# Plagiarism and swiftcraft monkey blog



## galaxyMLP (Jan 29, 2017)

Not sure if anyone saw this post on Facebook but if you have any ebooks you think might have stolen content, please share it with Susan! 

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/its-not-okay-to-plagiarize-my-work.html?m=1

This is such a shame.


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## leilaninoel (Jan 29, 2017)

despicable


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## CaraBou (Jan 29, 2017)

Ugh... I hope she is able to reign this in.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jan 29, 2017)

I hope Susan and the others affected take the trouble to actually hold her to account for this. It's really not on


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## Scooter (Jan 30, 2017)

Ninth circle of hell material.

ETA: *Technically* it is probably 8th circle (fraud) but the 9th circle is treachery... so maybe 81/2. I will give plagiarizers their own little in-between space.


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## dillsandwitch (Jan 30, 2017)

As for the Ebay listing all someone needs to do is report the listing as  having plagiarized content and the listing will be removed and the  seller account will get a strike and may even prevent her from selling  on Ebay under that account again. Ebay australia has some pretty strick  rules and will usually ALWAYS side with a buyer rather than a seller on  some issues. 

Sucks if you are a legitimate seller that you work so hard and a ****ty  buyer can screw you over but in this case I say SCREW SCREW.


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## Soapprentice (Jan 30, 2017)

That is so low!!


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## maya (Jan 30, 2017)

Susan so generously shared what she knows. God that pisses me off that someone would steal from her.


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## HowieRoll (Jan 30, 2017)

The plagiarist's company name should be Soap_Unconscionable_.

Despicable.


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## MySoapyHeart (Jan 30, 2017)

I think Babu express this very well....


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## HowieRoll (Jan 30, 2017)

I've been trying to post a comment on Susan's site, but keep getting a Bad Request 400 error, or some such (and fervently hope the comment hasn't been submitted unknowingly 18 times).  

But I just checked out the offender's blog, and in about 15 minutes discovered more blatant plagiarism.  Her explanation of Copha from the 2/1/15 post?  Directly taken from Wikipedia.  Soya Lecithin definition?  Word-for-word from a blog by the NakedChemist.  Her post from 10/5/13 about "Moisturisers Versus Natural Vegetable Oils" appears to take liberties using direct material from Australian Natural Health Magazine, BOE Magazine.com, and Cosmetics Business.com, and I only checked about the first 1/3 of that blog post.  

The trend I noticed was if proper English syntax and/or a scientific explanation of something was used, the sentence/thought was more likely to be plagiarized.  

This appears to be a far-reaching issue, and I can only imagine how frustrating (to say the least) this must be to those whose works have been pilfered.


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## Relle (Jan 30, 2017)

I thought I remembered that name. I received in the letterbox a pamphlet advertising the classes at this college, she has been teaching there for a few years. Here's the ad -
http://leisure.sgscc.edu.au/sites/leisure.sgscc.edu.au/files/STG9350_Term 1 Course Brochure 2017.pdf page 23 in the middle. Also making creams/lotions and mineral makeup on page 13. One class starts on the 13th Feb.


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## snappyllama (Jan 30, 2017)

Wow, that's just terrible. 

Susan is such a treasure for the crafting community... to have all her hard work stolen is just so wrong. Shame on them...


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## Millie (Jan 30, 2017)

Relle said:


> I thought I remembered that name. I received in the letterbox a pamphlet advertising the classes at this college, she has been teaching there for a few years. Here's the ad -
> http://leisure.sgscc.edu.au/sites/leisure.sgscc.edu.au/files/STG9350_Term%201%20Course%20Brochure%202017.pdf page 23 in the middle.



Should we email the college or is that harassment?

Just messaged the college online support. Feedback:

'Hi could you please give the Leisure Manager David Hurley a call on 8543 7419.' 

Anyone in Australia willing to call? I don't have an international calling plan. Then let us know if we can help


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## Relle (Jan 30, 2017)

When I saw this, this morning (2 posts up) I got in the car and went to the college. They said they had just received an email, so not sure if it's yours, Millie.

I took the liberty on Susan's behalf, to go to the college, (just got back) and have spoken directly to David, he is looking into it and will ring me when he has some news. I have also emailed Susan to let her know I did this.


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## Millie (Jan 30, 2017)

Thanks Relle, no I didn't send an email. Just did the online chat thing, that message might have been forwarded but I'm guessing there are lots of people from the forum trying to help. Soapers rock!


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## Relle (Feb 1, 2017)

Please read the update of this thread - comments on Susan's blog. Marlene Daniels has apologised to Susan. I think only, because she has been caught out, she'd still be doing it.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Feb 1, 2017)

She must have known that it is wrong when she was doing it though, that's what gets me.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 1, 2017)

Great job Relle!   The information on her site is so valuable to many and would hate to see her stop because of some dishonest person.


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## DeeAnna (Feb 1, 2017)

"... The trend I noticed was if proper English syntax and/or a scientific explanation of something was used, the sentence/thought was more likely to be plagiarized. ..."

Yep! A marked change in writing style was a big tipoff for me when reading college term papers. One Dairy Science guy plagiarized large swaths of a PhD dissertation to pad his paper and thought I'd not notice a Dairy guy abandoning his usual "f*** this" writing style. Did a quick Google check to find the original material. That stupid stunt cost him dearly -- it took him an extra semester to graduate. 

I have zero patience with this from students and even less tolerance from someone who is supposed to know better. Absolutely unacceptable.

"... She must have known that it is wrong when she was doing it though, that's what gets me. ..."

Gent -- Most people don't think plagiarizing is wrong ... or at least that's what they claim. Some of my young adult students seemed to be utterly bewildered when I told them I wanted to see THEIR work, not someone else's. How did they miss out on the lessons at home and in grade school about playing fair and not cheating? <sigh> 

So, yeah, I don't understand it either. I guess you and I are more interested in living life fairly and on our own merits and others aren't -- they want the prize without the effort.


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## Relle (Feb 1, 2017)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> She must have known that it is wrong when she was doing it though, that's what gets me.



Of course she did and would still be doing it, if she wasn't caught out. I wonder just how long this has been going on. I remember seeing her name years ago connected with teaching soaping etc.


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## Relle (Feb 5, 2017)

Further update on this, from what I can see - her facebook page has been cancelled and her website has been pulled down. I'm still waiting on news via the college I went to see.


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## Millie (Feb 5, 2017)

Hooray!!

I hope MD finds a way to make a living on her own merit.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Feb 6, 2017)

I just hope it doesn't involve writing anything!

While I certainly don't wish bad on her, I do think that the "you are your own person and you can do anything you choose to do" ethos is often taken too literally and too far, resulting in people doing things that they really have no ability for which means that they cut corners (or copy and paste) to make up for the shortfall in actually skills. 

Even if she is a good soaper, that does not mean that write books or even blog well about soaping.


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## Susie (Feb 6, 2017)

You know, we were taught to work hard and do our very best work every time.  To take pride in our work.  To learn from failure or even just imperfections and do better the next time.  That is how you improve.  That is how I taught my children.  Something is missing from people's upbringing that they think plagiarism is OK.  We knew it was stealing.


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## LilyJo (Feb 6, 2017)

Susie said:


> You know, we were taught to work hard and do our very best work every time.  To take pride in our work.  To learn from failure or even just imperfections and do better the next time.  That is how you improve.  That is how I taught my children.  Something is missing from people's upbringing that they think plagiarism is OK.  We knew it was stealing.



Trouble is people dont see it as stealing - anymore than copying soap designs, images, names or designs.

And thats the reason why Disney and Marvel etc get Etsy sellers taken down for breaching their copyright!


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## DeeAnna (Feb 6, 2017)

Content from my website has been plagiarized a lot over the years. I used to get really angry about it and unloaded my frustrations on few eBay sellers. Pretty much all of them were bewildered that I'd be bothered and that just fed my frustration at first. After thinking about it quite awhile, I finally decided to explain matters with a copyright reminder on my website and then let it go. I don't remotely believe this has stopped the plagiarization, but at least the info is there for people to learn, should they be so inclined. And it makes me feel better.  The reminder says:

"The material on the XXX website is copyrighted. This means this website is our intellectual property, and we retain ownership of all content on this website. You are welcome to use our work for personal, research, or educational purposes, as long as you do not sell our work for your personal gain or present our words to others as if they are your own. If you want to quote our words in any published work -- including but not limited to an eBay or other auction listing, for-sale ad, magazine article, book, or school report or term paper -- keep the quote BRIEF (2-3 sentences) and include a clear reference to the source of the quote. For example:

    "The material quoted above comes from XXX at http://XXX.com"


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## Relle (Feb 6, 2017)

Looks like all her classes have been pulled from the colleges, but her name is still on this skincare one.
https://www.sydneycommunitycollege.edu.au/course/LSNB03

Have a look at Susan's latest post on her blog.
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com.au/


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Feb 7, 2017)

I love her attitude about it all. That is a lovely post which says a lot about her. 

As an aside - DeeAnna has an xxx site?!??!!??! Hee hee


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## DeeAnna (Feb 7, 2017)

Oh dear. Um, thanks for pointing that out, Gent. Obviously I didn't think that one through very well! :mrgreen: But it's a good, harmless chuckle, so I'll leave it as-is.

Susan sets a good example for us all to follow. Hear, hear!


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## Relle (Aug 29, 2017)

Pulled this back up because she's back at the college teaching. Page 17.
http://leisure.sgscc.edu.au/sites/leisure.sgscc.edu.au/files/SGSCC_Term3_2017_Full_Brochure.pdf Natural mineral Makeup, Creams/Lotions.


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## shunt2011 (Aug 29, 2017)

Hope she's using her own literature, learning material this time.   Obviously the college didn't have a huge issue with what she did.  Unless she had to prove she wrote it all. Which I highly doubt.


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## Millie (Aug 29, 2017)

Wow. :headbanging:


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## earlene (Aug 30, 2017)

I see she is still selling soap and various soap & bath & body type products on ebay, but her account on Etsy says she is on a 'short break'.

She has over 200 listings for sale on ebay, and 5 of those are eBooks.  Also of interest is that her soap labels on pictured soaps for sale have an inactive web address for her business.  Is that even allowed within the rules for selling products in Australia? - the defunct web address on the label?  

Could the eBooks she is selling contain plagerized materials even now?  I'm not going to order any to find out, of course, but given her track record, I consider them suspect.

I do see that her own blogspot blog has been deleted and her soapconscious website is no longer active (hasn't renewed her contract, I suppose.)


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