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IGN Pulls Ex-Editor's Posts After Dozens More Plagiarism Accusations Surface (kotaku.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: The gaming site IGN is working to remove all of the posts written by former editor Filip Miucin, who was fired two weeks ago for plagiarism, after internet sleuths found that dozens of his articles and videos copied or rephrased from other websites without attribution. "We've seen enough now, both from the thread and our own searches, that we're taking down pretty much everything he did," IGN reviews editor Dan Stapleton wrote on Twitter last night, referring to a thread on the gaming forum ResetEra cataloging the allegations. For days, people had pointed out more similarities between Miucin's work and various other articles and message board posts.

The plan, IGN editors said, is to scrutinize all of the work Miucin has published since the site hired him last October, then figure out what can be restored. IGN's editors also said they hope to re-review the games he reviewed, including ports of Doom and Skyrim on Switch, both which have been replaced by the same message: "This article has been removed due to concerns over similarities to work by other authors. The author of this article is no longer employed by IGN."
In the recent days, Miucin has been accused of copying a Bayonetta 2 review from Polygon, copying from a video that took word-for-word from a NeoGAF post, and a number of videos in which Miucin read excerpts from Wikipedia about topics like Super Mario Odyssey and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero as if he had written them. The list even includes an Octopath Traveler article that copied from one of his own IGN colleague's reviews, much to that writer's dismay. Even his Linkedin resume is copied from a job template website, Kotaku reported.

88 comments

  1. Re:Moscow Donald - Treason, Obstruction of Justice by nwaack · · Score: 0

    Go away.

  2. Did he ever apologize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Not that it'll be worth much, I bet he plagiarised that too.

    1. Re: Did he ever apologize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He did, he basically copies tmartinz (sp?) sarcastic apology.

      His defense in the apology (therefore nullifying the apology by making excuses) was that he uses the same "formula" to make reviews that everyone uses...

    2. Re:Did he ever apologize? by GoTeam · · Score: 2

      Seems like he put a lot of effort into copying other people. I don't think it would have required much more effort to just do the work in the first place. I guess foolish people are just... foolish.

    3. Re:Did he ever apologize? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not that it'll be worth much, I bet he plagiarised that too..

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    4. Re:Did he ever apologize? by Luthair · · Score: 2

      A podcast I listened to last week mention he uploaded a video with a non-apology apology that he eventually took down.

    5. Re:Did he ever apologize? by GoTeam · · Score: 1

      heh, nice

    6. Re:Did he ever apologize? by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 1

      I didn't watch it but apparently he did an apology that was not an apology before the additional plagiarism came to light, in which he claimed there was no additional plagiarism..

    7. Re: Did he ever apologize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ask your daddy, if he doesn't know then ask your other daddy.

  3. Keep it up by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 1

    Maybe next people can stop paying CinemaSins ten thousand dollars a day to read through a movie's TVTropes listing in chronological order.

    1. Re: Keep it up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They took control and made things look better but not actually any good.

      Wow that was real hard...took all of 4 seconds.

  4. Video games web site not bastion of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Journalistic integrity.

    who could have ever seen this coming??????

    1. Re:Video games web site not bastion of by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Being that they fired him, and have the big process of redacting his previous stuff, seems like journalistic integrity to me.

      They could had quietly let him go. Or just put him in something where he wasn't visible anymore. Heck they could had done nothing.
      Because to the general public plagiarism isn't that big of a deal.

      I was more surprised that IGN has so much good will built up in integrity that they felt they needed to go full force against this guy.

      That said, your job is to play video games then write up what you think about it, seems like a sweet job. Why would you just copy someones else reviews? When you get paid to nerd rage or fanboy video games.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  5. Confidence in games journalism at an all-time low by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Despite the widespread progressive backlash against Gamergate's protesters, the crisis of credibility threatening the industry is only getting worse.

  6. What were his previous roles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess they will want to check over his output as well.

    It's unlikely that he started only at IGN.

    Still, 10 months pay for browsing the internet and copying other reviews... and zero future pay. Was it really worth it to skip some work?

  7. not very intelligent by iampiti · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Morality issues apart, you've gotta be pretty stupid to copy from easily available articles on the Internet and post the results in another Internet website. It's the context where is the easiest to check you've actually copied your articles.
    Also his name is tarnished forever. I don't think he'll easily find another job

    1. Re:not very intelligent by GrumpySteen · · Score: 5, Informative

      For the most part, he didn't copy from articles. He copied from YouTube videos. That's how he got away with it for so long.

    2. Re:not very intelligent by MaryannG · · Score: 1

      How hard is it to get the original text, use a thesaurus, change out some of the wording and phrasing and, essentially, paraphrase it? If I were wanting to plagiarize someone else's thoughts and present them as my own, the extra couple of minutes of swapping out a word or phrase here and there and mixing the order of the sentences makes the effort, essentially, bulletproof. It's still unethical as hell but damn, it's not all that hard.

      This isn't about laziness...it's about Olympic class, gold medal winner laziness.

      --
      Social Media Handywoman at Texas Boys Balloo
    3. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Like this?

      "Could it be that difficult to just get the first copy, replace a few terms, and basically rephrase the entire thing? If we were intending to steal someone else's work and offer it up as mine, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes of changing words here and there and shuffling the sentences up, basically its fool proof. It's immoral as heck but gee whiz, it's not difficult at all."

    4. Re:not very intelligent by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Plagiarism is actually rampant on YouTube as well, and not just for game reviews. It's not uncommon for people to simple re-make other people's videos and hope they won't notice. Even worse some will see other channels talking about up-coming videos on Twitter and rush out their own version first.

      Sometimes even whole channels get cloned. When the Hydraulic Press Channel became popular within a couple of days several clones appeared. Fortunately the original was able to survive by branching out into stuff other than just crushing things, amusing as that is.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:not very intelligent by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I don't think he'll easily find another job

      Being that his job was to play video games and tell people what he thinks about it, then tried to cheat at that. He seems the looser of loosers.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    6. Re:not very intelligent by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

      If he's the looser or loosers, he could probably get a job in an old-folks home opening jar lids for them.

    7. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is where AI can start making a positive difference. Taking on tasks that are impossible for humans to complete in a timely manner.

      Its not like they don't cover what Plagiarism is, in great depth, at all Universities today. So there is no excuse for people who are caught other than, "I was wrong, I am sorry and I will take the proper steps to change" (You can plagiarize that)

    8. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do we even need to do that? Is it not possible for two people to come up with the same phrase independently? Why does person A. suddenly get to claim ownership?

      FFS, the English language already has too many pointless words that probably only exist so that the world of academia can continue to make students regurgitate facts on the same crap all over again.

      We seriously need to revisit ownership of words.

    9. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The host and his wife are what really make the HPC worth watching IMO, they're god damn adorable.

    10. Re:not very intelligent by fermion · · Score: 1

      It also seems that this happens enough that news sites that would fire someone over plagiarism might put in rudimentary plagiarism detectors. These would be far from perfect, but writers who regularly set them off could be trained not to, or fired before money has to be wasted dealing with their mess.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    11. Re:not very intelligent by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I don't think he'll easily find another job

      Being that his job was to play video games and tell people what he thinks about it, then tried to cheat at that. He seems the looser of loosers.

      looser of loosers.

      The grammar irony is strong with this one.

    12. Re:not very intelligent by MaryannG · · Score: 1

      Of course it's possible. And on single instances it's entirely plausible and excusable. Lord knows, I don't double check everything I write to see if someone else has said the exact same thing elsewhere. Coincidences happen.

      However, apparently this guy made a habit of being coincidental pretty regularly...to the point that once you knew to look for it, it was obvious he was plagiarizing other people's words and presenting them as his own.

      --
      Social Media Handywoman at Texas Boys Balloo
    13. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. He'd better commit suicide. It's the only avenue left to him.

    14. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes even whole channels get cloned. When the Hydraulic Press Channel became popular within a couple of days several clones appeared.

      Or the Primitive Technology guy.

      Now there's Technology Primitive, Survival Primitive Technology, and thousands of videos titled $: Primitive Technology, e.g. How to make a Bowdrill: Primitive Technology.

      What's most disappointing is most of those channels and videos have good content. They don't need to copy so blatantly.

    15. Re:not very intelligent by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Indeed. But look how long he got away with it. There is a lot of "stupid" in the picture that is not his.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    16. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly right. Many of them would still be interesting, but instead they blatantly copied. Same silence. Same clothing (blue shorts only). Had they decided to just dress normally, speak, add in music or change even one or two things about the formula then maybe I would watch them more. As it is, I avoid them purely because they detract from the original Primitive Technology.

    17. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Easy, he'll just copy someone else's resume, and get a completely different job next week. I guess he might have to copy someone else's name to really make that work, though...

    18. Re:not very intelligent by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Why do we even need to do that? Is it not possible for two people to come up with the same phrase independently?

      Yes, it is possible. But it is very unlikely when you are going to write about something and your content is ALL similar to someone else who has already published a couple days before you did. And with this guy, it is not the first time but there are many other occurrences. How unlikely the guy didn't listen/read someone else reviews before he wrote his? Please tell me.

      Why does person A. suddenly get to claim ownership?

      It is copyright. In literature world, everyone will copy someone who is famous. As a result, you will end up not being able to find the originator who is the real talent. Besides, the work is unique in its way. One should at least give credit to the creator instead of taking the credit their own. Are you one of those who like to claim other people's work as your own?

      FFS, the English language already has too many pointless words that probably only exist so that the world of academia can continue to make students regurgitate facts on the same crap all over again.

      We seriously need to revisit ownership of words.

      You oversimplify the whole concept. Words and contents are not the same. You are talking like if two houses used the same bricks and woods, then both houses are the same. Really?

      Of course, English (or other languages) words may be limited, but what you build out of them can be infinite. If you are going to rephrase or copy someone else work, credit them. It is not that hard. If you want to make your own, then do so.

    19. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's exactly what he did. Still got caught.

    20. Re:not very intelligent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you just described is called "spinning" -- where you copy someone else's text, substitute words with other similar words and post it (or publish an ebook) to a place with lots of clickbait links and even create clickbait to link to the text you spun. Lather, rinse, repeat and all this views or clicks add up to a significant amoutn of money. Plagiarism checking tools usually don't catch them.

    21. Re:not very intelligent by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      He broke the basic rule: if you steal from one source (at a time) it's plagiarism. If you steal from three or more at once, it's research.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    22. Re:not very intelligent by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      The Hydraulic Press Channel is also assisted by the fact that native English speakers get a lot of amusement out of listening to Lauri and Anni speaking English. They comprehend it just fine, which is why we understand them, but their accents will never stop being cute.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    23. Re:not very intelligent by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      They are very dangerous and could attack at any time, so we have to deal with them.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  8. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because IGN didn't double down by attacking those who made the accusations of plagiarism, and didn't launch a media campaign attacking gamers.
    Pretty cut and dried, IGN dealt with it swiftly and correctly.

  9. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Because IGN did something about it and fired him?

    If he were a woman, we'd be hearing about how it was the mean gamers ganging up on her and making wild accusations, about how calling out journalistic lapses is really gamers displaying their blatant sexism. But because he's a man, they're taking it seriously and he's facing consequences.

  10. Re:Moscow Donald - Treason, Obstruction of Justice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is just worthless /. editor BeauHD, whining as usual in his AC mode now since his post history is filled with negative scores posting similiar garbage.

  11. Sleuths? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    after internet sleuths found that dozens of his articles and videos copied or rephrased from other websites without attribution.

    Sleuths? They just googled, right?

    "And I would have got away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your Google!"

  12. But did you also know that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Miucin has also been accused of copying a Bayonetta 2 review from Polygon, copying from a video that took word-for-word from a NeoGAF post, and a number of videos in which Miucin read excerpts from Wikipedia about topics like Super Mario Odyssey and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero as if he had written them. The list even includes an Octopath Traveler article that copied from one of his own IGN colleague's reviews, much to that writer's dismay. Even his Linkedin resume is copied from a job template website, Kotaku reported.

    1. Re:But did you also know that... by Calydor · · Score: 2

      No, but I heard that some people have claimed Miucin copied a Polygon review of Bayonetta 2. He apparently also quoted (without attribution) word-for-word from a NeoGAF video, as well as posted a bunch of videos himself where he just read bits and pieces of Wikipedia articles on Shantae: Half-Genie and Super Mario Odyssey aloud. He even went so far as to copy an article from an IGN colleague on Octopath Traveler, to that writer's great dismay. His LinkedIn article is no better as it seems to be copied from a job template website.

      See how easy it is to make it difficult to detect that you just plagiarize everything?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    2. Re:But did you also know that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its not hard to see you're copying if you can see the source and the change. The sentence structure is exactly the same: you're not hiding how you present the information.

    3. Re:But did you also know that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we sure he isn't an AI.

      That's nearly identical to the most intelligent behavior AI experts have coaxed out of silicon.

    4. Re:But did you also know that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are missing the part of the story where he didn't do what you did at all. He just copied things word for word. He only got away with it because it was forum posts and youtube videos.

  13. Re:Moscow Donald - Treason, Obstruction of Justice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or it was before he deleted it all like the worthless, cowardly shit he is.

  14. Re:That's odd by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Being that there were facts to back up their firing. I don't think if it was a women it would had reach the discrimination card. The discrimination card is more often used when they are fired for things that are not so well documented. Such as couldn't fit in company culture, or change in in business practices.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  15. Russian operative by ripvlan · · Score: 1

    Did this guy ever exist? Resume copied, works copied, employment history?

    Dunno - maybe he's just a secret agent.

    1. Re:Russian operative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did this guy ever exist? Resume copied, works copied, employment history?

      Dunno - maybe he's just a secret agent.

      Secret agent man, secret agent man
      They've given you a number, oh they've taken away your name

  16. 5 days late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The linked article is from last Wednesday, the 15th.

    Way to stay on top of the news, msmash.

  17. recommendation to Miucin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Miucin should just identify as a transgender woman and claim it's all harassment from the misogynistic white male patriarchy! For good measure, he could send some anonymous death threats and anonymous false allegations against himself! That would get him out of any allegations of plagiarism instantly!

  18. funny thing by sakono · · Score: 1

    Filip did a copyright claim on someone who re-uploaded his apology video cause he took it down. Filip seems a little bit of a hypocrite.

  19. My dismay. by deep44 · · Score: 1

    For the record, even his Linkedin resume is copied from a job template website. I've seen enough now, both from the thread and my own searches.

  20. He Already Knows GG Discussed the Scandal by Kunedog · · Score: 1

    This story has been making the rounds on Twitter and other social media sites for a few weeks now, yet for some reason all the Gamergate assholes have been quiet and aren't 'discussing' integrity in games journalism through threats of raping and murdering the journalist in question. I wonder why that is /s

    Because IGN didn't double down by attacking those who made the accusations of plagiarism, and didn't launch a media campaign attacking gamers. Pretty cut and dried, IGN dealt with it swiftly and correctly.

    You're correct, of course. It was the "Gamers Are Over/Dead" articles on August 28th, 2014 that really gave Gamergate momentum.

    But save your breath anyway; the parent poster is lying through his teeth:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    This scandal was covered early on in multiple posts on r/KotakuInAction, the main GG subreddit.

  21. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because IGN didn't double down by attacking those who made the accusations of plagiarism, and didn't launch a media campaign attacking gamers.
    Pretty cut and dried, IGN dealt with it swiftly and correctly.

    And yet these self-proclaimed watchdogs ignored his entire career of plagiarism; it wasn't until someone he directly plagiarized called him out for it.

    They aren't what they claim to be, they're still nothing more misogynists jumping on the bandwagon.

  22. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Have you followed the whole Arenanet thing? The fired female writer's sexism and vitriol towards fans was well documented. Yet all the usual suspects still played the discrimination card as hard as they could. Not to mention the New York Times recent hire who is unambiguously and openly racist and they still twisted her as the discriminated victim.

  23. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've been getting your talking points from the Daily Dot, haven't you? I'm afraid you've been the victim of fake news, both in your claim of the lack of discussion and in the baseless drivel that follows it.

    This story has been discussed a lot on Reddit's r/kotakuinaction for example. IGN acted quickly and removed the plagiarized reviews instead of doubling down. There was no cause for outrage.

  24. It will be all copied by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Somebody like that does not copy because he is lazy. Somebody like that copies because he is incapable of producing good content himself. Hence everything he ever did will be copied. Classical parasitic personality that got away with it for far too long. One has to ask though why IGN failed to notice this before hiring him.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  25. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems this was already covered by a gg subreddit. You are a liar. Why do you lie?

  26. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not to mention the New York Times recent hire who is unambiguously and openly racist and they still twisted her as the discriminated victim.

    You mean the woman who was sarcastically replying to vitriol that was thrown at her? You're not really that dumb to see the whole picture here right?

  27. What I find strange about this whole incident by Infe · · Score: 1

    Filip Miucin was running the NVC Nintendo Voice Chat podcast for a few months or so, and he was doing a damn fine job. Right when he took over, the podcast in my opinion saw great improvement. They stayed on topic more, with a tighter, content packed podcast and no filler. They also had several great discussions on all things Nintendo. Just by hearing the guy talk I could tell this guy knows his shit. To blow such a cushy job with this silliness when he was clearly capable blows my mind. I actually do miss him on the podcast. They made a few professional comments and basically ignored it and moved on, which is to be expected, but it saddens me a bit that this guy did this to himself. These kinds of jobs have to be very hard to come by.

    --
    Posted by yintercept - "...science...[is] the study of the 'divine creation.' "
    1. Re:What I find strange about this whole incident by skovnymfe · · Score: 1

      But does he really know his shit, or did he just find a podcast somewhere and copy that?

      This stigma is going to stick with him for a long time, and outside of self-employment I don't think the man will find work as a creative again. The internet remembers.

  28. Stalin rides! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quickly - unperson this man! Delete him from the historical record!

  29. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh, yeah, I read the tweets she was fired over. Someone politely disagreed with her (someone who happened to be a major figure in the community of people who played the game she works on) and she went off on this huge rant, calling him a misogynist for daring to disagree with her, the Clearly Right and Correct Game Developer Who Is Right Because She Is A Game Developer And You Are Not despite the fact that plenty of other games do what she said was impossible.

  30. Maybe the funniest part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    His first move was to deny the allegations and then challenge Jason Schreier, Kotaku's one good reporter, into finding more examples. If this guy has learned anything from this episode, hopefully it's that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is.

  31. His resumé by malditaenvidia · · Score: 1

    Apparently he even plagiarized his resume when applying for IGN.

  32. That really wasn't the case. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://old.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/982nca/socjus_joseph_knoop_daily_dot_where_are/e4crpk1/

  33. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shit like this doesn't fly as "sarcasm": https://i.redd.it/4sc99kov1pd11.jpg

    Apparently she's in good company at the New York Times. Another one of their editors: https://i.redd.it/voyubddtm5f11.jpg

    They seem to attract race-obssessed nutjobs.

  34. All he has to do to get out of this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All he has to do to get out of this revelation of plagiarism claim (s)he's "Trans" and received death threats and all of you here will suddenly be defending him and hating all the people who are "accusing" (s)him of plagiarism.

  35. IMPERSONATING me AGAIN? Please, lol... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IMPERSONATING me AGAIN? Apparently, you don't have anything better to do (idle hands are the devil's workshop) so SATAN get thee behind me (outta my face).

    APK

    P.S.=> Truer words were never spoken on /. - ENJOY YOUR DOWNMOD... apk

  36. Re:That's odd by Raenex · · Score: 1

    You mean the woman who was sarcastically replying to vitriol that was thrown at her?

    Nope. The racist hire was not replying to anybody. She was just "virtue" signaling her hatred of white people, unprompted.

    You're not really that dumb to see the whole picture here right?

    You're so dumb you bought the excuse given by the New York Times?

  37. Work smart but honest by cresdon · · Score: 1

    Lazy is as lazy does ...

  38. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if someone annoys me, and htey happen to have black skin, it's ok for me to join the KKK and start bandying about the N word? Of course it will all be sarcastically.

  39. Re:That's odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The threats went both ways, but it's funny how one side likes to pretend that it only went one way.