Copycats (1): David Copierfield

蓝灵
楼主 (文学城)

David Copierfield came to mind when I stumbled upon a social media copycat feeding off Wikipedia articles on proverbs.

 

 

Copierfield was a writer by... well, by someone else's trade. He had perfected the "ancient" art of Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, wielding it with such finesse that he could claim entire novels rivaling Charles Dickens's as his own—in just a couple of days.

 

 

The first time he was caught, the scandal was minor. He had "borrowed" a few lines from a famous poet, thinking no one would notice. When confronted, he chuckled and blamed the alignment of the stars for the oversight. "A simple clerical error," he said with a grin. But then, his posts grew bolder. Whole paragraphs lifted from bestsellers began appearing on his social media, word for word. His followers, at first in awe of his "talent," started to catch on. "Haven't I read this before?" they wondered. Indeed, they had— in a Nobel Prize-winning novel.

Exposure came swiftly, yet Copierfield remained undeterred. Public apologies were beneath him. Instead, he posted a lengthy update—eerily similar to a famous philosopher's essay—explaining that ideas were universal. And words? Well, weren't they meant to be shared? When critics started questioning his moral compass, he calmly seized entire speeches about integrity from history's luminaries and published them with the caption: I AM ALL FOR ORIGINALITY.

For some strange reason, Copierfield remained a hero to a small group of admirers who praised his brazenness. “A gutsy maverick!” they declared. “Who else but Copierfield could plagiarize his way out of the Copyright Bombardment unscathed?”

"Unite, copycats! Let's beat every last literary genius with his/her own words. You have nothing but copyrights to lose!"

Candidate Copierfield is running for Copycat-in-chief.


图文:蓝灵

 

 

r
renqiulan
Someone seems to suggest that you should say "thank you" to
r
renqiulan
the Apple chips, in case you posted from an iPhone.
蓝灵
Sheer nonsense! No one cares about it.
蓝灵
Seriously, what's on your mind?
最西边的岛上
hahaha, blue soul 美眉, have enough fun now? ;)
最西边的岛上
give it a break, would U? Thank U so much!!!
r
renqiulan
Isn't Copierfield the Copycat also feeding off Wikipedia?
最西边的岛上
"Chasing ones own tail" mightNot b a good idea. haha ;-)
蓝灵
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." (Cyndi Lauper).
蓝灵
I'm not done yet. This is merely a warm-up. Stay tuned, 西岛!
蓝灵
He might call it crowdsourced creativity.
最西边的岛上
uh-oh, where are the steel helmets? Can U wait till we find
最西边的岛上
them? Also can U Be gentle, using sponge not brick?
蓝灵
Come on.You know better. Girl power is soft power, which
蓝灵
still means something, though.
r
renqiulan
So, he shamelessly copied and pasted proverb articles from
最西边的岛上
ok, girl power only, no Man allowed/involved Pls !!! ;-))
r
renqiulan
Wikipedia?!
蓝灵
I follow the equal-opportunity principle. No gender bias.
蓝灵
He might just say, "Hey, great minds browse alike!"
最西边的岛上
I know and U know ;). Let's have peace, not war, alright?
最西边的岛上
hahaha, why not? think alike read alike & borrow alike 4 all
蓝灵
What makes you think so? I am a dove through and through.
最西边的岛上
again, Peace is always better than War!!!
最西边的岛上
very good. show it then, "action is better than words" ;-)
蓝灵
You know what, 西岛?I'm not quite sure I understand you.
r
renqiulan
No wonder his texts read exactly like the Wikipedia pages.
最西边的岛上
& "action always speaks louder" !
最西边的岛上
I meant there are lots fun things 2 do than chasing own tail
最西边的岛上
we discussed copyright here more than once b4 already ;-)
蓝灵
What's right is right. What's wrong is wrong. Going back and
最西边的岛上
Ur voice was loud and clear enough
蓝灵
forth in debates is a fact of American life.
最西边的岛上
yes& yes, but no need keep repeating, we r all adults啦 ;-))
r
renqiulan
Ditto.
最西边的岛上
If I say sameThing 2 my son twice, he'd run away than listen
蓝灵
Point taken.
最西边的岛上
What's the purpose? U want a debate or want it done?
蓝灵
He might ask, "Why reinvent the hyperlinks?"
最西边的岛上
TY!! remember: enough is enough. TY again!
r
renqiulan
Did he copy-paste the whole intro from Wikipedia?
蓝灵
You have done your best. Thank you!
最西边的岛上
I think I said enough 2. Good night 2 you two. hahaha
蓝灵
He might prefer to call it efficient research.
蓝灵
Good night, 西岛!
r
renqiulan
Goodnight, 西岛!
r
renqiulan
His citations are missing. His response?
蓝灵
"That’s what the ‘edit’ button on Wikipedia is for."
r
renqiulan
He does realize Wikipedia isn’t a primary source, right?
蓝灵
His answer: "It’s a primary inspiration."
r
renqiulan
Why no links to Wikipedia?
蓝灵
He’s in a cat-and-mouse game with his readers.
r
renqiulan
Word-for-word plagiarism on Wikipedia!
蓝灵
"That’s how I enjoy open sources." He might be giggling now.
r
renqiulan
Did he even read anything besides Wikipedia for his proverb?
蓝灵
"Why read anything else when you’ve got everything in one
蓝灵
place?" Clearly, he has a better idea.
蓝灵
I'm against plagiarism, no more, no less. That's all I can
蓝灵
promise. Thank you again!
r
renqiulan
He can’t just copy Wikipedia like that. Why not ZT?
蓝灵
He hates the term ZT, even though he’s likely a compulsive
蓝灵
ZT guy. Go ahead, psychoanalyze him.
r
renqiulan
Psychoanalyze him? No, Thanks.So, he plans to brazen it out.
暖冬cool夏
Copierfield (frm Copperfield) is a great name for the story!
蓝灵
I guess he's busy copy-pasting from the Wikipedia/Wiktionary
暖冬cool夏
So is Copycat-in-chief. A thick-skinned David is vividly
暖冬cool夏
& sarcastically depicted in the story. Love it!
蓝灵
Thank you, 暖冬cool夏!Copierfield was stuck with a copycat.
蓝灵
Herding cats isn’t easy. Let's see if Copierfield
蓝灵
can herd copycats.
蓝灵
page on "brazen it out."
暖冬cool夏
Sure. I admire you and 秋兰's writing, 学习享受中!谢谢你, 蓝灵!中秋快乐!
r
renqiulan
We are like online pen pals.Have a happy Mid-autumn Festival
r
renqiulan
Good luck with that.
蓝灵
Yes, we're pen pals. 祝暖冬cool 夏 中秋快乐!