I was scrolling languidly through my beloved twitter-feed late one night when I saw a little tweet that caught my eye. I opened the link and to my horror found a post that I had written. There was no mention of my name. Whatsoever. Someone else had taken full credit for my idea. OMG!
I read it again. The flow of ideas was the same. The conclusion was the same. Keywords were identical. It wouldn’t be the first time that more than one person had written an article on the same topic with the same thought processes and conclusions. In fact there are millions of examples online and in the print media. And there were enough differences in wording between the two articles to escape a bamboo beating from the Google Panda, but still…
I knew the other blogger. She knew me. And I knew she had read the post in question (a guest post published on another website, not my own). Why would she do this? I knew from reading her blog that she had a lot going on in her personal life. Maybe she was taking short cuts because she was so overwhelmed by what was happening in her real life … so she borrowed from my blog? Maybe she didn’t even realize what she had done? I decided to let it go. She was a blogger I respected highly and I figured she had sound reasons to do what she did. And I was just about to flick back to my twitter-feed and forget all about it when I saw it… the date of her post. She had published it before I had even written mine. She wasn’t the copycat. I was.
To say I felt mortified is a complete understatement. Throw in confused and rattled and you might get a little closer. How was this possible? I had always taken deep pride in the fact that all of my work was completely original. It may be rubbish, but at least I owned it!
Can you be an accidental copycat? Oh yes. Yes you can. Just ask Dr Google. And it’s called Cryptomnesia.
According to Wikipedia, “Cryptomnesia occurs when a forgotten memory returns without it being recognised as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original. It is a memory bias whereby a person may falsely recall generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, not deliberately engaging in plagiarism but rather experiencing a memory as if it were a new inspiration.”
In other words, it is possible to read an article or hear a story, then wake up several days later and recall it without remembering who had said it or in fact recognizing that it was generated by someone else in the first place.
Think it won’t happen to you? Think again. According to the first empirical study [1] of cryptomnesia, people inadvertently copied the work of another about 3–9% of the time. They did this by not realizing that the idea they recalled was originally presented to them as someone else’s. Instead, they falsely recall the thought as something original… their own. And so they too become an accidental copycat.
So now my respect for “the other blogger” is even higher than it was before. Because she no doubt read my blog and thought “what a cheek!!” … but she didn’t challenge me privately or publicly berate me. If you are reading this “mystery blogger” – thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am so humbled by your actions. You gave me the benefit of the doubt and quietly moved on. Very gracious indeed.
But more than anything, this little blip in my blogging career has made me realize how profoundly we are influenced by the people around us, either consciously or unconsciously.
Maybe what you write, say and do is influencing people more than you… or they… even realize.
Today I’m linking up Jess from Diary of a SAHM, who’s about to enter a whole new decade!
Read my weekly intro over at Love New Blogs. This week I’m talking about being decisive about indecision.
[1] ^ Brown, A. S., & Murphy, D. R. (1989). Cryptomnesia: Delineating inadvertent plagiarism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 432–442.
Yes yes and yes! I’ve experienced this. I think we are kidding ourselves a lot of the time when we purport to have all these ‘original’ ideas. We are all inspired and influenced by others and sometimes take things on at a subconscious level….I have lost count of the number of deja vu’s I have had when reading another blog or even book.
PS – Love the fancy fresh new diggs!
Thanks Kirri! I once read an interview with a famous novelist who said she didn’t read anyone’s else work at all because she was terrified of accidental plagiarism. Maybe she was on the right track!
Such an interesting post. I often read talk about the plagiarising of other people’s posts and think to myself, “Oh no, hope they’re not talking about me!” We’re all influenced about similar matters in the media and what we read in other people’s posts. Many of us are stay at home parents or working parents facing similar issues too.
Very true. I read so much it’s hard to keep a track of where I’ve read what. I’m glad I’m not alone!
Wow I havent had this happen yet (I dont think) but it would really weird me out if it did. Saying that some blogs do effect me very deeply, I dream about them, can not put them out of my mind, blogging definately effects others!
I’m sure I’ve done this to others. I’ve also read other people’s posts that sound very similar to things I’ve written.
I’ve had many, many times where I have had half-written posts in my drafts folder and read very similar published posts elsewhere. Kind of annoying, because then I feel I can’t published my half-finished post and I have wasted my time! Interesting topic!
Julie this happens to me all the time – twicer this week already!
Last week i had my birthday wish post (asking for fun ideas) ready to go and then Laney posted about not being a fun mum on her site. Since this was too close to my post going live in the morning i emailed her and we both promoted the other’s post to be clear it was a coincidence. Too often though i see things and go hmmm.
I love the way you and Laney went about this dilemma… you joined forces and the result was fantastic. I read both posts at the time and got a lot out of seeing how you’d differently interpreted the same concept!
This was so interesting Misha – thanks for writing it – i was sure it was going to turn into a drama about the other person and then when you said it was an older post of theirs my heart flipped! Food for thought indeed!
Thanks Deb. My heart flipped a little too!
Oh I can imagine how you must have felt, and good on the other blogging for taking it so well.
It’s hard really, and I think sometimes watching things, or reading other things makes it harder to be original. People around us are constantly influencing us all the time, and it’s hard to be constantly original.
I struggle a lot when I have an idea and then realise someone else has done it.
Yes I have had the same thing happen. But then sometimes it prompts you to take a different angle and you come up with something even better!
I’ve seen it a few times in the blogging world, there seems to be certain themes that go around quite often and like the others have said we are influenced often by the same things.
Well done to the other blogger for handling the situation so well, it’s a real credit to them.
I suppose I am lucky in a way that what I blog about is expected to be repeated elsewhere as it is about information and support.
Yes I hadn’t thought of it like that Michelle. At least your blogs explain everything clearly and simply for technophobes like myself! Some of your competitors nearly make me cry because I just have no idea what they are talking about!
OMG, I thought I was just neurotic! Thanks for the reassurance.
Never fear Bron… I’ll always be waaaay more neurotic than you!
Ooooops!
This reminds me of the bunfight over the well-known Footprints in the Sand poem. Many authors claim to have written it … there at least 3 strong contenders … but I have always wondered, could it be possible that the same idea came to different people???! (Could God have given that poem to many people??) Could be another case of cryptomnesia!!!
Footprints in the sand is one of my all time favourite poems. I’m not surprised so many people would want to lay claim to it although I didn’t realise it was in contention! I like your theory though.
Oh my goodness! Yes its so entirely possible to rewrite another post. Did you have any sense of De ja vu when you wrote yours? Dont worry! You still wrote your post in good faith!
You know I had no sense of De ja vu AT ALL when I was writing it and that kind of scares me! Oh well, it all worked out and that’s the main thing.
Wow, that’s really interesting! Ive noticed certain situations that would be explained by this…Good to know I’m not going mad too – ha!
What a strange occurrence! But I do see themes getting cycled and recycled so I guess this is possible. We do influence each other which could be a prompt to be mindful of who we interact with.
impossible not to be influenced in some way, how funny and what a great twist, ciao lisa