Perhaps naming this online humor column "StolenSoap" has confused some of our readers. Or maybe the name has just attracted people who like to steal things?

An alert reader from Cape Town notified me this past weekend that an author going by Desmond Tladinyane has been plagiarizing articles from StolenSoap.com and publishing them in Johannesburg, South Africa, through Johnnic Communication's citizen journalism site, "Reporter.co.za".

I immediately updated the publication credits on my resume.

Johnnic Communications is a major media and entertainment conglomerate which owns several news and publishing companies in South Africa. So far, I've been unable to find a link between Johnnic Communications and the emails I've been getting from my current African business partners (all widows of Nigerian officials with too much money and too many email accounts), but they bear one strong resemblance — I haven't received one red cent for my efforts. So I'm pleased to learn the editor for the Reporter took quick and decisive action, and the articles are being removed.

Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. So I thought I would return the favor and imitate Desmond Tladinyane by reprinting one of his articles and calling it my own, but I couldn't find a single Desmond Tladinyane article that wasn't already stolen from another writer!

Turns out, the good folks (and very funny people) over at Southern Humorists.com were also victims of Desmond Tladinyane. Apparently Mr. Tladinyane, who lists himself as a freelance writer, believes that "freelance" writers can take someone else's work for "free", drop the R, and collect a "fee". (Leaving the writers wishing we could spear him with a "lance".)

There are lessons to be learned in this. Specifically, I've learned that South Africans have a great sense of humor. Not only do they read StolenSoap, but they also pay for material that is available for free in my archives. What a country!

Desmond Tladinyane made changes to my columns to match the names and references to a South African audience. Yet, I believe the sections left untouched shed considerable light on how culturally similar the world has become.

My StolenSoap article "The Underwear Farm", plagiarized by Desmond Tladinyane, includes a reference to General Douglas MacArthur. In the plagiarized form, General MacArthur's attribution is replaced with the phrase "many mystics and gurus out there". In that same article I reference "eating fried chicken", which was changed on Reporter.co.za to be "eating KFC". So presumably, South Africans may not recognize General MacArthur, but they almost certainly must recognize The Colonel. Perhaps most revealing of our cultural similarities, my reference in the StolenSoap article "Yell Phones" to a particularly crude poem — often found scratched on public restroom stalls across America — was also left untouched. Meaning that if the phrase "Here I sit all broken-hearted" resonates in South Africa, I can only assume that fried chicken, buttery biscuits, and their resulting biological consequences are universal.

Speaking of references left unaltered — the plagiarized versions of my articles featured character names that had been "South Africanized". Desmond Tladinyane missed a few, resulting in gaffs that appear to have tipped off the reader in Cape Town who was kind enough to do some research and notify me of the impropriety. For example, in this exchange about cell phone etiquette, the name "Thuto" suddenly changes to "Ray":

Thuto: What? You say YOU HAVE HAIR NOW?

Me: No, I asked, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Thuto: HOLY CRAP, HOW'D YOU GET IT FROM A COW?

Me: Ray, we're not even on our cellphones. We're in an elevator. People are staring.

Ray: AN ALLIGATOR?

Desmond, if you're reading this and want to make amends, please send me all the money you've made stealing from this site. My Nigerian business partners have provided an easy means for this to be accomplished, and I can assure you THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND LEGAL AND WILL COMMENCE WITHIN SEVEN (7) BUSINESS DAYS OF RECEIPT OF YOUR SOUTH AFRICAN IDENTITY DOCUMENT, PERSONAL BANKING RECORDS, AND DNA PROFILE.

(NOTE: Reporter.co.za obviously strives to maintain journalistic standards, and they are implementing new processes to prevent future abuses. The site's public statement can be found at: http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A376568)

Click below on Page 2 to read the reaction from StolenSoap's Ray Tice.

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Copyright © 2007 Andy Murphy
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