Yours is the seminal work on the topic. To me, it is obvious that Bettina Deda used your research and article as the sole basis for her blog entry. There is no content in her piece that is not in yours - she added nothing. If she had been writing a scholarly paper, she would have been expected to cite your article as her source.

I don't know that it reaches the level of plagiarism because I don't see enough lifting of specific non-essential phrases, such as your example comparing yellows (lemon chiffon vs buttercream). However, she obviously lifted your reference to needing eye protection, changing it to sun glasses. She changed it enough to slide by . . . barely.

Try to remember, Funcolors, that everything Bettina Deda knows about light reflectance value is probably in that blog piece. Period. What you know about LRV is far more.

Funcolors, I sympathize with you, it's not flattery, it's laziness. If you're going to teach a subject you have to know it yourself, not grab it from another. That being said, when I went to read your article, I thoroughly enjoyed it and understood completely. You helped me once with a neutral shade of white and I so appreciated it. You're very generous with your knowledge and help so many. It doesn't go unnoticed here in this forum.

I taught Freshman English when I was a grad student. We were constantly dealing with students copying their papers--from books, from Cliff's Notes, from each other.

These two sets of quotations are part of what stuck out to me:

"If you read on, you will learn more about why it is important to pay attention to the LRV and why you need to determine certain characteristics of a colour before you buy test pots."(Them)
"Paying attention to a color's LRV can prevent poor wall color selections by helping you determine and evaluate certain characteristics of a color before you even buy a sample." (Funcolors)

"Architects, interior designers and colour consultants use LRV data when designing a colour scheme and specifying paint colours." (Them)
"Color consultants, architects, and designers use LRV data in several stages of color planning." (Funcolors)

Rewritten just enough so that they don't sound word-for-word like the original, but close enough to the original to be very, very suspicious. There's also the fact that the newer article follows the main points of Funcolor's article. And the fact that both articles highlight the difficulties of getting the right shade of yellow.

Now, the newer article does have some snippits of info that Funcolor's article doesn't address directly. Could be the author's own words, or could be that the author used two or three or more people's writing to come up with the final product.

Writing is a product, just as inventing a better mousetrap is a product. We patent new things; we copyright new writing. Both are done to protect the person who put the time and thought and energy into the creation of something new.

gsciencechick - Did not know you taught - very cool. Appreciate your perspective. I knew there was some sort of standard or ratio that can be considered but did not know exactly how it worked. Agree it's ignorance not malice. Thanks for the 411.

graywings - I thought it was obvious too, lol! :). Posted about it on my facebook page and the comments range from it's the same topic so it's to be expected to echoes of what you and I are thinking.

yayagal - Thank you for the sweet comments. November 23rd was my 8 year anniversary here on the Garden Web. I've learned so much from so many - a lot about how to be a better writer! I'm happy to contribute when and how I can.

camlan - This sums it up, "Rewritten just enough so that they don't sound word-for-word like the original, but close enough to the original to be very, very suspicious." That seems to be the new trend. Because this instance is not the only one I could reference. It's just the most recent. Content is king in blogosphere and bloggers are pressured to produce copious amounts.

I can't offer help except for a few links below; but want to say how sorry I am. It's one thing if they contact you & ask if they can reference it or they directly link to it; & another when credit deserved is not given.

gsciencechick; what is the software that you use called?

ZD Net article - Anti-plagiarism software used by US universities on the rise

Here is a link that might be useful: Viper - free plagiarism checker

There are several types of plagiarism -- literal or "word for word" copying is the no-brainer. After that it's judgment but the critical factor is whether the concept, structure and substance of your work was essentially repurposed without credit. I won't dignify this case by calling it rewriting.

A few years back, a dealer actually took one of our original expert articles word for word, along with our photos, and put slapped it up as his own on his blog. We emailed and asked him to take it down; he did. That's the usual recourse for extreme cases.

The underlying issue is actually credit. Perhaps you would not have been as taken aback (to be polite) if the poster had credited your work and linked to your blog -- and specifically to your original article. Your name should have been included as well -- at least IMO.

I don't get why people think it's ok to just take someone's work and remash it -- no one will notice. But it happens across many platforms -- in magazines, newspapers and now on blogs and it always has.

I took a quick look at the links you posted and it looks highly derivative to me. It's not a coincidence that this same specialized information is organized exactly the same way etc.

If this happened to me I would email the blogger and ask for a credit line that acknowledged the sourcing and linked back to your site. Alternately, it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask that it be taken down.

What many people don't understand is that links are a form of online currency. The lack of a link can make something plagiarism while the presence of a link makes it a professional referral -- which is the entire basis for pingbacks, which no one questions.

Best of luck with this.

Maybe it's not worth your energy to do this but I'd consider contacting her. On a happy note, I enjoyed reading your article.

It's called turnitin.com. Our university subscribes to it. I copied funcolors' text and ran it through the database, but nothing came up. It really probably focuses on things that are more academic oriented.

I think asking for credit on the Australian blog would not be unreasonable.

Most of my kids' teachers used turnitin.com beginning in high school. I think if it were me, I would send a polite email asking for credit, since your article (very interesting BTW) was obviously copied.

How frustrating to do all of the research and writing, and then have your work copied. I can't stand cheating of any type - I even turned someone in for cheating to the Honor Council in college (and he got kicked out of the school).

Someone had something I wrote on their website once. I wrote a standard cease and desist letter. The person took my work off their webpage. It was not a big fight. Maybe worth a try? I think you can find language to write a letter of this type online or in a book somewhere.

I did post a comment hinting about great minds thinking alike. She came back with she didn't know about the article, or the copyright, blah, blah, blah. S.O.S - same old s!@# that I've heard a gajillion times at this point.

Didn't ask for proper credit, didn't ask for a link, didn't ask her to remove it. I'll give a few days because many times, after they've had a chance to sit with the issue and reassess their position, they end up taking care of it one way or another on their own.

Have to admit that the consistency of how they respond is kind of fascinating. It's happened enough times that a somewhat predictable pattern has developed. For example, many plead ignorance first, try to justify it second, and then end up making some kind of concession.

All - thank you for the links, thoughts, and nice comments about the article. :)

I learned a lot. Didn't know about turnitin.com or the links roselvr posted - very interesting!

R-gurl, as usual, eloquent overview of the whole situation. And you are right. If she would have cited me as a source or included a link, I would have spread a lot of link love on Twitter and Facebook in return for the pingback.

At least you called her out on it where others can see your comment.

There is a contractor in SC that has my last kitchen on his website's homepage. I've asked him to remove it, but it just sits there and there is nowhere for me to post a public comment indicating that he did not do my kitchen. I was able to get Houzz to remove my photos that he uploaded as if they were his own there. I was able to comment on them and thank him for liking MY work.

The one thing about GW that is wonderful is we are a community of watch dogs...I love it when another member points out seeing the work of another member being "stolen"...well, I don't love the "stolen" part, just the fact that it's like we've got each other's backs.

So, on that note, perhaps I may need to leave her a comment as well that I think the article looks familiar to me.....just like another person has done.

Bee

O.M.G about the contractor, bee. :-0 Wow.

From her response to my post, I doubt she's going to do the right thing without prompting. . . we'll see.

If she is so well versed on LRV, why is she just now writing about it on her blog? Her other Colour Design posts don't even allude to LRV - they all contain Pantone Colour of the Year or basic color info.

Roc, there was the window website that lifted my article on interior window walls too. Every single word, pictures. No credit. They removed when asked.

I see so many blogs that do not give source/credit info at all. Don't get it.

Just think of how much work she could have saved herself by simply saying "I'd like to share this informative article on LRV by Funcolors." and then put up a link to YOUR post. I've seen plenty of blogs that do that. There is one written by an acquaintance of mine that is almost solely links to other people's work. I am often tempted to say to her -- if you're not writing anything original, why bother? But, that is another topic.

So glad you claimed your work. It is still the Wild West out there in internet land. Sadly, once you post something, it is there for the world to steal.

Allison! That's absurd but at least they took it down. Geesh. dedtired, who knows why people do the things the do. (rolleyes)

Like I said before, dealing with this article being plagiarized is getting really old and it bores me no end. Honestly have lost count how many times it's happened. Wish I never would have made it public so I wouldn't have to deal with all the asshats who rip it off.

Allison, forgot about that one.

dedtired -- you are exactly right but of course, acknowledging someone else takes a certain generosity of spirit (a.k.a. "class") which in this age of narcissism often cannot be grasped.

Narcissim, very true.

There is a good thing that has come from this over the last seven or so years. Every time I push back and call people out for plagiarism they then have an ax to grind and spend a lot of time trying to prove that the information, sometimes even the images, in my article are not original to me. Because they want to justify their "highly derivative" actions. (just posted similar comments on my facebook page)

Instead, what they find is all LRV/built environ roads lead back to me. Because like I said before, seven years ago when I was asking all the questions the article answers, there was absolutely no one to be found that had one fat clue how LRV could be applicable to color in the 3D environment.

When I first wrote it, deep down I wondered if someone else had spoken to LRV in the same way. Wondered if someone else had asked and answered the same questions. Wondered if I worked hard enough to ferret out existing information and data.

After the first few incidents, I realized how this process works. They take it. I catch wind of it. I call them out. They get pissed (because no one likes to be called out). They look for prior existing or similar information on LRV. They want to throw that 'evidence' in my face and tell me to eat it.

That's never happened.

At this point, I think I might be okay. ;)

Fun, you should be more than OK because you are doing original work, you are able to present it in your way, and as a result you have the respect of your peers, clients and fans.

On the positive side, a thorough Google search turns up the original source of an article or a photo. So all roads will eventually lead back to you no matter what anyone does.

Our technology is beginning to redefine intellectual property and make 20th C laws more or less unenforceable without huge expenditure. Someone up thread call it a "wild west" and that seems pretty accurate to me. It's the dark side of now.

Wow, that is definitely your article. I don't remember your mentioning energy savings but otherwise, it reads just the same!

I've gotten tired of the blogs. They are all the same. And every time I wander around I see so many photos being credited to another blogger rather than to the designer. I was finding the same thing on Pinterest. They continually credit other posters or bloggers as if the images somehow belong to them.

I would be tempted to pull the article; trying to look ahead; it's going to be copied so many times & even though you were the 1st; it's going to take the fun out of it because of people that don't think before sharing.

Don't even get me started on pintrest. It's just a place for people to pin things that are not their own; opening the door for more confusion as to who owns the original. I found a wedding gown pinned there; trying to find where it originally came from took me hours because it had been pinned so many times. I like to write descriptions on images I save- originating site; in this case who made the gown.. Others do not

I used to love taking rose photos; but do not put my own photos online any more because of how many people have taken them without giving me credit. Back in the day; we found a site where the girl was taking a lot of our photos. I called her on it; she eventually added our names but I wasted a lot of time on searching & communicating which took me away from what I loved to do the most & that's when I decided that my photos would be locked up.

I used to go to a computer forum; one guy there used to take photos of exotic flowers (think he lived in Hawaii).. He was buying a computer monitor from a very large online reseller & guess what he saw on one of the monitors for sale? One of his copyrighted photos. It took him a while to get to someone on the site to speak to; so that he could get royalties for the use of his pic- they took it down & swapped with another image.

Hey, nurses are even plagiarizing in charting.

In the old days, if it wasn't charted it wasn't done...at least that's what I was taught.

Now with computerized charting, some nurses do a quick copy and paste, of someone else's charting and think they are done.

I was a nursing educator and I saw lots of plagiarism as well.

It's not right but sometimes it really is done out of ignorance. That doesn't excuse it.

Funcolors.....you really should put some sort of silly line in your article that wouldn't necessarily make your article bad or wrong, but just kind of silly, I don't know, Something like "not only does LRV stand for Light Refllective Value but it was discovered by Luis R. Villafuerte, Jr." (that's the name you find on Wiki if you search for LRV...... I think that would be fun to watch who copies that!

I was on FB this morning; one of my FB friends shared a cartoon on her page; I went to the site she got it from because I'd never heard of it. While there; I saw a post from a cartoonist who told the page owner his cartoons were there without permission. He linked to the page below.

The FB page owner removed the cartoonists work; but apparently didn't read anything because he's still sharing cartoons by other people.

Not sure if the info will help you; I'm still reading.

Here is a link that might be useful: Copyrights

How do you plagiarize patient charting?

Copy and paste

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

Enjoyed your article. Lots of work on your part.

Pretty rotten that someone decided to steal your hard work.

oh, we can't edit over here....sorry. I guess it would be wrong to say it was "discovered" by Luis, but maybe something like, "there is some speculation by some that it was discovered by..."

I mean, really, wouldn't you love to have people steal bad information?

bee...bwahahahaha! You're ornery (and I like it). I do have a tiny little hook in there. It's "visible and useable". If it's visible light, it's useable light. The question is useable for what.

The way I defined LRV isn't typical because both words aren't necessary. It's not well-written. If someone is writing about LRV, it is highly unlikely they're going to see the need for both words, visible and useable, and will craft their definition differently.

So, whenever I see the definition for LRV that includes visible and useable, I know where the information came from. Now I told my secret. Going to have to go bury another little identifier hook in there somewhere.

Maybe I should follow bee's advice and add a totally redonkulous paragraph. Like colors with LRV above 70 burn twice as many calories as paint colors with a LRV of 35 or below. That color voodoo can be mighty powerful. :)

Apparently content is king and people will do whatever it takes to get it from patient charting to cartoons and everything in between! Unbelievable.

I was a reporter for a small newspaper just out of college. I covered a museum press event and met several other reporters from different parts of the state there. A few weeks later a friend from a much larger city called to tell me that "my" article had appeared almost word-for-word in her local paper. She sent it to me, and sure enough---the other reporter had basically copied my entire article. I contacted her editor and sent him my piece. He later called me back to say that no action would be taken because he'd called the PR person at the museum and that man had told him that my article had been supplied by the museum as a press release! That was completely untrue, and I was livid. I told the friend who had first brought the matter to my attention and she laughed---and said she knew the reporter was dating a PR person at that museum. So I called the editor back and told him this, and he was appalled and embarrassed, and promised to get to the bottom of the situation. Both the reporter and her museum PR boyfriend were both fired from their respective jobs.

Plagiarism is the product of intellectual laziness and dishonesty, sometimes equal parts of both, sometimes more of one than the other, but always both.

Holy crap, kswl. What a story. Intellectual laziness and dishonesty that's really what's at the core of the matter.

I am amazed at how many people have plagiarism stories to share whenever the topic comes up. Maybe I should write a book featuring all the people and their plagiarism stories that they've shared. Maybe should do it before someone reads this thread and plagiarizes all the plagiarism stories -- hey, crazier things have happened! :)

R-gurl, reading on my iPhone I missed your post on the 30th. Thank you for the nice comments. You are too kind.

This post was edited by funcolors on Fri, Dec 7, 12 at 4:34