FYI…I hate the word victim. That’s not what I am, but what’s the right word for somebody who has been plagiarized…? The plagiarizee? I dunno, so we’re going with this.
The Story Siren has started a weeklong posts on plagiarism education. This could be…I dunno…maybe interesting, except I’ve yet to see where she’s done the one thing that might have made a difference back when somebody stole my work. No, it wasn’t the Story Siren, but still…it seems there’s a common thread. People want to see her take accountability, without excuses.
So here’s the comment I posted to her blog.
I’m probably wasting my time posting this… either it will get deleted, or it won’t get through. Although I do plan on reposting my comments to my blog, so hey.
Anyway… here goes.
You’re doing a weeklong series on education and plagiarizing.
Interesting.
My question would be this… are you going to keep comments unmoderated & undeleted…because there’s no denying you deleted comments. I’m screencapping this and I’ll post it to my blog.
Have you made a full, open apology to those you stole from?
One that doesn’t include the words… “I don’t know why I did it” and “I don’t know where it came from”. Because that’s making it this about you. That isn’t an apology. It’s an excuse.
This isn’t about you, your excuses or your rationale.
The things that bothered me the most…her entire attitude was more… I’m sorry I got caught…and her radio silence when her followers attacked the people who spoke up about how she stole from them. The blame the victim mentality shit.
Yeah. I don’t go for that.
You stole. And you hurt people.
I’ve been plagiarized and you need to make it about the people you hurt, the people you stole from… as this guest blogger posted…the people you erased.
You had fans of your blog going after them. Attacking them. Did you once stand up and say, “Guys, while your support is well-intended, I’m the one who screwed up. You shouldn’t be mad at them.”
That would have been the strong thing to do. The good thing. In book terms… the heroic thing.
Instead of apologizing YOUR actions… have you just APOLOGIZED. Directly. Full up front…
“I’m sorry. I screwed up. Plain and simple.”
I haven’t seen that. There’s a difference between a real apology and one that tries to excuse your behavior and the real apology comes from after you’ve examined what you did.
I saw you making excuses. I saw your followers attacking the people who stood up for themselves. And I saw silence on your part while those attacks happened.
If that’s the kind of thing you stand for, then this week-long post on education is nothing but window dressing.
Well I didn’t find your comment on her site so I guess she’s still deleting the truth!
My comment disappeared on her blog as well.
I see the comments there now. Though who knows how long they’ll stay. Very very very well-said!!!!!!!
Good for you, I hope she owns up to it, the thief.
Mine is still there in Sarah’s post and I flipped out. This whole thing… I no longer know what to think.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post and comment! Wrong is wrong and this girl is just sick, I’m sure there is some diagnosis for an attention-seeking thief! I am an instructor at a university and book blog for pure entertainment. With that said, I have been in shock at the comments I have read about people defending TSS’s actions… plagiarism can/will lead to an individual being kicked out of a university! That is a really serious offense. I am not sure if her readers realize the injustice she has placed on the people she stole from.
I heard someone say “She (Kristi) just wants to be the Kiim Kardashian of the book blogging community”…….. I say we stop “feeding” this girls ego!
To answer your questions: she’s already moderating her comment threads–both on Sarah Cross’s guest post and on her ‘introduction’
And yeah, I’m keeping screen shots of each reply I make.
Wow…That is all I can say..Honestly…how can people take her seriously after everything that has happened.
I won’t go to her site because I don’t want to support her in any way and any traffic can be inadvertently be taken as support and that’s my hard line in the sand. From my observation of this debacle, Ms Diehms is mostly sorry that she got caught and that she has been embarrassed. Somehow, she feels that she and her web site are the victim here by having her reputation damaged instead of the women she repeated stole from and then allowed her fans to attack.
What The Story Siren is attempting to do is to change the focus of the conversation about plagiarism away from herself without accepting ownership. It is important that the rest of us must civilly remind her and her fans that is not going to be good enough.
There are a lot of people who don’t take responsibility for their actions. But in today’s world, the internet allows people to be ugly in a way they would never be to your face. I think your comments were excellent and well thought out. I hope many people see them.