I think I’m in a Black Mirror episode

in Random Crap

You know when several people send you a link to something on Facebook and you go to check it out and it’s someone complaining about having her posts plagiarized by someone else and you’re like, “I feel you, sister.  That shit suuuucks” because it happens to you a lot, but then you look at the screenshots like this:

because you realize that the post she’s claiming was plagiarized from her was actually published by you three weeks before she herself stole it and posted it?

And then you read multiple posts she wrote publicly shaming this other lady for stealing something from her that she actually stole from you first?

And she writes these long diatribes about how terrible this person is because it’s like having someone steal a piece of your soul because it’s her experience, her life and her soul and how this is wrong on every level and that it’s intellectual theft?  

And the rants go on so long that you start to wonder if you’re in the Twilight Zone and also the “soulful” experience she stole from you is literally about farts?

Just me?

PS. Not publicly shaming her here because that’s sort of gross and I’m giving her the chance to just delete it.  Just…DON’T DO THIS, OKAY?

PPS.  Thank you to all the people who continually (nicely) call out others who steal content or notify the person it was stolen from.   Last month someone stole content from one of my books and used it to convince people to buy their workshop on anxiety, which was ironic since it gave me all kinds of anxiety to see someone pretend to be me to bilk money out of people desperate for help.

(Giant hugs to my publishers who shut that shit down hard.)

PPPS.  I’m fine.  I was frustrated but I feel better now.  I’ve wasn’t sure if I should publish this but maybe it’s good to have it out there as a reminder that the world is very, very small and it’s almost impossible to get away with stealing people’s stuff and not get caught so just maybe don’t do it.  Or at least pick something more worthwhile to steal than a goddam fart story.  Just my opinion.

PPPPS. Spellcheck just underlined the phrase “intellectual theft” and when I clicked on it spellcheck said I should look up the definition of “intellectual” and now I’m mad again because I think I’m being insulted and also because spellcheck sort of has a point.

UPDATED: She apologized profusely and removed the post.  It’s all good.

150 thoughts on “I think I’m in a Black Mirror episode”

Read comments below or add one.

  2. Years ago, when I started blogging, I joined a group of fellow writers and we shared our blogs on a common site. After I posted my piece, one of my writer friends posted an almost identical post (she changed a bit of the wording) on her own website under her name. I complained – rather nicely I thought – to our shared blog organizer, and I was told I was not being “Generous.” TRULY. These writers thought it would be nice if I let them steal.

    (This lady changed one word from my original post too. The lady who stole it from her used the changed word too so I can at least tell that she stole it from the other lady instead of me. Not that it matters but it’s interesting to see it continue to get stolen chronologically. IT WASN’T EVEN THAT FUNNY OF A STORY. There’s so much better stuff to steal, y’all. ~ Jenny)

  3. Spell check tells me I’ve spelled something wrong all the time. But I check and it was right all along. I think I’m being trolled.

    How clueless do you have to be to complain about someone stealing something you stole? I’m sorry your intellectual property was stolen. 🙁

  4. Reminds me of the line in Princess Bride – “You’re trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen!”

  5. We value our content and need to do all we can to protect it. One of the reasons I won’t use Facebook is because of content theft. Using user photos as headers for their “liked stories” is just one example…. But I digress. I’m in a mood.

    @WriterDann

  7. The internet is the best. And the worst. I’ve had stuff stolen from my silly little blog and I emailed them and it was all handled, but it’s still gross.

    (True. Other than the mental health lady I had to get legal involved with I’ve had pretty good luck at having people delete my stuff once I contact them. ~ Jenny)

  8. So happy you posted this, you just made me laugh out loud in public – always my favourite thing to do! Seriously, who in the actual hell would dare steal your fart story? I mean, all things Jenny are easily identifiable, even your farts. What a dope. 🙄

  9. Well, that’s because many, many people suck ass. Sorry, not sorry. They really do.

  10. People are crazy. Also – I kind of wish my blog was good enough that people would steal it.
    ps. My blog is part of the Cloverfield universe. Please read it.

  12. WTF?!? I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this, and yes, that’s definitely Twilight Zone/Black Mirror-level bullshit right there. Sounds to me as if some pre-Valentines chocolate would be a really good idea, or are you still on that strict no-sugar-no-carb-no-booze-no-damn-fun diet? (I sympathize if you are; I was diagnosed w/celiac disease in November, which basically eliminates, oh, EVERYTHING I EAT…) Anyway, get Victor and Hailey to treat you somehow tonight, OK?

  13. That’s just ride, not to mention Wong! There are quite a few hypocrites in this world. I think your post was aptly posted and she will know it was directed towards what she did!
    Shame shame on her!

  14. Argh, don’t people learn in KINDERGARTEN not to take other people’s property any longer???

  15. as an artist I try to be hypervigilant about people jacking not just my stuff but other people’s as well. There are a couple of tshirt printing sites that are BAD about stealing art. I get that we live in an age that people need to be seen and heard, but I wish people would express their own things in order to do it

  16. i’ve seen so much content stealing on the internet it’s not even funny. artists and writers have their work stolen constantly. it’s just awful. but lord, she stole a fart story from you and she was going on about having it stolen from her? some people have no shame.

  17. I’ve never caught anyone stealing anything I’ve written (and these few years? Shizz is pretty dark and chaotic so I don’t think I need to worry about that…), but when I was younger and thinner and posted waaaay more photos of myself on social media (feeling “safe” because it was restricted to friends), I had a man approach me at my job. He started talking to me as though he knew me. I was confused but trying really hard to be polite because I was at work. Then he noticed my name tag and his face started mirror my own confusion. “Why did you tell me your name was Anastasia?” Uhhhhmmm… I most certainly did no such thing! He pulled out his phone and produced a fictitious FaceBook account with my photos. -_- In the end, I found out it was a co-worker’s 15-year-old daughter who had used her mom’s account to access my photos and used those photos to “Catfish” this poor guy. I’m not sure he ever found out who was behind it (it took me a few days to know for sure, based off of the fake account being mutual “friends” with the Catfisher.). I kind of hope he didn’t… As I understood it…some of their conversations were, uhm…very…adult. (He thought he was talking to a 27-year-old woman…) I can’t imagine being on his side of that… >.<

  18. This made my head hurt. I’m still sick with the stupid flu, and now I’m angry. I shut down my old blog because asshats tried accusing ME of plagiarism. But now I can afford a lawyer. People who do that kind of crap suck. And they have no imagination. At least when I write from inspiration, I put something from my own life and originality to it. Or at least I THINK I’m being original. I think I would definitely lose my shit if I saw my content on another blog, being claimed as theirs.

  19. Wow.
    What level of mental health unwellness is present when one is upset that all their hard work of theft has been usurped because someone else came along and copied their copy. Tsk tsk.

    That friends is some wacked out crazy.

    STAY STRONG! And sorry that they used you to take money. That does suck shit.

  20. Was this the “somebody toothed” post? I was in a public loo at the theatre a few days ago and was reflecting on it… And it made me smile!
    PS: plagiarism sucks on all levels (it’s not like there is any way it can be accidental).

  21. tooted (bloody autocorrect just tried to change it to “rooted” just now… Which means something *entirely different in Australian English!!!)

  22. If she and the other lady and you have all somehow gotten entangled in some sort of temporal anomaly or parallel fart universe, then maybe her story has some basis in fact. Or is there some new cyber-disorder that makes someone think they’ve written everything on the internet? Or just the things about farts? Were her other posts about farts?

  23. Hey, all you can do is feel sorry for people who are so unoriginal that they have to steal-forward someone else’s fart story.
    But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go after the one who stole it from you and bash her over the head with a large turkey drumstick.
    Or at the least, publicly call her out on it.

  24. Wow. Someone stole some of my art one time to put on their tags for some jewelry. That felt very weird…I can only imagine what it feels like to have your WORDS stolen and then presented as their own (someone else’s own?…oy – grammar).

  25. Just like all food energy originates with the sun, all fart stories originate with The Bloggess. I give you the three-toot-salute! 😉

  26. While I do not condone plagiarism at all, what that lady did takes some serious balls. Not first-lady-stealing-former-first-lady-speech kind of balls, but pretty close.

    (Honestly, it’s sort of impressive. ~ Jenny)

  27. Okay everyone. Please help me out here. I’m a hermit so please explain to me how someone know if something of theirs has been stolen?

  28. I read your metal chicken story aloud to a group of women at a retreat recently. I gave you soooo much credit that I think I sold some books! I even held up a picture of the cover of Furiously Happy that I had on my phone. People who steal other people’s stuff are jerks! Oh, and EVERYONE LOVED Beyoncé!

    P.S. It all started because I was laughing about the gold foam baby blog post. People HAD to know more about you!

  29. I’d steal from you if I were the kind of person who plagiarizes, but I’m not because that’s horrible. You’re writing is good enough to be stolen even when you’re writing about farts. I suppose it’s a compliment, best form of flattery is imitation or something like that. Or your farts are just more interesting than other people’s. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not. Probably best not to think about it too much. The farts, not the plagiarizing. I intended this to be encouraging but I seem to have fallen off the rails. What can I say, I’m no Jenny Lawson.

  30. This is why I don’t join writers’ groups on the internet. The woman who first stole your story has to be a little mentally unbalanced, I think, to go around bad-mouthing someone who stole the story that SHE stole. I’ve never watched Black Mirror but the whole thing reminds me of the way things look in a carnival House of Mirrors – all wavy and distorted and insane.

  31. I just don’t get why someone has to steal from someone else to make themselves feel better or bigger or whatever…but then I don’t get a lot of things these days…Go get um Jenny!

  32. It’s YOUR goddamn fart story! She needs to loosen up her sphincter and make her own! (Farts, not story. Or maybe both.)

  33. OK but which fart thing was it? Because I can think of a couple and even if I don’t see the one that got plagiarized, I’m curious which post it was.

  35. OMG. I remember skimming over that post and thinking HOW ODD AND COINCIDENTAL to have two people go through the exact same weird fart experience but since I was skimming I didn’t even realize it was literally YOUR post because I was too busy just thinking the universe was delivering gassiness everywhere or I probably would have said something, too.

    Of course, the dude from India who ripped off Dorothy Barker’s piece and posted over on Medium got my attention right away. Obvi.

  36. After I read this, I was all, “I’ma git ‘er!” and pasted your (most recent) fart post in its entirety into Google. When that didn’t work, I tried pasting the post again and adding “plagiarism,” except I couldn’t remember how to spell it. So that didn’t really work either.

    But on the bright side, you can rest assured that no one has playgarized your blog. I checked.

  37. This made me remember a story from when I was about 7 years old. At school, we were asked to write and illustrate our own poems. Now I’ve never been all that creative, so I copied a children’s poem that I loved and drew it up on a huge poster board. It was Dr Suessian levels of great. My teacher loved it, hung it in the library, showed it to my mother at parents day, used it as an example to the other kids. Oh the levels of guilt I felt while that poster hung for months! I’ve never plagiarized or stolen again. I never figured out whether the teacher genuinely thought I had written it, or was trolling me spectacularly. Either way, lesson learned

  39. On a radio show I used to listen to, the dj used to say, “If you’ve stoen form me, you’ve stolen twice.” Applies nicely to your thief.

  42. I can spell just fine. But I need Idea Check to warn me when I am completely wrong. Before it’s too late. I need that, like 15 years ago.

  43. Ugh! These are the worst experiences. Back when I ran a fashion blog, someone stole my entire blog and two other blogs and mixed them all together. They stole several years of content, some of it so old it was useless.

    Thankfully, they put this stolen blog on a blogging platform that helped me take it down, but I had to provide links to each original and stolen post. (My blogging partner’s husband wrote us a program that helped do that otherwise it would have taken forever).

    It took a month to get it taken down after we noticed it. No idea how long they were doing it though.

  44. Way back in the day when I was still a professional photographer I wrote a FAQ about my business and policies. That FAQ got stolen so many times that I still find versions of it online almost identical to the way I wrote it in back in the early 2000s. I even had one person tell me that she knows she didn’t steal it from me … because she copied it from someone ELSE’s website. (smh)

    I also had one woman tell me that because I wasn’t shooting weddings full time anymore, then I’d given up the right to the FAQ and should give it to people who were actually running a business. Again … (smh).

    Some people just aren’t raised right.

  45. Yeah, that whole ‘biggest form of flattery’ concept… Quotations people, or perhaps an introduction of sorts:
    As our fabulous Bloggess says….”enter what you would otherwise be intellectually thieving.” (take that, spellcheck).
    Blows my fucking mind. (insert emoji with the scrunched up ‘poke my eyeballs out’ face)

    However, you are kind of a legend with like a billion fans. So good with the bad, maybe? I know, still maddening.

    P.S. Spellcheck and I coexist in a very love/hate manner. She’s point-blank called me an idiot on several occasions. My attempts to banish her with the ‘ignore all’ option have proved futile thus far…

  46. is it possible that your spell-check is secretly in league with that judgmental whore of a gps that victor bought for you? and does that actually mean that victor is in league with both of them?
    SHENANIGANS! I CALL SHENANIGANS!

  47. I don’t understand this who concept of plagiarism. I proudly update my blog three times a week with original content. A lot of it may not be very good but it’s mine and I’m proud of that.

  48. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and she stole your fart story… I don’t know where to go with that, I just think it is sad that people who consider themselves writers have to steal material from other [real] writers, and that her “soulful experience” involved a story about flatulence.

  49. That lady must have a special truss to help her haul around that set of balls! For real!

    I’ve known of one person stealing something from me in my adult life, but I’ve been pretty lucky, I guess (or I’m a bad writer, and no one would WANT to steal my stuff). I cannot imagine how infuriating and surreal it was to read one person complain about someone stealing content they stole.

  50. Black Mirror isn’t my thing, but all in all, that is so sad it’s almost funny. “How dare someone steal something from me that I rightfully stole” Now, I am going back and reading all thatusing my mental “Mark Hamill as the Joker” voice.

  51. All you needed to put the icing on the Black Mirror cake was having somebody implanted with a chip plagiarizing like wild. Wow, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I think you handled it with your usual grace and humor. You are amazing.

  53. I’ve come to realize that the people who complain the most about theft of their “intellectual property” or original design work are the ones who steal the most from others! This plays out time and time again in craft groups I’m a part of and it’s HILARIOUS every time they complain about someone stealing their design only to get called out for stealing other copyrighted work. Karma will have its say in the end!

  54. Maybe it’s like the whole “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?” Except more like stealing your life is the weirdest form of…theft. Also, I can’t stop giggling, as I think about MY last post, and how desperate someone would have to be to want to steal any part of my life. Don’t be jealous, y’all!

  55. Am I getting this right..? Someone copied a personal story you told about farts and tried to pass it off as having happened to them? Then got severely offended when someone else stole their stolen fart story?? What kind of magical farts are so many people proud of sharing?

  56. If it was really Black Mirror, you would have murdered her using the computer you wrote it on, and then escaped into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with a holographic Dorothy Barker.

  57. Obviously, you have THE best fart stories! Everyone knows that. And that’s how these people get caught – your faithful readers recognize your writing in an instant. I wish you would publicly shame her, she deserves it.

  58. You also have such a specific voice. Stupid to steal it because it won’t be them. If you’re gonna steal, do it from BuzzFeed or some genetic site. I will admit 1/4 of my Fourth Grade report on the “culture of Cuba” was stolen from the World Book. Jeez, people under 30 won’t even know what in talking about.

  59. Anyone caught pilfering another’s art should be sentenced to 30 day’s in a cell with recitations of 19th century sermons on loudspeakers 24/7. That’ll fix them.

  60. I certainly reposted the fart story noting that while I’ve outgrown many juvenile traits, appreciation of toilet humor is not one of them. If I were tempted to steal, I have to say that would be up top!

  62. I don’t know how she managed to convince herself that your fart story was hers. I’m usually trying to blame someone else for farts, not take credit for them. I hope it all works out.

  64. Maybe it’s just because I’m removed from the situation, but when someone does something that bat-crap crazy/stupid its just too damn funny to really be angry at them 🙂

  65. Omg…how awful AND awkward! So sorry Jenny! I had a writer friend who would steal my ideas, personal phrases, and speaking style all the time… Like those were her own. It drove me CRAZY. I never said anything to her. So glad we aren’t friends anymore!

  67. Can’t be Black Mirror, because you’re not torture porn. But I’m sorry you had to deal with this shit.

  68. When I was making highland dancewear back in the day (really), I worked with a lovely couple who had a business selling Scottish items. While looking for fabric on eBay, I found tons of photos that had been stolen from the Scottish folks and used to sell fabric. From Asia. It took them a long time to get those removed.

    Because clothing can’t actually be copyrighted, it is easily copied, everywhere. I have seen many good friends who spend a great deal of time on patterns and costumes get copied, and used for advertising all over. It would be nice if people just…. made their own things? Came up with their own ideas? Stopped being assholes? Didn’t make me so irritated by their trolling on the internet?

    This is why anger management therapy is so popular.

  69. A person I had recently accepted a friend request from on Facebook starting stealing my posts — not sharing them, actually posting them as if she was the “I” in the story. I know she did this on purpose because when people commented or asked questions, she played along. WTAF.

  71. Hypocrisy on this level deserves the public shaming. I’d totally name and shame, mostly because she had no compunction about doing it to someone else. I treat people how they treat others. I am not down with that treat people as you would want to be treated. If you’re an asshole, I treat you accordingly.

  72. No Jenny, don’t say you’re in a Black Mirror episode! Every time I watch one it is exactly how I imagine hell would be or purgatory. Like the episode with Jon Hamm in it where no matter what he did nothing got better and he remained pretty much miserable. Let’s get you to try Altered Carbon. That looks cool, right? Little bit Blade Runner meets Ready Player One but all Jenny? I think we all patron Netflix way too much, lol!

  73. please public shame. people need to learn that stealing is not ok. the internet is large but it’s not that large.- someone will notice if an article/image/etc is stolen

  74. You absolutely should post this here! Let’s hope she sees it and deletes her stolen post. People… 😠😠😠

  75. Sadly, you’re not the only one who has this shit done to them, Jenny. LuLaRoe (the multilevel marketing company) is well known for stealing shit from artists to use on their shirts, leggings, etc even right down to keeping the copyright mark or watermark on the design and not giving a fuck. If I didn’t kinda hate them already for their hideous clothes, I would hate them for that.

    Also..I’ve decided to make this the year of being #FuriouslyHappy because I am D O N E with anxiety and depression making me feel shitty. And as part of my taking shit back from those assholes, I’m writing short fiction again. 🙂 The first thing I’ve been working on in a VERY long time is sorta based a little bit on the cult of LuLaRoe.

  76. This links into something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been getting told by teachers to get some of my poetry published. Possibly a small chapbook. But I’m afraid of someone stealing it. How do you work that? Anybody?

  78. My blog has bern scraped, too. Several times. Once, I contacted the blog platform it was on and they deleted the entire blog. Another time, someone stole photos of Ro and graphics I’d made, along with my words. The last time was an affiliate website I’d

  79. My phone hit enter for me…sigh
    Anyway, I inadvertently let the domain expire for an Amazon affiliate site I’d designed from scratch. I clicked on the link and found my entire site, graphics, original theme, etc. being used by someone else. It was beyond angering!

  80. Years ago, I thought wrote a heartfelt, lovelorn post and place it online where my crush and fantasy-inamorata might read it and respond. She didn’t. Instead, some total stranger stole my words and reposted it as her own. When I called her on it, she said everything on the Internet was free for the taking. I schooled that bitch. (BTW, my would-be love never read it, or at least never mentioned it.)

  81. Isn’t there still a way to self-copyright by snail-mailing the material to yourself before you post or publish it anywhere else? File it unopened and make sure it has a legible postmark. So isn’t there a way to replicate a cyber-equivalent of that? {This is where I reveal my depths of cyber-illiteracy…] Isn’t there a file that you can e-mail to yourself intact that can’t be changed–pdf or suchlike?? Could you post it to yourself first and use that to prove your original material?

    No, I don’t need to be educated about it. It might be a sucky idea, but if it sparks a better one, feel free to tawk amungst ya’selves.

    (Yes, but since I publish it on the internet and it’s time stamped that works as well. ~ Jenny)

  82. I keep hearing a song lyric in my head, “Don’t you steal my fart posts…”, sung to the tune of “Steal My Sunshine” by Len. Interestingly enough, it’s from the album “You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush.” So it seems fitting because, you know, bums, farts…no? Yeah, it was a stretch.

  83. As the mail carrier said to me (not about me) today, “People are assholes.” But we defiantly choose to be Furiously Happy anyway. (Is Rory actually fur-iously happy?)

  84. Literally have only been plagiarized in a writing competition in the 6th grade to win a trip for the whole class. I shared my idea with this individual, she used it to write her whole essay about (without crediting me), WON THE COMPETITION, and was recognized by the whole state of California. I’m a freshman in college and still get mad about it 😂 Really is one of my top five biggest regrets haha. Grrrrrrr plagiarism sucks ass

  85. Wow. That lady is either ridiculously entitled or ridiculously stupid, to publicly complain about someone stealing something that she herself stole! I’m trying to figure out the train of thought there… I stole it first, so that means it’s now mine, and no one should be allowed to steal it from me because I got there first! …. That’s so funny.

  86. I got a response from her. She apologized profusely and removed the posts. It’s cool. We all fail sometimes and I appreciate that she took responsibility for it because that doesn’t always happen.

  88. That’s kind of insane and ridiculous. At least she apologized, though. You’re a good person for not shaming her, because honestly that level of hypocrisy is just… WHAT EVEN THE HELL?

  89. I once wrote a blog about how Cinco de May became an American holiday, mostly due to Heineken beer lying about Corona by the way. Anyhow I was doing a google search of my name and it turns out the whole thing exploded all over the internet, but not because of my blog, it had been plagiarized by a writer at the Houston Chronicle. They changed a word here and there but it was my blog. I sent them a Thank You note for publishing it but pointed out they spelled my name wrong.

  90. “UPDATED: She apologized profusely and removed the post. It’s all good.” No, it isn’t all good. She’s a thief and a plagiarist and that’s not acceptable.

  91. Renee, you could totally use you story as a short 1-act play or sitcom. Maybe someone will ask to use it.

  92. It’s a bit ironic that stealing your fart story proves that plagiarism stinks.

  95. People need to be called out on their bad behavior. They need reminders that stealing intellectual property is indeed STEALING. Good for you for getting the action you need. Glad it got resolved.

  96. I’ve had people steal website code before, including comments with our names in them to show when we’d made changes. I still don’t even know if that’s actually stealing because the internet is so vague.

  98. Brand new reader here! In my pre-blogging/freelancing life, I taught college writing, and there’s some really cool research about plagiarism out there that suggests a lot of people truly don’t imagine themselves to be stealing (though that doesn’t seem to be what’s happened in your case, obvs.!). I’d check out Rebecca Moore Howard’s and Amy Robillard’s book Pluralizing Plagiarism — it made me think about plagiarism a lot differently.

  99. The situation sucks but your gif game is ON POINT, especially that first one. I can practically hear the super dramatic music.

    Also, I dropped the s in ‘first’ just now and my autocorrect options are ‘girt, dirt, and rift.’ Not even ‘flirt?’ What language is this even?

  100. That fart story was actually pure joy. I read it to my family and they laughed about it well into the night. My son (6) and my daughter (4) ask for me to read it to them EVERY day after school and still laugh. I’ve read it dozens of times and pretty well memorized it. Don’t underestimate a fart story.

  101. I do not understand why people steal content. You look like an ass when caught and you ALWAYS get caught. I SHARE stuff all the time and it gives me just as much satisfaction to make people laugh at things that I find that are hilarious as is does when they laugh at the things I create myself. Because recognizing funny is close enough to being funny yourself when you share it. Maybe? I could be wrong but my friends seem to think I’m funny by association so it works for me.

  103. When you are stuck for an idea, write a post reposting post that have been stolen!
    You could title it, “So good they were stolen”

  104. There are times I write something I think is clever, and then have a moment of deja vu, like “did I see this statement/joke/analogy/turn-of-phrase someplace else, or did it come out of my own noggin’?”

    Totally different from ripping off someone else’s content, nearly word for word, I know. That takes some chutzpah.

  105. I’ve had people on several occasions copy some of my thoughts Word for Word. It is always disappointing. And it makes me mad. It’s fine to riff on someone else’s idea, but to present their creativity as your own is inexcusable. I don’t blame you for being mad!

  107. I have had people copy my thoughts almost Word for Word on several occasions. It is always disappointing and makes me mad. I have never called him out on it. Just doesn’t feel like they’re worth my time. To have someone riff on your theme is one thing. But to copy Word for Word is inexcusable. I don’t blame you for being angry!

  108. “Don’t underestimate a fart story.”

    I am SO going to steal that line. Oops. Wrong place and time for this announcement.

    I wish I could have seen the look on the thief’s face when she realized she was caught out. SHAME!

  109. GAH!! So awful!! My friend Liv Rainey-Smith (an AMAZING artist who does Lovecraft and medieval-inspired woodblock carvings — her website is called Xylographilia if you want to look her up, since you’d probably love her stuff) gets her stuff stolen ALL THE TIME. We’ve found people selling t-shirts on AMAZON with her artwork on them. It’s cost her tens of thousands in legal fees, and she doesn’t have that kind of money to spend because other people are assholes. It causes her to struggle financially in areas where she just shouldn’t have to, and I hate seeing it.

    I’m sorry that this has happened to you. I’m glad that you have a good team of people on your side that helps shut this kind of shit down. I wish my friend was that lucky!!! (Though her fans are just as good about letting her know when her art has been ripped off.)

  110. Awww…..that truly sucks! Don’t we all have too much other stuff to do than make sure someone isn’t stealing the shit you’ve already accomplished? I’m glad it was resolved without the use of VooDoo, though.

  111. The one advantage of being a terrible writer is that no one has ever tried to steal my work. I’m sorry to hear people have stolen yours. 🙁

    I should probably admit that I once posted some content from one of your books, but it was as quotes, in a review that basically said “this book is fantastic and you should read it” so hopefully that’s okay.

  112. First off, stealing someone’s writing? Seriously? Sheesh! Secondly, your story reminds me of an acquaintance on FB who was bullied as a child and who has written a book in support of kids to try to prevent bullying. One day I noticed a few of her childhood buddies were the bitches who bullied me back in elementary school.

  113. Reading your posts always seem to give me that “aaaa-haas” moment and I wanted to say thank you. Twitter has really gotten on my nerves lately. Sometimes I post something completely silly, like one random sentence but personal. Then I started to notice this one woman (lacking of any creative thought) was tweeting my almost identical thought. I let it go. But by the third or fourth time I unfollowed and blocked her. I couldn’t help but get upset that she was feeding off my creative, witty and silly comments. And I didn’t like it. I know it should be flattering but fuck that. It’s disrespectful. It seems to me the point of twitter is to interact and share moments together. Maybe she could of liked my tweet, retweeted and said “ditto”. I guess I will never understand these people. I will just continue to block and unfollow. Thank you for being you and for reminding me that people really are shitheads sometimes. Cheers to the weekend!

  114. So I don’t need to cut a bitch?? Damn, you take the fun out of everything!!!

  115. You use to call forward your Minions to care of this shit, now you talk to your publisher. I feel diminished. I need another Shatner moment in my life….

  118. That sucks that happened to you, but I’m glad she apologized and took it down. OF course, I’d just want to say “Off with her head!” No? Is that too harsh of a punishment? Okay, no worries… how about “Throw her to the lions!” No? Still too far? Alright, I’m just gonna exit left.

  119. Yeeeaaahhhhhhh, I’m gonna need politely request more info on this surprise apology. I can’t imagine a scenario where a (non-hallucinating) human took a bunch of words that they did not personally write, and proceeded to share them with the entire internet, while conveniently forgetting to credit the author of the sentiments they felt so compelled to share.

    Tumblr has a quote button for a reason.

    Also, general free PSA: Y’all, the internet has receipts. Lots of them.

    So don’t be a dick. Or else we will come for you.

  120. I’m flabbergasted. And you are brave. I love to write, but don’t share because of various assorted disorders and I’m a chicken. You’re my hero.

  121. She apologized?!?! WTF? I mean who steals your story, puts it out there as theirs, and then complains because someone ELSE stole YOUR story from HER???? Holy crap. I realize this probably happens all the time, but I just don’t understand. I’m embarrassed for her. BUT it does show that because you are such a great writer people even want to steal your fart stories! 🙂 You are magic, Jenny. Pure and simple <3

  122. Just WOW!
    Who Doesn’t have a fart story of their OWN?! I mean really, c’mon!
    Sorry you went through this, is nothing sacred?
    I did jack a text from my daughter to post because I thought it was beautiful. She was cool with that.
    Love ya Jenny!

  123. I haven’t read you in a while but I just read 4 or 5 of your last posts while trying to take my blood pressure with a monitor that’s broken but sometimes works and now I have no idea what my blood pressure is, but I do know/remember that you are AWESOME. Thank you!!!!!!!!

  124. ****Well done, Bloggess Army! And Bloggess publishers!****
    Common advice in books on screenwriting used to be “Let everyone read your script! Get it out there!” As there’s few tortures worse than reading a screenplay by an unvetted writer, the people who want to read those scripts tend to be people who’ve tried and failed to write their own. A couple changes and- off it goes, to the people who told the thief to “Keep in touch!”
    This thief sold my work to a bottom-feeder “studio” who even copied the art I’d designed for the cover. But I didn’t find an entertainment attorney who’d help me.
    Moral: get an agent first. It’s not impossible. Agents are to Publisher as toy dolphin is to real shark. Also my registered copyright date is several years before the one on the stolen work.
    I’ll circle back after my other project hits.

  125. Black Mirror alterna-theory: what if the person who stole the fart story from the person who stole it from you posted a comment here like, ‘OMG, that happened to me recently, someone tried to shame me online about a fart story claiming it was them when it was really me that happened to.” and it turned out it was multiverse you, only you spelled your name differently.

  126. Dear, wonderful, I-feel-like-you’re-a-friend Jenny, have you ever considered using that wonderful phrase of yours-“Feeling Stabby”–on a t-shirt only have it say “Feeling Stabby Toward Anyone Who’s Grabby”? I would buy a half dozen, I swear. I just know they’d be a big seller. (So tired of the “Grabbers”…)

  128. Wow. Just wow. I used to model and my photos were always ending up on escort sites. People always let me know. ( why they saw them, I chose not to pry) But I never considered people stealing my stories. For some reason that creeps me out more than seeing my pic up as “Olga from Miami who likes toys.” Maybe because my face was blurred lol. But stealing a personal story just seems more…personal.

  130. Seems odd if it is the recent fart story – I agree, it wasn’t THAT funny compared to some of the posts in past years that I used to laugh at uncontrollably. Now you seem to have mostly a smile or chuckle story in between the illness shares.

  132. She apologized because she realized that the farts don’t smell good? Or she apologized because she realized that her entire credibility as a blogger had just evaporated and it was better to play nice than to ignore the situation?

  133. Someone stole my name and made it into a site that sells home decor. All in all, it could be a LOT worse.

  135. Unbelievable. The lengths people will go to make a buck. I’m sorry this happened and I’m glad she apologized and took the post down. Way to take care of yourself and others, Jenny!

  136. That is an absolutely horrendous experience. Some people just don’t get life and you’re being far far nicer than I would have been. Kudos to you girrrrl!

  138. In reference to your PPPPS – Word Press and Microsoft Word often insult me in the same way. Neither would agree on whether “punk asses”, “punk-asses”, or “punkasses” was the right way to spell it. But it didn’t have a problem telling me I was wrong on all counts.

  139. I’ve been following your blog on goodreads for some time now, but have never bothered to actually read any of them. Now I’m realizing that was really idiotic of me. This made me laugh so hard my rum and coke came out my nose all over my keyboard. Granted, it might have seemed a little funnier than normal due to the rum, but we won’t talk about that-not ever, ever again.

    Seriously though, I’m sure it sucks to have something plagiarized. But at the same time, it’s also a testament to what a great writer you are. After all, nobody’s ever plagiarized anything I’ve written. Now that I think about it, that makes me sad. I’m going to go finish my rum and coke now.

  140. You are such a bloody good writer and very funny. I love reading your posts. I suppose its inevitable that someone will use your ideas but to steal from you, well, they deserve a bitch slap!

  141. Jenny Lawson has such a unique voice. How could anyone think that they could get away with stealing her stuff? It just screams BLOGGESS!

  142. Unfortunately people DON’T learn in kindergarten not to steal other peoples’ stuff anymore – because they’re too busy telling five year olds that they are already ‘behind’ on their reading skills. Grrrr… Plus – stealing other peoples’ stuff – just – UGH, NO. BAD DOG!

  143. You always make me laugh. Also, I am pretty sure that is a photo of my dog. Did you steal him?

  144. I, and many other artists deal with this constantly. In my case, they’re often former Eastern Bloc countries. While I can get them off websites, I can’t keep them from selling in person.

  145. It’s so weird. I forget to get over here for long periods, because I don’t think the subscription service works. The day I do, I read this. I just found a plagiarized post of mine on Quora! It was collapsed and the author was ‘User’. He’d used only the middle paragraph. Did he think he could hide in plain sight?

    It was a very odd feeling- I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or outraged. Which is kind of equivalent to Scarlett O’Hara liking the gentleman’s ‘attentions’ but not liking them, too.

    It’s the ultimate in ‘he said, no, I said it!” If you protest too much, people start to wonder whether YOU stole it from the plagiarizer. Then they dismiss. “What’s the big deal?” they say. “It’s a first world problem. You still have your health.”

    Tch.

  146. You’re awesome. And humbly handling bad things, which is awesome. And inspiring. Thank you for being a light in the world. 🙂

  148. I think you are very funny. I am sorry that people steal intellectual property from anybody, but especially from people as witty and deserving of being able to make a living being themselves as you. I cannot believe this person was so narcissistic that she actually tricked herself into believing it was hers. Because that is the only way this Black Mirror episode makes any sense.

    Stay away from companies researching virtual reality games.

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