I have this short write-up of links that are all feel-good and awesome with coulis, but first, let’s have some hot smoking asshattery. From many people comes this amazing series of links wherein Monica Gaudio, a writer and something of an expert on historical cookery, was plagiarized by a magazine, Cook’s Source, whose editor, Judith Griggs, believes the internet is public domain. So you don’t have to pay people whose words you steal, and moreover (wait for it… wait for it…) Monica should be grateful that Cook’s Source reprinted her article without permission or payment.
No, really. Cook’s Source lifted Monica Gaudio’s article on apple tarts from Gode Cookery. They put her name on it (thanks for small favors and all) but since they get paid by advertisers and Monica’s site surely does not, they profited off her words without permission or compensation. Smells like asshattery!
Here’s the blood-pressure raising part: after contacting them about it, Monica was asked by the editor of Cook’s Source what she wanted, and Monica replied that she “wanted an apology on Facebook, a printed apology in the magazine and $130 donation (which turns out to be about $0.10 per word of the original article) to be given to the Columbia School of Journalism.”
The reply Monica received from Judith Griggs is reprinted in part on her LiveJournal:
But honestly Monica, the web is considered “public domain” and you should be happy we just didn’t “lift” your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me… ALWAYS for free!”
Oh, the sound of jaws dropping all over the internet. So not only should Monica compensate Cook’s Source for doing edits on an article they stole, Monica should feel proud that the plagiarism will look good in her portfolio AND she should feel a little guilt for having asked for a donation for a wealthy institution of learning. It’s a good thing Monica has friends in Live-Journally places to spread the word.
According to the Cook’s Source website, their “mission is to educate our readers in sustainable sources of foods and products.” My mission is to tell everyone who’s listening that Cook’s Source’s editor, Judith Griggs, is a complete fucking asshat who wouldn’t know copyright, plagiarism, or ethics if they were stolen from her handbag.
But here’s the fun part: do not plagiarize a person, then treat them dismissively and mock the ownership of the words they wrote on the internet…when you a Facebook page. Cook’s Source’s Facebook page has gone all Explodey with the ire, outrage, vitriol, and subtle mocking education that, no, no, Judith Griggs, the internet is not public domain. And you’re a complete fucking asshat.
And is news of this asshattery perpetrated by Judith Griggs on Twitter? Why do you ask these questions: Of Course It Is.
As much as I loathe plagiarism and editors who wouldn’t know ethics and copyright from a hole in their head, I love the internet. Cook’s Source, your editor Judith Griggs is a complete fucking asshat. Internet, I want to send you cookies.
ETA: Oh, sweet holy Moses, not only did they lift content from Monica and GodeCookery, but Food Network, head’s up: you’re in there,
much like Prego
. Sorry, no Prego-lagiarism, was making bad joke!
Also, your unintentional comedy moment of the day: they have a section called “Food Frauds.” Which, according to alert commenter Andrew Pritchard, was ripped off from WebMD. *headdesk*
Aaaaaaand there’s an entire Facebook page dedicated to tracking down the original articles they reprinted.
ETA PART DEUX: ELECTRIC GOOGLE-OO! It’s Google Bomb time for Judith Griggs. All you have to do: link the words “Judith Griggs” to http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/judithgriggs for fun and google-fu! Our new definition of Judith Griggs:
griggs
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): griggs’d
Pronunciation: gr i gz
1. To use content on the web without permission, then request payment from original author for rewrites and editing.
2. To remain ignorant of plagiarism, ethics, copyright, and asshat behavior.
Example of usage: “Why’d you get an F on that essay?”
“I griggs’d the professor’s doctoral thesis from her website, and I even cleaned it up for her and told her she should give me an A, but she failed me anyway.”
The more who link, the higher our definition will be in the Google rankings. The more you link, the more plagiarism gets a royal assing, one asshat at a time. Play along—because plagiarism still sucks!
I think that this is a fabulous mission and thought you might appreciate knowing that I’m passing this on to a friend who is a professor of Mass Communication Ethics. This will be sure to find a spot on her next syllabus.
Add stealing peoples photos as well. A few of the pumpkin photos were lifted from various parts of the internet. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=439516966748&set=a.439514776748.238553.196994196748
Jesus, that’s the first thing they tell you in art school, don’t take anything off the fucking internet you untalented fucks. Look at the shit Shepherd Farley went though, and his art was just inspired by someones photo.
I say we scan every page of that god damn magazine. Then email it, upload it, and fucking post it on every pole in New York like fucking lost pet sign.
Shit.
i love how she uses college students as an example to prove her point. There is so much wrong with that. First, yes sadly some university essays are often rife with plagarism but… err… a) that doesn’t make it right and b) i highly resent the fact that she is saying all college students plagarise. Pretty much every single course i have attended (which have ranged from chemistry to molecular biology to media communications) has started off with “plagarism is bad, its illegal and immoral. If we catch anyone plagarising you will be fined heavily – at least in terms of grades” and its only the really lazy students that plagarise – though perhaps she fell into that category at uni and therefore thinks its the norm.
Anyway – end rant – butI just want to say the comments and the blogging and the tweeting are all gold! They make me smile and well – its good to see that she is well and truly in the minority of thinking. I truly hope that it stays that way.
In addition to knowing nothing about copyright, plagiarism, or ethics, Ms Griggs seems not to know a whole lot about the English language: Cook’s Source or Cooks’ Source…the apostrophe isn’t optional, it has to go somewhere!
Thank you and I have shared this ….oops can I do that???
Apparently, CS has also published a stolen article (at least one, maybe more) by Martha Stewart herself. Somehow, I’m pretty sure Martha won’t be happy to settle for the publicity. Or $130, for that matter.
Hiya! Just checked in on the anthology giveaway, and have been laughing myself silly reading this post and the great responses!!! Can’t say anything more than has already been said. Exploding heads and all. Thanks for the much-needed gales of chortles!
This level of idiocy is horrifying, it’s like she’s proud of the attention. The internet is a public domain? I was reading her Twitter posts and one mentions moving to the Bahamas “where there is no copyright law”. Yes, like many countries around the world, there is a copyright law. I sincerely hope she starts hearing from lawyers soon. There is no excuse for this level of ignorance.
I find it particularly funny that the Apple Pie article & recipes that were stolen and “edited to make them better” are listed in the Contents page with a punctuation error.
Congrats: Googling Judith Griggs (with or without quotes) links the Google Bomb as the #2 result. The #1 result? The NY Times article about the whole event.
As of 3 AM, EST, search rankings were:
“Cooks Source” was the 61st most popular search.
“Judith Girggs” was the 78th most popular search.
You know you have to have upset the Internet when you break into the top 100 most popular searches on Google.
Ahh, great way to ease into the weekend. Pulling up a chair and popping off the cap on some brew to watch the fireworks.
We need to put your defintion into http://www.urbandictionary.com Oddly enough the most popular definition for griggs (added in 2007) already comes up as “total bullshit or lie”! Humm…
What? Everything on the Internet is public domain? Huh??? I’m gonna lay this one on my mom. She’s a retired librarian and kind of intense about proper crediting of sources.
Stop being so hot smart bitches. The knowledge you hold may implode the universe.
YUP world42 is my world plus what i save yall from.
I’m ashamed to admit that I grew up in the same part general of the country where this publication is located. As for Ms. Griggs’ three decades of editing experience, I was employed as an in-house editor for only six and a half years, but I sure as heck understand copyright laws.
This fiasco is also making me just a tad bit paranoid. I’m beginning to wonder if anyone out there in cyberspace is lifting posts from my personal blog(s). Nah, no way. Who would be interested in plagiarizing my life history or my opinions on some very mundane stuff? Someone who thinks my life is more interesting than hers? Or his? Sad.
Of course it had to come to this….
Ooops! Apologizing for my lack of attention to editing my own work before submitting. The first sentence of my comment on November 6 transposed the words “part” and “general.”
I do make mistakes, but I do catch them. Eventually.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled issue. Yesterday I went into the Cooks Source Facebook page. This is a gag page, right? The picture looks, well, not really appropriate for publication—anywhere.
I have been to freelance writer sites in the past and have seen letters from writers who have been contracted to and have written articles for publications for payment, then expected to be paid and I have read letters they (the unpaid writers) posted from “editors” at these publications…the tone is very much the same. The attitude seems to be “…I used your work and did not pay you…what you gunna do about it?” It is not easy to be a writer, and now that theft is so easy, via the internet, not easier at all. The good word is, it is not so easy to screw the little guy…because, via the internet, the little guy has a very large crowd of sympathizers, and your ass will be grass. Do I hear a new era arriving…
I heard about this story first as I was listening to NPR on my way home last night. In addition to all the people and companies they plagiarized from you can add NPR to the list. They announced that they have sent Cook Source a cease and desist letter for pulling from them.
Check out their piece. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131168884
You can read it or listen to the 4 minute story.
A misunderstanding that a student of mine, and the Associate Dean of the university, shared—when I discovered that she had lifted her entire final essay from numerous sites on the Internet, it was explained to me that it really wasn’t plagiarism, because she’d cited her sources in the biblio at the end of the essay. Hence she went on to pass the course. And to graduate that year (which she wouldn’t have done had she failed the course, which she would have done had the charge of plagiarism been supported.