Types Of People On Wattpad

The Plagiaristic Poltergeist

Ideas are hard, you guys. We know. Well... at least when you insist on actually coming up with your own -- that's why the Internet is mostly just people copying and pasting somebody else's shit.

We've all done it.

Maybe you haven't realized you've done it. But 99% of us have.

And I'm not talking about watching porn. I mean the other 'p' word: plagiarism.

A little bit of copy here, maybe some pasteing over there.

You've probably had a science report due or maybe an essay for your history class. Yeah, yeah I get it. We "borrowed" some information. Got an A. Moved on with life...

But then Wattpad has what I like to call "Plagiaristic Poltergeist". These are the people who commonly steal other user's story ideas, plots, and/ or summaries. And when you called them out on them they delete their profile and then vanish like a ghost. Hence the term 'poltergeist'.

People who intentionally copyright other people are the lowest of the low. I mean come on now. It's one thing to look at someone else's story and think "hmm...I wonder what would happen if," but it's another thing to just copy the WHOLE story.

This is quite frequent in fan fiction. From nerd/jock relationships to self harm stories to everything in between. We've all read stories that raise the question 'did they get that idea from so-and-so'. But hey, I do it. And again I'm not saying it's a bad thing but let's be real -- If Wattpad solely had orginal content there would be like 12 maybe 13 stories. (Give or take about 5).

Here's a list of the numerous way people [try to anyways] plagiarize.

The types are ranked in order of severity of intent. (Oh yeah I so totally really actually without a doubt came up with list on my own.)

#1. CLONE

Submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own. Literally the worst of the worst.

#2. HYBRID

Combines perfectly cited sources with copied passages without citation  Usually common in students who think they're so clever but we all know you wikied that shit.

#3.CTRL-C

Title is self explanatory...

#4. MASHUP

Mixes copied material from multiple sources. Similar to hybrid but more sloppy.

#5. FIND - REPLACE (personal favorite)

Changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source. Users often suffer from chronic 'thesaurus-itis'.

#6. 404 ERROR

Includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources. I.e Wikipeadia. Yahoo Answers.

#7. REMIX

Paraphrases from multiple sources, made to fit together. (Like we don't know what you're doing...).

#8. AGGREGATOR

Includes proper citation to sources but the paper contains almost no original work. *cough cough*.

#9. RECYCLE

Borrows generously from the writer’s previous work without citation.

#10. RE-TWEET

Includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure. Eh.

So to sum up this chapter:

Plagiarize all you want. Just don't get caught.