Someone Accused Me Of Plagiarism

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It’s exactly 6:17 in the evening and I am outside sitting all alone. Blending within the darkness under the old, gigantic mango tree, and wander in my own perception until I get lost in my own thoughts are the things I prefer the most. I can see the bluish sky being slowly devoured by the darkness above.

Whist I was in the verge of reflecting things within myself, I suddenly remembered this one unpleasant experience I have encountered last night. Something that I never thought would happen here. Something which I never thought would come from a respectable and popular person here.

You may have not known this that much, but I keep on trying my best to interact with my fellow writers here as much as possible. It's one thing that @Sydney2 told me to keep on mind, and, I do this by liking, and commenting in their articles, as well as responding to those people who drop a comment in my own article. What happened was, I came across with a well-written article that was all about the author’s report, specifically his/her earning. I tried to read it, comprehend it carefully since there were some unfamiliar terms being used, and, dropped my comment later on. It was written by someone whom I will not completely name to avoid more trouble. The username starts with the letter ‘P’ and ends with ’A’, and has seven letters all in all. He/She is also very popular here, and earns bigger amount, perhaps, he/she’s been here for almost or more than a year.

Although I can't exactly remember my comment because I forgot to take a screenshot, all I knew was, I just commended his/her article, and even asked some tips in order to improve my earnings as much as he/she has. I can't also remember that I commented something malicious, or bad comment, since I wanna contribute something positive in this platform.

Hours passed, I saw on my notification that the person replied to my comment. I was overflowing with excitement and happiness back then, knowing that finally, a famous personality, has responded to my comment. My eyes widened, I pouted, I frowned, and, with confusion and disappointment, I tried to understand his response again and again. I also noticed that my comment was in the spam section, and blocked me later on. I thought at first that the comment was just a sarcasm or I just misunderstood it. Yet, when everything sunk in my system, there I realized that he he threw unpleasant words and phrases towards me such as:

• trash

• lack of integrity

• lack of intelligence

• plagiarism

• someone who will never improve.

I calmed myself first because I admit, I was not ready for these words. These are something I have not received in my entire life, and was just thrown towards me by someone whom I have not known personally, and someone whom I looked up to here in this platform. I am actually not hurt since I can attest to myself these are not all true and dissembling. The thing that just made me anxious is, why did he/she utter those words? By that, I want to take this opportunity to reply and debunk all of those propositions in this article, one by one, since I was not able to respond because he/she blocked me already.

1.) Trash

A trash is something that is considered as a discarded matter. In other definition, it is a person or people regarded as being of very low social standing . Firstly, I don't really know why this user called me trash, however, I know in my self that I am way more than a trash. Secondly, trashes are worthy so am I. Lastly, trashes, still, have uses,so do I.

2.) Lack of Integrity

Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. The opposition to this is what the person wanted to call me.I may not be honest at all times since I lie sometimes, I know deep down my entire existence that I established moral principles and have moral uprightness within me.

3.) Lack of Intelligence

Well, in this part, I cannot really say that I have a very high intellectual quotient to tell that I am an intelligent being. All I know is that, everyday, I seek for knowledge so that there's something I can spoon—feed to my brain. I thirst for new idea, thus, I read in order to suffice it. I may not be the most intelligent, but one thing that I am most proud of is that, I keep on trying. And the most important thing is, I have respect.

4.) Plagiarism

Among all of these, being accused of plagiarism is one thing that worries me the most. Plagiarism is a serious accusation, hence, I should not let this one pass. Firstly, I am a student researcher myself. I competed not once, nor twice or thrice, but quadruple times in a Regional Science and Technology Fair; a research competition level across the whole region 11 or Davao Region. Prior to this, I had to compete quadruple times in the Division Level where I got to meet student researchers from whole Division of Davao del Sur. I was taught at school, by my research teacher, research coach and research coordinator, to always give citation and reference to any borrowed ideas, even if you have paraphrased it. Evidently, you can see that in the majority of my articles that I always include citations and references when necessary. Secondly, I know how to make citations and references, whether it be in APA (American Psychological Association) format, MLA (Modern Languages Association) system, Chicago style, the Harvard system, and the MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) system. Lastly, I know that plagiarism is a serious crime. The logic is, why would I do something which puts me in a terrible situation despite the fact that I know how to avoid it?

5.) Someone who will never improve.

I don't agree with this one since this is illogically wrong. There will always be a room for improvement. Always remember that.

Final and Closing Thoughts

Until now, I still couldn't recover from this thing. It also carved an unforgettable mark in my whole system. Maybe someday, this will leave me and allow me to move on. I actually wanted to forsake it, but there's really something that urges me to write this article. Perhaps, to explain my side, and, let anyone be aware about their comment no matter how harmless it is. No matter how nice and pleasant you are, this article tells you that there will always be a person who will treat you rudely, and that person, can sometimes be somebody you look up to, someone whom you expect to uplift and motivate you as a beginner, and someone whom you less expect to do such bad act towards you. This may be worst experience I had encountered in this platform so far, but it’s one thing I will never forget in my stay here nonetheless.

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Note: This article was written last night, at the specified time above. I only had the opportunity to post it this morning. Moreover, this also was not uploaded as a mean to add more fuel to the fire, but, to explain my side and raise awareness to beginners like me.

Update: I tried looking for my comment in his/her article but I cannot see it anymore because of this:

Lead Image: Edited Using Canva

Photo in the Lead Image Source: iStock

Thank you for reading stay safe and see you around.

Live long and prosper!