that steal the time of day, but new people here can’t really tell the difference and they engage with the copied post, and THAT really hurts. Thank you for your comment, it was so important for me to read it, and i’ll definitely pin it so everyone can read it as well. Love you, Jessica!!! ❤️
thank you jessica!!! i wish i could be the kind of person to brush the plagiarism of my title (and my essay) off, but unfortunately i’m so protective of my work so it really sticks with me, gets under my skin and riles me up. i agree with everything you said about this topic!! and i’m so grateful for your support 💌
i love this post. i really wish people would use their brains and common sense and have even an inch of morals to be cognizant of the fact that by copying or stealing content, you are literally HURTING someone and taking their hard work. it's actually just ludicrous to me that this is even happening because if you don't have any original content ideas...don't post anything???? nobody's forcing you to and it's obviously not your path either if you can't come up with ideas on your own. genuinely confusing and baffling and hurtful.
ELLE!! I agree completely. It’s genuinely breaking my heart to see this happening to you and Sarah. I know how much work you both put into the newsletters and how hard it is to be a content creator, especially one like you, who produces quality content in all platforms. I love you SO much and i’m here for you forever. 💌
VALERIE!! Words cannot express how much i seriously love you. Seriously. You’re one of the ones producing literally the best content on here and i’m so proud of you. You’re also SO strong and i was thinking about what happened to you when writing this, so this is totally dedicated to you as well. I love you so much. 💜🥹
adding onto this - i think we as a community also need to do our due diligence when it comes to giving credit, not just for writing. we should credit where we get our images from! if we have a quote we want to use, the least we can do is google it to see if we can find a source before using it. i've seen people say "mortifying ordeal of being known" and variants so many times and people think it's a silly tumblr meme but it actually comes from a beautiful essay written by Tim Kreider and it genuinely pains me that no one ever credits him.
WENYI!! YES!!! Omg the way you read my mind right now! Credit should be given where it’s due, in any types of art. Every kind of art should absolutely be recognized and respected. You’re always so insightful god i wish i had your mind.
blame tumblr culture for that, I remember posting images (that I'd personally scanned) with full credits to publication, photographer etc. and that ended up with like 1000 notes/reblogs and every single reblogger stripped out the credits.
These are the same kind of people who'd call themselves 'curators' now and demand 'credit' and 'intelllectual property' for REPOSTING images with 0 credit, one such person had the audacity to go after Bella Hadid and Law Roach over ......Bella wearing a dress from an image she'd reposted. Without any credit to the original photographer btw!
(there were fashion blogs before but the culture over at those and especially the bigger ones, was quite respectful of sources and credit, at least in part thanks to the influence of LJ and TFS where the rules around image credits used to be quite strict)
Oh my god, Lily!! This happened to me way too many times as well. I used to make collages, especially on Pinterest, and that was so frustrating to me. Truly. Real definition of no man’s land. It’s so sad, but at least we have a way to truly report the copyright infringements here. Thank you so much for your comment!!
honestly, I didn't care on my own behalf - the images weren't 'mine' just because I scanned them - but I was so offended on behalf of the people who'd actually made them (photographer, stylists), credit was the least they deserved! Context-free image thieving and a mistaken sense of proprietorship over images you didn't create or pay for was basically the backbone of that site.
I can't even imagine how annoyed I'd be in your shoes i.e. actually making collages/creating something using those images, and then those were stolen. Substack being 'for writers' in a sense at least affords us a small measure of protection, but clearly some people still have the audacity to pull this (edit: are they really people? This sounds like bot behaviour)
Yes!! So true. It was so upsetting! I had to take the collages down because they were literally everywhere… And it’s so insane that they offer you no protection at all. And yes, although Substack offers us that protection, some people still have the audacity to copy shamelessly. Real people!! We messaged all of them and everything… And they were so rude to me. And all of my friends who were copied also received really rude messages when called out. I don’t believe a bot can be that rude and use so many… profane words lol. The full context of this would literally make you so shocked.
Because Substack is a literary community, it's on us to root out and prevent the listicle culture the rest of the internet is hell bent on permeating. I'm so sorry to see genuinely good writers have their work taken from them.
omg hi!! Real art that came from real people and made with real effort should definitely be respected and i’m also SO sorry to see this happening to people, especially some of my friends. ☹️
oh how how timely — it really is disheartening to see, and it just makes it feel so much closer when it’s people you know who work SO SO hard for the quality of the things they create
Yes!!! Exactly!! It’s so frustrating to see people close to you get so hurt by this, especially when you know how hard it is to survive as a writer. There is so much content these days and not trying to be mean, but it’s so rare to see quality content… It’s so sad to see people that consistently produce it getting ripped off over and over again.
loveeee this post!! and 10000% agree! stealing someone else’s hard work is really hurtful! I’ve personally experienced this in other creative spaces and it’s really disheartening. people should always always always ask to use something by someone else or create something that is directly inspired by that person. putting credits in the post should not be hard, either. and I just know people would love to see someone create something that was inspired by them if correctly asked! so horrible that this has to be said in the first place.
liv!!! awww, i’m so sorry this happened to you, gorgeous. ☹️ It’s so frustrating that i had to make this (angry lol) post, and even more frustrating that this probably will still happen to us… But at least we have our copyright protection. We can rightfully claim what is ours, that makes me sleep better at night!
not to be THAT guy who says who is and isn't a "real writer" but I don't think any true writer would plagiarize - it's the very first thing you learn, and against what writers aim to accomplish. Sorry this has been happening to y'all, and good on you to protect your work - art is always worth protecting
Liz!! Girl, you’re so right. The main problem with this is that people are taking our content and claiming it as their own. Like, truly claiming it. There’s a lot of victim blaming, gaslighting and harassment behind it. A lot of users are actually seeing *our* work in these people’s accounts and they’re blocking everyone that says they stole it. It’s been hell over here in the last couple of months. So no, they’re truly not writers! They’re little bitches lol.
so well said!! i've had pictures taken from my bookstagram and videos taken from my tiktok and it's honestly so strange and violating to see someone use YOUR content as their own....like why are you posting a picture of my bookshelf in my house and passing it off as your own? just so weird
leah!!! oh my god i completely get you! this happened to my friend elle over and over again, and it’s honestly the most heartbreaking thing ever. It’s devastating!!! It feels like they’re stealing pieces of you and claiming them as their own. Much love to you, gorgeous. You deserve it. 💌🫶🏻
I've also been seeing the wave of copying people and stealing work here and it's so pissy. I don't understand why people can't just comment asking if they can add onto someone's post or use them as inspiration etc. I've done it so many times and I've never had someone tell me "nope fuck off my topic you can't write about it". And straight up copy pasting is just insane. Thank you for bringing awareness on this subject, I hope this whole thing stops soon because honestly it's so exhausting seeing another comfort place of mine be ruined because of some people being cunts.
Mahi. You’re so right!! No one is going to say that lol, most people are so, so happy to be inspirations to someone! And copy pasting IS fucking insane, and it happens more often than u think. Sometimes i truly think God/Universe or whatever made me a writer on substack to piss me off lol because it’s been hell here lately. Thank you for your comment!
honestly, this scares me so much (of someone stealing my works for selfish reasons), i guess i am right to made the decision in copyrighting all of my works, regardless if they're all essays, poetry, and fictional stories. it makes me want to protect my work and own my writings.
hi!! you should definitely copyright your work! it’s so much safer!! if it does happen, you can definitely report the account because your content will be copyrighted and you’ll own everything! don’t be afraid to share your beautiful work! 💌
The complicated thing about addressing topics on the Internet is that, past a certain point, many people are saying the same thing. How many times has the Chappell Roan situation been covered? How many times has the decline of Disney been covered?
I still think there's a difference, though, between sharing several key ideas while giving your own opinion and blatantly copying someone.
Hi, Sofi!! Happy to see you again! And I completely agree with you! Everything is going to be addressed on the internet at some point, but not necessarily using the same words! I did part one and two of this post because I was blatantly copied, word for word, many times, by many people who blocked me and disrespected me afterwards. My publication name, bio, my titles, everything (all of these things are copyrighted). I was even copied by someone who I considered to be my friend, but was tracking all of my moves so that they could copy it. That’s the reason of my frustration. :(
In 1999, people started stealing music files and uploading them to Napster so other people could steal them. Not a word of condemnation about that. Things have only gotten worse since then. It’s called “defining deviancy downward”.
I wrote about that here in case you’re interested:
god i love you so much. thank you x100000 for this. it sucks so bad to have gone through this, to have seen you and my dearest friends go through this. we put EVERYTHING into our writing and to watch it shamelessly be taken from us is devastating. every word of this is so true, i can feel the frustration through my screen and it’s all valid!!! what happened to creativity, to originality, to attributing ideas to creators? we’re human beings, and this hurts!!
My girl! I had you on my mind ALL THE TIME when writing this. I feel your frustration, and i, more than anyone, understand the amount of work that you put into people’s princess. You deserve the world and it literally breaks my heart to see this situation happening to you, of all people. I love you so, so much. I’ll always be here for you. 💌✨
Yes! Thank you for speaking up on this unsettling increase in plagiarism on substack. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Likewise I’m mortified and downright livid to see ppl stealing the brilliant work of so many gifted, talented, and beautiful writers on substack. I’m so sorry this is happening to you (tbh I get pissed, bc I feel protective of substack writers’ creative hard work!) last month, I saw an account who had stolen verbatim the super popular title of Sarah’s brilliant essay on JD thought daughters! No quotes, no citations, just blatantly grifting her genius title?! WTAF??? I reported the plagiarism to substack, but I worry that the site isn’t doing enough to prevent the alarming theft of writers’ IP? As a visual artist, one of my greatest fears is having my art get stolen if I decided to post it online. I imagine it must feel so violating, like the copycat has stolen a bit of a writer’s soul by taking her original words and claiming them as their own. It’s so disrespectful and dishonorable. I mean, I understand that all art inspires other art; actually I find the collaboration/inspiration between artists very beautiful. But there’s a huge difference between inspiration and shamelessly copying. It breaks my heart that this plagiarism is happening to writers who I read often, writers who are super creative, talented, thoughtful, empathetic people. Sharing writing and art with the world online is an act of trust, generosity, and bravery. Idk why the copiers even bother, bc to readers it’s clear as day when someone is using copy/paste to lift another writer’s ideas? Maybe they just want clicks? Anyhow I’m on your side, and I will vouch for any writer friend who has been plagiarized. Human connection is a big part of why people write/create art. When someone harms that connection by breaching our sense of ethics, trust, and safety, it hurts the whole community. Thank you for sharing this crucial story; I love reading your beautiful writing. Writers and readers unite!
Jessica!! Oh my God, let me tell you, i saw that as well! And i was truly so shocked and heartbroken. There were ‘genius title’ comments on the comment section and that made me snap. Sarah is my best friend on here, besides being a gifted, talented and beautiful writer like the ones you mentioned! So it truly made me so upset. And the thing is that she was copied way too many times, and honestly disrespected way too many times. I find inspiration beautiful as well, many impactful things were born from inspirations! But plagiarism is really something different. It’s really dishonorable, besides being a crime. I’ve seen so many of my friends (including you) talk about how hurtful it was to see us get shamelessly copied, and i do agree that the whole community is deeply hurt by that. Some members of the community truly see the plagiarism and don’t give the creators that steal the time of day, but new people here can’t really tell the difference and they engage with the copied post, and THAT really hurts. Thank you for your comment, it was so important for me to read it, and i’ll definitely pin it so everyone can read it as well. Love you, Jessica!!! ❤️
thank you jessica!!! i wish i could be the kind of person to brush the plagiarism of my title (and my essay) off, but unfortunately i’m so protective of my work so it really sticks with me, gets under my skin and riles me up. i agree with everything you said about this topic!! and i’m so grateful for your support 💌
i love this post. i really wish people would use their brains and common sense and have even an inch of morals to be cognizant of the fact that by copying or stealing content, you are literally HURTING someone and taking their hard work. it's actually just ludicrous to me that this is even happening because if you don't have any original content ideas...don't post anything???? nobody's forcing you to and it's obviously not your path either if you can't come up with ideas on your own. genuinely confusing and baffling and hurtful.
ELLE!! I agree completely. It’s genuinely breaking my heart to see this happening to you and Sarah. I know how much work you both put into the newsletters and how hard it is to be a content creator, especially one like you, who produces quality content in all platforms. I love you SO much and i’m here for you forever. 💌
Amanda you’re just too cool 🥹💜 agree with every.single.word. i had a mini heart attack seeing my post in there lmfaooo
VALERIE!! Words cannot express how much i seriously love you. Seriously. You’re one of the ones producing literally the best content on here and i’m so proud of you. You’re also SO strong and i was thinking about what happened to you when writing this, so this is totally dedicated to you as well. I love you so much. 💜🥹
This speaks to my SOUL. I love it. (Thank you for writing it).
Hannah!! Your writing speaks to MY soul. You’re such a beautiful person. Your support means the world to me!!!! 🥹🫶🏻✨💌
adding onto this - i think we as a community also need to do our due diligence when it comes to giving credit, not just for writing. we should credit where we get our images from! if we have a quote we want to use, the least we can do is google it to see if we can find a source before using it. i've seen people say "mortifying ordeal of being known" and variants so many times and people think it's a silly tumblr meme but it actually comes from a beautiful essay written by Tim Kreider and it genuinely pains me that no one ever credits him.
WENYI!! YES!!! Omg the way you read my mind right now! Credit should be given where it’s due, in any types of art. Every kind of art should absolutely be recognized and respected. You’re always so insightful god i wish i had your mind.
blame tumblr culture for that, I remember posting images (that I'd personally scanned) with full credits to publication, photographer etc. and that ended up with like 1000 notes/reblogs and every single reblogger stripped out the credits.
These are the same kind of people who'd call themselves 'curators' now and demand 'credit' and 'intelllectual property' for REPOSTING images with 0 credit, one such person had the audacity to go after Bella Hadid and Law Roach over ......Bella wearing a dress from an image she'd reposted. Without any credit to the original photographer btw!
(there were fashion blogs before but the culture over at those and especially the bigger ones, was quite respectful of sources and credit, at least in part thanks to the influence of LJ and TFS where the rules around image credits used to be quite strict)
Oh my god, Lily!! This happened to me way too many times as well. I used to make collages, especially on Pinterest, and that was so frustrating to me. Truly. Real definition of no man’s land. It’s so sad, but at least we have a way to truly report the copyright infringements here. Thank you so much for your comment!!
honestly, I didn't care on my own behalf - the images weren't 'mine' just because I scanned them - but I was so offended on behalf of the people who'd actually made them (photographer, stylists), credit was the least they deserved! Context-free image thieving and a mistaken sense of proprietorship over images you didn't create or pay for was basically the backbone of that site.
I can't even imagine how annoyed I'd be in your shoes i.e. actually making collages/creating something using those images, and then those were stolen. Substack being 'for writers' in a sense at least affords us a small measure of protection, but clearly some people still have the audacity to pull this (edit: are they really people? This sounds like bot behaviour)
Yes!! So true. It was so upsetting! I had to take the collages down because they were literally everywhere… And it’s so insane that they offer you no protection at all. And yes, although Substack offers us that protection, some people still have the audacity to copy shamelessly. Real people!! We messaged all of them and everything… And they were so rude to me. And all of my friends who were copied also received really rude messages when called out. I don’t believe a bot can be that rude and use so many… profane words lol. The full context of this would literally make you so shocked.
Because Substack is a literary community, it's on us to root out and prevent the listicle culture the rest of the internet is hell bent on permeating. I'm so sorry to see genuinely good writers have their work taken from them.
omg hi!! Real art that came from real people and made with real effort should definitely be respected and i’m also SO sorry to see this happening to people, especially some of my friends. ☹️
oh how how timely — it really is disheartening to see, and it just makes it feel so much closer when it’s people you know who work SO SO hard for the quality of the things they create
Yes!!! Exactly!! It’s so frustrating to see people close to you get so hurt by this, especially when you know how hard it is to survive as a writer. There is so much content these days and not trying to be mean, but it’s so rare to see quality content… It’s so sad to see people that consistently produce it getting ripped off over and over again.
loveeee this post!! and 10000% agree! stealing someone else’s hard work is really hurtful! I’ve personally experienced this in other creative spaces and it’s really disheartening. people should always always always ask to use something by someone else or create something that is directly inspired by that person. putting credits in the post should not be hard, either. and I just know people would love to see someone create something that was inspired by them if correctly asked! so horrible that this has to be said in the first place.
liv!!! awww, i’m so sorry this happened to you, gorgeous. ☹️ It’s so frustrating that i had to make this (angry lol) post, and even more frustrating that this probably will still happen to us… But at least we have our copyright protection. We can rightfully claim what is ours, that makes me sleep better at night!
yes I’m glad there’s a way to combat this 🤍
not to be THAT guy who says who is and isn't a "real writer" but I don't think any true writer would plagiarize - it's the very first thing you learn, and against what writers aim to accomplish. Sorry this has been happening to y'all, and good on you to protect your work - art is always worth protecting
Liz!! Girl, you’re so right. The main problem with this is that people are taking our content and claiming it as their own. Like, truly claiming it. There’s a lot of victim blaming, gaslighting and harassment behind it. A lot of users are actually seeing *our* work in these people’s accounts and they’re blocking everyone that says they stole it. It’s been hell over here in the last couple of months. So no, they’re truly not writers! They’re little bitches lol.
so well said!! i've had pictures taken from my bookstagram and videos taken from my tiktok and it's honestly so strange and violating to see someone use YOUR content as their own....like why are you posting a picture of my bookshelf in my house and passing it off as your own? just so weird
leah!!! oh my god i completely get you! this happened to my friend elle over and over again, and it’s honestly the most heartbreaking thing ever. It’s devastating!!! It feels like they’re stealing pieces of you and claiming them as their own. Much love to you, gorgeous. You deserve it. 💌🫶🏻
I've also been seeing the wave of copying people and stealing work here and it's so pissy. I don't understand why people can't just comment asking if they can add onto someone's post or use them as inspiration etc. I've done it so many times and I've never had someone tell me "nope fuck off my topic you can't write about it". And straight up copy pasting is just insane. Thank you for bringing awareness on this subject, I hope this whole thing stops soon because honestly it's so exhausting seeing another comfort place of mine be ruined because of some people being cunts.
Mahi. You’re so right!! No one is going to say that lol, most people are so, so happy to be inspirations to someone! And copy pasting IS fucking insane, and it happens more often than u think. Sometimes i truly think God/Universe or whatever made me a writer on substack to piss me off lol because it’s been hell here lately. Thank you for your comment!
honestly, this scares me so much (of someone stealing my works for selfish reasons), i guess i am right to made the decision in copyrighting all of my works, regardless if they're all essays, poetry, and fictional stories. it makes me want to protect my work and own my writings.
hi!! you should definitely copyright your work! it’s so much safer!! if it does happen, you can definitely report the account because your content will be copyrighted and you’ll own everything! don’t be afraid to share your beautiful work! 💌
The complicated thing about addressing topics on the Internet is that, past a certain point, many people are saying the same thing. How many times has the Chappell Roan situation been covered? How many times has the decline of Disney been covered?
I still think there's a difference, though, between sharing several key ideas while giving your own opinion and blatantly copying someone.
Hi, Sofi!! Happy to see you again! And I completely agree with you! Everything is going to be addressed on the internet at some point, but not necessarily using the same words! I did part one and two of this post because I was blatantly copied, word for word, many times, by many people who blocked me and disrespected me afterwards. My publication name, bio, my titles, everything (all of these things are copyrighted). I was even copied by someone who I considered to be my friend, but was tracking all of my moves so that they could copy it. That’s the reason of my frustration. :(
I'm really sorry that happened to you.
Now this was a fucking article 💥
In 1999, people started stealing music files and uploading them to Napster so other people could steal them. Not a word of condemnation about that. Things have only gotten worse since then. It’s called “defining deviancy downward”.
I wrote about that here in case you’re interested:
https://medium.com/@bairdbrightman/stop-thief-chatgpt-midjourney-ai-etc-6be4a058e098
Baird!! Thank you! Will definitely check it out!