Stop, Thief!

(or "Why It's a Stupid Idea to Plagiarize Online")

So there I was the other night, surfing the Net, conducting research for an upcoming online article for Animation - American and Japanese. I planned to write a retrospective on the Galaxy Express series and was trying to find some videos I didn't have handy. (Does that sound familar, folks?)

After clicking through several online stores, I stumbled upon www.epinions.com and found a couple of Galaxy Express reviews that seemed awfully familiar. Since I don't spend my waking hours re-reading and admiring reviews I posted back in 1999, I wasn't sure of the extent of the plagiarism. I opened up my original reviews, compared them to the copies, and did a slow burn.

The copies were word-for-word.

It seems that between September 27 and October 1, 2000, someone by the name of Chris Loffler (who you can email at mailmstr2@dbzmail.com) decided to rip off fourteen of my 1999 reviews. Yes, that's right. Fourteen of them. If it had only been one, Chris might have been able to claim that he didn't realise there was a copyright notice somewhere. But to grab fourteen reviews without somehow moving up the hierarchy of my site and discovering my copyright policy is frankly VERY hard to believe.

I'm really annoyed by all this. I've posted comments to www.epinions.com about Chris ripping me off, so that future readers of "his" opinions will know that they are my opinions. I've also posted links to the original reviews so that any visitors can have the opportunity to read my original words. As for Chris, he's mum on the whole deal, which probably means he's left cyberspace for good. Frankly, I don't care because the damage has been done, and I've tried to control it as best I can.

I'm not happy about any of this. Stealing and then posting your theft online is stupid, because you will eventually be caught. Stealing is also wrong, especially when you are stealing from a nonprofit site such as this one. The fact that Chris is obviously an anime fan (why else post anime reviews?) makes this even worse. Chris, you know what Galaxy Express and Leiji Matsumoto means to anime fans. You have to. On some level, you must know that Matsumoto writes coming-of-age stories, decries dehumanization, and champions basic human qualities such as loyalty, friendship, and love. Matsumoto's worlds are tinged with melancholy because his heroes and heroines - Harlock, Maytel, Tetsuro - realise thaat they are fighting a losing battle. None of them dress in futuristic clothes (Maytel wears the clothes of a 19th Century Countess, Harlock dresses like a swashbuckler) because none of them represent the future. They represent a past - our past - and a world we are perilously close to losing due to our technology fetish. Anime fans of a certain age first saw Matsumoto's films and TV shows as children, and we can't possibly think about Matsumoto without reflecting on our own autobiographies.The other series whose reviews you copied (Dirty Pair, Dragonball Z, Oh My Goddess) are also series that fans feel very strong emotional attachment to, particularly back in 2000 when Dragonball Z had yet to become mainstream.  And you chose to celebrate this by . . . robbing someone who cares about these very same things that you do.

There are times when I don't like some otaku at all.

For those of you who are interested, here are links to all fourteen of the original articles Chris stole. Perhaps one day I'll think that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I doubt it.
 
 
 Adieu Galaxy Express 999   DNA Sights 999.9 
 Affair on Nolandia   Curse of the Blood Rubies 
 Project A-ko   Fist of the North Star 
 Riding Bean   Fushigi Yugi 
 Gunsmith Cats: Bulletproof   Oh, My Goddess 
 Dragonball Z: Dead Zone   Lupin III 
 Tree of Might   Project Eden 


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