Well said! I just read through some of the comments on her second apology, and it makes me sick to see some of the things that people have written (and those are probably the "nicer" ones, since it says that that comments that personal insults will be removed). While I don't agree with what she did, I think that people are totally blowing it out of proportion and accusing her of plagiarizing the entire content of her blog (when it was really, what, 4 posts?). She made a mistake, a pretty big one, and apologized for it. That's not grounds to be mean to her, in my books anyways. There was some pretty hateful hashtag action going on on Twitter last night, and that's just plain bullying.

Well that is unfortunate because it seems she was (is?) very well liked in the blogging community.

Can we just slap her wrists and call it a day? There is absolutely no need to bully her.

I understand she did wrong but I think she is seeing the consequences.

-martha :D
p.s. this is why I don't read others reviews before I read the book myself. I read the reviews after I've written my own review to compare what others thought against what I thought.

I've seen several responses to these shenanigans that outright disgust me. But here, I really liked what you said. Because we can't brush what she did under the rug simply because she's well known throughout our big community. But we can't treat her like the newest serial killer, either. It's a complicated issue, one that requires everybody to consider what they hold important to themselves.

For myself? I may still visit her blog and read things, but with a cautious eye. I'll be less like to participate in her events or fully trust anything she claims as her own. Trust is so easily lost and so hard to earn back...

Anyway, I liked what you said here. Thanks for being a grown-up about it. Hopefully this is an isolated issue and we can all get back to a plagiarism free world, yes?

This is probably one of the better, well put together, reactionary posts that I've read so far (aside from Parajunkee's on the matter at hand). I agree with you, that she is only humans and we do make mistakes, albeit intentional ones as I do believe plagiarism is. The bullying and the personal attacks on Kristi are just as wrong, as what she has done. While I do believe that she deserves every bit of the backlash that she's getting, I don't think that she deserves to be personally attacked or bullied. No one deserves to have to go through this.

What bothers me the most about this whole situation, is the hypocrisy surrounding it from all of her supporters. These are the same people that I have seen doggedly outing other fellow ya bloggers who have plagiarized and have pretty much run them out of the blogging community, yet they are standing behind Kristi and giving her their full support. I just cannot computer the idea of that in my head. If one is guilty, aren't they all? I'm actually really confused more, by their actions as they just simply don't make any sense to me.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this whole situation, I'm still sort of sifting through my feelings on it. As a blogger who was new to the community last year, Kristi's blog, along with Parajunkee's and a couple of other's were actually blogs that I looked up to and that I aspired to be like. It seemed like they had things well put together, had a great deal of knowledge and things to learn from, plus they were all sorts of helpful and friendly. Now, with this happening, it's almost hard to know who you can and can't trust. I think that's the thing, my trust has been broken and I'm incredibly saddened by it.

So, I think, along with you - it might be the best thing to take Parajunkee's advice on the whole matter and think about not having anything to do with The Story Siren, despite the fact that I do enjoy IMM. I think that we all could create our own similar feature to that and don't necessarily need to rely on hers, even though it made it easier to get be put into contact with so many other wonderful blogs on such a global connection.

Suz @ A Soul Unsung
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine Giveaway!
susanhaugland@att.net

Excellent post! I hope that everyone is going to make up their own minds and not just jump on the anti-Kristi or pro-Kristi bandwagons.

I really loved the IMM meme, but decided that I couldn't support her in any way so will no longer be participating. This was my choice, and I don't begrudge anyone for still doing the meme.

All of the bullying and name calling is sad, and I hope that it will all blow over soon.

I completely agree that everyone needs to:

a) act in as professional a manner as possible, which means no bullying.
b) take their time to review the posts about everything and make up their own minds.

I would argue, however, that what Kristi did was not a mistake. It seems apparent to me that what she did was intentional and with full knowledge that what she was doing was wrong. I think calling her actions a mistake makes her crime seem less heinous. I don't take plagiarism lightly, and I think calling it anything less than an intentional (if, misguided) act does the crime a disservice.

P.s. Thanks for linking to my post! :D

Kelly
Radiant Shadows

I'm amazed that everything seems to be business as usual over at her blog. Call me naive, but after a fiasco like this, I really thought... I don't know... that maybe she'd quit blogging or go on hiatus, or be more clear in her apology.

I'm hearing lots of talk about #stopthestorysiren being out and out wrong. Why? It's not like she didn't bring this on herself.