# Cindy Adams plagiarized this board
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [October 11, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024 "2014-10-11T04:46:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/1 "2014-10-11T04:46:29Z")
Somebody asked about celebrities who won’t sign autographs. I was doing some googling and I found this [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=405665) on the subject from 2007. And I found this [column](http://pagesix.com/2013/11/07/the-best-and-worst-celebrity-autograph-signers/) by Cindy Adams from 2013.
SDMB thread:
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> One exception: William Shatner. His agent said if I wanted signed copies of his books for my store, he’d charge $10 per autograph. That’s for paperbacks that don’t even cost $8. Pah. Now I don’t sell his stuff. And I don’t believe he writes them himself, anyway.
Cindy Adams:
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> William Shatner reputedly signed his book for $10 per. And that was for a paperback.
SDMB thread:
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> I heard Rosie O’Donnell say once that she didn’t give autographs. She made exceoptions for kids who wanted Betty Rubble’s signature. but she thought it was sad when adults wanted that sort of memento.
SDMB thread:
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> Rosie O’Donnell is very snippy about autographs and won’t give them. Just another aspect of her lovely personality.
Cindy Adams:
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> Rosie O’Donnell? Snippy. Doesn’t sign. Thinks it’s sad when adults want signatures.
SDMB thread:
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> I remember reading an interview with Ewan McGregor (yes, him again!) where a young fan knocked on the door of his house and asked for his autograph. Normally, he’s happy to sign, but he has a policy that he won’t do so at home, because he dislikes the invasion of privacy. After politely explaining all this, the girl said, “Yeah, I understand-but could you just sign this please?” I think he closed the door on her.
Cindy Adams:
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> A young girl knocked on Ewan McGregor’s door. Normally happy to sign, he wouldn’t at home because of the invasion of privacy. She said: “Yeah, I understand but could you just sign this please?” Rumors are he closed the door on her.
SDMB thread:
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> Basketball great and civil rights activist Bill Russell was well-known for refusing to sign autographs-ever. In fact, there’s a story about a teammate who was leaving the Celtics, and getting all of the team to sign an autograph book as a memento, and Russell STILL refused to sign. Said teammate was somewhat hurt and disappointed about this.
Cindy Adams:
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> Basketballer/civil rights activist Bill Russell won’t sign. Ever. Supposedly a retiring player wanted the team to sign as a memento. He still refused. The teammate was hurt.
SDMB thread:
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> I saw Penn and Teller at the McCarter Theater in Princeton. At the end of the show they both were in the lobby. Both stayed until everyone shook their hands, talked to them and got an autograph. The theater was packed and holds over 1,000 people. It should be noted that they didn’t change clothes before they came out so they were wearing togas and they were covered in fake blood.
Cindy Adams:
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> After their show, Penn and Teller shake everyone’s hand, chat, write their names. Without changing clothes, they come right out front p.d.q., both still in costume. Once, they wore togas covered in fake blood.
SDMB thread:
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> In the same vein as Stephen King, I heard that Clint Eastwood is the most generous autograph signer out there.
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> Apparently, he never uses the “if I sign one, I have to sign them all” excuse because he will take the time to keep signing until everyone is satisfied.
Cindy Adams:
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> Clint Eastwood never uses the excuse, “Sign one, you have to sign all.” He’ll stay until everyone’s satisfied.
SDMB thread:
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> Slightly off topic, Shaquille O’Neal supposedly doesn’t sign often, and QVC recently had some basketballs where had literally written an S and a line, and a O and line, porbably the lamest autograph I have ever seen (it looked more like he initialed the balls, not signed them) and were selling for 1500 dollars!
Cindy Adams:
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> Shaquille O’Neal scribbles an S, a line, an O and a line. Lame as it was, this penmanship sold for $1,500.
SDMB thread:
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> I also heard that Mary Lou Retton, in her heyday barked to cheering fans who were begging for autographs that “she didnt’ need them.” (the fans)
Cindy Adams:
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> Back when her signature meant something, Mary Lou Retton barked to those begging for an autograph that “I don’t need you.”
SDMB thread:
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> I ran into LL Cool J once and he seemed delighted to sign and get photos with people in spite of being late for The Today Show or one of those morning shows.
Cindy Adams:
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> Although late for a show, LL Cool J took time. Delighted to oblige.
SDMB thread:
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> Anyone know about Kevin Spacey? My friend who works for Lionsgate said he tried just chatting with him while Spacey was waiting for one of the execs and that he was rude and condescending. We both wanted to believe it was just a bad hemmorhoid flare-up or something.
Cindy Adams:
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> Kevin Spacey was “condescending . . . I’m going to believe it was just a bad hemorrhoid flare-up.”
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/2 "2014-10-11T04:53:52Z")
Plagiarism is a bit strong of a word for that, no? Would have been nice if she cited her sources, but it’s the NY Post - sort of par for the course.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/3 "2014-10-11T05:06:23Z")
It doesn’t seem as if she lifted posts wholesale from the Dope, just briefly summarized them. And they’re all in the third person. She doesn’t claim she was present on any of the occasions. I think plagiarism is a pretty thin claim in this instance.
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### Author:  [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/4 "2014-10-11T05:17:56Z")
> [@voltaire](#):
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> Plagiarism is a bit strong of a word for that, no? Would have been nice if she cited her sources, but it’s the NY Post - sort of par for the course.
Isn’t not crediting your sources pretty much one of the definitions of plagiarism?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/5 "2014-10-11T05:19:19Z")
I don’t think the copying has to be word for word in order to qualify as plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking credit for somebody else’s work.
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### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/6 "2014-10-11T05:39:12Z")
I don’t think the copying has to be word for word in order to qualify as plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking credit for somebody else’s work.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/7 "2014-10-11T05:40:27Z")
I don’t know if it’s _plagiarism_. It’s as if she’d used [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=437878) as the source for an article about people’s opinions on Irritable Bowl Syndrome: “Here’s what people are saying about IBS!” But it definitely makes her seem like a total hack writer.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/8 "2014-10-11T12:56:36Z")
Who is Cindy Adams? Is she Cecil’s daughter? Maybe that explains it…
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/9 "2014-10-11T13:18:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
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> I don’t think the copying has to be word for word in order to qualify as plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking credit for somebody else’s work.
> [@Penfeather](#):
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> I don’t think the copying has to be word for word in order to qualify as plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking credit for somebody else’s work.
I see what you did there. 🙂
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/10 "2014-10-11T14:21:39Z")
Is there any reason to believe the anecdotes posted to this message board are original content?
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### Author:  [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/11 "2014-10-11T14:30:49Z")
Plagiarism is not the same thing as copyright violation, but I note that you can’t copyright information, only its presentation. I’m not an expert, but I’d say Ms. Adams’s different presentation, rewording, and summarization make her article different enough from the original thread to avoid copyright violation.
That said, since she didn’t cite her source, I’d qualify it as plagiarism. Legal, but unethical.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/12 "2014-10-11T14:33:35Z")
> [@simster](#):
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> Is there any reason to believe the anecdotes posted to this message board are original content?
That doesn’t matter. _All_ of her anecdotes match up to _one_ uncredited source.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/13 "2014-10-11T15:15:56Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
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> I see what you did there. 🙂
The way I heard it was that somebody noticed what two other people had done.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/14 "2014-10-11T15:57:26Z")
I think that plagiarism is when you take credit for someone else’s work. It doesn’t need to be a word-for-word recopying.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/15 "2014-10-11T16:08:10Z")
How do we know Cindy Adams didn’t post those statements in that thread?
Anyway, sources are rarely cited in gossip columns. You can call it plagiarism if you like, Cindy Adams reputation isn’t going to suffer for it.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/16 "2014-10-11T16:16:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
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> How do we know Cindy Adams didn’t post those statements in that thread?
Which is the same thing as saying “How do we know all those different posters that said those things aren’t socks for Cindy Adams?”, which is quite an incredible accusation to put forth.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/17 "2014-10-11T16:30:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
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> Which is the same thing as saying “How do we know all those different posters that said those things aren’t socks for Cindy Adams?”, which is quite an incredible accusation to put forth.
Yes, clearly that’s what I was doing, accusing one or more posters of being socks for Cindy Adams. It’s obviously a more likely explanation than Cindy Adams using the internet to look for information about celebrities who don’t sign autographs and finding that column.
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### Author:  [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/18 "2014-10-11T16:37:34Z")
> [@RetroVertigo](#):
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> Isn’t not crediting your sources pretty much one of the definitions of plagiarism?
True when it comes to academics, but not so much to journalism (unless they are copying word for word). Uncredited sources brought down Pres. Nixon.
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### Author:  [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/19 "2014-10-11T17:01:38Z")
An anonymous source brought down president Nixon. He was credited under a pseudonym and deliberately kept anonymous at his request.
Not the same as restructuring an entire document to pass turn-it-in and putting your name on the top as original work in your capacity as a professional journalist.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cindy-adams-plagiarized-this-board/701024/20 "2014-10-11T17:11:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
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> How do we know Cindy Adams didn’t post those statements in that thread?
😕 I’m really having trouble parsing this question any way other than what Czarcasm said, or understanding how your clarification relates to it. Not trying to be dense, just not understanding.
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