Monday, June 30, 2008

Resolved

The sex toy community may seem large but when there are so few male reviewers, it is easy to spot similarities amongst reviews, as in my case.

There should be honor and integrity amongst writers, we shouldn't feel as if other people have stolen our words or leeched our messages and themes. For all writers, no matter the topic, we include parts of ourselves in the words we type. I include my cock and balls in every review and if I feel another man trying to push his kibbles in bits in with mine, I'm going to get agitated.



The response I received about my recent run in with plagiarism from a fellow reviewer:
Oh wow aaaaa yeah I didn't read your review till just now after Epiphora tweeted about your blog post about this, but I am really sorry they are a lot a like. The new way of reviewing for the description takes away a lot of what you can say about the toys and our toys are a lot a like to start with. I am really sorry though and will make sure to read your reviews before writing mine from now on. If there is any thing you want me to do to fix this accident tell me I would be more then happy to.

We are all adults here, and one of the things about being an adult is holding yourself accountable and responsible for any wrong-doings you may commit. However, to act as if you are just as much a victim as I am and then blame the obvious similarities in our reviews on the new reviewing template, is unfair to me and to the website we review for.




UPDATE 07/01-


With some exceptional communication skills on the part of the reviewing website's program manager this situation was resolved. I have removed the majority of this post to not further insult the website (even though that had never been my intention) or criticize their methods for handling this situation because within 24 hours they made everything right again.

This goes out to any and all reviewers for any and all sites; PLEASE do not copy other's reviews or even steal segments out of their reviews, we work long hours to produce quality reviews and to have someone steal half of our content within a few minutes time is insulting and demeaning.

Thank you.

14 comments:

SD said...

You know my stance. When I saw his posted today I thought it was yours.

Dangerous Lilly said...

No clue who you are Joe, but as I review for the same place.... Hi :)

I side with you. It's plagiraism. And I can't spell. It's late. Forgive me?

Also Joe....pretty colors but the post header text over the orange barcode, and the comments over the orange barcode part when you view the post on its own.....I can't read it. don't hate me.

I've had my writing stolen before and I was puhhiiiiiissssed. Some twat using some of my posts on her damn AFF "blog". Srsly? AFF? She also used my most famous photo and claimed it as her ass. Somebody pointed me in the direction and I called out the mafia on her ass.

Have you pointed this out yet to your reviewing handler? Honestly I would think that the company would see this as a big deal.

Epiphora said...

That dude's the king of paraphrasing.

Anonymous said...

hmmmm......

I want to give that person the benefit of the doubt, but when it's clearly laid out as you have done - well - I have to think something is up... and it's hard to think it's not intentional in this case.

Damn that sucks.

Unknown said...

Tough call...I review here too and I'd say that sometimes the reviews all start to run together. I wouldnt say plagiarism, more like "severe paraphrasing." That in of its self may or may not be intentional. But, from the looks of it, I'd say that the person at least read your review before writing his own.

BB said...

Jesus H, if you're going to plagiarize something, the least you can do is make sure your writing style matches that of the person your copying! The parts that are lifted from your review sound completely different from the sentences that are "added for detail."

Using somebody's review as a template is one thing, but duping it? That's another. And while I'm always willing to hear the other side of the story, this seems pretty blatant to me.

Rockin said...

This seems fishy. I think certain phrases are bound to be repeated from one review to another just because there are so few ways of saying things, but this is over the top. I at least read the other reviews before writing my own, just to make sure I don't have the same phrasing/tone as another review. I think this is more than just paraphrasing. Also, WTF water as a lube? Ew. No.

Anonymous said...

Dang, I've been known to quote a few lines before but not the whole damn review....sheesh!

I'm sorry this has happened to you and hopefully it will come to a satisfactory resolution! I say contact the, um, you know who and see what can be done! Good luck!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ashly Star said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ashly Star said...

Meh, nevermind. I re-read again and changed my opinion. It's so damn close it's all good as plagiarism.

It's still essentially the same, just worded a bit different. Which is fucked up. I'd be pissed if someone did this to me (though I doubt anyone would steal my reviews honestly).

I think it's possible for some people to review similar toys and have similar reactions and opinions. Thus having review with similar points in them. It's not so likely that the reviews will be so alike in the exact wording though. That is bullshit.

I'm curious how, if you will at all, go about handling this.

Victoria said...

Victoria, manager of the Review Program here. I thought it might be helpful to give the readers here a quick status from my end.

I have been in contact with Average Joe since yesterday regarding this issue. I did email the person who copied and paraphrased Average Joe's review. I made the case by showing some of the same side by side examples that Joe has shown here and I did ask him to revise his review. I let Average Joe know that I sent this email, and yes I did advise Joe to send him a message last night because I hoped there would be a direct apology. I am still waiting to hear back from the other party. I expect the review will be revised.

It is always frustrating when people take advantage of others this way. I am both surprised and disappointed that this happened with this particular reviewer - and I know Joe is frustrated and annoyed. This is not common, so when it happens with someone who has already been in the community for a while, it is especially upsetting. We do keep an eye on people after they send up red flags like this one, so I do not expect that this will happen again.

If you ever notice anything fishy or whenever there is an issue, please *email* me at victoria@edenfantasys.com. We really do appreciate having such dedicated and passionate reviewers.

Thanks so much!

Victoria said...

Update: He emailed me back this morning and apologized, promised it would never happen again and revised his entire review.

I already sent Joe a message, but just thought you'd all like to know.

Thanks!

Unknown said...

Super lame. Glad that's resolved!