TheSequentialArtMan · 9:11pm Aug 16th, 2014
I think I should be in the clear in regards to calling this guy out explicitly, as he's not a user on this site (anymore).
For those of you who don't know or haven't seen the edit I just made to my attention whore blog (which I did JUST edit, so it's cool if you didn't), TheSequentialArtMan was a user whose stories contained content stolen from others' stories. He took whole paragraphs from other stories, rewording them only enough to connect them to his narratives, which were also stolen wholesale at first. He got banned twice for it, changing his works each time without completely removing the stolen content. The third one was permanent, and he indignantly made an alt account to bitch at people on the comments of a completely different author's completely unrelated story over his ban for plagiarism, at which point he was forever sacked for plagiarism.
This is the worst kind of bad author, up among the ranks of Chris-chan and Mykan. The one who makes godawful fiction, feels overly entitled to their work, throws shit fits over their work when people call them out on what it is, and refuses to admit when they're wrong. He's been proven wrong on his assertions of innocence at every turn, but he keeps going back on points that have been refuted multiple times, which I'll list here for posterity:
"I stole their work, but I didn't steal their IDEAS, though!"
Bullshit. Their words ARE their ideas. And our pal here admits that he stole from other authors constantly as if stealing one thing and not another suddenly makes it not stealing. This is the main point of his argument: that while he stole things, he changed the wording enough to allegedly make it his own. Of course, the dictionary definition of plagiarism and a comparison of his and the original stories beg to differ on whether it IS his.
"I only did it once! You guys were just pricks the other times!"
TSAM did reportedly edit his work to remove copied material after his first ban. However, he didn't come remotely close to getting it all, and he was banned a second time, and finally a third. His story "Having Some Fun Time With the Princess and her Friends" contained excessive amounts of content from other stories, and was promptly unpublished and put under password protection so he could edit further. However, when asked to provide the password so people could actually quantifiably prove that the stolen content was removed, he repeatedly dodged the issue and moved onto another.
"Your story was stupid anyway, Java Joe!"
Java Joe is one of the authors whose story, "A Doorway to Another Place," was robbed from to create TSAM's fiction. What our friend failed to address was, if the story was stupid, why he felt compelled to steal and tweak it anyway.
"You guys are sinners and being wrathful!"
First of all, hypocrite much? Second of all, theft of any kind is also sinful, and guess what plagiarism is?
"(copy-paste of excerpt from stories, list of differences from sources or dictionary definitions)"
None of this means anything in the context of the debate. In fact:
- The excerpts all still contained stolen content.
- The list of differences shouldn't even EXIST. If a story were written completely independently of any other, there would not need to be a "changes" list.
- The given definition for "edit" didn't serve him, and the one for "plagiarism" bit him in the ass.
"The other versions have a lot more of my work!"
It should be ALL your work, not MOSTLY your work, you fuck.
I linked the debate above, and I'm doing it again here. It's a dreadful saga, and still ongoing.
I remember this guy. God damn, he's dense.
And he looks like a stereotypical neckbeard. Go figure.
This fuck again? Jesus Christ, what a moron.
Honestly, he named his alts TheSequentialArtMan(insert number here).
That's not even trying!
I'm starting to wonder if these people do this shit on purpose.
And just think: One day, people like this are going to be in positions of power!
...I refuse to get involved.
-TS
Kind of makes me glad I don't write.
Toplel
Holy crap just came across this fiasco. I remember trying to help the guy to fix his story way back when and he was just so resistant to any change. He was insisting that every character have a different color when they speak because "colors are cool". And wouldn't budge on it.
But here's the funny part. He shows his new work which he says has no plagiarism. And Java Joe, same guy he stole from earlier, points out that this new work had plagiarism. One of the guys in the thread took a section and rewrote it as TSAM had stolen it from some pony game on Newgrounds. He showed how to take the idea behind it and expand it into something that is uniquely your own.
Guess what he does? He then copies that and adds it to his story that he claimed had no plagiarism. How does that even work?
And this isin't even his worst crime. :P
it's constantly posting links to songs (randomly I might add) while arguing :P
ok seriously for a minute why even bother with the fucker hes been banned argument over he lost who cares if he knows it or not
and if he comes back he will be banned again.
Yeah hes a fucking moron isin't that punishment enough :P
2376841
For me it's a little personal.I mean you steal from me, act like it's not a big deal then say that my work sucks which doesn't explain why it was he stole from me in the first place.
I'll admit my writing is no work of art but there are people out there that like it and in the end that's really it. If this guy would simply take his head out of his own ass and apologise then swear on a bible that he'd never do it again I'd be fine with it. So far the only apology has been a half-hearted one so it doesn't count.
2377360
The thing is your not gonna get any from the guy it's just a waste of your own time.
hes a massive dick leave it at that. honestly your time is better spent punching rocks :P
2382528
I'm aware of all that, and I'm aware that I'm never going to change his mind because he's incapable of changing it. A guy like that has his head so far up his own ass he's looking at you through his navel.
Fact is he's never coming back to Fimfiction so there's that but the really bad part of this is one day he might come across an actual copyright infringement and he's going to be screwed if he does. Chances of it happening are slim but it's not outside of the realm of possibility.
Coward deleted the debate and posted crap no one cares about.
2388959 I saw. Which is why I haven't gone back.
I checked on the Youtube page. He's still trying to justify his bullshit with quotes. He's talking to nobody.
3123529 Yeah, I checked on it a few weeks ago. I'm just letting him fester now.
3123553 a few months ago I actually attempted to reason with him. It didn't end well, like all other people's attempts.
May I mention something? The tweaking of placement of words and ideas, and the connection between said ideas can differentiate significantly between two pieces works. For instance, ABCDE can be significantly different than EBDAC. ANY COLLEGE PROFESSOR WILL TELL YOU THIS!
4840410
Oh, no, I learned that BEFORE college.
I also tried to "write" a poem in eighth grade composed entirely of quotes from Monty Python's dead parrot sketch. The arrangement was not a one-to-one match for the sequence in the sketch itself, and it omitted any lines from the shop keep, but my teacher still saw it for what it was. I didn't know what plagiarism was back then, and getting that response from my teacher was how I learned that's what I'd done. It made me re-evaluate the other poems I'd done for the class too.
I saw the stories in question, the originals vs. TheSequentialArtMan's rips. All they changed was the main character's name. Not even word arrangement, like you're trying to say COULD be acceptable (even then, that's a PRETTY dark shade of gray that I didn't get away with). He didn't even put in the effort to disguise it, and, importantly, the authors he took it from called him out on it.
I've got experience dealing with the matter, is what I'm saying. Not that I should be justifying this piece to you four years after the fact anyway.
4840736 I need to bring this up, since I took a closer look at the rules, but doesn't this blog itself break the rules, specifically the one about personally attacking others? You know, the very first rule in the "rules" section?
4868425 I recall that rule being in regards to users ON the site, which this individual wasn't anymore. This was a post-mortem on a jackass who got banned for plagiarism. The rule you reference is why I stopped doing one of the other things I used to with my blog (escalating detachment to the site being the other reason), so I'm conscious of it, but again, why wait four years to bring this up?
4869038 Because I just found out about it recently and have only been on the site for less than two years. And secondly I'll quote the first rule. "No personal attacks, in public or otherwise." It says NOTHING about the person in question being on the site or not.