Plagiarized by Pat Cates

This piece was written in 2002. Digital Photographer Magazine printed an article on Adobe Photoshop Elements written by me that the hack, Patricia Cates, or Pat Cates stole off the internet and pawned it off to the hapless editors of the magazine as her own.

By far the most significant professional accomplishment that I was the unfortunate recipient of was the plagiarism of an article that I wrote, which subsequently appeared in a national magazine with my name not on it. In journalism school, the single most important code, above writing a good lead, or maintaining objectivity, is to never plagiarize the work of others. If you paraphrase, give attribution. if you present a similar series of thoughts, give attribution. When all else fails, give attribution. In an academic setting, committing the act of plagiarism are grounds for suspension, and in many cases, expulsion. We all know that plagiarism is not accepted in academic settings. But how are such acts treated in professional settings? The act itself is tantamount to the act of stealing copyrighted songs from a service like Napster without having actually paid for the music.

Within the digital media industry, most writers, editors, and reporters have a good grasp of certain aspect of that industry to which they are well known.

Having been in the industry since before the days of Windows 95, I have written more than 500 articles related to computer graphics and digital imaging. Until recently I have never had the experience of someone stealing my "stuff." If it is said that copying is the sincerest form of flattery, then I have been truly flattered (though also bitterly disappointed) that an article that I wrote was stolen and reprinted.

In this industry, you are always toiling, pushing yourself to maintain the reputation and expertise that you have worked so hard to build up. You maintain visibility by attending the mandatory trade shows. After the trade show day's end, you schmooze at the social events put on by companies. You get wined and dined by these companies, in hopes that you will write something that sings praise toward company A's particular product. And in the event that the product that you look at lives up to the claims of the company, you do sing praises about that product. However, you are constantly questioning your intent and talent, as well as the end product to that which you work on daily. Are people reading your articles? Do my opinions count?

When I first picked up the magazine with the plagiarized article in it, I was fuming, on the verge of going ballistic. Only after I showed the purloined prose to my wife did I realize the true meaning of the thief's actions. "The thief must like your representation of the content of your article, consider it a compliment," she said. Sure the thief's intents were perpetrated in an effort to do minimal work to get a paycheck, and in a sense, stealing an article off the Internet, complete with section headers, and pasting it into a word processor and sending it off to some hapless editors is surely an easy way to procure a paycheck. After the discussion with my wife, my views on the whole act changed. To have someone plagiarize an article can be construed as a form of flattery, even though the total act of plagiarism is reprehensible.