In a series of links that dropped my jaw, made me shake my head, and feel a boatload of “Oh, No,” here's an eyeopening series on how to catch someone stealing your content online, which was posted today by CuddleBuggery after Katiebabs saw an anonymous link on this older post on plagarism.
The follow posts are from January 2012, and I'm not sure why the book blogging community wasn't aware of it until now.
Kristi Diehm, better known as The Story Siren, was allegedly caught lifting articles about blogging and making minimal changes to them for her site. Bloggers B from Beautifully Invisible and Vahni from Grit and Glamour found the evidence and confronted her about it. Their entire story is like a master tutorial on how to use analytics to identify who is reading a website, and when – and in this case, possibly why.
Part the first: Beautifully Invisible is plagiarized, and figures out who it is, where they came from, and what they looked at.
Part the second: Grit & Glamour explains options for dealing with similar circumstances, and explains the steps they took to address the theft of their content in this instance.
According to the write up of the process at Grit and Glamour, Kristi responded by saying:
“In all honestly, I have never been to your blog or any of the blogs mentioned in this email until tonight when I cross referenced the posts that you had listed. I rarely if ever read blogs beyond the book blog community. But I could not agree more with your assessments of the posts. And I am sorry to say that I have no viable explanation. I even searched my web history to see if perhaps I had read the posts and had recalled them as I was writing my own.”
The statement that she'd never visited their sites despite the ample IP evidence to the contrary led to a request that she delete the content, which she did.
Then she responded in part by saying, “I've tried to be as obliging as possible and in turn I'm hoping that you will allow this to stay private.”
Folks on Twitter who weren't part of this request for anonymity about the accused plagiarist, looked the images online, both of photos and geographic location, and helped identify Kristi Diehm from The Story Siren.
Photo from the writeup:
Photo from LinkedIn:
When stuff like that happens, it damages more than just the accused and the accuser. It undermines the efforts of all of us who review books online. Still no word from Diehm about this matter, but as Jane pointed out via Twitter, I look at her site and wonder if any of it is hers, or if the other content was lifted from elsewhere. And since we who discuss books online work so hard on our content, it's galling to see someone who has been outspoken about plagiarism and who has worked to build a community online despite being plagiarised revealed as an accused plagiarist.
In the book blogging community, we may not always get along, but I absolutely do believe that most of us respect one another's content, and we don't steal words from one another. For one thing, it's wrong, and for another, good golly, have we not figured out that there's very few ways to hide it?
What I don't understand is how this is coming to light now – these posts were written in January 2012. Did you know about this? Has there been any additional signs of plagiarism?
Updated 7:53pm ET: Kristi Diehm has posted what she calls an explanation and apology at her site, where comments are closed:
I owe you an explanation and an apology.
Please don’t take my silence on this issue until now as an admission to anything.
I made a mistake. I freely admit that. I am disappointed in myself and I’m embarrassed. I’m deeply saddened and distraught that I have broken your trust. I don’t want to give you any excuses. In a way I feel as though it won’t matter what I say at this point. It seems that the verdict has been decided. I was accused of doing something that I am vehemently against, and intentionally or not, I know that there will be consequences.
You may be wondering why I didn’t address this issue earlier. The fact is, I thought it was taken care of privately. After the issue was brought to my attention I was appalled. I would never do something like that. That is NOT me. I thought that I did everything that I could do, to make the situation right.
I’ve struggled immensely internally with this, because this is not the type of person that I am. I felt like the fraud I was accused of being.
I didn’t want to keep it private for the reasons that you are thinking. I’m not worried about what people will think of me. I’m not saying that it doesn’t hurt, it does. I’m not immune, but that wasn’t my biggest concern. My biggest worry was the authors and publishers that I host.
I offer them something. A viewership. I offer them the chance to have their book seen. I didn’t want to deny them something that I had promised. I now fear that is the case.
I don’t expect your forgiveness. I don’t even expect you to understand. I can’t ask that you continue reading The Story Siren as a result, and I respect your decision to not do so. The only thing I ask of you is that you take this apology as a sincere one.
Four months of silence is not an admission of anything, and nowhere in this “apology” does she actually acknowledge her actions. “Intentionally or not?” How do you unintentionally lift four articles from another site? Where is the apology, exactly?
And her explanation: she only did it for authors and publishers that she hosts. She did it for you! *headdesk*
To quote Moira Rogers Bree, “Dear plagiarists: please retire, “I didn't realize I'd done it” as an excuse ASAP. It is A RIDICULOUS excuse & now you're ridiculous too.”
That was one of the most flaccid apologies I've seen, filled with double-speak and not much meaning or significance, or even addressing the situation. What a disappointment. And of course I have that Rhianna song stuck in my head again, because this “apology” and “explanation” indicates to me that she's only sorry she got caught.
Updated 10:00 pm ET: I received a more sincere apology via email from Kristi, as did Jane at DearAuthor:
I am very sorry for the trouble that all of this has caused the book blogging community. I also apologize for my actions and will work harder to be a better and stronger blogger. I have answered on my on blog as well and am sorry that I was unavailable due to work during the day and seemed unresponsive.
I wish that had been what was on her site.
Updated 24 April 11:00 am ET: Another explanation and more robust apology has been posted on the Story Siren's site, though comments remain closed, which means other threads on Kristi's site have hosted comments for this topic, which have been deleted, it seems. The apology reads:
Let’s try this again. I owe all of you, the blogging community and my readers a much better explanation and apology. My first apology was written out of emotion. I should have given myself the time to reflect before responding. I didn’t do that and I tend to let my emotions rule.
I am truly sorry for all the trouble that this has caused the book blogging community. That’s my biggest regret. You gave me your respect and I let you down. I took a role as a leader and I didn’t take my actions into account as it would reflect on the community as a whole. For that I am truly sorry.
When I first received the allegations of plagiarism, I was presented with the information and could not deny the facts. While the content was not identical the subject matter was. It was a confusion of inspiration and plagiarism on my part. I am not denying my actions. I was in the wrong.
While I did not recognize the blogs in question initially after continued correspondence I discovered I was incorrect in that. I worked with the bloggers first linking to their initial posts and then in the complete deletion of the posts in question.
Was I feeling pressure to do something new and engaging? Something helpful and interesting? I was. Had I only paid more attention to where my inspiration was coming at the time, I should have handled the situation much differently. A simple email asking for permission or a link back should have happened. And I didn’t do it. I’ve preached that thousands of times. I lacked in taking my own advice.
I know that I have disappointed many of you. That is heartbreaking to me. I am still the same person that you have come to know through the years. I just really screwed up.
I am sorry for the strain that I have put on the blogger/author/publisher relationship. I for one have worked hard to lessen that strain, and it seems that all of that work may have been lost in this mistake.
I can assure you that my remaining content is my own. Although I know there is no reason for you to believe me. And I don’t blame you for being skeptical.
To Grit and Glamour and Beautifully Invisible, I extend my deepest apologies. Please do not judge the book blogging community by my mistakes.
In the end, I hope that something positive comes away from this. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did. Learn from them. I know that I have. I apologize for my actions and will work harder to be a better blogger. I only hope that you will give me a chance to do so.
“I didn’t know that I did it” is really bad excuse. Being adult means that you understand consequences of your actions. Grow up!
Why plagiarize? I have no idea. I honestly shake my head every time this happens because it is increasingly easy to get caught. There could be any number of reasons why but I think it varies person by person.
The author (K Manning) who copy/pasted other character names into published fiction and sold it under her name probably wanted success and, frankly, money. Given that she sent plagiarized copy/pasted books to critique partners, it would seem she had a deep need for attention and validation. But that’s my theory; it’s not like anyone can truly understand someone else’s motivation.
In this case, I have no idea. It’s nonsensical, because if you’re a blogger and you’ve been online as long as Kristi has, surely, SURELY you would know you’d get caught.
It is one sided because Kristi never responded promptly – her apologies never directly mentions the posts in questions and its all vague – that smacks of misdirection especially if people who are unaware of what has happened but comes across that post and not realise WHY she is apologising. And those bloggers should have the right to be angry, they shouldn’t get the blame and Kristi’s blog is probably getting the same kind of hits because people like drama. Also Kristi was pretty naive to think this matter was handled privately, the bloggers never REMOVED the blog post, and she should have posted and admitted an apology when it was first got discovered. It is also particularly bad that Kristi who was plagiarised herself and BLOGGED against it also succumbed to this.
I am sorry this has happened especially by someone like Kristi but the bigger the blogger the worse the fallout with something like this, especially if they advocated against plagiarism and was a victim of one too- its hypocritical. And if you are involved with reviewing and blogging, you have to prepare for the dramallama- This year with the backlash on negative reviews and authors behaving badly proves that. A blogger has to prepare for all different kinds of responses – the good, the bad and the ugly, – that’s the whole point about offering your opinions and reviews and if you screw up and I’ve definitely done that in the past. I’ve owned up to it and apologised promptly.
Rambling Thoughts:
I hold my hands up to two things – the first is that I have some pretty extreme views and I’m not afraid to express them. That’s just who I am and I’m not going to change that. The second is that, yes, I created the hashtag #StopTheStorySiren and maaayyybe it was a little harsh. I highly recommend #StopPlagiarism.
The hashtag was a split second moment of madness, I guess, and it was made after I came to the realisation that Kristi would probably get away with this. So I did what I did best. I stirred up a LOT of trouble to try and get the word out as far as possible.
Well, I don’t know if that was what made it work or something else but now the majority of the blogging community knows… and unfortunately that also means that I’ve been called jealous and a bully. I’m not, and I don’t see why we should wrap her in cotton wool either but I’m a big girl and I can take it. I’ve been on the internet having arguments with a lot of people and have been called far worse things than that.
But what hurts is that people are still claiming there’s not enough evidence to prove it. How much evidence do you need people? She’d be found guilty in a court of law without a trial, the evidence is THAT damning. The word ‘Bully’ is being used for the most ridiculous of reasons – I saw a another blogger have a constructive argument (nothing ugly, just the facts) with a blogger and he was said to be bullying her – because he replied too much. I think we need to address what plagiarism and bullying actually means.
~ Also, in her blogging time, she’s received hundreds of books, an iPad and gets a lot of money from advertising.
Sorry, what?
This didn’t happen to Kristi—Kristi did this, starting with stealing. Now she has to face the fallout, pretty or not, along with the people she stole from.
Mind you, Has, I don’t think you are defending the plagiarism, but the whole “poor Kristi, leave her alone, hasn’t she suffered enough?” chant gets on my nerves.
No one forces anyone to steal someone else’s words and work.
I’m glad that Kristi was outed. I just wonder why this wasn’t brought to light before this if they other blogger knew about it in Jan. I’ve been blogging for 4 years and it’s a little YA blog. But I am honest.
If you read the posts by the bloggers whose work was stolen, you’ll see why it didn’t come out until now.
Glad I’m not the only one getting sick of people defending her!
Kristi has done a TON for the YA reading community, and some of the remarks here seem more about begrudging her success than expressing dismay at plagiarism. Her mistake doesn’t wholly undermine all the good she’s done for the YA reading community, and authors to boot.
Oh I am sick of that too and I think its a way to deflect the whole thing by painting those who are upset as meangirls or bullies. I did mean that because she was such a huge force in the YA blogging world – she’s definitely disappointed a lot of her followers and readers who looked up to her and I know a few bloggers who looked up at her. I think this is why so many of her supporters don’t want to accept this has happened. And I totally agree that she needs to face up to the fallout – and she should have DONE that when it first came to light in January. I am not impressed by her reaction towards the whole affair or her apology and I think it reeks of double standards and hypocrisy because she should have known better. Especially since she blogged about this – she deleted this post but once its posted on the net it stays on the net.
http://web.archive.org/web/201…
I’ve had close hand experience by those who plagiarised and I regarded them as my friends as well as co-bloggers, I’ve experienced the fallout and the disappointment. I know how gut-wrenching and mortifying something like this can happen but we dealt with it promptly and explained what happened as well apologised for the bloggers in question when it came to light. The whole covering it up, dismissing the evidence and painting those who asked for an explanation as meangirls is ignoring and condoning that Kristi was guilty in participating in something she preached against. I don’t have any sympathy for her actions but I do empathise with the fallout on others and that can be horrible.
It’s. Not. A. Mistake.
Look, a mistake is saying, “I saw this at DA” when in fact it’s from Martha Stewart. What she did was deliberate—cool headed and repeated.
A person cannot troll for content by mistake. A person cannot cut and paste, then do a minimal format facelift to that content and publish it as her own, by mistake.
And I’m very sorry this irks you and others, but her theft does undermine everything else she may have done: people are left wondering how much more of what she posted over the years was lifted from someone else in a different community.
Trust is a very fragile commodity in any community. Online, as SBSarah says, trust/reputation, is a blogger’s currency. By her own actions, she’s lost a lot of people’s trust.
Thank you for this. I don’t use Twitter and wasn’t aware of what was going down.
She has posted another strongly worded apology and at least it mentions plagiarism this time http://www.thestorysiren.com/2…
Although she would have fared better if she came out and admitted this when it first emerged. She wouldn’t have to face the backlash she’s getting now.
From what I’ve read in the comments and Twitter, most people are concerned about the plagiarism. The bloggers who have voiced their opinion have done so because they feel like this will make them look bad. There is already enough drama in the YA Blogosphere with all the Negative review/Author issues. Yes, Kristi’s done good in the past. Her blog is probably the most popular YA blog out there. This doesn’t make the plagiarism any less problematic though. She’s done wrong and she knows it. Now she’s admitted it. Anyone who feels disappointed about this has the right to feel that way, especially other YA bloggers. This is a matter of feeling discredited just because of one influential person. You seem to defend her a lot. Maybe it’s because you’re coming out with a YA book this year that will probably get promoted on her blog. Who knows? In the end, she still did wrong and should not be defended just because she is a huge YA blogger.
Has – I totally agree. I’m glad that she posted another apology… But she would have been better off going with that approach in the first place. What good is an apology if the person never mentions what they’re apologizing for?
You know what, I really respect her for FINALLY coming forward with an honest apology. That is precisely what should have happened four months ago.
Oh boy! Those apologies are really confusing. Not once does she explain what actually happened. I had to log on to Beautifully Invisible and find out myself. Thanks for explaining more.
Thanks for the alert, I linked this page on my blog because it is important that people recall that plagiarism is bad. And I am tired of people getting screwed.
This is crazy! I don’t understand WHY she felt the need to plagiarize. She already got more than enough traffic, didn’t she? (And, not to be a jerk, but I never understood WHY. Her reviews were always very short and not very complex—and they had tons of grammar and spelling mistakes! And if you’re going to be talking about books, you should probably spell-check and re-read your entry for grammar mistakes before you post it…right? [Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine…].)
It’s gotta suck being her right now, and knowing she’s just shot her own reputation to pieces.
Not to downplay the idea that plagiarism is bad, but yeah, I can actually think of something that is worse than a blogger plagiarizing another blogger – how about illiteracy? Libraries all over closing? The loss of brick and mortar stores?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be outraged over what she did or not discuss it. Nor should she get off without any penalties, but after spending the last 20 minutes reading all the comments, I do feel like there are some who have taken the issue to the extreme.
A hashtag, really? Bullying isn’t just physical encounters; it can also be completely psychological. Would you want a hashtag out there about how much you suck and then having it retweeted over and over again? Just because she’s not being physically bullied doesn’t means it’s not still bullying.
And maybe that’s why she didn’t initially want to be outed or why the bloggers in question didn’t out her as well. It was resolved between the two parties and the issue was done. Yes, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but it’s been three months. If it had been a smaller blogger, would it have made it into peoples radars like this? Would people have simply seen the original posts and be like “oh, this is fabulous advice on how to find out if I was plagiarized”? Or is it because it was the Story Siren that we care right now?
So yes, there are more important things out there for people to get on the bandwagon about; however, as far as this discussion…we should be focusing on how plagiarism has become more and more of a problem and ways we can stop that. I have to applaud the ones who were plagiarized. They took this experience, and instead of straight out “bitchin” about it being done, they went and took it one step further to show others how they can find out if they’ve been plagiarized. They didn’t just make it a “come look and see what happened” – they also made it educational. They didn’t turn it into a “let’s bash this blogger” that many others seem to want to do.
(please excuse the rambling)
Now I have to disagree with this. Yes the Story Siren was big, but she wasn’t THE blog. If there is going to be a “THE BLOG” for the blogging community, she wouldn’t be the one I would pick. For one, Dear Author and Smart Bitches, far outweigh her and are more recognizable in any genre than she is. For another, she was a blog for a particular genre. She’s not a representative of the book community as a whole, just a certain section maybe.
So while her actions may have been wrong and completely unacceptable, I can’t see how she should be held up as the model of how all of us act. From all of my experience, the YA blogging community and the UF/PNR blogging community are vastly different and we should be treated as such.
So if publishers do allow this to influence them, I think it’ll have more repercussion in the YA blogging community rather than the entire book blogosphere.
This gets really complicated tho. I can see this issue is pretty cut and dried here, and we just have to wait and see if Kristi suffers any repercussions. I couldn’t afford to have someone track IP addresses for me, but I have read transliterated versions of my work in other peoples blogs. And they know I know they read my blog. All I would want is, “I got this idea”. And Pinterest? I attribute cuz I think people deserve it, but someone got back to me cuz I attributed but didn’t put in some certain blog link she wanted. I just took it down but made a statement of why I took it down as I knew she’d be looking. And Cassie Edward’s books are still on the store shelves. I got into it with the high school teachers when my grand daughter got called out for not attributing a photo on a biographical poster for a Math class. So there is never gonna be a happy medium here. This stuff is in the ether, guys, not on paper anymore.
My comment was supposed to be in reply to this one, but it doesn’t seem to show up as such. If you read it separately, it might not make sense.
Does no one know how to show mercy and grace in negative situations lets move on people…forgive and forget. We all have made stupid mistakes.
I happen to be a fashion blogger and an occasional YA book blogger. I saw the original posts back in Jan about this event and am well acquainted with the two fashion bloggers whose content was stolen. They handled the situation like we usually do in the fashion blogging community when content is lifted – contact the blogger first to rectify the situation, then if needed go public. It amazes me that this has just now made it to the book blogging community. And I agree I think the Story Siren needs to be called out on her actions and held accountable. But at the same time she doesn’t need to be attacked from all sides. She made a mistake, she’s working to rectify it, and she’s apologized – sorta. – Katy
Yeah, keep playing “Derailing for Dummies” bingo. You’re winning so far.
She messed up and I’m not defending that. Say what you want about her—I’m not denying anyone the right to do so and to be pissed. My point was only to say that the remarks here seem to often begrudge her success, which doesn’t compute. I get that the plagiarism thing is Wrong with a capital W, but as an author I also am grateful for all she’s done for the community.
Personally, I think it’s about time the anger and scorn was heaped on the wrongdoer—the plagiarist—rather than the person who exposed the wrongdoing. For far too long it’s been the other way around.
Dude, when did I ever say the plagiarism wasn’t bad? As an author I both know how much it totally sucks, and also know the good her site has done. For those speaking out against her success, I was trying to highlight its positive impacts. That’s it.
Just to clarify: libel is a tort (civil harm), not a crime, so there’s no conviction – it’s a finding of liability. Also, in the U.S., the plaintiff bears the burden of proof. She’d have to prove that their allegations were false; they wouldn’t have to prove that they were true. Yes, it’s expensive to defend a tort suit, but it’s also expensive to bring one. In US courts, the parties bear their own costs, and it’s difficult to imagine this blogger finding an attorney who’d take this case on contingency.
I’m a lawyer (and I teach torts at a law school), but this shouldn’t be taken as legal advice.
Hey Barbara. I’m sorry you got plagiarized as well. Did you send a mail to the plagiarist with your proof? Maybe she would then take the review down and apologize?
I’m not sure what to think of this entire business. On the one hand, plagiarism is a big deal, sure. I’m also very confused as to why she did it. Changing those posts and links would probably take just as much time as writing an entirely new post on the topic. Plus, if only she had linked the original source, threw in some more sources, etc, or just gave her followers a link to the articles themselves, like: if you want more info about klout, here’s a good article on this other website…
On the other hand, I feel like things are getting overboard. This isn’t the 17th century and we’re not in Salem. No need for a witch hunt. That hash tag is just childish, and it makes the book blogging community look bad. With the recent drama concerning authors/reviewers on Goodreads (parts one to five) and now this, I don’t think we need anymore negative spotlight. We’re a community. I do think that forgive and move on fits in that.
The person in question apologized. Well some people may decide never to visit her website again, that’s their right. But openly bashing her on Twitter and other social media isn’t going to help anything. I too doubt the sincerity of the apology, especially the first one, but still, no need for flame wars.
Just my two cents.
hmmmm, let me see…
Nope.
Perhaps because a deliberate action is not a mistake, but that’s just us meanies. Enlightened generous souls like yourself must feel oh so superior and charitable right about now.
Ditto Molly, ditto. I cannot not even comment now because you took the words right out of my…mouth? Fingertips? and I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism. Haha, too soon? But seriously, I have been wanting to say exactly what you just did since 2008 but I have kept my mouth shut so that I wouldn’t seem petty and jealous. A review should discuss/analyze characters, plot, overall readability, genre, etc. TSS did not seem to get this yet people continued to follow…I am guilty of that myself.
I’m not a fan of plagiarism. I’ve experienced it and it’s enfuriating to come across a blogger with the audacity to pass off your work as their own. That said, I think Kristi Dehm has received her fair share of public humiliation, and we probably don’t need to drag this out any longer. A hell of a lot of people are aware now. She’s apologized twice, and even if the first apology didn’t appease you the second one feels pretty sincere. As I said, I hate the idea of plagiarism, but one thing I hate more is seeing someone shamed in front of thousands. This is something she’ll remember for the rest of her life, something she can never undo. It will also deter a tonne of potential plagiarists. Isn’t that more than enough?
After visiting the Story Siren site and reading the comments left by readers, I am so disappointed with the fans of the Story Siren. Yes, the comments were probably heavily screened but so many were saying: how it was only a mistake, she’s only human, keep your chin up, we will still read your blog, etc.
Excuse me? Seriously? “We love your blog!” now equals “We love reading stuff you plagiarized from someone else!”. How can people not see how serious of a crime this is? I know there would be so much more of an uproar if she had stolen MONEY instead of WORDS. But there is NO DIFFERENCE. Stealing is stealing.
You plagiarize as a student, you fail the class or even get kicked out completely.
You plagiarize professionally (legal, journalism, academics), you lose your job.
To those who do not think this is not a big deal, google “ramifications of plagiarism” or something similar. Plagiarism is serious. Stealing is serious.
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag…
If you think this is too harsh on the Story Siren, then you are being selfish because you don’t want to have your favorite entertainment taken away. You would rather be blind to crime as long as it doesn’t hurt YOU.
I didn’t say that you meant that plagiarism wasn’t bad. I said that you were defending her, which you were. Most of the people speaking about this issue are NOT speaking out against her success. They’re speaking out against the plagiarism she caused because it makes the other YA bloggers look bad as well. It seems that a lot of those who defend her, like you, think that the other YA bloggers are speaking out about this matter over jealousy. They are not. She has a group of friends attacking those voicing their opinion just because it’s her. She’s not the only one promoting books out there and the industry doesn’t solely rely on blogs either.
Publishing’s getting all gangsta. I love it.
http://jasonzchristie.blogspot…
Wow, this was all news to me as of this morning. I’ve been out of the book-blogging community for awhile, but have been inspired to get back into it, in part when I was contacted by an individual who wanted tips on building their blog. I had sent them to TSS’s Build a Better Blog page for tips. I guess this was all after the plagiarized content was removed, but I would have thought twice about it if I had known. It’s disappointing, to say the least.
Reading all the “We still love you, it’s ok now” comments on her apology makes my blood boil.
I don’t care if she’s brand new or bigger than Google and Neil Diamond combined. She stole content deliberately and is still lying about the fact that this was a deliberate action on her part. As Beautifully Invisible pointed out, she spent hours on their sites lifting and moving content. That was NOT an accident. That was deliberate.
It’s really easy to excuse plagiarism when it’s not happening to you. The deflections are twitch-inducing: “There are so many other issues we could be talking about” (which we do, frequently) or “She apologized! Move on!” Bullshit. Kristi Diehm stole content. Kristi Diehm is a plagiarist, and not by some accidental mistake. Her actions don’t go away or become less embarrassing or deceitful because she apologized. Twice.