Such an important topic for a space such as Substack. I remember years ago when I discovered that whole sections of my private practice website -- over which I had laboured for weeks -- was copied by another psychologist. I was so frustrated, but also a bit secretly pleased that the rest of his website did not have the same tone as mine and that it was clear to those who knew me who had actually written those bits.
This is a fear I continue to struggle with. Not just that words or concepts will appear magically elsewhere, but that my initially innovative ideas in my eternally-in-writing book will now look like I've just taken them from other people's thinking. So important to remember much of a message is in the voice and the connection. 🙏🏻
The depth of the comments under this piece alone are a testament to how close to home it hits for so many people. And as someone who loves to shout all my thoughts from every rooftop, it's a good reminder to be a bit more protective at times. Not paranoid, but also not naive.
Thanks for this much needed piece. I appreciate your take on it. I had the experience of being on the reader end of plagiarism when a Substack writer I loved left the platform in a justified shroud of plagiarism. I found her work, and her way of showing up, witty, interesting, and enjoyable so was saddened by what happened.
I also appreciate the note at the end about Let Them theory and hope more folks start talking about it. Plagiarism sucks all the time, but when a huge name who happens to also be a lawyer, takes the work from someone else and it gets worldwide attention 🥲🤬
It’s such a gut punch of an issue all around. With AI, it is very clear—my book and many others’ are in the databases of materials stolen to build tools like ChapGPT and MetaAI. Any use of them is use of someone else’s stolen labor and creativity. It didn’t have to be like that! Those companies could have worked on acquiring limited rights and giving compensation in return.
With humans it’s even more so, since many have trouble seeing when they should cite and credit. Maybe the most effective way to address that is to keep writing about it the way you have here, so well. Keep raising awareness of ethics and respect as well as confidence in one’s own creativity.
And to draw a touch on my own obsession with ownership—everyone should be careful relying on cloud services like Google Docs! There are a lot of cases where people’s work has disappeared (Notion is another one I’ve heard a lot of problems with) and there is rarely any recourse. Back your stuff up somewhere off the cloud and often!
Thank you for writing this, Amanda. While AI can help me create a more cohesive piece, the secret sauce will always be the stories from my lived experience, which is a relief.
I write quite a bit about Tantric yoga (not the asana poses or the sex many people think it is) and how the teachings are relevant to helping us live fully in the world today, with crisis after crisis draining our energy and inspiration. I'm old enough to have learned traditionally, at the feet of my teachers orally. So, I often find it difficult to remember and cite who I learned what from. However, I do when I'm sure. What I have chosen to do is every so often, at the top of my essay, I tell my readers just that, that everything I've learned is from my teachers. At times, I name them; I feel fortunate to have so many, and other times, it's more of a broad reference. It doesn't always feel like enough, but I think it's important to acknowledge that I'm a writer sharing teachings that have been handed down to me through ancient texts and real people who have spent years living and breathing and studying the non-dual teachings I'm sharing.
Paulette, thank you for bringing in this nuanced perspective to the conversation. My own earnest studies inside buddhist teachings for the last decade plus have influenced a lot about how I think about attribution too.
The manner in which my own teachers practice non clinging while also honoring the teachers who they studied with — I’m not sure it’s something most western audiences are ready to adopt.
But I do resonate with the teachers in my own life who teach from the space of the transmission — where the teaching came to them and then it stuck around and alchemjzed in and through them in such a distinct way that, now, it is quite indeed something new to be offered altogether.
I’m often humbled by the truth that there’s nothing new under the sun (as much as I would love to think I am the one, the only, the original!) but human experience, moment by moment, caring moment by caring moment is fresh anew. Thank you for opening up this door. 🫶
Thank you for the ongoing conversation, Amanda. I resonate with what you're highlighting on many levels.
It's perceptive of you to question whether most Western audiences are prepared to embrace the paradox of non-clinging while respecting our teachers and each other. Bringing the issues in your piece into the light is so important, especially in our upside-down world. It also helps us contemplate if we feel congruent with our values.
Thank you Amanda for sharing your experience and your wisdom. I've had a few of my ideas "expanded upon" by other writers/creators and it does sting. Ultimately, I realize that there's only one me. Others may copy or "borrow", but they don't live inside my head. If I'm being completely honest with myself, it hurts more if someone else had more success with my work than I did. In those cases, tagging me would have gone a long way towards making it right.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us! I recently shared a Note about a similar topic centered around the feeling of stolen ideas, mostly because I’ve witnessed and have had ideas taken from me and repurposed without credit.
The cold knot of dread, knowing a trusted person took something. Ugh.
I agree wholeheartedly - no one can take our connections to our own audience 🩵
TY Amanda. Beautifully and magically conveyed. Why I subscribe 😊 … how you care for us, your readers.
“ You don’t need to chase viral growth or copycat tactics. You need to nurture the parts of your work that no one else can replicate: how you care for your readers, and how you teach them to care about your work in return.” —Amanda Hinton 😉
Thank you for tagging me and introducing me to Daisy Buchanan.
I appreciate it.
I’m grateful more people are writing about this topic and that we are all sharing each other’s information.
While I agree with the sentiment of your piece that we own the human aspects of our work, I will continue to argue that we also own the words we write. I can spend six months crafting a single sentence into what I hope will be a quotable aphorism that outlives me, and it’s not ok with me for someone else to take credit for my words, for your words, for anyone’s words, especially when it’s so easy to simply give credit.
Thank you for showing people how to use a footnote on substack. I really appreciate when people add links in the body of the piece too, as you did for Daisy, since not everyone reads the footnotes.
As the saying goes, “we teach people how to treat us by how we allow ourselves to be treated.” I wrote that in the 1990s in a newsletter I used to mail out to people before the internet. Then Dr. Phil came along and used a version of it in his book, so give the credit where you will, lol, the message remains.
One of the best things to come of the unfortunate event of Mel Robbins and Plagiarism, that I brought to the public in January, is that it’s creating better practices for us all- to be more thoughtful, kind, caring, generous and considerate in giving each other credit for our work. It’s bringing back the conversation around plagiarism. Hopefully, it’s cementing the understanding that it IS stealing and NOT just business.
Your article reminds me of an experience being in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art when I found myself in front of a giant blue painting. That's it. At first I thought anyone could do this. Then I discovered the energy behind the painting, helping me appreciate the artist's effort and emotion. It's palpable. Good writing will have energy behind it. AI doesn't. That's the Magic.
I am developing an internal AI radar, an intuitive sense which detects AI. I stop reading or listening or watching almost immediately.
Very well said, Amanda. Thank you. The reminder that what is uniquely ours--the way we write, our personal experience and our voice, as well as the way we create community with our work--is what cannot be scraped or stolen. We each have our own light, our own magic. And that is our gift.
"You are still magic." What a beautiful reminder in a world that has relegated magic to a ChatGPT prompt. Thank you for the honest conversation, the realistic expectations, and the reminder to let your 💫 still shine.
Thank you for this and for including the footnote about the Let them issue. I’ve been following that for some time and find it frustrating how people brush it off in favor of Mel Robbin’s.
Such an important topic for a space such as Substack. I remember years ago when I discovered that whole sections of my private practice website -- over which I had laboured for weeks -- was copied by another psychologist. I was so frustrated, but also a bit secretly pleased that the rest of his website did not have the same tone as mine and that it was clear to those who knew me who had actually written those bits.
This is a fear I continue to struggle with. Not just that words or concepts will appear magically elsewhere, but that my initially innovative ideas in my eternally-in-writing book will now look like I've just taken them from other people's thinking. So important to remember much of a message is in the voice and the connection. 🙏🏻
The depth of the comments under this piece alone are a testament to how close to home it hits for so many people. And as someone who loves to shout all my thoughts from every rooftop, it's a good reminder to be a bit more protective at times. Not paranoid, but also not naive.
Thanks for this much needed piece. I appreciate your take on it. I had the experience of being on the reader end of plagiarism when a Substack writer I loved left the platform in a justified shroud of plagiarism. I found her work, and her way of showing up, witty, interesting, and enjoyable so was saddened by what happened.
I also appreciate the note at the end about Let Them theory and hope more folks start talking about it. Plagiarism sucks all the time, but when a huge name who happens to also be a lawyer, takes the work from someone else and it gets worldwide attention 🥲🤬
Amanda - EXCELLENT piece. Wonder who will copy that?
It’s such a gut punch of an issue all around. With AI, it is very clear—my book and many others’ are in the databases of materials stolen to build tools like ChapGPT and MetaAI. Any use of them is use of someone else’s stolen labor and creativity. It didn’t have to be like that! Those companies could have worked on acquiring limited rights and giving compensation in return.
With humans it’s even more so, since many have trouble seeing when they should cite and credit. Maybe the most effective way to address that is to keep writing about it the way you have here, so well. Keep raising awareness of ethics and respect as well as confidence in one’s own creativity.
And to draw a touch on my own obsession with ownership—everyone should be careful relying on cloud services like Google Docs! There are a lot of cases where people’s work has disappeared (Notion is another one I’ve heard a lot of problems with) and there is rarely any recourse. Back your stuff up somewhere off the cloud and often!
Thank you for writing this, Amanda. While AI can help me create a more cohesive piece, the secret sauce will always be the stories from my lived experience, which is a relief.
This topic touches my heart, Amanda. Thank you.
I write quite a bit about Tantric yoga (not the asana poses or the sex many people think it is) and how the teachings are relevant to helping us live fully in the world today, with crisis after crisis draining our energy and inspiration. I'm old enough to have learned traditionally, at the feet of my teachers orally. So, I often find it difficult to remember and cite who I learned what from. However, I do when I'm sure. What I have chosen to do is every so often, at the top of my essay, I tell my readers just that, that everything I've learned is from my teachers. At times, I name them; I feel fortunate to have so many, and other times, it's more of a broad reference. It doesn't always feel like enough, but I think it's important to acknowledge that I'm a writer sharing teachings that have been handed down to me through ancient texts and real people who have spent years living and breathing and studying the non-dual teachings I'm sharing.
Paulette, thank you for bringing in this nuanced perspective to the conversation. My own earnest studies inside buddhist teachings for the last decade plus have influenced a lot about how I think about attribution too.
The manner in which my own teachers practice non clinging while also honoring the teachers who they studied with — I’m not sure it’s something most western audiences are ready to adopt.
But I do resonate with the teachers in my own life who teach from the space of the transmission — where the teaching came to them and then it stuck around and alchemjzed in and through them in such a distinct way that, now, it is quite indeed something new to be offered altogether.
I’m often humbled by the truth that there’s nothing new under the sun (as much as I would love to think I am the one, the only, the original!) but human experience, moment by moment, caring moment by caring moment is fresh anew. Thank you for opening up this door. 🫶
Thank you for the ongoing conversation, Amanda. I resonate with what you're highlighting on many levels.
It's perceptive of you to question whether most Western audiences are prepared to embrace the paradox of non-clinging while respecting our teachers and each other. Bringing the issues in your piece into the light is so important, especially in our upside-down world. It also helps us contemplate if we feel congruent with our values.
I appreciate being in your Substack space.
Thank you Amanda for sharing your experience and your wisdom. I've had a few of my ideas "expanded upon" by other writers/creators and it does sting. Ultimately, I realize that there's only one me. Others may copy or "borrow", but they don't live inside my head. If I'm being completely honest with myself, it hurts more if someone else had more success with my work than I did. In those cases, tagging me would have gone a long way towards making it right.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us! I recently shared a Note about a similar topic centered around the feeling of stolen ideas, mostly because I’ve witnessed and have had ideas taken from me and repurposed without credit.
The cold knot of dread, knowing a trusted person took something. Ugh.
I agree wholeheartedly - no one can take our connections to our own audience 🩵
TY Amanda. Beautifully and magically conveyed. Why I subscribe 😊 … how you care for us, your readers.
“ You don’t need to chase viral growth or copycat tactics. You need to nurture the parts of your work that no one else can replicate: how you care for your readers, and how you teach them to care about your work in return.” —Amanda Hinton 😉
"You are still magic." —Amanda Hinton ❗️✨
💯 👏 ❤️
Hi Amanda.
Thank you for citing and linking my work.
Thank you for tagging me and introducing me to Daisy Buchanan.
I appreciate it.
I’m grateful more people are writing about this topic and that we are all sharing each other’s information.
While I agree with the sentiment of your piece that we own the human aspects of our work, I will continue to argue that we also own the words we write. I can spend six months crafting a single sentence into what I hope will be a quotable aphorism that outlives me, and it’s not ok with me for someone else to take credit for my words, for your words, for anyone’s words, especially when it’s so easy to simply give credit.
Thank you for showing people how to use a footnote on substack. I really appreciate when people add links in the body of the piece too, as you did for Daisy, since not everyone reads the footnotes.
As the saying goes, “we teach people how to treat us by how we allow ourselves to be treated.” I wrote that in the 1990s in a newsletter I used to mail out to people before the internet. Then Dr. Phil came along and used a version of it in his book, so give the credit where you will, lol, the message remains.
One of the best things to come of the unfortunate event of Mel Robbins and Plagiarism, that I brought to the public in January, is that it’s creating better practices for us all- to be more thoughtful, kind, caring, generous and considerate in giving each other credit for our work. It’s bringing back the conversation around plagiarism. Hopefully, it’s cementing the understanding that it IS stealing and NOT just business.
https://sagejustice.substack.com/p/mel-robbins-and-plagiarism
Thank you.
Thank you for this thoughtful post.
Your article reminds me of an experience being in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art when I found myself in front of a giant blue painting. That's it. At first I thought anyone could do this. Then I discovered the energy behind the painting, helping me appreciate the artist's effort and emotion. It's palpable. Good writing will have energy behind it. AI doesn't. That's the Magic.
I am developing an internal AI radar, an intuitive sense which detects AI. I stop reading or listening or watching almost immediately.
Very well said, Amanda. Thank you. The reminder that what is uniquely ours--the way we write, our personal experience and our voice, as well as the way we create community with our work--is what cannot be scraped or stolen. We each have our own light, our own magic. And that is our gift.
"You are still magic." What a beautiful reminder in a world that has relegated magic to a ChatGPT prompt. Thank you for the honest conversation, the realistic expectations, and the reminder to let your 💫 still shine.
Thank you for this and for including the footnote about the Let them issue. I’ve been following that for some time and find it frustrating how people brush it off in favor of Mel Robbin’s.