I Was Reminded About Someone Plagiarizing My Work When I Read Another Writer’s Story
The issue hadn’t been resolved for over six months but a happy ending came thanks to a fellow editor and friend
Today, I got the happy ending to my plagiarism story, finally. After over seven months after I had initially reported the issue to Medium, the matter was finally addressed and closed. I have a couple of people to thank for that.
The person I give the most credit to for following through, volunteering her time, and helping me get the issue closed is my friend and fellow New Writers Welcome editor, Mona S Gable. She took the time to write a well-crafted and well-thought-out letter and continued to correspond with Medium’s Trust and Safety about this long unresolved matter.
She stated to them that it didn’t seem as important to the Medium team since I’m not monetized in the letter. The problem was that the guy who plagiarized my work was monetized and he was making a profit, even if it was very little, off of my own work. Since I hadn’t heard anything at all back from Medium previously, I let the issue go initially and let months pass before I’d remember to check and follow up on it to see if it was resolved.
I don’t even remember if I had just figured that Medium had taken care of it or if I had just let it go because it was taking too long. Either way, the correct and fair result hadn’t been produced up to that point for my issue. It wasn’t until I read Yana Bostongirl’s about her own situation with a plagiarist. The very same New Writers Welcome editor and friend, Mona S Gable, was the one who caught the plagiarist in the publication in the first place for her.
The matter was resolved within hours and addressed the same day. Even with Mona’s help, it still took days for the platform to address after the fact for me. She contacted them on Thursday and even did all of the analytical work for them ahead of time. My article was copied word-for-word so we figured that it wouldn’t even be that hard to find. The fact that it took from Thursday morning to Sunday morning to complete the research made me think that the priority for them on this issue was very low.
I’m not mad or envious of the uneven treatment on the platform, just a bit confused. Plagiarism is plagiarism, regardless of what’s being plagiarized and who’s doing it. And I put in so many hours of editing and writing every day to contribute free content to the site without asking for a single dime in return. I own multiple publications and support thousands of writers weekly. All I ask them is to respond in a reasonable and prompt matter when it comes to issues that I’ve come across on the platform.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had issues with Medium although it was the first time I’d been plagiarized, to my knowledge. It will probably also not be the last time it happens either. I hope that in the next instance, I’m able to get a quick and fair resolution for that. The waiting made me impatient, confused, and frustrated and made me think that the person wouldn’t be dealt with.
Did you know all those months ago when I found that story and confronted him about it? He just played it off as if he were copying my story to be monetized so he could donate the money to some charity or something. It pissed me off so much that I deleted that response and reported him right after.
I’m a smart person and I’m hard to fool. His lame excuse for doing that wasn’t going to pass my bullshit test. It almost made me think that he knew he’d get away from it longer than he should’ve over it just because of how he made it look when he typed that. I guess that is also why it’s likely that I did in fact give up all that time ago when it happened.
I didn’t feel important enough to a platform that I’d already given so much. I guess that the important thing is that, after all this time, with the help of a good friend, I was finally able to put this issue to rest. I just had to wonder, vent, and ponder as to why it took an extraordinary amount of time.
I’ve already thanked Mona S Gable multiple times over messages and have expressed how grateful I am that this ordeal is finally over. It definitely took a great toll on me. I’d also like to thank Yana Bostongirl one more time for publishing the story that reminded me of my own ordeal and for mentioning me in one of her follow-up stories about the resolution.
I’m going to continue writing on Medium because I love to. I just don’t love this part of it. Having to feel like I’m not being appreciated enough. I hope Medium takes heed of what just happened here and looks to be a little more attentive in the future with any of my concerns.
You can read Yana’s stories below about her own ordeal.
Thanks for the outpouring of support from the community after finding out about this. I’m grateful to the community we’ve built here to help each other out.
