Written by: Greg Ellifritz
I write a lot. I’ve published more than four articles per week for almost seven years. Several times a year, I catch another blogger who has plagiarized my work. I usually write a comment on their site and send them an email. That hasn’t solved the problem.
The content thieves really don’t care. They seldom respond to my requests. When they do respond, they send a hate-filled diatribe telling me how I am discriminating against them for their race, religion, or other reasons. No one will just own up to their mistakes and apologize.
I’m tired of dealing with this crap, so I’m just going to let the entire world know when someone plagiarizes my writing. Here’s the most recent incident:
Last night I was reading a gun blog titled LDS Gunsite. In particular, I was reading an article called Knowing What Gunfire Sounds Like. In it, I found the following paragraph:
“Even if you have fired a weapon many times, you should recognize that guns fired indoors sound different than guns fired outside. Go visit an indoor shooting range. The muffled sounds that you can hear from outside (or from the front room outside the range) are most similar to the sounds of gunfire inside a building. Learn to recognize them. You don’t have to even shoot but listen. You will need hearing protection but remove it for a few shots. Make sure you are not right next to the gun that is firing because you don’t want to damage your hearing. But to hear real shots fired in a building is important to experience.”
That paragraph seemed familiar to me…because I wrote most of it in a 2015 article on my site titled Recognizing the Sound of Gunfire.
Check out the photos below. The first picture is a screenshot of the LDS Gunsite article posted Monday. The second is a screenshot of the page where my words were written more than three years ago.
The LDS Gunsite article
My article
Notice any similarities?
“Burn,” the writer of the LDS Gunsite article could have quoted that paragraph and provided attribution. I have no problem with that. But instead, he took my words and tried to make his audience think he had written them. It’s truly disgraceful.
These small time bloggers know that I’m not going to take the time to sue every person who steals my work. It just isn’t feasible. Without consequences, they just keep stealing.
We in the gun community need to hold each other accountable. That’s why I’m sharing this with all of you. Do you think this guy is a trustworthy source of information? Why would you rely on advice from a thief to keep you safe?
If we want content theft to stop, we have to stop supporting the thieves. I will never visit this guy’s site again. I will never link to him in any of my articles. I would suggest that my readers do the same.
It’s time to let the thieves fade away into obscurity. Stop giving them the attention they crave. Stop supporting their businesses. Ensure there are consequences for their crimes.
Reputation means a lot in this field. When information has the potential to lead to life and death consequences, you should clearly vet the experts you trust and shun those people who violate your trust.
Make your decisions wisely.
