#on plagarism

[ljandersen]

hey girl 😭,

I just finished reading ur fanfic sideways and i was just wondering when part 5 is coming out, cos that cliffhanger left me ispeechless and i NEED more 😭😭😭💔

I'm so glad you enjoyed Sideways! I wrote it with so much love and emotion. I'm so gratified when readers are moved by it too!

For an update on Sideways Part 5, it's not currently on my front burner. That's not to say I'm no longer writing, and I haven't forgotten about it. In fact, my current project is distantly connected, so Sideways is never far from my mind.

There were many factors that influenced my decision to shift priorities. I spent two years writing Sideways. I spent an additional two years, not writing anything new, simply editing. And I hate editing.

Each part of Sideways has become progressively more labor-intensive. Part 5 will require the most work by far. It requires adjusting storylines, writing new scenes, and rewriting old scenes. I have to type it up from handwritten notebooks.

As the editing has grown more demanding, the fandom has grown more quiet (broadly speaking). It's only natural post-lockdown and MELE hype, but it's discouraging.

I came to the point where I was burned out. Having my work stolen and published on Amazon pushed me past the tipping point. I needed a break.

On the flip side, with the AI revolution, it felt like I needed to follow my dreams. If it's not now, it will literally be never.

Who knows where we'll be in five years or even just one? Will authors be displaced by prompt writers? Instead of devotion to craft and intricate storytelling, someone will push a key and churn out hundreds of novels from an algorithm? Quality is easily overwhelmed by quantity in the marketplace.

I've dreamed of being an author since before I knew how to write my first word. It's upsetting to fail at a dream, but what happens when that dream simply ceases to exist?

For those reasons, I chose to reprioritize my project. While I love Sideways and the readers who support me -- I miss them! -- I knew it was time to shift focus. I need a chance to write something new instead of only editing. Most important of all, the window for my dream is closing and I need to be there for it.

I have my first draft of Part 5 in a safe. It's waiting for me, and I'll be back for it soon. For now, I think about it every day and have every intention of finishing it.

[therainbowwillow]

hbomberguy’s latest video on plagiarism has made me completely rethink literature and writing. I have never once so much as considered intentionally plagiarizing anyone or anything, but I think there’s something more that has come out of this: the names of the people who created the works Somerton (and others) ripped off.

Plagiarism isn’t only bad because it is lazy and disrespectful, it’s bad because it buries the truth. If you can’t find a source, the conversation is over. Somerton’s sources are fairly easy to find by simply searching his plagiarized lines, but that isn’t true in most cases. Most of the time, the line from statement to source is a lot less clear.

Today, I was writing a report on English Ivy, which is an invasive species here in the US. I wanted to know when it was introduced and I at last found a source claiming it was introduced to the Americas “as early as 1727” on a .net website that seems quite reputable (it has multiple major universities credited in its home page), but there is no citation for where this date came from. I dug deeper and found a pamphlet created by a city government in Virginia that made the same claim, only to discover the first source linked in their bibliography. Another website (a botanical garden’s page) gave the same date with the same source hyperlinked. Of course, I have classes to attend and things to do and probably not enough time to follow the lines back to where this 1727 date came from, but if I had not just watched this video, I wouldn’t have given that date a second thought.

Of course, it doesn’t matter in the long run exactly what year hedera helix was introduced to the Americas, but it makes you wonder how many facts have been so vaguely attributed that it becomes completely impossible to figure out where they originated (and further, whether or not they’re true at all).

[eremitical]

@fetasprite

[mias-back-from-the-dead]

this was jangling around in my brain and i had to put it on the internet lest i never know peace (apologies for the spelling mistakes)

[weedle-testaburger]

i just wanna preserve some of the biggest bangers from james somerton apology video 2: plagarised boogaloo

and of course:

[thatrandomblogsays]

The best part of Todd in the shadows video is it unintentionally proves Hbomber’s point. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with being inspired and cites YouTubers who openly give credit and the wonderful content that comes from it.

Todd had the video idea, reached out to hbomber even though he wasn’t even stealing the idea, he just wanted to be courteous and respectful. Hbomber blessed off and asked Todd to wait to post and we got two wonderful videos. Art is better when we work together and respect each other.

[memingursa]

HE’S SHAMELESS WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HIM DUDE

[lastoneout]

Gonna start calling this the "how to cure your impostor syndrome in 6 hours or less" duology.

[them-faetale]

The good news about Hbomberguy's plagiarism video for everyone who used to like James Somerton (I recently discovered him and hadn't got to any of the misogynistic shit yet), is that the queer analysis we liked is still out there - just not written by the thieving little shite. Great place to start is the playlist Harry created of plagarised or otherwise hardworking (but underrated) creators:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRGz5EMig3r2ZDgeGzwUlSz-PzF-L1Xu1&si=KqFfYA1NntIA3JG_

Also, as he's gonna send the profits to the writers James yoinked (without the twist) from, if you wanna help financially, you could always just... Put the video on in the background on repeat...

Tangentially, I met Harry a few years back at WorldCon in Dublin, and thanked him for his videos. He gave me a hug. The guy is just as sweet and lovely, and delightfully wild-eyed*, in real life.

*Seriously, the magnificent bastard has beautiful eyes.

[ezra-and-the-sun]

James Somerton’s out here saying shit like “ I want to keep making videos about queer history.” Girl you said that only “boring gays” survived the AIDS crisis not only are you not seeing the pearly gates but no one in their right mind wants you to touch any form of social media with a ten foot pole.

[catnipfelix]

he deleted all his fucking videos

[littlegreen]

eddie finally allows himself to feel joy. and then buck literally shows up at his door. the universe is screaming at you and what not

[elexuscal]

Something about the current James Somerton discourse i think is missing when people say: "Why didn't people notice he was a bigot?"

is that he was plagarizing from non-bigoted creators.

i'd watched a handful of his videos. I'd noticed a couple comments that made me raise an eyebrow, and I even wrote a post here on tumblr about how much I viscerally disagreed about his comment about "all the interesting gays died of AIDS". (though i left Somerton's name out of that at the time, wanting to take him in good faith... ugh.)

It's obvious now, in retrospect. When you take away all the things he didn't write, what you're left with is just an ugly dust pile of misogyny, Euro-centerism, transphobia, and acephobia.

But before? When you didn't realise that like 80% of what he said he'd stolen? It was masked by all "his" genuinely thoughtful commentary. If someone makes 7 insightful takes, and then one (1) bad one, you're more likely to think, "that's a mostly reasonable person who holds some things I disagree with".

I'm hardly the first to say it, but the point of Hbomberguy's video is not, "Somerton was a uniquely awful person and everyone who watched his content were idiots for not noticing".

It's:

a) the YouTube algorithm (and online algorithms in general) promote low-quality content farm content over well-researched pieces that take longer to make

b) if something a creator says seems fishy, be willing to dig into it more and double-check

c) Look out for the hallmark signs of plagiarism and corner-cutting in general, like lack of attributions or content being churned out at an unbelievably high rate.

Somerton was a charismatic guy who used his status as a gay man as a shield and took full advantage of our social brains' tendency towards parasocial relationship, while actively tricking his audience by stealing other peoples' words. Don't blame his audience for falling for it. Learn from it.

[scavengerssuccotash]

I apparently have thoughts that are not fandom related: Oops

I would like to point out that if Hbomberguy DIDNT make a video and fucking annihilate James Somerton’s credibility that this would’ve continued in perpetuity.

I would also like to make it ABUNDANTLY clear that we CANNOT and should not rely on a balding British bi-man to save the day whenever he finds a rabbit hole. (Though I do love him and find his work exceptional and thought provoking.)

The burden of proof that we expect out of Hbomberguy’s videos should not be resigned to him alone (or any other creator).

It’s on us.

It’s on all of us.

We all need to take the time to reevaluate how we consume media and the method of that consumption as it relates to our collective knowledge as a whole.

YOU have to start thinking critically and checking sources, because it’s been made clear time and time again that those at the top will neglect to do the work if it interferes with their ability to make money. (Or apparently if it’s just too hard or they don’t give a shit.)

So, as in the ever timeless wise words of a certain North American Bear….

Only you can stop the spread of misinformation.

Only you can stop the spread of plagiarism.

[gunsandboatsandgunboatss]

These guys are plaguing my brain so bad

[shiverandqueeef]

i understand wanting to share how much you always hated everything somerton has ever said, really i do, but you guys. a lot of the work he plagarized is, actually, you know. good. some of it is seminal queer theory. you don't have to agree with everything, but it's worth engaging with those writers/creators' work directly before dismissing it outright because you were introduced to it through the shitty lense of a james somerton video.