Flipside Movie Emporium

Michael Scrutchin

Oh, brother. Why would anyone want to steal my words, anyway?

I won't mention the guy's name, but a film critic who contributes to a few pretty popular film websites had incorporated large portions of one of my reviews into "his" review of the same film, passing my words off as his own. Some complete sentences were copied exactly, while others were modified ever-so-slighty or changed around quite a bit. To his credit, roughly sixty percent of the review seemed to be his own, but he may have ripped off several writers to form his own review. I dunno.

And I just discovered that he's a fellow OFCS member.

Anyway, here's what this guy had to say to me via email:

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To Mr. Michael Scrutchin,

Okay, I'm not exactly sure HOW your text was slipped into my review but it's more than apparent that your words were incorporated into my review. ?I plan on correcting this promptly by rewriting my review immediately. ?I assure you that it wasn't done intentionally. ?The only possibly way I can figure that something like this could've occurred was through accidental cutting/pasting through my unreliable word processor at work that I've used only a few times. ?It has a tendency to act up, log off, and freeze and I wrote this review on my lunchbreak on that particular work computer since it was the only one available at that time to write my review. ?I am sincerely sorry about this blunder, and can assure you that something like this will not happen again. ?I don't plan on using that computer anymore because it's caused a lot of problems for a lot of people, and since this is the 2nd time this has happened to me, and I am by no means a plagerizer or a thief of anybody's work, I can only assume that when I was reading other reviews including your own, somehow the text was placed into my review, and I overlooked its entry and didn't re-read what I had written. ?

I plan on forwarding this to my colleague... <snip> ...so this can be resolved without any further trouble or any kind of legal action. I sincerely hope you'll accept my apology and consider this email a swift resolution, and I do appreciate you bringing this to the attention of <snip>.?It will not happen again.?Thank you for your time, and keep up the good work. Again I am very sorry.

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What do you think of his "excuse"?

I'm tempted to go snooping through his reviews for other instances of plagiarism (Google is very helpful in this regard), but I really don't feel like wasting my time.
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Michael Scrutchin
Flipside Movie Emporium
www.flipsidearchive.com

the night watchman · Posted: 07.27.2003 11:50 pm Post subject:

I don't know that much about computers, so I don't know if a glitch like that is even a possibility. I'd give the guy the benifit of the doubt; and if he is being dishonest, at least you can be sure he'll never plagiarize you again!

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 07.28.2003 12:55 am Post subject:

HAHAHAH! You think if someone like that chose to plagerize on something that a lot of other people would see--they'd plan a better excuse...Maybe it's just me, but I feel bad for the guy that he couldn't think of anything better. Laughing

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Danny Baldwin

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beltmann

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 07.28.2003 3:03 am Post subject:

What's even worse about that excuse is how the hell would the paragraphs/text fit perfectly into the review? No spaces, no hints, no confused punctuation...nothing...
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Danny Baldwin

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Michael Scrutchin · Posted: 07.28.2003 2:42 pm Post subject:

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 07.28.2003 8:21 pm Post subject:

Hey! Wow! There's actually a word processor that will make sentences perfectly, gramatically correct in the eyes of a computer when cutting and pasting documents into it...I want one. Laughing

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Danny Baldwin

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Danny Baldwin · Posted: 08.07.2003 6:29 pm Post subject:

Wow, this is a coinsidence. My "Bucket Rating" system was just copied, and I did copyright it. The person said that they had been using it longer than me, but their reviews only date back to early 2003--not that that would be a valid excuse anyways. But, they were very willing, and changed it right away.
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Danny Baldwin

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The Third M?n · Posted: 09.15.2003 9:04 pm Post subject:

His excuse was bull. That couldn't happen to anyone, really. He should be ashamed. Why didn't he just admit it? Damn him.

beltmann · Posted: 09.15.2003 9:28 pm Post subject:

Watch the language, old boy!

The Third M?n · Posted: 09.16.2003 3:08 pm Post subject:

Young boy I'm sure you mean... Cool

beltmann · Posted: 09.16.2003 9:43 pm Post subject:

Banana oil.

Eric

The Third M?n · Posted: 09.17.2003 7:30 am Post subject:

Are you trying to blackmail me? Mad