My blog post was plagiarized. Here’s what happened when I spoke up

Posted on December 19, 2013 by William Ruzvidzo

2013 has been quite a year for me, with lots of professional highs and lows.

The lowest point for me occurred back in May when I discovered that a blog post I had written had been plagiarized on the Spin Sucks blog. You can read all about the incident here .

After I raised the alarm, things quickly escalated and got very ugly. I was publicly flamed and attacked by the Spin Sucks community on their blog, on Twitter and even here on the 88 Creative blog. I was called a liar, a troll, a link baiter, unprofessional, self-righteous, and a host of other things.

Spin Sucks is a large tight-knit community with hundreds of followers and they all banded together. It was my word against theirs . In comparison, 88 Creative is a new and very small boutique digital marketing and design agency. So apart from my friends and co-workers and a handful of people online, no one had my back. I’d never felt so small.

For days after the incident I was really stressed, angry, bitter and disappointed. I was angry that my integrity and honesty was being questioned and I was bitter that I was made out to be the bad guy even though it was my post that had been plagiarized. More than anything, I was disappointed that an agency that manages a blog that fights against destructive spin and unethical marketing professionals would quickly jump to the defense of an employee who had been accused of doing something unethical, even though the evidence suggested that the employee was guilty. I was also baffled that hundreds of people had blindly accepted the story without question.

In the end, I knew that I was right and stuck to my guns and left comments on the Spin Sucks blog trying to explain why I thought I was right. But the more I did, the more I was attacked. Eventually my co-worker wisely advised me to let it go and move on. Reluctantly, I listened to her advice and put the whole incident behind me.

So you can imagine my surprise when last week I received an email with an apology from the CEO of the agency that runs the blog. It turns out that they discovered that my blog was indeed plagiarized and that I had been right all along.

I won’t lie: I feel vindicated. But instead of feeling happy and shouting “I told you so,” I can’t help but feel disappointed again. While I do agree that it’s important for leaders to stand up for their employees, I also believe that it’s important for leaders to always question the facts and critically examine their beliefs before making decisions in the name of loyalty. It’s also important for communities to question their leaders and examine the facts instead of blindly following them. After all, history is filled with tragic examples of leaders that have made decisions in the name of loyalty and people who have blindly listened to their leaders without question.

At the end of the day, I’m proud of myself for standing up for myself and speaking the truth even though countless of people told me I was wrong. I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I had done otherwise. When the incident occurred, I went on a public rant about the injustice of it all, but 8 months later, I won’t do that. I’ve moved on and grown from the experience. I’m going to follow the advice of one of the greatest leaders who ever walked this earth and I’m going to forgive and move on.

William Ruzvidzo is a Digital Strategist at 88 Creative. Follow him on Twitter: @william_ruz.