However, today that changes as myself and CopyByte were featured in a recent article in the Gambit Weekly, a local free weekly newspaper that is well-known for its “Best of New Orleans” series as well as doing an increasing amount of investigative journalism.

The article deals with a case of suspected plagiarism from Jim Brown, a former state insurance commissioner who writes a syndicated column in which the reporter has found many suspicious passages. I reviewed some of those passages and offered input into the case for the article.

All in all, the case is an interesting one and now that I’m able to review the full picture a bit better it’s a good case study for other journalists and authors about the state of plagiarism in traditional journalism.

This is definitely a story that anyone who is interesting in plagiarism should be looking at regardless.

(Note: I’ve already emailed the author to submit a correction for the name of the business being “CopyByte” and not “Copybytes”.)

In the end, I want to thank author Kevin Allman for reaching out to me and including me in the column as well as the Gambit Weekly for addressing the issue.

If anyone else is wishing to contact me for a news story or other interview, please feel free to either reach out to me via my contact form or via my press page.

Little did I know that, six years later, I would not only still be writing for the site but that it would become my full-time job and the thing I would be best known for.

It’s been a long, tumultuous six years and a lot has changed, both for me personally and for the site, but it’s been an experience I wouldn’t trade anything for.

However, instead of merely rehashing what I said in my previous post about how PT became what it has, I want to look to the future today and debut something I’ve been working on for the past week or so, a new theme that, hopefully, will help steer the direction of the site for the next six years.

Introducing PT 4.0

As of this writing, the current PT theme is a modified version of the Mimbo theme, which was designed by the talented and generally great guy Darren Hoyt. It’s a wonderful theme that’s served me well over the years.

However, the code I’m using on the site is nearly four years old. Since I started working with the theme before child themes were available, I had to customize it by hand and upgrade it every time WordPress introduced new features. However, considering the fact I’m no PHP coder, over the years PT’s code has begun to show its age and the time has clearly come to start anew.

But in doing that I didn’t want to create something too drastically new. I’ve been very fond of Mimbo in general and wanted to build something that would be very familiar to all current Plagiarism Today visitors while also giving the site a “new coat of paint” as Patrick O’Keefe said when viewing the site.

So, without any further ado, you can check out the new template by visiting the test site here:

Plagiarism Today 4.0 Demo Site

I encourage everyone to hop in and test it, but bear in mind that there are a few known bugs to remember before you start digging around:

1. Missing Images: Since I didn’t port over my entire image library, which would have taken forever, many of the older posts have broken images, especially with the post thumbnails in the archives. That should fix itself when ported to the live site. Likewise, existing post thumbnails are just placeholders and not actually related to the post in most cases.
2. Re-Categorization: Categories will be playing a bigger role in the new version and I will be redoing the site’s categories when I get ready to launch the new theme.
3. No Plugins: There are no plugins with the test site so some features like the Tweet buttons, LiveFyre comments, etc. aren’t there but will be on the final version. Contact form is also broken for this reason.
4. CSS Touchups: There will likely be some styling changes made to the “Continue Reading” buttons and other elements of the site, mostly minor. Feel free to point out what you feel needs attention though in case I didn’t see it.
5. Old Database: Bear in mind that this site was built using a copy of the database that is about a week old. As such, newer posts aren’t there and won’t be until the final move.

On that note, if you are interested in how this theme evolved, here’s a look back over the past six years of Plagiarism Today’s designs and how we got to where we are today.

On that note, please let me know your thoughts on the new theme. You can send them to me via email and/or Twitter if you like.

Giving Thanks

On that note, as PT turns six, I do want to give thanks to at least some of those who have helped bring it this far and helped to make it what it is.

First and foremost is Crystal, my better half, for not only encouraging me to start the site when I thought it was a crazy idea but pushing me into going full time and making it possible for me to get started with this as a career. Without her, very literally, none of this would ever have happened. (Not to mention the huge debt I owe her for putting up with my copyright-related ramblings day in and out.)

Second is Patrick O’Keefe who has not only been a great friend and adviser, but has also been the patient and energetic co-host of the Copyright 2.0 Show. Seriously, it’s a great podcast and you should really join us live one Wednesday at 5 PM ET.

Another big thanks has to go out to Lorelle VanFossen for not only taking up the cause so early on, but also for being my fairy blogmother and helping me learn blogging and network within the community.

The same goes to all of the others I’ve met and have offered me support and guidance over the years. There are too many to name but I definitely want to thank Sara from Saving for Someday, Maria Langer, Brenda Speer, Steve Imparl, Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff and Chris Matthieu (the founder of the Copyright 2.0 Show). (That’s just to name a few.)

I also want to thank all of my clients who put faith in me and have worked with me over the years. Together, we have done some pretty cool things and you’ve helped make Plagiarism Today not just a great resource, but a great free one that I can work on whenever I want. Also, thanks to the conference organizers who invited me to speak all over the world, giving me a chance to reach new audiences and see places I never would have otherwise.

Also, a big thanks to Automattic and everyone who has helped develop WordPress and make it what it is. I doubt this site would be possible without WordPress, its themes and its plugins.

Finally, to everyone who has commented, emailed, Fracebooked, Tweeted or just plain read this site, thank you. It’s meant more than you realize. Your participation is what makes this worthwhile. I know that I left many names out and I’m sorry, but I shudder to think how long this post would be if I had to thank everyone individually.

So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for six great years And here is to a new PT and six more years ahead!

On June 13th, 2005 I posted the first blog entry for the site that would eventually become Plagiarism Today. Though the site itself would not actually go “live” for another month and a half, on August 2nd, I was blogging on this topic in semi-secret beginning on that day.

The first post wasn’t much, just a praise for GreatestJournal, which is now defunct, and their handling of plagiarism matters.

I had no idea what would become of PT then or what it would grow to become. Now, five years later, the site is updated an average of 8-10 times per week, plays host to a weekly podcast, with my co-host Patrick O’Keefe and also saw the genesis of my copyright and plagiarism consulting practice, which is now my full-time (and a bit beyond) job.

It’s been a long and strange ride for me but has definitely helped bring me some of my greatest moments and favorite memories. I am eternally grateful for this site and, even more so, for the people who read it and support it.

So, to those of you who have been reading this site the whole time or just arrived, thank you for your support. Your feedback, your comments and your business have meant the world to me. Thank you all.

For those that want to know a bit more about the story of PT, as I take the time to look back over the years, feel free to read on. To the rest, thank you again for all of your support and time and I will be back tomorrow with a more traditional PT post.

Getting Started

I began thinking about Plagiarism Today in the summer of 2005. I had been dealing with plagiarists of my work for several years and had become quite good at it. However, I was starting to get into blog reading and was enjoying my first experiences with an RSS reader.

I was eager to find a Web site that dealt with this topic as it was at least a important part of my life and something I felt strongly about. However, after days of off and on searching, I found many static resources but no blogs or news sites.

So, at the encouragement of my significant other, I decided to create a site on the topic and see what happened. However, I didn’t want Plagiarism Today to be a blog that was worked on for a few months and then abandoned so I resolved to blog in private for a period of time to make sure I had enough to talk about. So, I set up a WordPress installation in a subfolder of my then-existing site and went for it.

However, I made a goof in that I didn’t disable pingbacks or search engines and was stunned to find my “hidden” blog getting a modest amount of traffic. I decided to push it live early and did so August 2nd. The blog, at that point with its hideous “desert” theme, which you can see here got its own domain and own update schedule. The site was, years later updated to the “Knights” layout that you can see here before finally moving to the current theme (I believe I’ve traded up each time).

The timing for the launch could not have been much worse though. As a New Orleanian, August 29th, just four weeks later, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and turned the lives of me and my wife upside down. Though our home was unaffected, it destroyed previous career plans and forced us into a month-long exile, three weeks of that evacuated and another week living in a city without much in the way of access.

But during the evacuation time, I largely credit Plagiarism Today for keeping me sane. Though I was deep in the upstate with only dial up access, I threw myself into the site almost 24/7 during those weeks, updating daily and trying not to think about the devastation to my city and, quite possibly, losing everything.

After getting back from the storm, I spent the next six months leading a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. Working various jobs to help rebuild New Orleans and, eventually, Key West. I lived in three different states over those months and routinely worked 12-hour days, yet, I still found time to keep up PT as much as possible, working on growing the site during down time and off hours.

But even though the site was seeing decent growth, it didn’t seem to be gaining any significant traction, that changed in May of 2006.

First Publicity

On May 8, 2006, reporter Maura Welch talked about Plagiarism Today in her article about online plagiarism for the Boston Globe. This was only possible thanks to the efforts of Beth from Cursed to First, who I had helped with a plagiarism case before.

The story caused a spike in traffic to Plagiarism Today and opened a floodgate of other media mentions (only a fraction of which are actually included on that page).

This traction led to a spike in traffic and subscribers to my blog, leading to a nearly 3x jump in the number of visitors and subscribers.

The momentum has remained upward ever since. To this day, I credit both Beth and Maura for much of the success of the site as, without their mentioning of PT, it is unclear when, if or how PT would have gained the following it did.

Starting a Business

Many people ask when I decided to open up a consulting business related to PT, however, there is no firm date for that decision.

When I started Plagiarism Today, I never envisioned it being a money-making site. My goal was to help like-minded people in similar situations and it remains as such. But companies and businesses began to approach me for more and more complicated and hands-on jobs and it became necessary to charge for my time.

Eventually, I was hired full-time by the copyright services firm CopyByte, a company I have since broken apart from its parent and taken the helm of myself.

When consulting, I’ve always worked to keep my rates low and still, whenever I do have the time, agree to help others with immediate needs for free, especially if they are interested in learning and doing it themselves. In short, to those who want help resolving their own cases, I’ve tried to make myself available for free as much as possible. To those who want me to take care of things for them, I’ve managed to build a decent consulting and services practice.

In addition to consulting, I’ve also done a great deal of speaking over the past few years, including talks at two WordCamp Dallas events (plus I am speaking at the upcoming OpenCamp event in August), I spoke at the 3rd International Plagiarism Conference in the UK, at an Innovation Journalism conference in the Netherlands, ConvergeSouth and many other events.

Without this site, I doubt I would have made half the friends that I have, travelled to a fraction of the places that I have or had nearly as many cherished memories. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Looking Forward

It has been a wonderful five years for Plagiarism Today and, though it might not have grown as large as some sites started around the same time, it has done very well for me. It has given me all that I ever dreamed for it and more.

Once again, this would not have been possible without the support of you and others like you. Thank you again for all that you do for this site and, through that, for me. It means the world.

Moving forward with PT, I have several major announcements in the works, at least three of which should be ready to launch sometime within the next few weeks, so stay tuned there. In the meantime, thank you all for your support and I’m looking forward to the next five years of Plagiarism Today!

A lot has changed since then, both on this site and on the Web around it. Plagiarism Today is not the project it started out as, but instead, has grown into something much larger and, in my opinion, much more important.

But before I look ahead to what might lie next for PT, I want to first look back at how it started, how it evolved and how it got to be where it is today.

Frustrating Months

Plagiarism Today came out of my own personal battles with plagiarists. By the time I set up the first draft of PT, I had been running sites for eight years, battling plagiarists for three and shut down several hundred rippers.

After searching for several days to find a news site or blog on this topic, and failing miserably, I decided to create one. The niche seemed natural enough and I felt that I had as much expertise “in the trenches” as anyone.

However, the first few months of running Plagiarism Today were very difficult. Though I had expected low readership in the beginning, I didn’t expect people to be openly hostile to the idea.

It seemed that all of the feedback I got were from people who didn’t “get” the idea. “This site is stupid, you’re wasting your time,” one emailer said. “It’s pointless,” said another.

This attitude was echoed in Plagiarism Today’s first major media mention, which was on the TWiT podcast. Several of the hosts wondered aloud “Where all of the plagiarism was at” and were concerned that my site was just an exercise in futility.

Worse still was that, when the site wasn’t being blasted as pointless, it was being dragged into petty flame wars as with the Wicked Wanda plagiarism case.

Combined with the effects of Hurricane Katrina, I considered shutting the site down to focus on other ventures.

Still, somehow, I kept going. Even as day jobs had me traveling around the country working 84 hour weeks, I did my best to keep up, posting articles, answering emails and doing the best that I could, hoping that the site would gain significant traction soon.

Fortunately, the answer to my prayers were closer at hand than I realized.

In The Spotlight

Ever since I had started PT, I had made it a habit to patrol the Web, especially blogs, looking for posts about content theft or plagiarism and offering help. By May in 2006, this labor had already produced some fruits.

I had already found allies in the craft blogging community as well as among sex bloggers. However, it would be another group, sports bloggers that would provide the biggest boost to the site.

Previously I had posted a comment on a Red Sox blog, Cursed to First, that was discussing theft of their content. Though I was too late to provide any help with stopping the plagiarism, I did provide some post-mortem analysis in an attempt to help.

The owner of the blog, Beth, never forgot about what I did. When Maura Welch of the Boston Globe interviewed her about the theft, Beth mentioned my name. A short time later Maura called me and on the eighth of May she published an article featuring Plagiarism Today both prominently and positively.

Though it turned out to be only the first of many mentions of Plagiarism Today in the mainstream media, it was a huge tipping point. Subscriptions, which had been very stagnant, shot up three fold overnight and Plagiarism Today was shining bright in the public eyes. Best of all, almost all of the attention was favorable.

Since then, PT has been featured in the Christian Science Monitor, Dose Magazine (Canada), The Guardian (UK) and dozens of smaller publications, including several trade ones.

Of course, not all of the publicity has been positive. The appearance by PT on Slashdot was extremely unfavorable, not to mention fatal to the site. However, I decided not to dwell on the negative attention my worst-written article received. By that point, the forward momentum was too strong and I had other things to do.

A Shift in Focus

A lot of this success can be attributed to a shift in focus of the site. Early on, it was supposed to be a site about plagiarism and plagiarism-related news on the Web. For example, Kaavya Viswanathan and her scandal was an early staple of the site.

However, even by that time, the focus had begun to shift. Plagiarism news was only covered weekly and in a “Wrap Up” format while other stories began to take center stage.

What was once a blog about all plagiarism issues was now focusing almost solely on issues affecting Webmasters and bloggers. Those issues were expanded to cover all forms of content theft, not just plagiarism, including scraping, spam blogging and image hotlinking.

That, in turn, where Plagiarism Today has been for the past year or so, working with Webmasters, companies and organizations to raise awareness and create solutions to help artists, writers and musicians who post their work on the Web get the credit they deserve.

That part is ongoing and will continue to be for some time.

Reflections

Plagiarism Today is not an A-list blog by any stretch of the imagination. It has never seen the success, traffic-wise or financially of a TechCrunch or GigaOm. The niche, it appears, is just too small.

After two years on this site, I jokingly say all I have to show for it is an overdrawn bank account, frayed nerves and a lot of friends. But it is the latter in that group that has kept me going. In short, the people I’ve met and worked with are, almost certainly, the sole reason I keep working as hard as I do.

Yes, I have managed to eek out a modest secondary income between donations, consulting work and paid blogging, but it has left me far short of wealthy or even well-off.

If I were in this for the money, I would have been gone over a year ago.

In the end, the reason I stick around is you, the reader. So I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for all of your support of myself and this site. Your emails, comments and donations have meant more to me than you probably realize.

Without you, there would be no Plagiarism Today. It is that simple.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you have done. I greatly look forward to sharing the next two years with you as well and I can not wait to see where this site takes us next.

If nothing else, this should be very exciting.

Update: In addition to the aforementioned appearances in the media, Plagiarism Today just made an apperance today on Cnet.