Tag:

plagiarism

Who are the Real Moms & Who are the Online Imposters?

by Deborah Cruz 2014/02/10

Something bizarre happened this weekend, someone pretended to be me; leaving me to wonder who the real moms online are and who are the online imposters?

This is the first time I’ve ever been aware of anyone doing this where I was involved. Someone pretended to be me online. I don’t mean they copied my posts and swiped my words, it went beyond that. Unfortunately, I have become used to the plagiarism after 5 years of blogging and I’ve learned how to stop it. I’ve never had someone actually try to pass themselves off as me…the person.

It was brought to my attention that someone had actually created a fake account using my name and photo. I have an imposter pretending to be me online. Imagine my surprise when I see a comment supposedly left by me, only it wasn’t. I do not like being forced to take responsibility for words that I didn’t actually write. God knows that I write enough things to get me in trouble all on my own. Anyways, it left me feeling decidedly vulnerable and violated. Someone had invaded my privacy on a very personal level. It made me begin to question everything.

I’ve put a lot of trust in you, Internet. I know that you are not infallible. I forget that the Internet is not just filled with a whole bunch of moms reaching out for friendship and support. The Internet is full of weirdos; pedophiles, imposters and single white females just waiting for the chance to prey on some poor unsuspecting schmuck. Do we really know anyone?

I feel like from now on, every time I write I should be asking myself Who are the real “moms” & who are the online imposters?

Who are harmless crazy cat ladies sitting in their one room apartments playing with their 10 Reborn baby dolls? Who are the 300-pound, balding perverts who live in their mom’s basement and touch themselves while reading about your children losing a tooth or crying from a booboo? Who are the single white females who sit in their home alone reading about every detail of your pregnancy while doing a little legwork and soon knows where you live and when your baby is due? The crazy lady who wants a baby so badly that she’s willing to befriend you and then cut you open like a fish and take your baby?

We never know who we are talking to; in person or in real life. The guy you worked with at Arby’s could turn out to be a pedophile 20 years later. The guy you went to prom with could secretly dress up like a woman and write erotica. The mom you’ve been sharing every detail about your life with online could really be some man in Brooklyn who has no kids and gets his rocks off reading about yours.

This past weekend has left me with two thoughts; people are really bat shit crazy. I don’t mean crazy like you and I and in need of some sleep and Xanax. I mean off the reserve, scary and dangerous crazy. People who pretend to be others online are creepy on a very deep level. Two, I don’t know if this space is really one that I want to be a part of anymore.

I used to be so naïve and I thought people who wrote about rainbows and unicorns all the time were trying to hide something out of a need to protect themselves from criticism but now, I realize that the lack of transparency was probably born out of an innate need to protect themselves from actual crazy people who can steal every detail of your life and make it their own but I don’t know if I can blog in any other way than with complete openness. One imposter has lied so much that she has convinced herself that the person whose life she’s stolen is the imposter and she will fight anyone who says otherwise. I find that to be very frightening because obviously the lines between fantasy and reality have been blurred so badly that she no longer recognizes which is which.

When I think of the personal stories and photos that I have shared on this blog, it makes me cringe to think what could be done with all of it in the wrong hands. It’s also made me reassess what I want this space to be. I’m not sure the pros outweigh the cons anymore. I just want to write and connect with other moms. I am nobody special, the other bloggers who have had imposter accounts made in their names and my friend who is literally having someone steal her life, we are just moms trying to connect to one another and somewhere in all of that, we’ve let an imposter infiltrate our community but what is the alternative? From behind the screen, do any of us really know who the online imposters are or who we are really talking to?

Can you tell the difference between the online imposters and the “real” moms online?

2014/02/10 2 comments

Throat Punch Thursday

Throat Punch Thursday ~ When Plagiarism Affects More than Just your Traffic

by Deborah Cruz 2012/10/18

written by Deborah Cruz

Plagiarism can be deadly

Plagiarism strikes again. I can’t even believe that this has happened. When I got the pingback to my blog and I saw where my post ended up, my stomach dropped. One of my worst nightmares realized.Not the fact that assholes were copying form websites ( thought that does chap my ass) but the fact of where they copied it to. I was horrified and quite literally, sick to my stomach. I had become one of the things I hate the most in the world, a proponent for the very thing that almost destroyed my life; the disease that cold have killed me.

I sit at my computer and I type away pouring out my heart and soul. I never really stop to think about how what I am writing can be twisted and construed. I don’t write in respect to reviews. I write raw and uncensored. I know the whole story and sometimes, I forget that some of my readers ( depending where I am writing) only have a glimpse into my life. They have no idea about who I am and my thoughts, beliefs. They get a snippet, a writer’s soundbite and they form, usually, not too flattering and often strong opinions about me. It does hurt, especially when they are condemning me and I can’t even respond but that is the price I pay for being a blogger. I open my story up to others, I have to take the criticism with the flattery but I will not stand silently for someone using plagiarism to twist my story into something that supports the slow suicide of many of today’s teens.

My blog paints a family portrait, giving only a brief synopsis of what is going on in my life. I share because, for me, writing is catharsis. This is how I process all the madness without needing an asylum. You know that moment when you are so engaged in the moment that you write completely with your heart, no thought or censor needed? Those are the best posts because connections are made with your readers but they are also the posts that plagiarist prey upon.. Readers are smart, they can usually see through all the rainbows and sunshine in a heartbeat. They are not falling for the smoke up their asses. It might feel warm and fuzzy in the beginning but soon, it’s just saccharin and sticky and who wants that? So, I tell the truth like many of you do. Then something really fucked up happens and it makes me reconsider everything.

Plagiarism in the wrong hands can do a lot of damage

I can’t talk vaguely about this because it makes no sense so I will be completely honest without linking to these idiots. Most of you are very aware that I have struggled with eating disorders in my past. I am now an advocate for healthy living and I share my story, embarrassing as it may be to me, to help others know they are not alone and that recovery may be ongoing but it is possible. The other day I wrote a post about body dysmorphic disorder and then I found it on a ProAna site. For those of you who are unaware, ProAna is Pro Anorexic. It is a site that says that it doesn’t encourage eating disorders but believe me, they do. They have the live and let die stance on anorexia. They are a resource for those who need a support forum to kill themselves with eating disorders. It’s a group who understands and embraces the anorexic and her disorder. They my not chant “Starve, starve, starve” but they certainly tell you how to do it, how to hide it and rationalize it. These sites disgust me and I think they should be outlawed.

So, when they took my post about my own story of living with body dysmorphic disorder and plagiarized it on their site, I can only believe they are using it as a tool to advocate for anorexia to cure unsatisfactory feelings about their bodies. A site like this would not be using it as a tool to deter women from eating disorders. They just don’t do that. The thought that any of my writing could contribute to another another girl going down this path completely makes me sick.

This weeks throat punch most definitely goes to the ProAna site that used my post about living with Body Dysmorphic disorder and twisted into a tool to convince others that eating disorders are justified.Don’t worry, I got legal involved unfortunately, these shiesty fuckers have comments closed and are very sneaky. It’s not exactly the sort of site that you want to put your name all over, if you know what I mean? Bastards! Be warned there are worse things that plagiarist can do than JUST steal your content, they can twist your words into a weapon to hurt others.

What is the time your words have been taken out of context or twisted into something else and used in a way that you never meant it to be? Have you been the victim of plagiarism?

Plagiarism can do harm you never even considered

photo credit: Rega Photography via photopin cc

2012/10/18 6 comments

Chicago, Facebook Live, Throat Punch Thursday,Brittany Herring, Hate Crime, Donald Trump

Throat Punch Thursday ~ Intellectual Property Plagiarism: Sheisty Bastards Edition

by Deborah Cruz 2011/12/01

written by Deborah Cruz

Intellectual Property Plagiarism ~ This one is personal. You all know how I feel about being plagiarized. I think we can all agree that plagiarizing sucks. I’m not some Pulitzer prize winning writer, I talk about a lot of crazy off the wall shit and it’s not normally popular opinion or written in the usual rainbows and unicorns fashion, so when you plagiarize my intellectual property…it doesn’t take me too long to figure it out. Not to mention that I have taken some pretty extensive steps to catch plagiarist. Oh yeah, I’ve got my blog boobie trapped assholes. I’ve even written entire posts about how to catch a plagiarist and stop them from plagiarizing you.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism Not a Victimless Crime

I don’t think that some people understand that I have ownership over my blog posts because I author them and when they take them without my consent and without acknowledging me as the true author, they are stealing. I don’t adhere to the adage that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s not. The sincerest form of flattery to a writer is to pay her for her writing. When someone copies my thoughts, ideas, words and actions; when someone tries to be who I am by using my mission, my formula, my title and name…that is plagiarism and it pisses me off. It seems the more traffic I get, the more well known my blog becomes the more likely people are to try and hitch their wagon to my star. I’m not saying that there is anything special about what I do but it’s mine. It’s me! I feel like these plagiarists are turning all Single white female on me. It is literally happening almost on a daily basis at this point.I’ve written so many cease and desist letters that the formula is tattooed on my brain.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism is Real & punishable by Law

This latest case of intellectual property plagiarism is what has my panties in a bunch today. Earlier this week, as I was perusing Facebook I stumbled on a Community page using my blog name The TRUTH about Motherhood. Did you even know that this was possible? Can you say blatant intellectual property plagiarism? This piqued my curiosity. I may not be a Dooce or Jessica Gottlieb but I’ve been around long enough for a substantial amount of bloggers to know who the hell I am. It always gives me a little knot in my stomach when I ever see my title used or very close to it because then I have to check it out to see what else it has in common with me. Imagine my reaction when I was reading the description of the page and it read;

Witty, honest look at Motherhood from the trenches. The agony and the ecstasy of being a Mother, from pregnancy, through labor and delivery, to bringing the first baby home and to infinity and beyond. Where other mothers pretend to be Bree Van de Kamp,Truthful Mommy lets it all out there for the world to see. If 30’s the new 20, then imperfect parenting is the new perfect.

I was trying to place the words. I went back through my posts and I saw bits and pieces here and there but not the exact quote.But I knew it had been said. I knew it was something I had said. Then I remembered, it is the verbatim description of my blog on the Babble top Mom blogger nominations. My head was spinning. Then I realized that they had labeled the page Community. To me, that infers that they are the community page for The TRUTH about Motherhood website ( which they are not) especially since they had the balls to use my exact description of my blog and even refer to TruthfulMommy( ME). I contacted them and they refused to answer and removed my comment from their wall. I reported them to FB for intellectual property infringement and they were forced to remove the description. Some of my followers also told me that they reported the page for being a duplicate. I think that since they refer to themselves as the community of The TRUTH abut Motherhood it is still under the guise of being associated with my site and should be forced to change their name, as well. We will see what Facebook does about the situation. I have made my feelings clear. I hope they have to change it or remove it in it’s entirety. This is just one more instance in a long list of times that someone has stolen my brand.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism Parasites

Today, I am throat punching the hell out of PLAGIARIZING PARASITES. I make no bones about it, if you are copying someone else’s thoughts/actions/words give them the acknowledgment and link back, at the very least try to do so. I will not tolerate this anymore. If I find out that you are plagiarizing my intellectual property, I will go through the proper channels and I will take you down.

Hope you will link up your Throat Punch Thursday posts with me. All you have to do is grab the Throat Punch Thursday button ( listed under the buttons tab at the top of the page), put it in your blog post and link up. If you’d like to stay in the Throat Punch know, I’d love it if you would email subscribe ( as GFC will stop working soon).

*Just checked and the FB page for the “community” calling themselves The TRUTH about Motherhood has been taken down! FTW! Thank you FB for having some integrity.

Have you ever been plagiarized? What did you do? Did you go after the plagiarist assholes who stole your property? Did you give them a throat punch? We need to keep an eye out for one another and let one another know if we come across one anothers material on sites not belonging to the original writer. We are bloggers hear us roar ( right before we throat punch your ass)! Fellow bloggers, let plagiarists know that intellectual property plagiarism will no longer be tolerated by any of us.

2011/12/01 10 comments