Hey fellow bloggers and readers. Some of you may have seen some of my tweets about IMM, and the previous post about Kristi at The Story Siren and plagiarizing. I just wanted to shed some light on the current situation that has been bugging me for quite some time.
As you all know, Kristi was accused and apparently found guilty of plagiarizing. I don't condone what she did was right, and of course it's everyone's own personal choice if they still wish to follow her blog or not. I remember back in the day when IMM was so popular and out there, that everyone who owns a book blog wanted to participate.But now that there are so many bloggers who don't want to follow Kristi and her blog, but still want to participate in IMM are now doing the same thing as Kristi. They are stealing.
Now, I don't want to offend anyone, just to educate. In the last two weeks alone, since the story broke out, I have seen so many bloggers come up with different titles for IMM, but with the same concept. If that's not plagiarizing, then I don't know what is. First few titles I saw were, Book haul, Stacking The Shelves, Weekly Recap, and the latest new one I've seen is, What's In It For You?
Now it's fine if you want to give IMM a new name since you are no longer supporting Kristi. But my beef with the situation is that bloggers are giving themselves the credit for coming up with the concept. No, you guys did NOT come up with the concept. It is NOT a new concept, but still an old one, otherwise known as IMM. You stole it. My simple solution to this is, just give her the credit. Otherwise, you guys are still doing the same thing as she is, and aren't any better. It just makes me so mad that people are hypocrites when they start coming up with thousands of new titles, but with the same subject. Why is it different for Kristi, but not you guys who are stealing her idea? I could go on and on about this subject, but these are the main points that I wanted to come across today. I just hope that it gives many bloggers out there who are renaming IMM some insights.
I absolutely agree. I still follow her, and will be continuing to do her Meme.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know her to really be affected by the situation, though I don't condone what she did, but I like to think she wants to put this whole mess behind her and go forward.
But I have seen others copying her meme and just re-naming it. I didn't see the difference, except that its basically the same thing.
But people can do what they like... but..
people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Two thumbs up!
ReplyDeleteI admit that I too, changed the name of the meme but I still gave her credit as well as Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. Even before the break of the issue, Kristi did say that some bloggers don't really call it IMM but they're free to link their posts on her blog.
I changed mine just to stay on neutral ground and I admit that I'm also scared that the name affects the page views the post will be receiving. Given the great diminishing effect on the links shared on the IMM post that Kristi's provided last week, I can't help but make the change since some bloggers don't view posts with the IMM title. It's a little crazy but I understand and respect it, just as much as I do with Kristi even after what happened.
I just hope that we all move on from this and get back to the harmonious atmosphere we all once had.
I think as long as you give credit for inspiration you are doing your blogging duty!!
DeleteI don't agree with people giving it a whole new name but I just wanted to point out that Weekly Wrap Up or Weekly Recap - whatever names it has isn't a new thing on blogs. It's been done for years. Most of them put the books they got in for review along with other posts or news they want to share.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, and actually wrote a post on it last week after deleting my Stacking the Shelves post. Since, I've joined another group of bloggers who have no problem giving credit to Kristi where it's due.
ReplyDeleteJust spotted this as I was subscriving to your RSS!
ReplyDeleteActually, they're not stealing. Posts similar to IMM have been going around for ages before she started it and these new ones are just people trying to find something new they can all go on without supporting a plagiarist. I think that's pretty fair. If you think about it, how unique is posting about books you got that week? It's not, at all. Some of the ones created will disappear soon as the new IMM is doing so well, Stacking the Shelves. I said at the beginning someone else should do IMM as it takes a lot of power away from a plagiarist and I'm really happy with how things have turned out!
=^.^= ComaCalm's Corner =^.^=
Haul videos have been around on youtube for years. IMM is not original. Sorry to disappoint you, but she doesn't own the idea of haul videos.
ReplyDeleteKristi hardly invented weekly recaps. And I'm stealing for doing one that's not part of IMM. Well then I could say you're stealing because you're reviewing books and I was doing it first! How does that make sense? And what about all the blog who do their own new release post? Are we all stealing that too? And just for the record, most of us ARE in fact crediting TSS for "inspiring" our idea - mine is under my "blog features" tab. And Stacking the Shelves which I started last week also mentions TSS as in inspiration. And since TSS herself was inspired by someone else, we shouldn't really have to at all.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't like to be called a plagiarist just because I don't partake in IMM and still want to make a recap post.
I have to agree with you Giselle on doing posts for "New Releases" - I do this every week.
DeleteI disagree. Making a blog post and/or video showing what books you bought or received isn't some sort of unique concept. It's a haul video. Kristi didn't invent anything. There are millions of haul videos on youtube.
ReplyDeleteI realize many people are angry about this post. It was never meant to offend anyone. Just an observation. I realize Kristi is not the inventor of all IMM related posts and that there were many before her. My main concern is the fact that other new bloggers are taking credit where credit is not theirs to take, and should do their research before they start coming up with a new meme.
DeleteCalling people hypocrites and thieves tend to offend people, no matter how big a bow you slap on it, I missed the bow though. I think whenever name-calling is involved, taking a "didn't mean to" stance is a bit insincere. Haul posts have been around for a very long time just like Kara stated. None of the new ones I've seen have claimed ownership over the concept, just the name they slapped on it. I respect your stance on the subject, but I have to say I disagree.
DeleteEveryone that has commented have made excellent points. I did IMM when I first started blogging but stopped long before the issue with Kristi and Plagiarism came up. I think we are not too critical in the book blogging world - in a bad way. Unfortunately this is what happens when someone of great influence does something like this. On one hand, the new IMMs are a form of copying but on the other hand they are not. I do weekly releases, but so do many other bloggers - I don't think this makes me a copier and I"m not plagiarism. In terms of 'original ideas', those are hard to come by. However, if you are doing a new IMM and you give credit in terms of your own inspiration for it then it is not plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who might not have seen it, I did apologize in a later post. As a side note I just figured out that this was referenced without my concent on a post that a blogger did. Usually if I reference a post from a blogger, it is common curtousy to let the other person know they are being referenced. And on another side note, this post was directed to people who did not give credit. Not to the people who did.
ReplyDelete